Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash review

Can't stretch to Slash's signature Gibson? Try these instead

  • £105
  • $269
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Slash's pickups have extra windings for higher output and greater sustain.

MusicRadar Verdict

A fine pickup for classic/hard rock guitarists.

Pros

  • +

    Great tone at a reasonable price.

Cons

  • -

    No coil tap wiring option.

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Slash's pickups have extra windings for higher output and greater sustain.
Slash's pickups have extra windings for higher output and greater sustain.

Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash

The cost of Gibson's Appetite Les Paul might have left you reeling, but Seymour Duncan's offering means you can throw yourself top hat first into the Snakepit at a snip of the price.

These Alnico II Pro Slash neck and bridge humbuckers (available individually or as a pair, with either Black, Zebra or Reverse Zebra bobbins) are the same units that feature in the Appetite Les Paul.

They're supplied with a two-conductor cable, so can only be wired as standard 'buckers out of the box. Installing pickups like this is as easy as it gets, but clear instructions ensure even newbies get these into their guitar quickly.

Plugged in, both pickups are particularly rich sounding compared to the stock models in our LTD Eclipse. The neck 'bucker delivers a fat rhythm sound that doesn't get too flabby when you add some distortion, and with the tone rolled back slightly you can achieve Slash's famous neck lead sound.

The bridge pickup opens up more upper mid range, making those sustained powerchords and cutting lead tones easily achievable.

Signature gear can be divisive and usually carries a hefty price tag. However, the only visual sign of these pickups' signature status is the Slash scrawl on the baseplate, and if you shop around you'll notice that they're not much more than Duncan's standard Alnico Pro II pickups. Slash fan or not, these pickups give more classic/hard rock sounds for your pound.

Stuart Williams
Stuart Williams
Drums

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.