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DMC Amber PAF, anybody tried them?

wooderson

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Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
798
So you know the Nowaks also?

I asked about Amber PAFs a month or so ago here and got no response.
 

Hamerfan

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Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Messages
791
This winder guy, Wolfgang Damm, is located in Germany and worked for Gibson on the P94. He had some rave reviews in the German music press. His pickups have rough cast magents and the covers are not wax potted but specially damped.
Check out www.amberpickups.com
 

Gros Tigre

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Dec 3, 2007
Messages
101
To bad I don't speak German. The only words I got were Amber Pickups and overwound.
 

Frank_Heritage

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Feb 19, 2008
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52
4 weeks ago I bought a pair of Amber's "59 Crossroads" as zebra aged. What I could say about their sound: My nearly 30 years of looking for the PAF right pickup is finished.

Before buying I wrote some emails to Wolfgang Damm, the guy who winds each Amber pickup by hand. He always send me answers within hours or days and his comments always were detailed and very helpful to me.

Since Wolfgang was working several years as product manager within the German music market I guess his English would quite good enough to answering your questions. You find contact details on Amber's web page: http://www.amberpickups.com/
 

Buzz

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Sep 22, 2001
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1,481
4 weeks ago I bought a pair of Amber's "59 Crossroads" as zebra aged. What I could say about their sound: My nearly 30 years of looking for the PAF right pickup is finished.

Before buying I wrote some emails to Wolfgang Damm, the guy who winds each Amber pickup by hand. He always send me answers within hours or days and his comments always were detailed and very helpful to me.

Since Wolfgang was working several years as product manager within the German music market I guess his English would quite good enough to answering your questions. You find contact details on Amber's web page: http://www.amberpickups.com/

If they wanted a good advertising slogan it would be ...

DAMM they sound good!

I really think if they didnt cost so much more than the competiton, there would be alot more than one guy saying he's got some.

What other brands did you try and did you compare them on equal ground ie; same guitar, amp, etc?
 
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Buzz

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So what do they cost for a pair?

They list the prices, you gotta go convert it to USD, and they end up costing about (xxx). Can't quote prices here, forum policy or I'd have stated that up front. I don't see why not if the items have a fixed advertised price.
 

Frank_Heritage

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Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
52
If they wanted a good advertising slogan it would be ...

DAMM they sound good!

I really think if they didnt cost so much more than the competiton, there would be alot more than one guy saying he's got some.

What other brands did you try and did you compare them on equal ground ie; same guitar, amp, etc?

I will forward him your slogan.

You're right their prices are much higher than similar American products. But this is mostly currently due to the extreme bad conversion rate USD/EURO.

Here in Germany we have at least two others highly reputated pickup winders: Boris Dommenget (http://www.dommengetguitars.com/) and Andreas Kloppmann (http://www.kloppmann-electrics.de/). They were my first choice before I had the chance to hear the Amber ones (I also took a look on the WCR Fillmore Set which sounds very awesome to me. But they are very specialized).

Unfortunately most of us (which means me too) can't buy one pair of each of his favorite PUPs. So I made the decision to Amber and I'm very happy with that.

Although this doesn't mean that I would never buy other PUPs for other guitars. At least, I think, there isn't "the" right PUP for "the" right guitar. And even if it exists, it's very hard to find.

My main guitar is a '80 Standard Heritage Elite. It is my working gear for nearly 30 years and I like her very much. I've tried several Reissues which were all fine. But there wasn't that difference in sound or handling that would bring me to renounce.
My main amp is a Reussenzehn Chicago Model No 2, which is a kind of a Marshall based hand made amp (here you can find some sound examples: http://www.el34.de/).
 
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Frank_Heritage

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Feb 19, 2008
Messages
52
Based on the price on the website, I think they're priced at $598. USD for a pair. I'd be curious how they compare against the Dr, Vintage or Marshallheads.

If you just converse Euro price list to USD you are right: They are not competitive in reference to the level of US prices for this kind of products.
One reason is -as already said- the (from the US point of view) very bad current conversion rate. But the big point is that the German price level for boutique PUPs is in general much higher than in the US. All kind of music gear is here in Germany currently 30-50 percent higher in price than in the US.

For example: The original price for a LP 1959 reissue is about 5,900 Euros, which is currently about USD 9,300. As I see in Ebay you US folks get the same guitar for about 4,500 to 5,000 USD. This would be currently not more than 3,000 Euros for me. This about the half of our original German price.

But you are damm right: If I would like to buy a pair of Wolfgang Damm's Ambers, it dosen't matter why their price is so expensive to me as an US customer.

But if you are really interested write this guy an email. Perhabs he can help.
 

Kanga Blue

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
52
4 weeks ago I bought a pair of Amber's "59 Crossroads" as zebra aged. What I could say about their sound: My nearly 30 years of looking for the PAF right pickup is finished.

Before buying I wrote some emails to Wolfgang Damm, the guy who winds each Amber pickup by hand. He always send me answers within hours or days and his comments always were detailed and very helpful to me.

Since Wolfgang was working several years as product manager within the German music market I guess his English would quite good enough to answering your questions. You find contact details on Amber's web page: http://www.amberpickups.com/

Hi Frank! As you still around? Do you still use Amber pickups? I would be interested in trying them. :dude:
 

somebodyelseuk

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Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
I've recently put a set of Spirit Of 59s in a Tokai, along with Bareknuckles 550k pots and PIO caps.
How do they sound? I should probably point out, the Tokai costs as much as a LP Standard, but is made like an R9, so I haven't put expensive pickups in a cheap Asian knock off.
I'm not a 'burst expert and i wasn't chasing a specific sound. I knew what I didn't want and I didn't want 11k buckers on a 59-a-like.
I'm still getting to know them. If I'm honest, they scare me a little. I've never played real PAFs. My humbucker experience over past 38 years is Yamaha SGs, EMG 85, Seymour 59s, and dabbling with Wilkinson and Tonerider cheapies. All potted, all sound great... well, the first three do. The major difference between the Ambers and what I've been used to is they 'hear' everything. Little things you get away with on other pickups... you better sharpen up your playing.whether that's what real PAFs are like is for other people to say.
They are crystal clear. The term Tele on steroids covers it, really.
So, tone? Sorry, I'm not saying.
They're handmade, so it would be unrealistic and unfair to expect that they all sound exactly the same in every guitar. Best thing I can say is that those first three pickups in my list above do sound very good, the last two... meh, you get what you pay for... Let's say, the cheapies are like old analogue TV, the other three are digital, the Ambers are HD.
If all you want is vintage tone, the Seymour Duncan 59s in a decent guitar, a good amp and speaker will get you there.
Its the dynamics and definition that is the big difference... the rest is just EQ.
 

fakejake

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Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
1,274
I've been using Amber pickups for about 8 years in both my R8 and my 1970 335. I don't have a lot of experience with other PAF clones, but these pickups sound so great to me that I never thought about changing them again. To me, way way better than the burstbuckers and T-tops the guitars came with.
 

somebodyelseuk

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Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
I'd like to add, mine went missing at Heathrow for a couple of weeks. Wolfgang was extremely helpful, he even setup to make a replacement set about an hour before I got notified they'd been found.
His English is excellant, by the way.
I'm very happy with them
 
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