SOUNDBYTES


Prelude ...

Mostly thanks to corporate guitar industry marketing hype, everyone wants to hear pickup soundbytes and be told specific pickup DCR (DC resistance of the coil). Both have their very limited meaningful place, once you realize their pitfalls.

DCR values only matter once you understand a pickup's build, and comparing unlike builds with regards to DCR is simply foolish.

Likewise with soundbytes, you're hearing more than the pickup's voice at least third hand, in a very controlled environment that one can never fully replicate in the real world, and vice-versa.

Also, realize that ALL pickups will be a gamble of sorts because much of what you hear is what a pickup is feeding both onboard and offboard the guitar - the guitar circuit, modulation ("pedals"), amplification and its myriad of special components ... not to mention the player's brain, fingers, and playing chops.

Please take all these thoughts under advisement.



Cavalier Fat Lion, Lion King, Tiger Strat

That funky tasty Texas guitarist extraordinaire Fletch Redwine and his custom Tele that's powered by four Cavalier pickups. First part of the tune is a Fat Lion bridge & Tiger bridge & Lion King all parallel, then switched to the Lion King alone, the quiet lead is a Lion King & Tiger neck in parallel, the Lion King is played alone on the ascending chord bridge section before both leads, the dirty lead is a Fat Lion bridge & Tiger bridge in parallel, then back to Fat Lion bridge & SRV Tiger bridge & Lion King all parallel for the ending.

Hot dang, Dagg Nabbit!




Fletch Rebuilds Yuri's Tele





Lions & Tigers!





More Fletch & his Cavaliers ...






Dmitry's 3 Pickup Tele





Cavalier AR90 (Gibson 1946 P90 rod magnets)




Cavalier Humongous Lion

Mike Nix: "This is a hot bridge pickup made by Rob at Cavalier pickups. It's got a nice fat quality to it but still retains the characteristics of a tele. I'm using my '60s MJT Telecaster Custom replica with a vintage non-reverb 1965 Fender Deluxe amp. EQ Cables for tone optimization."



Cavalier Fat Lion and Fat Lion King

Mike Nix: "Just installed the Cavalier Fat Lion (bridge) and Fat Lion King (neck) pickups. Big fat midrange tone with a lot of versatility. The neck pickup is bold and powerful, great for rock and blues. The bridge has more power than a traditional tele bridge PU - still twangs but has balls for classic rock and blues."



Using the Fat Lion in the bridge position and the Fat Lion King in the neck position with a cranked early '60 brown Fender Princeton (6G2) amplifier.





Cavalier Nocaster Holy Grail Lion & Lion King

Guitarist: Mike Nix. Gear: Nash Tele with Nocaster Holy Grail Lion bridge and Lion King neck. Saddles from Advanced Plating (Nashville). Amp: Muleskinner 17 watt with Weber Legacy Series 30 watt speaker, 12AX7 in v1 of amp for a bit more gain/volume. Pedals: A bit of reverb from a Digitech Hardwire reverb pedal.





Cavalier 51/52 Lion

Mike: "The 51/52 Tele bridge has a bold Alnico3 early 50s sound. Great for rock, blues, or country. I'm using my Muleskinner 1x12 set at a medium volume with a touch of grit from a Barber Gain Changer overdrive and a Keeley compressor."



Cavalier 51/52 Lion

Cavalier 51/52 bridge & Fat Lion King neck thru a Celestion Blue speaker with Muleskinner amp





Cavalier Bakersfield Lion & Lion King

Mike Nix pumps these Cavaliers through his handwired Bluesbreaker clone and an Earthquaker Devices Crimson Drive for the dirty parts.



Bakersfield and Lion King neck pickup through a Muleskinner 17 watt amplifier, plus Digitech Hardwire reverb pedal and a Baber Gain Changer for the dirty sounds.

Mike: "Recently installed the Bakersfield pickup from Cavalier Pickups into my '62 Telecaster Custom replica, twang!!!! I'm using a Muleskinner amp, a BMF Godfather II dual overdrive pedal, and a Keeley compressor."

Mike: "More Bakersfield/Lion King love testing out the new BMF overdrive pedal."


Mike: "Even more Bakersfield/Lion King: MJT '62 Telecaster Custom, Keeley compressor, Barber Gain Changer, and Echo Park delay."




Cavalier Nashville Lion & Lion King

Expert guitarslinger Mike Nix crafts liquid country licks, rockin' riffs and bluesy tones with a set of Cavaliers (Nashville Lion and Lion King) in his Nash 50's Tele, pumped into a Muleskinner amp via a Barber Gain Changer.




Nashville Lion (bridge), Lion King (neck), MJT '62 Tele ...



Nashville Lion (bridge), Fat Lion King (neck) ...





Cavalier Huge Lion

Mike Nix demos the Cavalier Huge Lion - "The huge lion is a beefy Tele bridge pickup, great for rockabilly, rock and roll, or whatever you're into. Definitely has a strong blues vibe. Not too much midrange but definitely enough to add some power. I am using Muleskinner amps. The guitar is plugged straight in, the amps are CRANKED!!!!".





Cavalier Esquire Stealth

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier Stealth.




Cavalier Bear AR90 A3

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier AR90/A3.




Cavalier Bear AR90 A5

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier AR90/A5.




Cavalier Wolf

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier Wolf.




Cavalier She Wolf

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier She Wolf.




Cavalier Lioness & Fat Lion

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier Lioness & Fat Lion in his Heartland Tone Daytona. Played through a 17 watt Muleskinner amp into the Universal Audio OX Box with some reverb and slight compression, then straight into the Apollo Twin Mkii. A Paul C. Tim pedal added some bonus overdrive in the middle of the video.




Cavalier Lioness & Nashville

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier Lioness & Nashville with some tasty playing. Loaded into a Heartland Tone Daytona and played through a Bluesbreaker combo loaded with a WGS Reaper. A Barber Gain Changer SR used for some light overdrive.




Cavalier Fat Lioness & Nashville

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier Fat Lioness played straight into a Bluesbreaker with One Control Reverb on. The Barber Gain Changer SR is used for some overdrive in the second half of the video.




Cavalier SRV Tiger Strat Set

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Cavalier SRV Strats.




Cavalier SRV Bengal Tiger Strat Bridge

Jacob "Visual Guy" demos the Bengal Tiger.




Cavalier Nocaster Holy Grail Lion

Ben and the Tele he built, loaded with a Cavalier Nocaster Holy Grail Lion, shredding direct into a silverface Champ. Plenty of twangy treble balls, solid bottom and mid-range, no shrillness.







Cavalier Pickups
Rob DiStefano
58 Linden Avenue
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
201-573-0080
[email protected]


The real Cavalier pups!

Bubba and Rosie