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Blueman335

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  1. 490's have A2's, which means lots of mids, rounded high end, loose low end, and lower output. What makes A2's so popular is that they have a lot of dynamics which gives them an organic sound. 498T's have A5's, which have a lot of treble and bass, sharp highs, scooped mids, a firm low end, and relatively high output. Paired together the bridge is pretty bright and the neck pr...

  2. Actually, I'm happy with my Double Cut P'ups. I haven't recently double checked but the 490R is Alnico2 / The 498T Alnico5 / I think. I know if I ever have a pickup question I'll ask you. Being an apt. dweller I really can't check my Hawk's sound at any decent volume. My Strat's great. I've always liked Lace Sensor P'ups. When I want to spend a couple hundred...

  3. Never had a Nighthawkm so I haven't given the PU's on them any thought. I have an Epi double cutaway LP Special. The stock P-90's were okay, but I upgraded them to Duncan SP90-2's. Not being a fan of ceramics, I pulled those and put in an A8/A5 mag pair in the bridge, and a pair of A5's in the neck. Great tones now. Try swapping mags on your Gibson double cut before buy...

  4. Blueman335. Do you improve pickups (such as the 3 on an Epi Nighthawk)? I've got a Strat with Lace Sensors & a Gibson Les Paul Double-cut. I'm sure that you know more about these Epi N'Hawk P'ups than I do. What do you think?

  5. Gibson '57's have (warm) A2 magnets. Besides using higher quality materials and significantly less wax, they're wound differently. There's a secret art to winding PU coils, using various patterns and tensions, which have a big impact on tone (neat, uniform winding looks nice but doesn't give the best tones). The final sound is a mix of PU, magnet, wood, pots, caps, cord, amp, tubes, speakers, etc. All of them modify the sound to some degree. That's why a PU may sound great in one guitar and very different in the next. In my experiences with Gibson '57's and 490's, the necks seem to be wound a little hot and they can be dark. The bridge has the typical rounded high-end of an A2 PAF, but sometimes even moreso. I fix that by putting an A5 in the neck (suddenly treble and clarity!) and and UOA5 or A8 in the bridge for more bite, and more output. In some guitars '57's can sound great, but I haven't had that in my guitars. I think Gibson perhaps overuses them in so many models, along with the 498T/490R pair (bright thin bridge and dark muffled neck). In those, I make the same mag swaps and then they work together much better because the EQ's aren't polar opposites. Then, they sound very good. To me, the best recent-manufacture Gibson HB's are the numbered Burstbuckers (A2 mags), especially the unpotted ones. BB Pros have A5's and are wound differently, but are still pretty good PU's. The better your amp, the more you'll hear the differences between stock Asian PU's and high-quality ones. If you're playing metal thru a solid state amp and using a lot of distortion and effects, stock Epi PU's maybe be fine. But if you're playing blues, classic rock, or jazz thru a tube amp clean or with a moderate amount of OD, then you'll hear much more depth and definition when you upgrade PU's. At their price point, Epi's not trying to compete with aftermarket PU's that sell for $75 to $150 each, certainly not in a $400-$500 guitar. It's the weakest link on a set-neck Epi. Because of the lingering economy, the guitar market has gotten very competitive, and manufacturers are adding high-quality American-made PU's to more of their models. This is great for musicians. There's not a lot of difference between high-end Epi's with American-made PU's, and the lower-level faded Gibsons. Obviously an $800 faded Gibson LP Studio doesn't have anywhere near the same quality woods or workmanship as a $2,500 LP Std or $3,800 LP Custom.
  6. Dots have A5's, as do almost all Epi's. I upgrade the PU's in my Epi's, but if I'm selling one and want to improve the tone for the buyer, I'll do a couple things: 1 - Scrape as much wax out of the HB's as possible, being careful around the coils. I've taken apart dozens of high quality PU's, and they use very little wax. The least they possibly can use. At the other end of the spectrum, Epi HB's look like bars of soap when you take the covers off. That's overkill. You just don't need 95% of that wax to prevent microphonic feedback. All it does is muffle and muddy the tone. 2 - Put an A8 magnet in the bridge HB, to beef it up (more mids and output, and less treble). Same for bridge P-90's, replace one of the A5's with an A8. Epi's started using 'Probuckers' in a few recent models, that have A2's and push-pulls for coil cut, which is a great idea. Don't know if they're buried in wax.
  7. The better tones I have, the more inspired I am, the more I play, and the better I play. Any time spent swapping PU's, pots, and mags is well spent. Why settle for so-so tones, when it costs so little to improve them and get what you really want? I hate to be helpless. My advice is: Take control of your tone.
  8. The way I look at it is: There's 10 types of alnico's commonly available these days (counting polished, roughcast, oriented, and unoriented). What are the odds that the PU manufacturer used the best one for your guitar, wood, amp, genre, and playing style? If you think they always do, you need to get out of the house more often. When you change magnets in a PU, you literally make a new PU. Since that'll only cost you $3 and 10 minutes to do it, why not try it? Sure beats spending $75 to $100+ for an entirely new PU, that still may not be what you want.
  9. Unoriented refers to the internal grain in the metal, whether it's aligned or random, and has nothing to do with the magnetic poles. That stays the same. Treat them like any other magnet. Remember, A2's, A3's, and A4's are unoriented too.
  10. Right, A5 unoriented magnet. 'Standard' size works for everything, so it's simplest just to get that (I believe it's 2.5x.5x.125). If you don't get them fully charged, you have to have the equipment to do it yourself.
  11. The reason for this being: magnets have all sorts of industrial applications, and electric guitars are only one of them. To get odd alnicos, you usually have to place a large order (like $500 worth) to get them cut to guitar PU size. We'd love to try out some A1'a and A7's; have no idea what they'd sound like, but I've never seen them offered in the right size. I have a few A6's, which are like an A8 with less treble, and A9's, which are surprisingly bright. A10-12 would probably be too strong and have too much string pull (and kill sustain). I'd also like to find some really rough roughcast A8s (for a smoother high end) and some polished UOA5's (for a sharper high end in the neck slot, to replace A2's). There's always something else to try.
  12. A8's became commonly available several years ago, and took things by storm; been tried in many bridge PU's (high, low, and medium output, and also in P-90's). It's a great middle ground between A5's and A2's, leaning towards the A5 side. On the Duncan site, most of us get our magents from Addiction FX, who is on eBay. They have the biggest selection and the lowest prices (several dollars per magnet). With any of them, you'll want to get the 'standard' size, fully charged. These will fit any HB and P-90. A more recent magnet introduction is the UOA5, again a middle ground between A5's and A2's, but leaning more towards the A2 side. Medium output, warm, with a more organic/earthy sound, and lots of complex dynamics. Great for blues and jazz. Both of these are great options for bridge PU's where an A5 is too bright or thin, or an A2 is too rounded on top and lacking treble.
  13. Right. A PU with bright highs will have tight clear lows, because that describes an A5. Likewise, one with round full highs will have muddy (loose) lows, which is classic A2. The '59/Custom hybrid is a great PU and just went into Duncan production this year. Both coils are from bright PU's ('59B and C5), and the unbalanced part of it also adds some highs, so it can be bright and thin with the stock A5 magnet. Since A5's have the brightest, sharpest high end; your choices are warmer magnets. A8's are popular, they still have treble but not as much, and they have more mids, the low end is tight. Lots of punch. A4's are like a tamer A8, with less output and a little flatter EQ. I'm partial to UOA5's, for the vintage dynamics, but they're on the warm side (not as warm as A2's), and the low end isn't real tight (not as loose as an A2). Those are your options. I'd try an A8 first and see what you think. It will fill in the high end and you won't give up a tight low end. They're very good clean too.
  14. Depending on the coil thats active during coil cut, you can have a 'virtual' HB in position 4, maybe position 2 also. If you put in a push-pull on the bridge HB, along with a coil cut push-pull, you get to choose which coil is active and which is shut off (screw or slug). One will give you noise-free.
  15. Ceramics are high output, with a tight low end, moderate mids, and fairly bright highs. To some ears they have a somewhat sterile, stiffer, in-your-face-sound. That makes them great for heavy distortion and effects, they'll cut thru better than alnicos. That's their strongpoint. Downside is they lack the color and character of alnicos, and aren't as good clean. If you play blues, jazz, country, or classic rock, they're not ideal. For heavy rock and metal, they're very good. Depending on your needs, ceramics may or may not be the way you want to go. Over the years I've wound up with various ceramic HB's and P-90's (yes p-90's! Duncan SP90-2 & SP90-3), and have ended up pulling out all the ceramics and put in alnicos, and gotten some nice bluesy tones. For several dollars, I can turn a ceramic 'metal' HB into a blues HB. A Duncan Custom (SH-5) with an A8 or UOA5 added becomes a great blues/classic rock PU. You can go the opposite way, and put a ceramic magnet where an alnico was. Some PU's have double thick ceramics, and if you go to an alnico (which are not double thick), all you need is a couple regular size spacers and the alnico will fit. A few high output DiMarzio HB's have their ceramic magnets epoxied to the baseplate, and they're a mess to get off (you have to chisel). Other than that, ceramics are easy to remove.
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