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Well, after being unhappy with my Hyperions and their thin, weak edginess (mostly the bridge), I swapped both magnets to roughcast A4's. MY GOD a neck Hyperion sounds amazing with an A4 magnet: really delicate, dynamic, blues-y, and toothy. But...lol...it was sounding a bit too LP-like, and I wanted to put the "strat" back in my superstrat. I ordered a roughcast A5 magnet from AddictionFX, hoping to get some of the scooped-mid brightness back, but maybe a bit less hard-sounding than stock. The bridge Hyperion with an A4 magnet sounded very retro (almost tele-like on the bottom strings), but very weak compared to the neck, so I ordered an A6 magnet to try, hoping for some mids and an output-boost.
First of all: I now get what people mean when they say where magnets come from can be as big a change as the type of magnet. The RCA5 sounded nothing like the stock Duncan polished A5. For one thing, it stuck to my fridge with more power than a ceramic I had on hand (I'd have suspected that maybe it was the wrong magnet, except the A6 was even stronger). Damn AddictionFX magnets have some serious gauss to them. Secondly: it's now a little less bright than the A4 was, though it's (a little) more scooped, and I definitely can dial-in some fat fat strattiness now. To be honest: if I heard it blindfolded, I'd guess it was a Dimarzio, and not a Duncan. Not bad, in any way, but fuller and a bit hotter sounding.
The A6 Hyperion bridge is an entirely different beast than before: tons of mids and harmonics, but still not too much compression. It's not vintage-sounding at all, but genuinely sounds like a modern medium-output humbucker (as opposed to its original thin, weak, single-coil-sounding rubbish--I really wish I had a multimeter to check if it was underwound).
Anyways, I'm happy with the swaps, and just wanted to put this out there for anyone who might have similar misgivings about their Hyperions, and want to hear how other magnets have worked, or not. I know a few people (I think Nagisa was one) had great luck with A8's in the bridge, but I was worried it might be a bit too bassy and hot.
Cheers.
First of all: I now get what people mean when they say where magnets come from can be as big a change as the type of magnet. The RCA5 sounded nothing like the stock Duncan polished A5. For one thing, it stuck to my fridge with more power than a ceramic I had on hand (I'd have suspected that maybe it was the wrong magnet, except the A6 was even stronger). Damn AddictionFX magnets have some serious gauss to them. Secondly: it's now a little less bright than the A4 was, though it's (a little) more scooped, and I definitely can dial-in some fat fat strattiness now. To be honest: if I heard it blindfolded, I'd guess it was a Dimarzio, and not a Duncan. Not bad, in any way, but fuller and a bit hotter sounding.
The A6 Hyperion bridge is an entirely different beast than before: tons of mids and harmonics, but still not too much compression. It's not vintage-sounding at all, but genuinely sounds like a modern medium-output humbucker (as opposed to its original thin, weak, single-coil-sounding rubbish--I really wish I had a multimeter to check if it was underwound).
Anyways, I'm happy with the swaps, and just wanted to put this out there for anyone who might have similar misgivings about their Hyperions, and want to hear how other magnets have worked, or not. I know a few people (I think Nagisa was one) had great luck with A8's in the bridge, but I was worried it might be a bit too bassy and hot.
Cheers.
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