Green Magic vs. APH-1b vs. Pearly Gates

[Teleplayer]

I received a "Green Magic" bridge humbucker. The tone seems reasonably balanced and it has some mids. I'm pretty happy with it.

The resistance measures around 8.25 ~ 8.3k which is less than the published spec.

Has anyone has compared the Greem Magic to other A2 humbuckers such as APH-1b and Pearl Gates? Which of the three do you think has the highest output?

[Mincer]

To my ears, the output to all 3 are really close. There is an EQ difference, though, and a bump in particular frequencies might make one seem louder than the others depending on your ears.

[Teleplayer]

I used the APH-1b before and I’m pretty sure it was brighter, but with leaner mids than the Green Magic. To me the APH-1b has a very clean and clear tone, where the Green Magic seems to have a bit more character. That’s my only point of reference. I never tried the Pearly Gates.

[freefrog]

Never tried the Green Magic but in my data and aural memory, the APH1 has more bass (a more even response) and a touch of smooth glassiness absent with a PG, which is raunchier sounding with a pointier resonant peak (a higher Q factor, making it more focused in the high mids).
In my mind, they illustrate rather clearly what one can obtain from poly insulated wire (for APH) VS plain enamel (for PG). YMMV.

Also: don't focus too much on DCR, it has not necessarily much to do with output. What counts is the number of turns and the related inductance: a same number of turns of slightly thicker wire will give a lower DCR without implying a lower inductance. And inductance gives a reliable idea of output voltage in most cases, albeit another major factor of the output equation is the charge of the magnet, of course... :-)

EDIT - My archives rank the APH1b and PG1b at 4.67H (or 4.8H) and 4.6H respectively when it comes to inductance. DCR= 8.3k and 8.13k. Very close. But without remembering if I had measured the magnetic flux or not, I recall of the PG has having a more powerful A2. HTH.

[Mincer]

See, I'd describe the APH as warm and buttery, the Pearlies have more highs than mids and lows, and the Greenies are scooped, like good PAFs.

[beaubrummels]

Hmm. IME APH has a wide mid hump across it and not so much bass and very soft top end. PG is brighter and tighter and doesn't really sound like an A2 pickup to me, IME. Haven't used Green Magic yet. I assumed it was just an Antiquity with a flipped mag in the neck, but I won't know till I try them.

[freefrog]

In my humble and respectful opinion, subjective experiences necessarily differ according to the rig used, settings, playing, ears... That's precisely why I've started to keep note of measured specs a few decades ago.


Anecdotically, let's share again a zoom on the electrically induced resonant peak of an APH1 vs a PG - selected as having the same measured DCR in this case, although there were variations between pickups of the same models.
In this case, both were resonating at very close frequencies, but the PG did exhibit the narrower peak (higher Q factor) evoked in my previous post. This single character can explain most of the feelings expressed above, IMO: the wider resonance of an APH naturally favors tonal features as those mentioned by fellow members and me, beyond superficial differences due to playing situations. YMMV. :-)

[Teleplayer]

My recollection of APH-1b was a fairly bright top-end, but smoothness in the upper mids. Definitely can have a glassy tone. It has some squishy-bass and lower mids that people seem to attribute to A2 magnets. Obviously it's been used for lead tones with the right player and using a wah-wah pedal. That's very well known.

Still I'm a bit unclear about differences with the Pearly Gates. One thing is the Green Magic has unbalanced coils. The slug coil was 4.07k, and the screw coil 4.19k. However it might measure higher resistance on a warm day. Does the Pearly Gates have balanced coils?

[freefrog]

My recollection of APH-1b was a fairly bright top-end, but smoothness in the upper mids. Definitely can have a glassy tone. It has some squishy-bass and lower mids that people seem to attribute to A2 magnets. Obviously it's been used for lead tones with the right player and using a wah-wah pedal. That's very well known.

Still I'm a bit unclear about differences with the Pearly Gates. One thing is the Green Magic has unbalanced coils. The slug coil was 4.07k, and the screw coil 4.19k. However it might measure higher resistance on a warm day. Does the Pearly Gates have balanced coils?

The 8.13k model mentioned in my two posts had a coil measuring 4.14k and the other, 3.99k. But these 150 Ohm of difference (=3.5%) or the gap of 120 Ohm that you mention about the Green Magic don't make unbalanced coils IME and in my mind... A Fralin unbucker is meant to measure 4.5k and 3k, for comparison: that's 1500 Ohm of difference, not 150 or 120...
Anyway, the simple fact to mount a 4-conductors cable on a pickup makes its coils capacitely unbalanced - and paradoxically, so, these coils would have to be unbalanced in the other direction in order to make the whole 4-conductors PU balanced (not even kidding)...

Last but not least, if a Peter Green set differs from a normal pair of humbuckers, it's because both PU's are OOP with each other and in many cases, because the NECK pickup is wound with formvar insulated wire (just like in Greenie): the bridge pickup in itself is not supposed to have anything special compared to other P.A.F. clones.

To put things in perspective, here are the specs that I've measured on a set of Bare Knuckle PG: bridge= 7.97k and 4.6H (indeed, this inductance is common with P.A.F. replicas). PG neck = 7.36k and 3.86H.

FWIW. HTH. :-)