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warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

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  • warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

    Hi, first time poster here. It's been a long time since I've bought an aftermarket pickup and thought I might reach out for suggestions. I have an Ibanez AS73 (semi-hollow, maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, two humbuckers, stop tailpiece) that I love, but I'd like to replace the neck pickup. It's very warm and rich, which I love, but the low end is very boomy. I've lowered the pickup's height significantly, but the boomy, overwhelming low frequencies are still there. When I turn down the bass knob on my amp to satisfaction, then the bridge humbucker's bass is too attenuated. I've also increased the bridge humbucker's height to compensate, but can't seem to find a good balance, so I thought maybe I should replace the neck humbucker.

    It's my only guitar with humbuckers, so I do want to still have a warm, rich sound with pleasant midrange frequencies, but ideally with enough clarity in the treble frequencies that I can get a crisp attack with my tone knob wide open. The Ibanez Wiki says that the stock pickups are Classic Elites, which are ceramic and have 9.5K (neck) / 11.0K (bridge) DC resistance. I'm happy with the stock bridge humbucker, and I wouldn't mind at all if the neck pickup replacement is lower in output than it--I mostly use the neck humbucker for clean to lightly breaking up sounds you might associate with jazz and blues, and occasionally switch to the bridge humbucker when I use saturated, sustained tone. I do use the middle position as well, if that makes a difference.

    What might you recommend for this scenario?

  • #2
    Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

    Seth Lover or Alnico II Pro is what I would go with.

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    • #3
      Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

      Welcome to the forum!

      If lowering and EQ-ing doesn't work, and you want to explore pickup options, you might look at the Antiquity and the Jazz. The Antiquity sounds great in the neck of a semi-hollow, but if you use a lot of preamp gain and/or volume, go for the jazz.
      Administrator of the SDUGF

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      • #4
        Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

        Thank you both for the recommendations! I listened to some clips on my good headphones and the two I liked best were the Antiquity and the Seth Lover, leaning closer to the latter because I like to let things age on their own.

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        • #5
          Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

          Originally posted by Sleve McDichael View Post
          Thank you both for the recommendations! I listened to some clips on my good headphones and the two I liked best were the Antiquity and the Seth Lover, leaning closer to the latter because I like to let things age on their own.
          You can't go wrong with either. Both are amazingly touch-sensitive, which is wonderful if your style depends on that.
          Administrator of the SDUGF

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          • #6
            Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

            I've never tried a Seth Lover, but have never heard someone say a bad thing about them; they seem almost universally recognized as a great pickup.


            Larry

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            • #7
              Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

              Try replacing the magnet with an A4. Less hassle than a full pickup replacement, especially on a semi hollow body

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              • #8
                Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                I immediately think of a Seth Lover or Antiquity. The Jazz can be a bit shrill at times, the '59N can be a bit jangly in the top end/upper mids and boomy in the low, the pearly and a2pro can be a bit smushy and too fat or 'brown'. Saturday night and Whole Lotta Humbucker are imho great too but can be a bit too liquidy and syrupy since they are overwound.

                If it has to be warm yet clear, rounded but not boomy: Seth Lover and Antiquity. The Antiquity is perhaps my favorite PAF style pickup ever.

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                • #9
                  Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                  Trying various PU's on an AS73, I've got equally good results with three sets of P.A.F. replicas. The ones which stayed were some 2d hand boutique PU's, long A2 neck / short A5 bridge... (7.3k and 8.5k respectively) but any pair of unpotted P.A.F. clones should do the job as long as it exhibits not too high DCR & not too much gaussing.

                  So, I agree about SL or Ants as being the best choices in the current Duncan line.

                  That said: if you want tighter bass, consider the hardware... An aluminium stop bar might be interesting here.
                  The AS73 that I've modded kept its stock stop bar but received a new Gotoh bridge, made of a different alloy and more precisely machined. The notes got less blury and the bass got less muddy.

                  Last but not least: the stock neck pickup of an AS73 sounds decent with an AlNiCo bar AND without cover. Your boomy bass are partly due to the ceramic magnet being too gaussed (and partly to the cheap cover which is not magnetically transparent at all; I had forgotten this fact).

                  Good luck in your tone quest...


                  EDIT - Here are the specs of the "CH" pickups mounted in Ibanez AS73's:
                  -Bridge: 15.4k and 7.8H of inductance (= exactly the same inductance than a SH4);
                  -Neck: 8.4k and 4.1H (= roughly the main specs of a typical P.A.F. clone).

                  Both with the usual features of such OEM humbuckers: ceramic mags, potted coils, brass baseplates and... really bad covers. the simple fact to pull off these covers already improves the sound drastically. But it forces to clean up the pickups since they are sealed in their covers with tons of wax...
                  Last edited by freefrog; 02-17-2020, 09:20 AM.
                  Duncan user since the 80's...

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                  • #10
                    Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                    Originally posted by chadd View Post
                    Try replacing the magnet with an A4. Less hassle than a full pickup replacement, especially on a semi hollow body
                    This was going to be my suggestion as well. It's likely that the stock pickup is an A5 magnet, so the A4 would tone town the bass fairly well. That said, Seths and Ants are excellent neck pickups, and you certainly can't go wrong there. The magnet swap is only $5 though, and it takes less than 10 minutes.

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                    • #11
                      Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                      Wow you guys really know your stuff! Thank you very much. The idea of DIYing a little to save a few bucks does appeal to me. I just watched a Youtube thing on how to remove the cover and change the magnet and it seems manageable. I'll spend a little time to consider whether I want to give that a shot or just buy the Seth Lover, since it has such a great reputation. If I go the DIY route, is it worth doing the same to the bridge so that they match better? Likewise, is it worth getting a matched set of Seth Lovers, or is that more a solution in search of a problem?

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                      • #12
                        Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                        Originally posted by JOLLY View Post
                        Seth Lover

                        yes

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                        • #13
                          Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                          Have you tried lowering the screws on the E and A strings, maybe D also? It removed that "bassy" sound from my Gibson '61 pickups.
                          My E and A screws are really low now but the sound is balanced with other strings.

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                          • #14
                            Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                            Originally posted by Sleve McDichael View Post
                            Wow you guys really know your stuff! Thank you very much. The idea of DIYing a little to save a few bucks does appeal to me. I just watched a Youtube thing on how to remove the cover and change the magnet and it seems manageable. I'll spend a little time to consider whether I want to give that a shot or just buy the Seth Lover, since it has such a great reputation. If I go the DIY route, is it worth doing the same to the bridge so that they match better? Likewise, is it worth getting a matched set of Seth Lovers, or is that more a solution in search of a problem?
                            Seth Lover's are my favourite current Duncan HB's so I won't go against this idea... :-)

                            Regarding the equilibrium between pickups: as suggested in my previous post, your current Ibanez CH pickups are more or less an equivalent of the Duncan JBJZ set, with ceramic mags... and with really bad covers. The same stock Ibanez pickups with AlNiCo mags and exposed coils should already sound a lot better (although the "bad" cover is somehow a benefit for the bridge PU, since it tames a bit its power and high range).

                            covered or not, a set of Seth's would be globally brighter/tighter and clearer, although still warm.

                            Good luck again in your quest.
                            Duncan user since the 80's...

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                            • #15
                              Re: warm but not boomy neck humbucker?

                              Originally posted by Sleve McDichael View Post
                              Wow you guys really know your stuff! Thank you very much. The idea of DIYing a little to save a few bucks does appeal to me. I just watched a Youtube thing on how to remove the cover and change the magnet and it seems manageable. I'll spend a little time to consider whether I want to give that a shot or just buy the Seth Lover, since it has such a great reputation. If I go the DIY route, is it worth doing the same to the bridge so that they match better? Likewise, is it worth getting a matched set of Seth Lovers, or is that more a solution in search of a problem?
                              You said that You're happy with the bridge pickup, so no need to make the change at this point. Given the drastic difference between the Seth bridge and your current bridge pickup, I would be surprised if you were happy with it. I'm also usually the last person to suggest magnet swaps, but you want less bass and lower output and that's exactly what the magnet swap will give you.

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