Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

I'm a huge fan of the custom...at least in my Les Pauls. Nothing wrong with A2pros but the custom's just perfect for my style and, contrary to what most people think in relation to the ceramic mag, it's pretty versatile.

-Great cleans with a little volume roll-off and responds nicely to variations on the tone-pot.

-Very nice distorted sound due to the higher output but without being over the top.

Pretty much anything I need and want in a bridge pick-up.

My second favorite in the bridge slot's a tougher fight between the '59 and the PG though...
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

Both are great, but quite different indeed. The Custom has lots of output and meat, it's fat, but it's also clear (considering the output). The best thing about it is that its description is dead-on...PAF with high output. The cleans aren't the best of course, but that pickup, under distortion, sounds like a fat, clear, tight PAF that could work just as well for some dirty blues and classic rock as it could metal. Great pickup.

Alnico 2 pro is more of a true PAF. All the versatility is there, cleans shimmer and dirt is raunchy and detailed. I would say it would probably work for everything short of Grindcore or Death. Slash has loved it for a good 20+ years now, so you know it can rock.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

Koro: I never felt that the cleans I got from the custom were bad at all... IMHO, the output is still low enough that good cleans could be had with just a little bit of adjustment on the amp or a tiny bit of roll-off on the volume pot.

Of course, I'm not implying that they're buttery as the AII can get you but still.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

I used to use the A2P in a Les Paul and I liked it a lot. My tastes just changed and I like to have the same pickups in all my guitars so that's really the only reason why I don't use it anymore.

I could play anything with them but that's because I had an amp with a lot of gain on tap though.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

I used to have the A2P set in my LP, but like then I discovered I liked hotter pickups in the bridge. Im now running a "doug aldrich" custom pickup from john suhr in the bridge and still have the A2P in the neck.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

Custom cleans or okay, especially if you split it. But let's be honest, it's not an actualy PAF. Of course you'll get better cleans from an APH-1 or Seth.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

Yeah I got really good cleans from the A2P. It's not really mid heavy and is pretty bright sounding while being round.
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

I've never warmed up to the Custom, and have never kept one in a guitar for more than a few hours. OTOH, depending on the guitar's inherent tone, the A2P figthts it out with the Pearly, Seth and Ant for the bridge spot in my Les Pauls. The catch is, any of those three that I use has to be very hot-wound. Otherwise I find them too low-output to mate with their neck counterpart, and waaay to trebly. (I sure wish Seymour would add an extra .3 or .4 K-ohms worth of winding to those bridge versions.

So for me it's an A2P over the Custom, hands-down.
 
Last edited:
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

i've never warmed up to the custom, and have never kept one in a guitar for more than a few hours. Otoh, depending on the guitar's inherent tone, the a2p figthts it out with the pearly, seth and ant for the bridge spot in my les pauls. The catch is, any of those three that i use has to be very hot-wound. Otherwise i find them too low-output to mate with their neck counterpart, and waaay to trebly. (i sure wish seymour would add an extra .3 or .4 k-ohms worth of winding to those bridge versions.

So for me it's an a2p over the custom, hands-down.

+1
 
Re: Alinco II Pro or Sh-5 in the Bridge of a Les Paul?

If there were ever a hole I saw in the Duncan line, it would be overwound vintage spec humbuckers, rather than the jump straight to high output.

They've done it quite successfully with their singles, but not the humbuckers. That's my 2 cents or +1.
 
Back
Top