Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

[frankfalbo]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

Yeah or if you do, you pull it in a 180° direction. You don't pull it off "out" like perpendicular to the coil. You can be pressing down on the area right behind it as you go, too.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

gotcha, thanks for the tip. i only have a tb5, tb2 and a patb3. i knew the tb5 had the copper but didnt look at the tb2.

 

[esandes]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

So much good info. The PG and slash share more things in common than the A2P in terms of wiring and magnet "conditioning". Yet they sound so different.

As a rule of thumb you'd think a rough cast bridge A2 would help offset excess treble and a polished neck A2 would help offset the inherently richer bass in the neck position.

Furthermore you'd think mismatched coils in the neck would open up the treble a bit. Cut out the mud so typical of neck pickups and provide more definition.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

Might be time to ask MJ to chime in on the CS magnet issue. It sounds like Lew has found a pattern with the rough cast magnets and MJ has flat out told me that she prefers to use rough cast magnets. But Jeremy is saying he keeps finding polished magnets.

Here's what I REALLY want to know. Like OCD bad.
Have you ever had the magnet out? I had a TBPG from that era, and I always felt something was a little off about it. Throughout the 90/00's I even told a couple people that it sounded like it had an Alnico V in it. After I started at Duncan, I brought it in, and had a big reveal, and sure enough, it was an Alnico V magnet inside! It's still undetermined how it happened, whether it was a mistake, a one-off...but it did not appear to be a magnet swap. It was made that way. I've always wanted to see if there are others in the wild made that way. Can you look to see if the magnet has a blue marker line on it or a black marker line?

That's trippy. What are the chances of a random alnico 5 making in to an alnico 2 pickup?

Wasn't the PG Plus an A5 version?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

yes but the pg+ was regular spaced

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

yes but the pg+ was regular spaced

Weren't those exclusive to a Fat Strat, or something? Weird they'd be regular spaced.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Alnico 2 humbucker comparison between PG, 78 and Slash

What are the subtle differences between these?

In particular, what are the clean sounding differences in sustain, top end edge, harmonics, chord bloom, clarity and balance?

I've had my '78 and PG in the same Les Paul and SG (I don't have the Slash).

IME... These first 3 are mostly controlled by the choice of amp and how it's set; gain, EQ, (and if tube) tube manufacturer, bias, rectifier

• sustain
• harmonics (pickup can matter here too)
• chord bloom

And these are affected significantly by the pickup construction, and speaker

• top end edge
• clarity (amp can matter here too)
• balance

The '78 is like having a thin, bright pickup with the top end softened/sweetened a bit and the bass rolled off notably.
The PG is like having a beefy, thumpy, chunky but pleasantly scooped pickup with some chime or top end to play with.

Hard to believe they are both A2 pickups.

PG sounds like what folks often wish a JB would sound like when rolled off a bit. I find going the other way and boosting a PG while rolling the tone off gives me much of what I would need a JB for, though there is no substitute for a good-sounding JB for what it does and how it mixes with certain other pickups.

'78 is something unique. Sonically has a foot in the 59/Custom odd-coil territory (but with the bottom end rolled off) and can have a slight Fendery spank that Seths and old PAFs sometimes have.

From full/dark to thin/bright, I would say PG > 59 > WLH > 59/Custom > '78

But note the tonal shift from pickup to pickup, while noticeable and affects playability for certain styles or songs, still the shift is not as dramatic as it might seem when written with words. It's just that last, satisfying 1-5% of change in the EQ that makes a guitar your #1 and pleasant to play so that you don't want to put it down.

That's just my experience between my Les Paul Studio and my SG Standard anyway. YMMV

 

[esandes]

6 years later...what a thread!

There isn't much Slash context here yet so I'm hoping there's more experience to share now.

Between the 78 and Slash, which is more scooped? I prefer to keep the mids.

Does the 78 indeed have a polished mag? When I started this thread, Seymour wound the 78. Now that the 78 is a regular production model, does he still wind them?

This would be the guitar I plan to use the 78 set or Slash set in..
https://www.jacksonguitars.com/en/gu...803156888.html

It's a body mounted pickup. I don't know the string spacing (trembucker or not). Might just leave it to my tech to figure out.

 

[beaubrummels]

I have a Slash bridge now and I can say, compared to the 78 and PG in my LP and SGs, mine has straight across mids, no scoop. It's a steel-toed kick in the face rock pickup. And not a mid-hump like you would expect from an A2 type - it's fairly flat across, very even. Maybe a slight mid curve to it. It has a very plain character, however, so amp and host guitar will make a difference.

Jacksons with Floyds are trem-spaced. But I'm using a standard Custom in mine and it works but I had to raise the outside screws to make it sound even string to string.

 

[EmiAba]

Yes great thread so far, full of tips. Sometimes I miss ltKojak deep knowledge, not his sarcasm though. I've had a couple of tough discussions with him, but there's no denying that he knows things (like many other forumites here since the beginning)

 

[Mincer]

The 78 sounds more scooped to me than the Slash.