L
Lewguitar
Guest
Just curious! I sent out about two dozen of these to guys on this board and haven't read a single comment about what differences they made in your tone. Thanks! Lew
STRATDELUXER97
Stratoblaster Tone Meister
I've been busy doing everything else buddy and just haven't had the chance? I think Doc Barlo has tryed the A4 out though...
John
John
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Thanks! Just read the report. What to say? Well, just this: the humbuckers that the a4 is normally used with are wound with the a4 magnet in mind and wound so that they compliment each other. Installing one in a pickup wound to work well with a differant magnet type may not give the same results. Also, setting up your amp to sound good with a pickup using an a2 magnet and then using that same setting to compare the same pickup with a a4 magnet might not be a fair test. I wonder what the results would be like if you plugged the a4 pickup in first and adjusted the amp to sound good with it and then plugged in a pickup with an a2 or a5 magnet but using the amp setting twaeked for the a4 magnet? My guess is that the a4 would sound better just because the amp settings are optimized to compliment it and not the a2 or a5 magnet pickup. All that said, most of my guitars have Duncan a2 or a5 humbucker pickups...only one has the Fralin a4 humbuckers in it, tho they do sound superb in that particular guitar, a Hamer USA Studio Archtop.
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Lew,
Ive posted in several related topics about my result.. I Love the C5 so much that I now have it in 3 of my guitars. In the RG and Strat is incredible! I dont know if it is the wood, or longer scale, but its perfect! In the Explorer I had to keep the pup so low to get full clarity that I was loosing power. I put the A4 in that one and now I have the pup way up near the strings and am getting my tube drive again, I have incredible individual string clarity. Even when hitting a power chord under full "Ultra" gain, I can play ind strings with the chord ringing and they cut thru! The differences between the A4 and C5 seem to be just alittle flatter eq curve and there is just a small bit of bass "rounded"off.. Nothing noticable, just NO MUD!! The C5 isnt muddy, dont get me wrong, but was just alil tempramental in the explorer.. Its perfect now!!!
Ive posted in several related topics about my result.. I Love the C5 so much that I now have it in 3 of my guitars. In the RG and Strat is incredible! I dont know if it is the wood, or longer scale, but its perfect! In the Explorer I had to keep the pup so low to get full clarity that I was loosing power. I put the A4 in that one and now I have the pup way up near the strings and am getting my tube drive again, I have incredible individual string clarity. Even when hitting a power chord under full "Ultra" gain, I can play ind strings with the chord ringing and they cut thru! The differences between the A4 and C5 seem to be just alittle flatter eq curve and there is just a small bit of bass "rounded"off.. Nothing noticable, just NO MUD!! The C5 isnt muddy, dont get me wrong, but was just alil tempramental in the explorer.. Its perfect now!!!
L
Lewguitar
Guest
BloodRose said:
That is almost exactly what I hear with my a4 humbuckers...a set of 7.75K/9.5K Fralin humbuckers: Better note separation and clearer bass than alnico 5. I don't hear them as being better or worse than a2 or a5 humbuckers...just less smear and better note separation. I like all the pickups in all of my guitars: a2 Seth Lovers, Antiquitys, Custom Customs; a5 59 Trembuckers; a2 Tom Holmes; a5 Harmonic Design and a4 Lindy Fralins. But as mentioned, most of my humbucker guitars have Duncans. Lew
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Lewguitar
Guest
I do have a few of the a4 magnets left if anyone else wants to try one. I won't be reordering them...just got them for the guys on this forum who were interested in checking them out. Email me if you need one. Lew
Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
I took one of my nickel covered C-5's, had rspct14 put one of the magnets he bought from Lew into it, then reinstalled the nickel cover, potted it lightly, and installed it into my Les Paul Std.
Prem Plus honeyflametop.
If you know the Custom 5, then the difference between that and the Custom 4 is this....
The Custom 5 has clear, tight lows, neutral mids, and sweet singing highs with almost as much of an open sound as vintage
PAF's.
The Custom 4 is very close in output, maybe the same, but it souded just a wee bit lower in volume.
The lows were still there but not quite as deep. Real NICE
lows, though. The mids are where the C-4 has the slight edge
on the C-5. The first thought that came to mind was "perfect!"
Not midrangey like a JB or CC, but very natural, and it may sound
strange, but very VOCAL. The highs sounded similar to the C-5
but a little tamer and woodier. Not quite as buttery as Alnico 2.
The sound of the Custom 4 is like taking the EQ curve of a C-5
and straightening it a bit. It possesses a little more "hair" than the C-5, making it closer to the Gibson pickup sound, but not as murky. I'm leaving it in that Les Paul because it does exactly
what I expected it to do. Sounds great, and I recommend it,
but it's not SO much better than the C-5 that I'd go around
telling people to do the magnet swap. It may be worth it to
some fans of Custom Duncans. I think that the Custom,
Custom 4 and Custom 5 are the best of the bunch.
I'd really like to see Duncan come out with a Custom Series
with Custom, Custom 2, Custom 3, Custom 4, and Custom 5.
Just change the name of the CC to C-2, and add two more pickups to the line. It'd be easier to tell people which direction to go, for the optimum sound in their guitar.
Prem Plus honeyflametop.
If you know the Custom 5, then the difference between that and the Custom 4 is this....
The Custom 5 has clear, tight lows, neutral mids, and sweet singing highs with almost as much of an open sound as vintage
PAF's.
The Custom 4 is very close in output, maybe the same, but it souded just a wee bit lower in volume.
The lows were still there but not quite as deep. Real NICE
lows, though. The mids are where the C-4 has the slight edge
on the C-5. The first thought that came to mind was "perfect!"
Not midrangey like a JB or CC, but very natural, and it may sound
strange, but very VOCAL. The highs sounded similar to the C-5
but a little tamer and woodier. Not quite as buttery as Alnico 2.
The sound of the Custom 4 is like taking the EQ curve of a C-5
and straightening it a bit. It possesses a little more "hair" than the C-5, making it closer to the Gibson pickup sound, but not as murky. I'm leaving it in that Les Paul because it does exactly
what I expected it to do. Sounds great, and I recommend it,
but it's not SO much better than the C-5 that I'd go around
telling people to do the magnet swap. It may be worth it to
some fans of Custom Duncans. I think that the Custom,
Custom 4 and Custom 5 are the best of the bunch.
I'd really like to see Duncan come out with a Custom Series
with Custom, Custom 2, Custom 3, Custom 4, and Custom 5.
Just change the name of the CC to C-2, and add two more pickups to the line. It'd be easier to tell people which direction to go, for the optimum sound in their guitar.
Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
Also, Lew is correct about the note separation being great on the
C-4. You'd better have flawless intonation, cause the chords ring
with superb clarity.
C-4. You'd better have flawless intonation, cause the chords ring
with superb clarity.
That friend of mine changed his plans. All that hurry was for nothing! Shoot! Am returning in mid-april I gotta wait till then.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Gearjoneser said:
Thanks! And that's why , at first, I thought the A4 humbucker was the best neck humbucker I'd ever owned. Now that I've had a chance to play Duncan Antiquitys and Seth Lovers, I think those are just as excellant in thier own way. Being a Tele guy, I've always felt that most neck humbuckers are just to blurry and wooly sounding for me to get the clarity from the neck pickup that I'm used to getting from my Tele and my Strats. But the 7.5K a4 neck humbucker has that clarity...tho over the passed couple of years I've learned that the a2 Seth Lover neck and a2 Antiquity neck do too.
The a5 Jazz neck is also excellant but is still a little bassier than I need it to be. LewSimilar threads
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