Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

[Bo-Hawk]

So I got an Alternative 8 in My SG and I am finding it to be a bit aggressive on the high end and upper mids.

The original Gibson pickups were just too thin and I had EMG 85s in there with a mild improvement. I love how thick sounding the Alternative 8 is, especially when clean, but the high end is extreme when compared to my other guitars

I was wondering if anyone has tried magnet swapping and how the results turned out. Perhaps an A4 magnet?


Gibson SG Faded
Alternative 8 in Bridge
Seymourizer in Neck (Duncan Distortion neck with A5 Magnet)
EMG SPC Mid Booster
GHS Big Core Nickel Rockers (My personal set 8.5 to 42)
Ibanez Tube Screamer
JCM 800 4104 50W Combo w/ 2x12 Extension Cab

 

[Despair]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

A4 varies a bit with pickups/ears, as far as how they hear it compared to A8. Might help, might be worse. Will certainly drop output. Maybe roughcast A4?

Unoriented A5, Roughcast unoriented A5, and A2 might be next things to try, in order of decreasing brightness and output.

I haven't heard much discussion of magnet swaps with the Alternative 8, other than I think ceramic and standard polished A5 were considered wildly worse by the first few who tried magnet swaps.

 

[Bo-Hawk]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I haven't heard much discussion of magnet swaps with the Alternative 8, other than I think ceramic and standard polished A5 were considered wildly worse by the first few who tried magnet swaps.

I read that too and I don't want to scoop out the mids or make it any brighter. And I have no problem losing a little output since the Alt8 is very hot to begin with.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I'm not sure about the pickup, but an A8 mag is typically lower mids into bass that is boosted.
Upper mids and treble will be tone controls, vol pot value and amp contols being more useful IME. Your complaint is more in line with what vintage pickup users have to deal with.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

A4 good Neck characteristics for me . in the right ax would be cool for bridge too ~ Sg may be one with that Mahogany ( haven't heard one

 

[EmiAba]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

i'm trying to figure out why you put the Alt8 into your guitar. It's huge change from a gibson pickup (490T, burst bucker pro?) to the Alt8. Different DCR, huge magnet field, too different EQ. I mean the Alt8 has a well defined range of sound. Quoting directly from the duncan website "The result is a huge, punchy, high-output sound that doesn’t get fizzy, and cuts through without sounding harsh" and that is what it really is whichever guitar you load with. IMHO it's one of few pickups you know how it could work even before installation because its peculiar character. It's not a pickup for everyone. I haven't heard magnet swaps with the Alt8 because the Alt8 seems to be not so receptive (that is my thought obviously not a dogma). Maybe someone has managed to get a good result. A regular custom should be a good replacement

 

[Demanic]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I would consider making use of the tone knob first.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Bo-Hawk]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I'm not sure about the pickup, but an A8 mag is typically lower mids into bass that is boosted.
Upper mids and treble will be tone controls, vol pot value and amp contols being more useful IME. Your complaint is more in line with what vintage pickup users have to deal with.

I think my description needs clarification. When compared to my 7 other electrics, this one is very bright on the high end, but its got a lot of lows and mids and its thick. Perhaps I am misstating brightness with it being overly aggressive and a lot of cut in it.

 

[elelpe]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

Alt8 does have more presence - hence boosted upper mid and high frequencies - that makes it wilder/raspier or sound aggressive to you. I won't say it's harsh though. It's an excellent high gain pickup that offers wide and balanced tonal pallete. Just find how to sculpt it accordingly to your musical need. I'd recommend an EQ pedal to tame frequencies that you don't favor.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I think my description needs clarification. When compared to my 7 other electrics, this one is very bright on the high end, but its got a lot of lows and mids and its thick. Perhaps I am misstating brightness with it being overly aggressive and a lot of cut in it.

What other guitars and pickups do you have???
If the rest of them are quite different in nature then it is to be expected that an amp setting good for the rest might be just wrong for the 'odd one out'

 

[jeremy]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

i tend not to like alnico 8 magnets. always seems really aggressive to me which i dont usually want. i like certain aspects of it and if i played heavy music i bet id like it a lot more

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

You could also change some of its high end character by using a small capacitor across the volume pot to ground. This will shift its resonance frequency. You can try anything from 220pf - .001uf to see if you like the result. you would affect both pickups so you would want to mount the cap on the switch instead if you like the result.

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

I would consider making use of the tone knob first.

if I were Bo-Hawk I may give that a shot to find the Correct value of Cap ( I'm not married to Any Cap in ANY ax ) It could certainly be a cheaper fix with less Hassle , U just cant accidently bump the setting if playing a High pressure gig . That would be the 1 reason I may not like that Route . Joey V. may have a decent idea on the fixed Cap ( with the Correct Value ) U can just clip + try zillions of V's .

do You have .5 meg pots in the SG ?

 

[Bo-Hawk]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

if I were Bo-Hawk I may give that a shot to find the Correct value of Cap ( I'm not married to Any Cap in ANY ax ) It could certainly be a cheaper fix with less Hassle , U just cant accidently bump the setting if playing a High pressure gig . That would be the 1 reason I may not like that Route . Joey V. may have a decent idea on the fixed Cap ( with the Correct Value ) U can just clip + try zillions of V's .

do You have .5 meg pots in the SG ?

500K pots with treble bypasses on the volume control (100pF) (the Active mid booster is 25K)
I use a single 0.012uF Paper in Oil tone cap which I find sufficient enough for me. I typically don't like going heavy on the tone control to begin with. I tried tone caps from the hot lead of the pickup to ground and it started to sound like I had a wah pedal engaged. May have to put a resistor in series to tame it.

Or I can go with a rough cast A8.

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

500K pots with treble bypasses on the volume control (100pF) (the Active mid booster is 25K)
I use a single 0.012uF Paper in Oil tone cap which I find sufficient enough for me. I typically don't like going heavy on the tone control to begin with. I tried tone caps from the hot lead of the pickup to ground and it started to sound like I had a wah pedal engaged. May have to put a resistor in series to tame it.

Or I can go with a rough cast A8.

Ha! Yeah, that's because that's exactly what a wah pedal is, a shifting resonance frequency. You may need to try a bunch of different values to find one that works best. You can also always put a pot in series with it like a standard tone control to find the value of series resistance you like.

Fwiw you can also actively sweep this frequency but it would require an opamp and a power supply, so I'm not sure if you want to go that far. Another option for a more subtle shift would be to swap base plates to a brass one, or resort to using some of dimarzio's tricks to sculpt the tone further, if you use a ferromagnetic material instead of plastic for a spacer, or both, you can increase the coil(s) inductance and shift it frequency response. Im assuming of course you tried the bare basic of changing that pickups volume control to 250ka to reduce the peakiness

 

[Bo-Hawk]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

Ha! Yeah, that's because that's exactly what a wah pedal is, a shifting resonance frequency. You may need to try a bunch of different values to find one that works best. You can also always put a pot in series with it like a standard tone control to find the value of series resistance you like.

Fwiw you can also actively sweep this frequency but it would require an opamp and a power supply, so I'm not sure if you want to go that far. Another option for a more subtle shift would be to swap base plates to a brass one, or resort to using some of dimarzio's tricks to sculpt the tone further. Assuming of course you tried the bare basic of changing that pickups volume control to 250ka

Another idea I have is to use a larger tone cap with a resistor in series and a 250K tone pot. This way it will increase the frequency range it will operate at but give me more fine tuning I am looking for with a tone control, and with it on 10, I will still get some needed treble bleeding

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

You have almost too many options at your disposal.

 

[Bo-Hawk]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

You have almost too many options at your disposal.

So I did something a little different, apparently tuning down 1/2 step did the trick. I'm thinking the slightly less tension of the strings hit a different resonating frequency and made it sound better IMO.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

Whatever works.
The Alternative 8 is close to what I consider a perfect pickup.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Alternative 8 Magnet Swapping

To me is the Alt8 also a near to perfect bridge pup for certain sounds. Since i got one in my Les Paul i will do some tweaks today. First pickup height is a big factor to get more highs, aggressivness and volume. So set the pickup some screw turns lower. Second i learned in the forum to play with knob settings. The bridge volume knob lets you soften the sound and equalize it to the neck while turning down. Maybe you have to clip the the treble bypass cap at your volume knob.