Are people still using UOA5s, or have they fallen out of fashion

S

SweetClyde99

New member
I have a couple of UOA5s on the way—one to try in a Custom 8 and the other to try in a PATB-1 if I like it in the Custom 8–and I have been reading up on them a lot. There are a lot of rave reviews of them out there, but most are from years ago, when they first became available to forum members to tinker with. I’m just wondering if people are still happy with them and not talking about much anymore because they’re sort of a given at this point or if the honeymoon period is over and most folks have moved back to good ol’ A5s and A2s.
 
As far as magnets go, I think a lot of people still use them. We have discussed them a lot over the years here, which might be why we don't hear a ton about them on this particular forum right now.
 
I am a massive fan of the Rough Cast, Un-Oriented A5. I LOVE this magnet in any Duncan ‘Custom’ wind (Custom, CC, C5, C8)
I have yet to try this magnet in any pickup and ended up swapping the original magnet back in. It feels like it has more ‘power’ than a standard polished / oriented A2 while still retaining the overall A2 tonal spectrum. A little more oomph, a little tighter low end, and everything else we all love about the A2 basically unchanged.

FWIW - try the RCUOA5 in any of Jalen’s offerings: Franky, ‘78, you will not be disappointed.
 
I've tried RCUOA5. Was too soft on the top for me in the bridge position. But did serve as an A5/A2 character pickup that played well with A2s in the neck. My WLH have RCA5 and they are stellar - stayed in my SG for over a year. Need to try UOA5. I've been trying to make the same kind of music and generally the same sounds for many years, so mag types and pickups don't go out of fashion, I just rotate as I'm trying different things to make the same sound. (e.g. sometimes using a different amp requires mods to the guitar to get back to the same sound.)
 
I found a couple of pickups over the years that I liked better with UOA5, but those were pickups I did not end up sticking with overall anyway, so I don't have UOA5 in anything right now.
 
beaubrummels said:
I've tried RCUOA5. Was too soft on the top for me in the bridge position. But did serve as an A5/A2 character pickup that played well with A2s in the neck. My WLH have RCA5 and they are stellar - stayed in my SG for over a year. Need to try UOA5. I've been trying to make the same kind of music and generally the same sounds for many years, so mag types and pickups don't go out of fashion, I just rotate as I'm trying different things to make the same sound. (e.g. sometimes using a different amp requires mods to the guitar to get back to the same sound.)
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Interesting. I don’t think I’ve seen UOA5s for sale that weren’t rough. The ones I have coming in definitely looked rough from the photos.

I definitely get what you mean about swapping gear again and again just to end up with essentially the same sound.
 
My favorite swap option for in place of A5. Mellows harshness and enriches the mids.
Loosens up the overall feel a bit too, especially in the lows.

Some have said they hear an odd harmonic character in UA5.
Might not be ideal for an already warm-sounding pickup either.

But for me it's been an improvement over A5 every time: 59B, 59N, Custom5, Perpetual Burn.
Recently got a double thick UA5 to try in place of the thick ceramic inside an overly bright SH-7 bridge.
 
I still have an RCUOA5 JB in the bridge position of my Blackjack.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
SweetClyde99 said:
Interesting. I don’t think I’ve seen UOA5s for sale that weren’t rough. The ones I have coming in definitely looked rough from the photos.
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Could be. The place I order from doesn't say and the ones I bought were roughcast. I thought I had to specify rough or polish. Maybe rough is all there is. In that case, I'm done!
 
eclecticsynergy said:
My favorite swap option for in place of A5. Mellows harshness and enriches the mids.
Loosens up the overall feel a bit too, especially in the lows.

Some have said they hear an odd harmonic character in UA5.
Might not be ideal for an already warm-sounding pickup either.

But for me it's been an improvement over A5 every time: 59B, 59N, Custom5, Perpetual Burn.
Recently got a double thick UA5 to try in place of the thick ceramic inside an overly bright SH-7 bridge.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I think I’m hearing some of those odd harmonics in my Custom UOA5. I play with a lot of gain, which tends to exaggerate these things. I’m liking the UOA5 better in my PATB-1 so far, but there’s still a slight sort of nasal, cocked wah quality to it. I’ll spend some time playing them through my other gear before I form any hard opinions though.
 
SweetClyde99 said:
Hmm. I think I’m hearing some of those odd harmonics in my Custom UOA5. I play with a lot of gain, which tends to exaggerate these things. I’m liking the UOA5 better in my PATB-1 so far, but there’s still a slight sort of nasal, cocked wah quality to it. I’ll spend some time playing them through my other gear before I form any hard opinions though.
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IME they definitely have softer highs than a regular A5. That can make the upper mids seem a lot more prominent. Maybe that accounts for the odd tone some hear after swaps to UA5. There are players who - especially in conjunction with PAF types - prefer a very small tone cap which rolls off only the highest highs, leaving the mids essentially untouched. I've heard several say that when backed off all the way this gives them an almost cocked-wah type of sound.

Here's a quote (it's from one of the guitar forums; wish I'd archived the source):
I do that with PAFs in most guitars as I find them too bright unless the guitar is naturally dark. I always do the .001uf tone control on the bridge and roll it down on a PAF, regardless of whether I use a 250k or 500k pot.
The .001uf is 1/22 the size of a standard tone cap. It rolls off the "harsh", giving a perceived midrange boost, but doesn't lose cut or articulation like a larger cap will. Try it, you'll hear some classic rock tones where you probably always thought it was a 'cocked wah' or something. You don't get that overwhelming low/low-mid thing like with higher output pickups, which can sometimes be annoying.
I've been keeping the stock PAFs in the bridges of my LPs since doing this, no need to change them with that cap in place and tone rolled down til it sounds good.
For bridge PAFs (7.5k-8.5k range 42ga wire) I find .001uf works great. For anything hotter, 750pf works great. Removes the obnoxious frequencies but leaves the cut and articulation.
 
I pulled all UOA5's out of my pickups and went with A3 or A4. I like the lower output those mags give me and all over, work a bit better for me. The A3 adds a bit of air to the tone and A4 will smooth out the entire tonal spectrum. A2, 3 and 4 are becoming my favorite magnets. A JB with an alnico4, for example, is so nice... no more harshness or boominess. Just clarity and a howl under high gain that I love.
 
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