Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

[BloodRose]

Since alnico 8 seems to be the hot topic round here lately, I see in alot of posts in the different topics where people are asking for clarification of which is which.

I wanted to try to shed some light. (Im not trying to be an expert, just trying to help, so correct me if I get anything wrong) And, If anyone has output specs, feel free to add.

There are 3 major players.

The Crazy 8
The Custom 8
The Alternative 8.

Plus, there are many guys swapping magnets in other pups with alnico 8 magnets.

The confusion seems to fall within the big 3.

The Crazy 8 is a pickup designed by us forum users and was made in a limited run and is now only avail thru the custom shop. It is designed based on the Parallel Axis design.
It has very crunchy tone that isnt harsh and a cutting lead tone.

The Custom 8 is not a production pickup (tho it should be!!) that is made by taking a Duncan Custom, Custom Custom, or C5 and swapping the magnets out with an Alnico 8 magnet. I believe you can get these thru the custom shop also.
The sound is awesome! It adds alittle more organic warmth to the sound of the Custom. It has a hearty crunch and more of a singing lead tone and sounds great with the volume rolled back.

The Alternative 8 is a new production model by Seymour Duncan that is the first to use an Alnico 8 magnet. The tone is supposed to have Fat lows with no mud, boosted highs, with out being harsh, and a full midrange.

I have one on order, so right now I cant say first hand.

That is the difference between these pickups. I hope this helps. I will play my A8 and Crazy 8 today and update the above descriptions with more detail. I just wanted to go ahead an put this info out there to hopefully help.

 

[Orange]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

Since alnico 8 seems to be the hot topic round here lately, I see in alot of posts in the different topics where people are asking for clarification of which is which.

I wanted to try to shed some light. (Im not trying to be an expert, just trying to help, so correct me if I get anything wrong) And, If anyone has output specs, feel free to add.

There are 3 major players.

The Crazy 8
The Custom 8
The Alternative 8.

Plus, there are many guys swapping magnets in other pups with alnico 8 magnets.

The confusion seems to fall within the big 3.

The Crazy 8 is a pickup designed by us forum users and was made in a limited run and is now only avail thru the custom shop. It is designed based on the Parallel Axis design.
It has very crunchy tone that isnt harsh and a cutting lead tone.

The Custom 8 is not a production pickup (tho it should be!!) that is made by taking a Duncan Custom, Custom Custom, or C5 and swapping the magnets out with an Alnico 8 magnet. I believe you can get these thru the custom shop also.
The sound is awesome! It adds alittle more organic warmth to the sound of the Custom. It has a hearty crunch and more of a singing lead tone and sounds great with the volume rolled back.

The Alternative 8 is a new production model by Seymour Duncan that is the first to use an Alnico 8 magnet. The tone is supposed to have Fat lows with no mud, boosted highs, with out being harsh, and a full midrange.

I have one on order, so right now I cant say first hand.

That is the difference between these pickups. I hope this helps. I will play my A8 and Crazy 8 today and update the above descriptions with more detail. I just wanted to go ahead an put this info out there to hopefully help.

Well i hate to say that because i don't like to go with the flow, but i liked the A8 i jus installed, so i will take the time to try the Custom 8 as well. The Ceramic and Alnico V magnets didn't work for me in the custom series....

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

hate to say what?? I didnt follow that. Im glad you like the pickup!

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

It would be really cool if Custom 8 became a production pup.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

It would be really cool if Custom 8 became a production pup.

100% agree!

 

[jhale667]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

It would be really cool if Custom 8 became a production pup.

+1 Here.:biglaugh:

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

It would be really cool if Custom 8 became a production pup.

+1, in my opinion, it's the best magnet for that wind. More balanced than the CC and C5, strong output like the ceramic, but with better cleans and smoother tone.

I'm pretty interested in trying A8 in a '59b sometime, too.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

The 'annihilator' (this is the unofficial name of the C8 in this forum ;-) is a hard to beat shred pickup with harmonics galore. It makes me play hair metal all the time i pick it up. This is also my only complain with it - i hate hair metal deep in my heart.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

The 'annihilator' (this is the unofficial name of the C8 in this forum ;-) is a hard to beat shred pickup with harmonics galore. It makes me play hair metal all the time i pick it up. This is also my only complain with it - i hate hair metal deep in my heart.

LOL!!!

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

BTW the A8 in a PAF did nothing for me - it was like a beefed up A4. It doesn't have the twang of a the A5 nor the thickness of the A2. If you look for something between A2 and A5 with some more volume, it might be your thing.

 

[Oudy]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

The 'annihilator' (this is the unofficial name of the C8 in this forum ;-) is a hard to beat shred pickup with harmonics galore. It makes me play hair metal all the time i pick it up. This is also my only complain with it - i hate hair metal deep in my heart.

sigging for great justice

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

Hey BloodRose, that was nice of you and you know I'll be mighty interested in your findings about the Alt 8!

Truth be told I just got a ridiculously cheap guitar that I jived with (ridiculously a lot) with the intention of basically only keeping the wood and tuners (it's a Floyd equipped one so no need there for others ) so I'm basically actively in the market for new pickups and you know how A8 is always at the top of my list of things to check

 

[JB6464]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

So i have more questions to confuse everything. What happens to the output in DC when you go from a A2 to A8 ? Foe example,a CC stock is 14k. What would it end up being with a A8 magnet swap ? Also say a 59 at 8k and switch the magnet to a A8 ? Thanks.

 

[Artie]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

Mag swap has no affect on DC resistance at all. In fact, you can remove the magnet completely and the DCR remains the same. DCR is purely a function of the gauge and number of windings of wire.

Edit: I guess your asking how the output, in millivolts, changes with the mag swap.

 

[austin]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

So i have more questions to confuse everything. What happens to the output in DC when you go from a A2 to A8 ? Foe example,a CC stock is 14k. What would it end up being with a A8 magnet swap ? Also say a 59 at 8k and switch the magnet to a A8 ? Thanks.

+1 to what Artie said. In terms of output, I've had a JB with A5, A2, and A8 magnets and the output (from least to greatest) was A2, A5, A8, with there being a bigger difference between A2 and A5 than between A5 and A8. BTW, I liked both the A2 and A8 magnet better than the stock A5, but I ended up liking my Aldrich bridge more than both as it turns out :biglaugh:.

-Austin

 

[YHWH]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

I didn't realize the Custom 8 was available from SD. Overall, I want the Alt 8 but I''ve been sort of put off by it being wound so "hot". I'd rather it was more in the normal wound - slightly overwound PAF territory; 8k or 9k-12k... brighter and mildly distorted is how I like it. :fing2:

That said... will SD ever release a less-hot "neck" model Alt 8?

 

[uOpt]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

I liked A8 in the JB much better than in the Custom.

A8 loses some musical overtones, but in exchange for some roar, some hollow sound like you often hear with Alice Cooper.

Problem is - the Custom has the former (the loss) but not much of the latter. My impression is that the Custom coils lack power to drive this magnet.

The Alt-8 seems to have even heavier coils than the JB, so that would fit the theory.

I also tried A8 in an APH1 bridge, which was interesting.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

Hey BloodRose, that was nice of you and you know I'll be mighty interested in your findings about the Alt 8!

Truth be told I just got a ridiculously cheap guitar that I jived with (ridiculously a lot) with the intention of basically only keeping the wood and tuners (it's a Floyd equipped one so no need there for others ) so I'm basically actively in the market for new pickups and you know how A8 is always at the top of my list of things to check

Yeah, cant wait to get the alt 8!!

Brothers, I had fun today!


First, I plugged up the Charvel 4 with a PATB3 in it.. This will get the ALT8. Noodled with her for a moment.
Then, plugged up the other model 4 with the crazy 8. I realized then how compressed the PATB3 was in that guitar.. The crazy 8 was more open and everything just rang out bigger and bolder.

Then, I strapped on the Kramer and had a heckuva ride......

The Crazy 8 is awesome! It solos and has chunk . Its VERY present without getting harsh.. It has an aggressive attack

The Custom 8 is much warmer.. Organic and notes bloom. Overall, the notes have a rounder and slightly spongy attack, where as the Crazy 8 is more cut to the chase.

The eq on both is relatively even.. Lows are full but dont mud. mids are present and highs are abundant but are not harsh.
And, they both sound good with the mids boosted.

I love them both. But the Custom 8 is just plain addictive.. I couldnt put the Kramer down. Honestly, I thought the pup was cool before, but after really exploring it today.. WOW!! Very expressive to upstrokes (Im sure there is prob a guitar term for that) and can get almost vocal with alittle thumb to the string. And has plenty of 80s vibe..
There will be more Custom 8s in my future!!
Bring on the Alt8!!

 

[fab.regnaut]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

I liked A8 in the JB much better than in the Custom.

A8 loses some musical overtones, but in exchange for some roar, some hollow sound like you often hear with Alice Cooper.

Problem is - the Custom has the former (the loss) but not much of the latter. My impression is that the Custom coils lack power to drive this magnet.

The Alt-8 seems to have even heavier coils than the JB, so that would fit the theory.

I also tried A8 in an APH1 bridge, which was interesting.

I would like to have more reports on Paf style bridge pickup with alnico 8 , apparently the sh-1 with alnico 8 is good .
The Jazz neck is improved with alnico 8 as well , more punch , no mid scoop , much more power .

 

[WGTP]

Re: Confused with all the 8's?? Read here

Let's try this. If the Duncan Custom with the ceramic has an EQ of 769, the CC 377 and the C5 638, what is the EQ with the A8? Is it +1 in the bass and -1 in the treble?