Custom 8 paradise!
- Thread starter BloodRose
- Start date
super rad stuff
Skaforlifeologist
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
got an a8 pearly gates.... best bridge pickup ever(imo of course
) alnico 8 is very underrated outside of the circles of this online community i believe.
got an a8 pearly gates.... best bridge pickup ever(imo of course
) alnico 8 is very underrated outside of the circles of this online community i believe.
Mark Cearlock
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
edit: I am swapping the pickup out for a pearly gates bridge, but that's just because I want my les paul to be closer to vintage. Back when I got it, I was trying to wring the most versatility I could from all of my guitars, and now I'm trying to get them to do fewer things, but be better at those fewer things, just because I have more guitars now.[/QUOTE]
I agree. Less is more, sometimes.
edit: I am swapping the pickup out for a pearly gates bridge, but that's just because I want my les paul to be closer to vintage. Back when I got it, I was trying to wring the most versatility I could from all of my guitars, and now I'm trying to get them to do fewer things, but be better at those fewer things, just because I have more guitars now.[/QUOTE]
I agree. Less is more, sometimes.
deliriumtrigger
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
Its the CCR1 and CCR2 pickups that come in the FR1620 model. (2008 catalog pg 38)
Its the CCR1 and CCR2 pickups that come in the FR1620 model. (2008 catalog pg 38)
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
Ok, 598 in the bridge of the Baretta dialed in and sounds good thru the classic 30. 598n in the washburn MG104 with C8 bridge is set up. thru the classic 30, sounds really good! The stock 59 sounded alittle feeble. The only concern I have is that the neck really overpowers the bridge.. The cleans are warm, not Jazz clean, but has a decent clean and seems to have a good overdrive too.. Just needs to be set low and since this is direct mount, I cant go lower.
Im gonna clean up and go drive them thru my big rig.. details soon
Hey bro.
Now you've touched a sensitive issue for me.
I'd LOVE to try one but over here bar magnets aren't the easiest thing to come by and ordering from the States isn't exactly cost effective...
How do you think the 5899
I've been dying to try it in my MG-122 (has the JB which truth be told suits it heavenly except I'd want it to be a tad hotter as the OD is on the anemic side for my tastes) while I also dislike the 59 at the neck so I've been thinking the two birds with one stone etc...
Ok, 598 in the bridge of the Baretta dialed in and sounds good thru the classic 30. 598n in the washburn MG104 with C8 bridge is set up. thru the classic 30, sounds really good! The stock 59 sounded alittle feeble. The only concern I have is that the neck really overpowers the bridge.. The cleans are warm, not Jazz clean, but has a decent clean and seems to have a good overdrive too.. Just needs to be set low and since this is direct mount, I cant go lower.
Im gonna clean up and go drive them thru my big rig.. details soon
Quicksilver689
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
An A8 mag in the neck, huh? I couldn't imagine doing that...as you say, I bet it *is* rather overpowering...bet it also sounds tremendous though
An A8 mag in the neck, huh? I couldn't imagine doing that...as you say, I bet it *is* rather overpowering...bet it also sounds tremendous though
Quicksilver689
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
I love the Crazy 8 (and PATB's in general) so much that I have my doubts as to whether or not I'd like a Custom8, even after hearing some sound clips people have made...but I'm sure it's a great PU though...
I love the Crazy 8 (and PATB's in general) so much that I have my doubts as to whether or not I'd like a Custom8, even after hearing some sound clips people have made...but I'm sure it's a great PU though...
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
Ok, here is todays installment of Alnico 8 madness!!
I copied this from a reply I put in another thread so I dont have to repeat:
My findings with my 59b8!
I got it dialed in on my Kramer Baretta and its a keeper! When I plugged into the Marshall for the "blast" test, I was concerned cuz the bottom end is huge...But NEVER does it get muddy . And my marshall is modded and has extra bottom too. I lowered the bass end of the pup down a turn and now the lows are chunky but no longer boomy. The pup doesnt sound scooped, its fat and full. What I love about this and a Custom 8 is the high strings. I have a hearing loss and with that, my ears are sensitive to high/bright sounds. That, and I just dont like plinky highs or brittle highs. (I dont like alot of vintage type pups or single coils cuz of the brightness) When I solo up on the high strings/high frets, there is a warmth and fullness to the notes.
It may not be for everyone, and I havent tested in a band sitch to see if it is gonna stand out in the mix, but so far, its a keeper!
Now: Next project was the neck pickup of my Washburn MG104.
I just changed the bridge CC into a C8. I wanted to see how the neck 59 would be with an alnico 8.
Ok. the verdict...... Not for everyone.. It sounds great as a lead pickup!
It would be better on a guitar with a pickup ring where you can adjust the height. On this direct mount, I cant lower it enough.
Cleans are nice and warm, with the volume knob turned WAY down.. The good thing is, you can use your clean channel as a 2 channel.. Volume knob down, Im playing cleans, dial it up and its Ac/DC. Then switch to lead channel and rip!!
Tonally, it makes a nice pair with the C8, but at the same height, it overpowers the bridge alittle.
Im not going to hurry and pull it. It isnt a failure, and on a guitar with rings it may just work.
But Custom8 in the bridge for sure! My Washburn MG104, MG130 and Kramer Focus all sound amazing with it! My Explorer will next few days!
And my Kramer Baretta is sporting a 59b8.
This has a similar tonality to the Custom 8, just more vintage sag/squish/openess or whatever term you prefer..
Its a beautiful thing!!
Ok, here is todays installment of Alnico 8 madness!!
I copied this from a reply I put in another thread so I dont have to repeat:
My findings with my 59b8!
I got it dialed in on my Kramer Baretta and its a keeper! When I plugged into the Marshall for the "blast" test, I was concerned cuz the bottom end is huge...But NEVER does it get muddy . And my marshall is modded and has extra bottom too. I lowered the bass end of the pup down a turn and now the lows are chunky but no longer boomy. The pup doesnt sound scooped, its fat and full. What I love about this and a Custom 8 is the high strings. I have a hearing loss and with that, my ears are sensitive to high/bright sounds. That, and I just dont like plinky highs or brittle highs. (I dont like alot of vintage type pups or single coils cuz of the brightness) When I solo up on the high strings/high frets, there is a warmth and fullness to the notes.
It may not be for everyone, and I havent tested in a band sitch to see if it is gonna stand out in the mix, but so far, its a keeper!
Now: Next project was the neck pickup of my Washburn MG104.
I just changed the bridge CC into a C8. I wanted to see how the neck 59 would be with an alnico 8.
Ok. the verdict...... Not for everyone.. It sounds great as a lead pickup!
It would be better on a guitar with a pickup ring where you can adjust the height. On this direct mount, I cant lower it enough.
Cleans are nice and warm, with the volume knob turned WAY down.. The good thing is, you can use your clean channel as a 2 channel.. Volume knob down, Im playing cleans, dial it up and its Ac/DC. Then switch to lead channel and rip!!
Tonally, it makes a nice pair with the C8, but at the same height, it overpowers the bridge alittle.
Im not going to hurry and pull it. It isnt a failure, and on a guitar with rings it may just work.
But Custom8 in the bridge for sure! My Washburn MG104, MG130 and Kramer Focus all sound amazing with it! My Explorer will next few days!
And my Kramer Baretta is sporting a 59b8.
This has a similar tonality to the Custom 8, just more vintage sag/squish/openess or whatever term you prefer..
Its a beautiful thing!!
Quicksilver689
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
After being hung up for the last week or so on trying to get another Crazy 8 and PATB-pimp my Schecter C-1 Classic, but then reading several great Alnico8-related forum posts around here, and listening to various sound clips from you fellow forum bros (thanks again so much for those!), I decided to take the plunge and try something new...just bought a zebra Custom 8 Trembucker from CaughtLikeFire last night (it started life as a TB-11 Custom Custom)! Should be here hopefully Monday or Tuesday! I can't wait to get in installed, it should be a real monster. Hopefully within the next day or so I'll find a 4-conductor zebra '59 Neck to match and I should be good to go...I'll let you all know how it pans out.
After being hung up for the last week or so on trying to get another Crazy 8 and PATB-pimp my Schecter C-1 Classic, but then reading several great Alnico8-related forum posts around here, and listening to various sound clips from you fellow forum bros (thanks again so much for those!), I decided to take the plunge and try something new...just bought a zebra Custom 8 Trembucker from CaughtLikeFire last night (it started life as a TB-11 Custom Custom)! Should be here hopefully Monday or Tuesday! I can't wait to get in installed, it should be a real monster. Hopefully within the next day or so I'll find a 4-conductor zebra '59 Neck to match and I should be good to go...I'll let you all know how it pans out.
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
Have you ever played a Custom?? To me, the C8 has the eq curve similar to a Custom but has a warmer sound. So, to answer your question if you are not familiar with the Custom, the C8 is not a big in the lows and highs as the C5 and just a tad more aggressive. The C5 is a little Scooped in the Eq curve, the C8 is more even accross. I LOVE the C5, but the C8 has such an amazing singing lead voice, but still chunks rhythyms like a custom
Have you ever played a Custom?? To me, the C8 has the eq curve similar to a Custom but has a warmer sound. So, to answer your question if you are not familiar with the Custom, the C8 is not a big in the lows and highs as the C5 and just a tad more aggressive. The C5 is a little Scooped in the Eq curve, the C8 is more even accross. I LOVE the C5, but the C8 has such an amazing singing lead voice, but still chunks rhythyms like a custom
Karmadog777
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
I was wondering when someone would try this,
I love my Crazy8 and and I have a"few" CCs around here so Im pretty sure a custom 8 is in my future
but, yeh I just wanted to type Pearly G8s ok there I did it twice
Peace!
thats a Pearly G8sgot an a8 pearly gates.... best bridge pickup ever(imo of course
I was wondering when someone would try this,
I love my Crazy8 and and I have a"few" CCs around here so Im pretty sure a custom 8 is in my future
but, yeh I just wanted to type Pearly G8s ok there I did it twice
Peace!
Quicksilver689
New member
Re: Custom 8 paradise!
OK...got the 59N (stock, 4-cond., w/regular A5) and Custom 8 (TB-11 w/A8 mag swap) bridge pu's installed and dialed in late last night in my Schecter C-1 Classic...wow....all I can say is wow...man these two pups in particular balance so well together...they must be content in their mutual PAFiness! LOL...I think I just coined a new term...special thanks to Ascension, dd12939, and others who have provided sound clips for both of these pickups so that I'd have a good idea of what I was getting into before I plunked down the money on these pickups! You guys rock! :headbang:
Man...The Custom 8 is just incredible! I have to say - it's so worth it to make and take the time to be sure you've got the height properly set...do your bridge pickup first and then the neck: dial them in until your ears hear that sweet spot and it's just pure magic! It makes high-gain leads and power chords alike sound violin-like in tone and sustain. Just HUGE! Leads just friggin' SING in this guitar, and power chords have never sounded more, er, powerful. Regular full chords sound monstrous yet balanced too. You know how if you play a 7th position E5 power chord on all strings, as in 079900, from low to high strings, and all too often the open treble strings get drowned out by either the bass or the mids from the other strings? NOT HERE BABY! Same whether you're playing whatever chord, wherever on the neck too. The A8 mag in this pickup to me is like taking a pickup you already like for the most part and being able to tweak the EQ for B/M/T just right where you want it, and cranking up the balls once you've got the pickup EQ'd. One element of the EQ NEVER overpowers the others either, and that's the fascination with the A8 mojo for me. The amazing thing to me is how it'll do BOTH distorted tones AND clean tones equally well, without compromising either of them. Clean, chords are just the right amount of jangly without being too screechy or bright, and have just the right amount of presence and sparkle while never becoming brittle. Split combinations with the '59N as shown on this wiring diagram also sound wonderfully musical in all positions.
+1000 to A8 mags being the bomb in bridge pu's...
I'm an absolute die-hard believer in A8 mags in bridge pickups now. Last year I had a Crazy 8 in the bridge of an Ed Roman Quicksilver with korina body and maple/ebony neck, and it too did anything BUT disappoint - another tremendous pickup! Some people have said that the Custom 8 is like the ultimate JB on steroids tone that gets rid of the harshness and adds warmth, balls, and sweetness, and I agree 100% with that observation. To me, the Custom 8 sounds like what the JB wishes it could be.
On a side note...59N in the neck of this guitar is warm, fat, and full, yet also smooth and just bright enough for definition for both single notes and chords alike...works very well for those "molten lava-type shred neck pu" leads because there's just enough brightness in it to lend great definition to the notes for those neck pu solos - that in combination with just the right amount of output keeps it from sounding like mud (I originally had a stock Jazz neck w/gold-plated nickel cover, but it wasn't ballsy enough and had too much treble detail, IMHO). It's also great on cleans too, in all combinations on this wiring diagram - warm and full when it needs to be, but also defined too...remember this is just a stock 59N (4-cond) with the stock A5 mag...good match with the C-1 Classic, and IMHO, should be the stock neck pu instead of the Jazz neck...
I hope this helps anyone who's curious about trying a Custom 8...JUST DO IT! :headbang: I also highly recommend using it with a 4-cond. '59N in the neck, especially with this 5-way megaswitch wiring - it's a great match and together they make a great pair!
P.S. I tried and heard all this playing through nothing more than my church's Pod XT on headphones! Imagine what it'd be like through a Mesa Boogie half-stack or <insert your fav amp here>!
OK...got the 59N (stock, 4-cond., w/regular A5) and Custom 8 (TB-11 w/A8 mag swap) bridge pu's installed and dialed in late last night in my Schecter C-1 Classic...wow....all I can say is wow...man these two pups in particular balance so well together...they must be content in their mutual PAFiness! LOL...I think I just coined a new term...special thanks to Ascension, dd12939, and others who have provided sound clips for both of these pickups so that I'd have a good idea of what I was getting into before I plunked down the money on these pickups! You guys rock! :headbang:
Man...The Custom 8 is just incredible! I have to say - it's so worth it to make and take the time to be sure you've got the height properly set...do your bridge pickup first and then the neck: dial them in until your ears hear that sweet spot and it's just pure magic! It makes high-gain leads and power chords alike sound violin-like in tone and sustain. Just HUGE! Leads just friggin' SING in this guitar, and power chords have never sounded more, er, powerful. Regular full chords sound monstrous yet balanced too. You know how if you play a 7th position E5 power chord on all strings, as in 079900, from low to high strings, and all too often the open treble strings get drowned out by either the bass or the mids from the other strings? NOT HERE BABY! Same whether you're playing whatever chord, wherever on the neck too. The A8 mag in this pickup to me is like taking a pickup you already like for the most part and being able to tweak the EQ for B/M/T just right where you want it, and cranking up the balls once you've got the pickup EQ'd. One element of the EQ NEVER overpowers the others either, and that's the fascination with the A8 mojo for me. The amazing thing to me is how it'll do BOTH distorted tones AND clean tones equally well, without compromising either of them. Clean, chords are just the right amount of jangly without being too screechy or bright, and have just the right amount of presence and sparkle while never becoming brittle. Split combinations with the '59N as shown on this wiring diagram also sound wonderfully musical in all positions.
+1000 to A8 mags being the bomb in bridge pu's...
I'm an absolute die-hard believer in A8 mags in bridge pickups now. Last year I had a Crazy 8 in the bridge of an Ed Roman Quicksilver with korina body and maple/ebony neck, and it too did anything BUT disappoint - another tremendous pickup! Some people have said that the Custom 8 is like the ultimate JB on steroids tone that gets rid of the harshness and adds warmth, balls, and sweetness, and I agree 100% with that observation. To me, the Custom 8 sounds like what the JB wishes it could be.
On a side note...59N in the neck of this guitar is warm, fat, and full, yet also smooth and just bright enough for definition for both single notes and chords alike...works very well for those "molten lava-type shred neck pu" leads because there's just enough brightness in it to lend great definition to the notes for those neck pu solos - that in combination with just the right amount of output keeps it from sounding like mud (I originally had a stock Jazz neck w/gold-plated nickel cover, but it wasn't ballsy enough and had too much treble detail, IMHO). It's also great on cleans too, in all combinations on this wiring diagram - warm and full when it needs to be, but also defined too...remember this is just a stock 59N (4-cond) with the stock A5 mag...good match with the C-1 Classic, and IMHO, should be the stock neck pu instead of the Jazz neck...
I hope this helps anyone who's curious about trying a Custom 8...JUST DO IT!
:headbang: I also highly recommend using it with a 4-cond. '59N in the neck, especially with this 5-way megaswitch wiring - it's a great match and together they make a great pair! P.S. I tried and heard all this playing through nothing more than my church's Pod XT on headphones! Imagine what it'd be like through a Mesa Boogie half-stack or <insert your fav amp here>!
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