Custom Coil Experimentation

[CTN]

I can't decide what to do anymore.

I have a regular thickness Ceramic magnet but not as long as normal humbucker sized.
and a 1.5xthick Ceramic magnet
and a 2.5xthick Ceramic magnet

And I don't know which one to put into my Custom 5.

All I know is that I don't like the sound of the Custom 5. It's too clear, too calm, not aggressive enough, not punchy enoug, not enough oomph, not enough power.

I don't know how much of that is because of my preamp (crappy rocktron which I want to get rid of) or my guitar (Ibanez SAS32ex which I want to replace with a better constructed, better parts guitar) but I do know that the Custom 5 sounds fairly thin. In the middle position on my guitar (Custom 5 + Jazz Neck w/ polepieces adjusted for Strat stagger) it sounds fuller, punchier and more "Alive" than the C5 alone (highly desirable for my ears).

I want to get a Peavey 3120 120W 12ax7/EL34 powered amp soon, but I can't figure out if it'd be worth my time to actually change the mags in my C5 to ceramic of some sort.

I love the sound of the Super Distortion in my other guitar, through just about any amp, it sounds huge, clear, and packs a wallop.

I dunnoooooooooooo...the other guitarist in my band has a Full Shred in an All mahogany (flame maple top, rosewood fretboard) set neck, tune-o-matic sting through Shecter 006 and plays through a 6505, and it sounds brilliant, if a little bit fuzzy. my tone is currently Rocktron Chameleon 2000 influenced (has an annoying nasal quality to the mids) and Mesa Boogie 2:95 Stereo Simul Class powered, which adds a bit of oomph, but it still doesn't sound quite as I wanted it to - clear crisp, aggressive, biting, ripping, but thick, saturated, and articulate from note to note in chords, to individual notes in fast solos.

Would it even be worth me changing mags or should I just hold out until I buy the Peavey 3120?

-R

(p.s., sorry for drunken rambling, this is the last of it, I swear, but still, a legitimate question that has been plaguing my mind for the better part of the past 3 weeks or so. I want good tone, but I don't want to lop my limbs off for it.

 

[L.W. Badger]

Re: Custom Coil Experimentation

Do the amp first, then switch PUs or mags.....the amp can account for a lot of tonal qualities, but then again, I just ran into the classic "two guitars-same amp-different bodies and PUs"

Both sets of PUs are SDs......DD bridge and APII neck in the LP, JB bridge and '59 neck in the Schecter......since I've ran both through the same amp........I'm inclined to switch to hotter PU's for the Schecter, since like you said....it's not packing the "wallop" that the LP shows.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Custom Coil Experimentation

yes, do the preamp/amp first. The Ceramic magnets wont help you that much. More volume, yes, but it makes it even clearer with some more mids. You need a tube preamp/amp or a modeling amp IMO.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Custom Coil Experimentation

convoys, i'd lower the C5's pole screws so that only the dome of the heads protrude from the coil, and probably bring it a bit closer to the strings from what you're describing, and then play the guitar through a different amp.
check your existing set-up before you change anything and/or do any mods. heh, and i'd try the biggest mag you've got in that custom.

the SH-5 only has a regular strength ceramic mag and it fills out a thin-sounding guitar; it's highly regarded in an LP as well, but an LP doesn't need that 'thickness' IMO. when comparing the thickness of different ceramic mags in the custom and also the demon, my experience has been that a thicker ceramic mag just adds a harder quality to the attack and the bass response. sounds a bit different because of the shape of the flux field's changed, but it's not as if you're changing the compositional make-up of the magnetic material ie when swapping between the different AlNiCo/u magnets. maybe because i heard the big magnet's tones as 'expanded', they sounded 'scooped' to me, where A5 doesn't.
all of the above was done disregarding the possibility that some of the ceramics may have been C5 and some C8 (the magnets not the pickups)
:banghead:

LWB, you could put that seth you mentioned in the LP's bridge and just swap the DD into the schecter, maybe put the JB into it's neck?
then you can mag swap on your 59 and A2P
:deal:

hope these rants help