I tried A3 and A4... not my thing. Only AlNiCos I dig are really A8 in high output pickups and then A2 in lower output pickups... the A3 and A4 sound like funky versions of 2 or 5 to me, and A5 sounds like weak ceramic to me lol... just my wierdness tis all. I did like degaused A2 in the EVH pickup in my strat... too many variables these days!