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Recently I took apart the INF pickups that came with my Ibanez. My INF's had, oddly, an A5 in the neck and a thin ceramic in the bridge and I ended both pickups to get what I wanted(sorta). I ended up putting the ceramic in the JB that came stock with my Charvel San Dimas. Now onto the pickup:
Despite not getting the thick ceramic I definitely am happy I did it. Its now louder, the volume drop when switching to the '59 in the neck is more prominent. I'd describe the tone as harsher and angrier, in the good way. Its more aggressive, edgy, and has less of the upper mid spike, though not by much, the attack is much more immediate, and it has even more cut than the stock JB. Its got plenty of punch and the bass end is tighter than the stock JB.
Clean, its louder and more obnoxious than the JB, more hi-fi, and a tad harsher than stock. It goes more easily into breakup and has less warmth.
Under medium-high gain, it has more focus, articulation, and better note separation, as well as more wallop when you want to do the chugga chugga.
What it didn't do, which apparently the Alnico 8 does, is shift the EQ focus. It's pretty similar to the original JB but angrier and slightly more evened out, I didn't hear the shift to the lower-mids that people say they get with the A8. I personally feel that the upper mid spike only sounds less prominent because everything else is louder.
I didn't really know what to expect when did the magnet swap, and I have nothing to compare it with other than the stock JB, but compared to the stock, its the JB's hot-rodded counterpart, as another user here said.
I'm really happy with what I've got right now, I got exactly what I wanted from the mag swap, definitely something to try if you're not too happy with the stock JB and want even more juice and something in the realm of the Duncan Distortion, but not as powerful, a Diet Duncan Distortion if you will.
Despite not getting the thick ceramic I definitely am happy I did it. Its now louder, the volume drop when switching to the '59 in the neck is more prominent. I'd describe the tone as harsher and angrier, in the good way. Its more aggressive, edgy, and has less of the upper mid spike, though not by much, the attack is much more immediate, and it has even more cut than the stock JB. Its got plenty of punch and the bass end is tighter than the stock JB.
Clean, its louder and more obnoxious than the JB, more hi-fi, and a tad harsher than stock. It goes more easily into breakup and has less warmth.
Under medium-high gain, it has more focus, articulation, and better note separation, as well as more wallop when you want to do the chugga chugga.
What it didn't do, which apparently the Alnico 8 does, is shift the EQ focus. It's pretty similar to the original JB but angrier and slightly more evened out, I didn't hear the shift to the lower-mids that people say they get with the A8. I personally feel that the upper mid spike only sounds less prominent because everything else is louder.
I didn't really know what to expect when did the magnet swap, and I have nothing to compare it with other than the stock JB, but compared to the stock, its the JB's hot-rodded counterpart, as another user here said.
I'm really happy with what I've got right now, I got exactly what I wanted from the mag swap, definitely something to try if you're not too happy with the stock JB and want even more juice and something in the realm of the Duncan Distortion, but not as powerful, a Diet Duncan Distortion if you will.
