Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

[SJ318]

Hi,
About to swap mags in a Seth bridge. As I am in pain 24/7 it hurts to bend over. So as I am about to change mags, I don't have much lee way in terms of trying mags back and forth. Just too dam painful!
So, my choices are RCA5 or UO-RCA5. Just those two. Now that I have both in house to choose from, what should I expect from either in a Seth bridge?
Played clean short of breakup in Princeton reverb re-issue.
Thank in advance, as always,
Steve Buffington

 

[Demanic]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

The UOA5 will give more mids than the regular A5. As they are both rough cast, both will give a more complex top end. The UOA5 won't be quite as bright, and it won't be quite as tight on the low end.

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[LtKojak]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

I've worked with the guitar player a Zep tribute band tweaking the rig to closely match the recorded tones of the Presence album.

The final mag choice was an UOA5 in both p'ups, which were Seth Lovers, hosted in an extremely good-sounding R9.

I don't know if this somehow helps you, only that to this day I still remember how good an instrument that was and how gorgeous the tone was... good times!

HTH,

 

[AlexR]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

The UOA5 would be my choice too.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Well -
Three of my favorite forum guru's. I like the idea of of a more complex top end, but even though tight low end and bright top are importatant to me, UOA5 it is. I already have a very tight low and bright top. I'll check in with this post tomorrow and see what any others have to say, then I'll do it. A new one for me, mag wise.
Thanks for posting, mags as a general question must be getting really old for you guys, but I really like your thoughts on things, especially as my tastes seem to change over the years.
Thanks,
Steve Buffington

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Steve, from the experience accumulated in all the countless experiments in mag-swapping I've done for myself and clients, the only p'up that didn't have that subtle-but-noticeable "spongy" quality in the lows of the UOA5 mag in a neck p'up, it actually is the Seth neck. Or the Electric City Pickups' RD-59 low-wind, aka Freedom neck p'up, for that matter.

HTH,

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Yes, Pepe,
That does help. I am a little fuzzy as it almost 2:30am now, but to re-phrase, I think you just said that the UOA5 in the neck Seth p'up, is tight on the low end, as opposed to other neck pu'p's with a UOA5.
I did take my sleep meds so I am a little slow of processing right now, but tomorrow is my mag change day. I get to go about 30 minutes tops on some guitar part related activity. So I always need to watch out. I spent an hour on Friday bent over a great finish Afinity Strat I had to buy on sale for 100 bucks, and I can still feel the extra pain from that one hour. Imagine how it is after a gig. Which I magically have this Saturday. Yet I still can't wait to play. Go figure, as us American guys say. You probably say it there, also.
Well, gotta sleep now, check in tomorrow,
Thank you Pepe,
Steve Buffington

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

I think you just said that the UOA5 in the neck Seth p'up, is tight on the low end, as opposed to other neck pu'p's with a UOA5.

There's a difference between being "not spongy" and being "tight", Steve. An A3 is "tight" where an A2 is not.

An UOA5 is, an A5 at heart anyway. Meaning that it IS "scooped", but many times less than the A5. And the "spongy" feeling come from that little "boost" the low mids get.

I've found that with winds containing less than 5,000 turns per bobbin in the neck position (the Seth Lover neck in this case), on 22-fretter, 24,75"-scaled instruments to be the case. OTOH, I had high expectations with my Antiquity set in my all-mahogany 335 copy, and it was ALMOST perfect in the neck... if it wasn't for that "spongy" quality in the mid-lows that unfortunately bothered me to no end, ruining for me an otherwise perfect p'up/mag combination. I later found out the fully-charged A3/A2 mag combo to work extremely well with the Ant set.

At the time, the solution for me was the tried-and-true A4 mag in the neck... but then the "chirp" in the middle position sounded "funny", so I had to put another A4 in the Ant bridge, which brang the "chirp" back, but changed the whole instrument's voicing. Fortunately, the change was for the good, so I didn't complain so much, other than having two guitars sounding very similar indeed, ruining the original plan of having two distinct-sounding instruments. Well, Mick Jagger used to sing "You don't always get what you want", isn't it?

To close my experience with the UOA5 mags, most of my findings are less noticeable on 25,5" scaled instruments and/or hosting 10-46 or thinner strings. All my other findings are referred to the 11-52 string set I prefer.

Confused yet, Steve? Go figur, uh...

HTH,

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

I have had Seth Lovers modded with RCA5 magnets in my PRS CU22, although I now have those pickups in my PRS SE Singlecut and I put the original polished A2 magnets back in them.

I left the covers off though. I like Seths without covers.

I have 59's with RCA5 magnets in my other PRS Custom 22.

When I did have Seths in one PRS CU22 and 59's with RCA5 magnets in my other PRS CU22 I did a lot of comparing.

I felt that the 59's with RCA5 and the Seths with RCA5 sounded very similar and were very similar in feel. Not identical but very similar.

I also tried UnorientedA5 and the sound moved in the direction of an A2 type sound, though not all the way of course. Still sounded like A5 but a little squishier.

Eventually I put the polished A2 magnets the Seths came with, back into them and liked that the best.

I felt that gave the tone that was the most fun to play.

The PRS CU22 that I had Seths in now has Antiquitys. I love those too.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

I have had Seth Lovers modded with RCA5 magnets in my PRS CU22, although I now have those pickups in my PRS SE Singlecut and I put the original polished A2 magnets back in them.

I left the covers off though. I like Seths without covers.

I have 59's with RCA5 magnets in my other PRS Custom 22.

When I did have Seths in one PRS CU22 and 59's with RCA5 magnets in my other PRS CU22 I did a lot of comparing.

I felt that the 59's with RCA5 and the Seths with RCA5 sounded very similar and were very similar in feel. Not identical but very similar.

I also tried UnorientedA5 and the sound moved in the direction of an A2 type sound, though not all the way of course. Still sounded like A5 but a little squishier.

Eventually I put the polished A2 magnets the Seths came with, back into them and liked that the best.

I felt that gave the tone that was the most fun to play.

The PRS CU22 that I had Seths in now has Antiquitys. I love those too.

I guess the point of all this is that I wound up liking my Seth Lovers best with the covers removed and with the stock polished A2 magnets. Here's a shot of Blue and OJ. OJ has the 59's and Blue has the Seths, which turned out to be zebras when I removed the covers.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

OK then-
Since I now find myself a little confused, I believe I will try the UOA5 as I have never tried one before, and no loss of life is at stake. My strings on the Fender scale guitar I will be
using are 9, 11.5, 16, 26, 36, 48. Non-Trem. If that matters at this point. OK, here I go.
Thanks for all the opinions. Very well thought out and useful! Guess I will go figure!
Steve Buffington

 

[Demanic]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

I think that you may like it. Give it a few days for the new magnetic field to stabilize.

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[LtKojak]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

OK then-
Since I now find myself a little confused, I believe I will try the UOA5

Great. You may not like it at first (believe me, been there).

Seths are very sensible to height to the strings, so, remember: it'll take some time to the mag to "settle", then it'll take some trial-and-error until you find the "sweet spot". Give it a week, at least.

Good luck, Steve!

HTH,

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Thank you all,
UOA5 now in Seth p'up, wire it up tomorrow.
I can't lose. It will be one of my two "house" guitars.
Got a job in front of a lot of people Saturday, a big Festival for these parts, called GrahamStock. All day Rock/Blues Festival, maybe some Metal (not my cup o' tea) we have a sweet spot at 3:30. I found a roadie for 100.00 bucks, so no heavy lifting for me. It's a big deal, maybe 500 people or more. See if I can pull one more outta the bag.
Cheers to you all
Steve Buffington

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Did it,
UOR5 in Seth. As I didn't have any expectations, the sound was not compressed, to me. A kind of hollow sound. Snappy, very sensitive to pick pressure, dynamics. Sounds very much like one of my top ten sound Heros: Mike Bloomfield. I am always plugging that guy, and it does sound similar to me.
I bet it would sound great if pushed a little louder, 7 instead of "condo" 2 on the amp. I hear "Super Session" all over it. I like it and will wait for some settle time. And yes, less brashness on the high end and low end sounded tight, with a little adjustment on my part.
Thank you all, your work is done here, I love it.
Steve Buffington

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Did it,
UOR5 in Seth. As I didn't have any expectations, the sound was not compressed, to me. A kind of hollow sound. Snappy, very sensitive to pick pressure, dynamics. Sounds very much like one of my top ten sound Heros: Mike Bloomfield. I hear "Super Session" all over it. I like it and will wait for some settle time. And yes, less brashness on the high end and low end sounded tight, with a little adjustment on my part.

There you go! If you like it now, you'll most probably love it to death after the discussed settling time.

Thank you all, your work is done here, I love it

You're most welcome, Steve. As you and I live kinda opposites parts of the planet, I'm delighted to somehow being able to help a "brother in distress" (LOL!), despite the distance and everything.

And in relation to your GrahamStock gig, I only have three words: Break a Leg!

Yours very truly,

 

[SJ318]

Re: Most of you know I'm disabled, so I have mag question

Thanks Pepe-
Most of what I know that helped me these years came from you especially, and about 4 or 5 regulars (afraid to name, as I'd miss someone as helpful as you are)
At my age, Break a leg can be amended to Break a Hip, or Ankle, or your Face falling down all of a sudden. Love my gear thanks to this whole forum. Expect more questions from time to time, as I am a victim of my mom's seemingly endless genetic curiosity about everything! And her predilection for talking too much!
Steve Buffington