This thread is long overdue
8s are great for substituting cermics, but not really my cup of tea
4s are great for beefing up 2s. Although the more I play 4s, the more they sound like weak 8s.
2s always sound great alone, but sometimes just don't cut it in the mix, or against the other slot - desert island, I'd probably go 2 and deal with their problems. Very musical. Try one in a 498T sometime. Make you forget your CC pretty fast
As I have read from many of the guitar greats from the 80s, they like to get their tones from their amps and fingers and have almost all came back to using the A2 for warmth and mids.
Keep in mind that these guys sounded the best and did their best work when they weren't using A2s back in the 80s. Not saying they don't all sound great though.
It's sort of like buying sig gear.....the sig gear didn't exist when they were actually sounding great...it has very little to do with the sounds the artist is known for.
+1 The 78' absolutely smokes! And the aged A5 sounds cool . There's a clip on YouTube of Joe Bonamassa and his old LP with "orinanal PAF's" he put in it and he's getting these great Clapton Cream and Gibbon's tones. Aged A5?I've used a '78 in a MIJ Squier Strat and it's easily one of the best A2 humbuckers I've ever heard. It doesn't get the EVH sound totally because of other factors but it does help get in the ballpark. It's more chewy where the CC is more creamy.
There is one ceramic humbucker I like, the Super Distortion. That one just kicks butt all over. I've got a couple Gotoh clones too. My MIJ Tele came with ceramic humbuckers that sound really good too. Low wind count but really powerful and they split really well.
And aged A5 is cool too. A nice mix of A5 properties with some A2 properties in there.