Omega Alnico 8

[Jcknowles89]

Long time reader new poster,

Just picked up an Omega Bridge for my custom Warmoth Mahogany strat (lightweight Mahogany, Ive heard that makes a difference in Tone), Roasted Maple Neck, Rosewood fingerboard, 24.75 Scale length. The Omega is ALMOST perfect for this guitar, which has already seen a SH5, JB, JB8 and even some Lace Hammerclaws. I say almost because I play this guitar next to my Epi Les Paul with a Gold Covered Pearly Gates in the bridge. The not perfect part of the Omega is the slight dip in the Mids compared to the PG. Otherwise I feel like in their respective guitars they sound similarish.

I was wondering if I Switched the ceramic to an Alnico 8 if it would give it The tad more midrange it needs and keep the Bottom end nice and percussive? Would like to get more of a vintage voicing while keeping the clarity and Punch the Omega has.

If not possible. Would love to hear a suggestion for a Really percussive thrash metal Tight Bridge with similar voicing to a Pearly gates Midrange.

Thanks,

 

[fab.regnaut]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

The alnico 8 is similar to the ceramic mag .
But the bass will be a bit more pronounced and maybe a bit less tight , thicker .
And the treebles will be less agressive , more vintage , and you will have more mids overall .
The attack will still be punchy but less agressive , rounder .

 

[bloughlin16]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

Long time reader new poster,

Just picked up an Omega Bridge for my custom Warmoth Mahogany strat (lightweight Mahogany, Ive heard that makes a difference in Tone), Roasted Maple Neck, Rosewood fingerboard, 24.75 Scale length. The Omega is ALMOST perfect for this guitar, which has already seen a SH5, JB, JB8 and even some Lace Hammerclaws. I say almost because I play this guitar next to my Epi Les Paul with a Gold Covered Pearly Gates in the bridge. The not perfect part of the Omega is the slight dip in the Mids compared to the PG. Otherwise I feel like in their respective guitars they sound similarish.

I was wondering if I Switched the ceramic to an Alnico 8 if it would give it The tad more midrange it needs and keep the Bottom end nice and percussive? Would like to get more of a vintage voicing while keeping the clarity and Punch the Omega has.

If not possible. Would love to hear a suggestion for a Really percussive thrash metal Tight Bridge with similar voicing to a Pearly gates Midrange.

Thanks,

As an Omega owner, I feel that the mid scoop, which is actually VERY mild compared to the mid scoop you typically find on some pickups, on that pickup actually lends itself to the clarity of that pickup, and the ceramic magnet lends itself to the percussiveness and tightness of it. I feel like swapping that for any alnico magnet, even an alnico 8, would compromise that, though I'm not aware of a pickup SD makes that could actually fulfill your needs. Sounds like the custom shop might be the way to go.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

A8 will change the flavor a bit, but not nearly as drastically as the "other" Alnico mags. I'd say it's worth trying, especially if you already have an A8 on hand from your previous swaps...

 

[Riley]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

The alnico 8 is similar to the ceramic mag .
But the bass will be a bit more pronounced and maybe a bit less tight , thicker .
And the treebles will be less agressive , more vintage , and you will have more mids overall .
The attack will still be punchy but less agressive , rounder .

We actually tried an Alnico 8 early in the voicing process for the Omega, but it didn't quite get what Mark was looking for. Compared to the ceramic the above is pretty accurate for how it sounds.

 

[Jcknowles89]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

So went ahead and put in the RCA8 (so Long 21 day return posibilities) but so far there have been intersting results. Closer to what I am looking for. The Voicing is still very much the same which Id say is a good thing. Still has that Omega personality. Very bright very punchy very Tight (I think that has more to do with the short Hex screws rather than the Magnet). The Bottom does get a tad bit flubbier but id say 10% or so nothing that you would notice unless you were looking for it. The mids are thicker but still has a bit of a throaty voice to it almost like the mids of the magnet are fighting the Scoop of the wind/Hex screws. Top end is definitley smoother but still very bright in the upper registers. Overall I think Im going to give it a few days to settle in and then try a UOA5. trying to get a more vintage vibe out of it while keeping things Tight. Looking for versitility more than anything. Also ordered some Fillister top Short screw polepieces to try as well. Well see what happens with all of this mad scientist shenanigans.

One thing I will say that the Omega does better than any other pickup in existance is take a tube screamer without becoming Nasally in any regard whatsoever. Its like the mid bump of the pedal gets slapped in the face but the low end shelving still makes it super tight and percussive. I think thats the main reason why Im trying to hard to make this work instead of switching to a different pickup. Still have the ole JB laying around so can always go back to that disfunctional relationship.

 

[fab.regnaut]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

Cool review , the A 5 will have a pronounced mid scoop making the high thinner than with ceramic .

 

[Jcknowles89]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

Agreed. Thats why I am going to try an Unoriented A5. Theoretically wont scoop if I have done my research correctly according to other threads.

 

[Riley]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

So went ahead and put in the RCA8 (so Long 21 day return posibilities) but so far there have been intersting results. Closer to what I am looking for. The Voicing is still very much the same which Id say is a good thing. Still has that Omega personality. Very bright very punchy very Tight (I think that has more to do with the short Hex screws rather than the Magnet). The Bottom does get a tad bit flubbier but id say 10% or so nothing that you would notice unless you were looking for it. The mids are thicker but still has a bit of a throaty voice to it almost like the mids of the magnet are fighting the Scoop of the wind/Hex screws. Top end is definitley smoother but still very bright in the upper registers. Overall I think Im going to give it a few days to settle in and then try a UOA5. trying to get a more vintage vibe out of it while keeping things Tight. Looking for versitility more than anything. Also ordered some Fillister top Short screw polepieces to try as well. Well see what happens with all of this mad scientist shenanigans.

One thing I will say that the Omega does better than any other pickup in existance is take a tube screamer without becoming Nasally in any regard whatsoever. Its like the mid bump of the pedal gets slapped in the face but the low end shelving still makes it super tight and percussive. I think thats the main reason why Im trying to hard to make this work instead of switching to a different pickup. Still have the ole JB laying around so can always go back to that disfunctional relationship.

Thanks for sharing your results from the swap! It would be awesome if you felt like posting about it in the Alt Magnet thread too:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?323237-Alternative-Magnets-for-Duncan-Pickups

 

[Jcknowles89]

Re: Omega Alnico 8

So after giving it some time I think I'm going to give the JB another try using what I learned from the Omega to get to the sound I'm Looking for. What I discovered in this experiement is that the short Polepieces are what gives the Omega its Tightness and not neccessarily the Ceramic Magnet. So after all of this I realized the most imortant thing about Pickups. The winding is what gives a pickup its particular voicing. While we can make tweeks in response/dynamics and little EQ tweeks here and there with magnet swaps, in the end we can only do so much with all of that, the Coils will decide the pickups ultimate voicing. If you dont like the voicing you need a new pickup not a new magnet. An EQ pedal into a marshall still sounds like a marshall. You cannot EQ a Marshall into a Fender. So as much as I like the Omega its not the voicing that I thought would work in this guitar (IT sounds amazing in the Holcomb Sig PRS). So I am taking what I learned with Polepieces and apply that to a swapped out JB. JB has always sounded good to me just didnt like certain things about it but the voicing is what I like.

so were going to try this in this order.
1.Standard JB with UA05 (to take away the nasal quality of stock JB and also give a vintagy vibe to the voicing) and short pole pieces from Mojotone on the screw Side to Tighten up the Bass.

2.If the bass is not tightened up enough, the next step is to get another JB and merge the two Screw coils together with shorter Pole pieces.

3. If that doesnt work im switching to Accoustic....