Tell me about Alnico 8.

[Demanic]

I obviously already agreed that that is true, so why are you bringing it up again? Just making the point so you can justify your opinion? It's ok to have your opinion. You don't need to put me down in order to have your opinion even if it differs from mine.




Don't be ridiculous. I'm not preventing other opinions. You have yours, I have mine, others have theirs. Yours just seems to be different from everyone else's who gave their opinions about A8, so why aren't you picking on them?
It seems that whenever your opinion is different from others, you like to pick on me for my opinion. It seems like YOU are the one who feels he is "right" and I'm "wrong".
What about Aceman?
What about Clint55?
What about misterwhizzy?
What about larryguitar?
What about Ascension?
What about EmiAba?
What about nienturi?
None of them felt the A8 had the "harsh" highs that you hear, that the highs are between A2 and A5. This was also the opinion that I expressed. But you like to pick on me for some reason. Is it just because I specifically said my experience is different than yours? If I had just stated that the highs don't sound harsh to me, would you still be raising such a fuss about mine?

This is not the only thread that you feel compelled to pick on my opinion and claim that I am trying to dominate others with my opinion.

I didn't even rate?



Anyway, was playing my Ibanez with the Alt8 through a solid state Krank 16w bass amp. The thing sounded fantastic, clean or dirty. The feel is like a JB but there's a lot more bottom. More like a Distortion. And the "clank" is what helps it cut, like a JB, but at a lower frequency.

 

[GuitarDoc]

I didn't even rate?



Anyway, was playing my Ibanez with the Alt8 through a solid state Krank 16w bass amp. The thing sounded fantastic, clean or dirty. The feel is like a JB but there's a lot more bottom. More like a Distortion. And the "clank" is what helps it cut, like a JB, but at a lower frequency.

Oops, sorry.
Yes of course you rate! Just an oversight on my part.
I also love the Alt8. I'm never sure what people mean by "organic", but I assume it is in comparison to the harshness of ceramic, which would be inorganic sounding?
I generally despise the sound of ceramic mags, but I've been using several P-90s lately that have ceramic mags and they really bring out the bite that I love so much in P-90s.
Again, not sure what you mean by "clank". Upper mids? The Alt 8 has loads of upper mids which help it cut through, and good solid highs (but not brittle or piercing like the highs from a ceramic mag...and to my ears, also not as bright as an A5).

 

[EmiAba]

Oops, sorry.
Yes of course you rate! Just an oversight on my part.
I also love the Alt8. I'm never sure what people mean by "organic", but I assume it is in comparison to the harshness of ceramic, which would be inorganic sounding?
I generally despise the sound of ceramic mags, but I've been using several P-90s lately that have ceramic mags and they really bring out the bite that I love so much in P-90s.
Again, not sure what you mean by "clank". Upper mids? The Alt 8 has loads of upper mids which help it cut through, and good solid highs (but not brittle or piercing like the highs from a ceramic mag...and to my ears, also not as bright as an A5).

I prefer the custom8 over the alt8. The latter is a bit too compressed for me.

 

[Clint 55]

I hear A8 the way chadd hears it. It sounds harsh to me. More than any of the other alnicos.

 

[GuitarDoc]

I hear A8 the way chadd hears it. It sounds harsh to me. More than any of the other alnicos.

Even more than the A9?
Is that "harshness" that you hear due to the increased mids in the A8?

 

[chadd]

I hear A8 the way chadd hears it. It sounds harsh to me. More than any of the other alnicos.

Thanks, I know I'm not the only one that hears it that way. When it comes to things like sounds, flavors or scents there is an interpretive factor that comes along with them that isn't a black and white type of thing.

 

[Clint 55]

Even more than the A9?

In the bridge I find A9 more aggressive because its mids are higher up and it has more highs. In the neck A9 is one of my absolute favorites because it provides a little more cut while still sounding natural and responding like A5. A8 is less bright but has an overall harshness that I don't care for.

Is that "harshness" that you hear due to the increased mids in the A8?

Yes, it's due to the gritty mids and an overall synthetic and metallic color. Those 2 things are what makes it sound overall harsh to me in all applications and makes me not care for it. Kind of like ceramic but different.

I actually even made some double thick hybrids with 1 bar of A8 suck to another type of alnico and I still didn't like it.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I remember some of you guys mentioning A8 is "clanky", though?

A8 sounded slightly clanky to me in a Demon.
It smoothed the ceramic sizzle in a Distortion set very nicely, and added a little alnico bounce to the feel.

IMO it might be at its best in hotter winds, though I once considered trying it in a 59B.
Didn't do it because I suddenly realized that the 59B is pretty much perfect the way it is.

Would like to try A8 in a Custom one of these days.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Those VH pickups in his Destroyer were A8 PAF-type winds, no?

Also, funny you guys mention Alnico is more dynamic than Ceramic. To me, it's the other way around. Alnico is squishy and slightly spongy (compared to Ceramic). At least A2 and A5, which are the ones I've tried. Ceramic is bold and super fast to respond. I think the only explanation I can find is that Alnico magnets are usually put in vintage winds which are more dynamic by nature, and Ceramic in more overwound pickups, which are more compressed by nature.

But I'm sure a Ceramic in a PAF wind would be way too stiff and fast.

Not to say bright.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Those VH pickups in his Destroyer were A8 PAF-type winds, no?

Also, funny you guys mention Alnico is more dynamic than Ceramic. To me, it's the other way around. Alnico is squishy and slightly spongy (compared to Ceramic). At least A2 and A5, which are the ones I've tried. Ceramic is bold and super fast to respond. I think the only explanation I can find is that Alnico magnets are usually put in vintage winds which are more dynamic by nature, and Ceramic in more overwound pickups, which are more compressed by nature.

But I'm sure a Ceramic in a PAF wind would be way too stiff and fast.

Not to say bright.

I wouldn't say ceramic isn't dynamic - to me it's just different. Ceramic feels stiffer, and for sure it has immediate attack & aggressive highs.
Alnicos seem more interactive to me in terms of tactile feedback; they feel bouncier but aren't really wider in dynamic range IMO.
That said, they also clean up differently when one rolls back.

The thing is, ceramic is most often matched with heavier winds, which tend to be more compressed.
That could be partly responsible for the nature of prevailing opinion about it.

As for ceramic in lighter vintage winds, years ago one forum member posted that he loved his ceramic-loaded 59B.
As I remember, he called it a fire breathing monster.

Back in the 70s Seymour sometimes supercharged customers' pickups with a ceramic mag swap, calling them 'Seymourized.'

 

[GuitarDoc]

In the bridge I find A9 more aggressive because its mids are higher up and it has more highs. In the neck A9 is one of my absolute favorites because it provides a little more cut while still sounding natural and responding like A5. A8 is less bright but has an overall harshness that I don't care for.



Yes, it's due to the gritty mids and an overall synthetic and metallic color. Those 2 things are what makes it sound overall harsh to me in all applications and makes me not care for it. Kind of like ceramic but different.

I actually even made some double thick hybrids with 1 bar of A8 suck to another type of alnico and I still didn't like it.

Thanks for that response, Clint.

Ah, ok. I get it, your explanation makes sense. That sounds about as I expected...the increased mids are responsible for the "harshness" that you describe.

Sometimes it is hard to communicate when we each have our own definitions of common words that we use...like "harsh". To me, I use that to describe the high frequencies (to me, ceramics are "harsh" because of their increased brittle/cold/metallic/piercing highs), but you and Chadd apparently use it to describe the affect of the mids on the overall tone.

So, I describe A8 as having more power, tight lows, more/aggressive mids, but smoother highs (but not being "harsh").