Tell me about Alnico 8.
- Thread starter Rex_Rocker
- Start date
JB6464
New member
What does the C8 sound like tonal wise?
Demanic
PenultimateTone Member
A8 sounds "totally organic" on steroids.
Here's an example. Pay no attention to the first 1:50 of the video. That's the neck pickup, An SH-6n with a roughcast A4 mag, In parallel. After 1:50 it's the Alt 8 in the bridge with some distortion.
Sounds pretty organic to me.
Here's an example. Pay no attention to the first 1:50 of the video. That's the neck pickup, An SH-6n with a roughcast A4 mag, In parallel. After 1:50 it's the Alt 8 in the bridge with some distortion.
Sounds pretty organic to me.
nienturi
Active member
It may sound a powerfull custom custom?:fingersx:
Do you play pups with A5?
The A8 isn't as "harsh" sounding as an A5.
I've used a lot of A8 mags and never found them (in any pup I put them into) to sound harsh.
Sounds more like a C5 with smoother highs (not NEARLY as soft/smooth as the CC), and more mids (but, again, not nearly like the CC). A fuller/richer/smoother/more powerful C5.
nienturi
Active member
That's good, too :yourock:
chadd
New member
There are very few A5 pickups that I like or use. The Screamin Demon is one that I like and I tried an A8 in it. It paired well with a stock A5 Demon in the neck and sounded great split, but absolutely sounded harsh to my ears in comparison with my guitar and amp setup. I had the same results every time I swapped in A8 into a humbucker and even in the tele pickups I picked up from a winder on here.
Just remember, how you hear something only applies to you. Hearing, like taste or smell, is subjective and other people experience it differently. That's why I don't say that it is definitively one thing or another, only that I found them to be so.
It's true that hearing can be subjective (mainly the terminology used to describe what you hear...harsh, smooth, bright, dull, etc.), but when comparing two different things relative to each other, it is mostly objective. If you said that A2 sounds harsh to you and I hear it as being smooth, then yes, it is our subjective opinion. But if you said that A2 sounds harsher to you than A5 or ceramic, I would have to say that you really need to get your hearing checked or check on the definition of the words you are using.
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chadd
New member
Again, how you experience something does not mean everyone has to experience it the same way. Your incessant need to dominate, and prevent others from offering a differing opinion, indicates some significant issues.
Artie
Peaveyologist
This very same thing came up in my favorite audio forum, while we were discussing speakers. I pointed out something that we often overlook. While watching TV, or listening to music, bring your hands up and cup them around your ears. Notice the dramatic change in volume and frequency response. Now note the amazing variations in the size and shape of peoples ears. Some have daffodils, and some are son's of Dumbo.
We all hear dramatically different.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I remember some of you guys mentioning A8 is "clanky", though?
ToneFiddler
New member
i bet that's Clint55.:lmao:
he uses that term quite often, but i totally get what he means by it
ToneFiddler
New member
not only that, it's also a mood thing. somedays i love a sound somedays i don't, even though nothing changed. and after 30 mins my ears are often shot and it's good advice not to start fiddling with the controls, because chances are, next time you will like the old settings again...
also happens to me with recordings...
I agree with all of your comments about hearing being an individual subjective thing that we all experience differently. So is smelling, tasting, and feeling. My last comment was about the SAME set of ears making a comparison of two different magnets. Like...70 degrees can feel warm to someone and can feel cold to someone else. Right, I get that. But if one particular person says that 70 degrees feels colder to him than 65 degrees, that's what I have a problem with.
I found an old post by Zhangliqun (A revered member of the forum and custom pickup winder) who listed the properties of the common magnet types. This has been my experience also with the different mags. Another forum member, Blueman335, also posted a pretty comprehensive comparative list which is very similar, but I can't seem to find it.
"This can vary a bit, depending on how fully charged a magnet is, but assuming they are all fully charged, in order of strength, weakest to strongest (in terms of output) plus tone description:
A3 - Sweet and sparkly vintage
A2 - Like A3 but smoother, not quite as sparkly (or as sizzly when overdriven), but a shade hotter
A4 - Smoother than smooth, but still with some chime on top
A5 - Strong bass and plenty of bite, but a little hollow in the mids
A6 - Very strong bass and HUGE mids, a little lacking in treble/presence. This is your super-honk magnet.
A8 - Even stronger bass with mids about the same as A6, maybe a touch less, but with a top end like A2. Has the sizzle and presence A6 lacks. Not recommended for neck pu's -- magnetic pull is very strong."
"This can vary a bit, depending on how fully charged a magnet is, but assuming they are all fully charged, in order of strength, weakest to strongest (in terms of output) plus tone description:
A3 - Sweet and sparkly vintage
A2 - Like A3 but smoother, not quite as sparkly (or as sizzly when overdriven), but a shade hotter
A4 - Smoother than smooth, but still with some chime on top
A5 - Strong bass and plenty of bite, but a little hollow in the mids
A6 - Very strong bass and HUGE mids, a little lacking in treble/presence. This is your super-honk magnet.
A8 - Even stronger bass with mids about the same as A6, maybe a touch less, but with a top end like A2. Has the sizzle and presence A6 lacks. Not recommended for neck pu's -- magnetic pull is very strong."
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.
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