Medium output alnico pickup w grind and sizzle of ceramic?

[buller]

I get the the grind and sizzle with amps and pedals, and use alnico pickups. Some people prefer to get the grind and sizzle with ceramics, and then don't need to get it with the amp.

I've been running the Synergy Deliverance module in a PS-2A and boosting it with an MXR Custom Badass OD. The Deliverance is very raw and aggressive but not saturated enough on its own so the MXR gets it there without losing what I like about the core tone. I recently got the SLO II module to try something spongier with more give and saturation, but I'm not really getting along with it. I think l'm more in your camp of getting a lot of the punch, grind, and rawness from the amp and looking to just add a bit of give, sponginess, and dynamics with an alnico. So maybe something like the Godwood could be a good call

This 100%.
Try a BL L500, it’s a medium output alnico with killer clarity, touch sensitivity, and openness, with sizzle and grind similar to a ceramic.
If you buy new, buy from here, https://www.wildepickups.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoomsLjYv1G0Rkl314nUEqOet7anklb3FNo3gq7vb0QFKMgzEibX
You’ll be buying directly from Bill’s widow and daughter, not his ex partner at Bill Lawrence USA who screwed him over.

Oh yeah L500 does seem like a good fit for really aggressive alnico. Definitely would order from Billy & Becky / Wilde rather than BL USA, fuck that guy. When you mention the medium output alnico, are you talking about the L500L?


Planet Tone also seems like a good shout, I'll take a closer look at their stuff

 

[buller]

Try a Mighty Mite 1400 which is 9-10K ohms but it grinds like a mother is super aggressive yet still remains somewhat open and PAFish with killer low end chunk. If you need or want a little more output at 14k then the MM 1300 will be your pickup. The Mighty Mite are also USA made and made exactly as they were in the 1970's.

I feel any pickup over 13K is a high output pickup.

If you want more hot PAFish at 8.75-9K with a rough cast ALNICO 5 magnet then I recommend the SD Whole Lotta Humbucker that grinds but not as much as the MM1400/1300.

The 1400 is currently in my guitar and it's great! Haha maybe it would make sense to just stick with that, but curious to see what some alnico pickups would be like. You know how it is, grass is always greener

 

[psychic_driver]

Hey, that someone was me! Lol

Fuckin great rec man, I am very glad I took your advice

 

[Music&Chaos]

Check out planet tone pickups. Somebody on this forum put me onto them & they are fantastic.

I called with some questions & Jose from PT talked to me for over an hour, asking about my guitar, my amp, my style, asking for my influences, tone I am chasing ... He sent me examples of musicians that use his pickups for reference ... After we talked for a while he went to listen to records I brought up he was unfamiliar with & called me back two hours later with updated thoughts. He recommended different humbucker models of his for my neck & bridge, wound my bridge a little hot for push, drive & grind, wound my neck a little cold for clarity and sustain. Charged $75 a pickup for a custom set, tailored to my rig & my style.

My les paul sustains like twice as long now, has excellent clarity and dynamic response & maintains the low end balls for beef & chug.

Good people & quality product over at planet tone. Next I'm thinking of getting them to wind something to replace the black winter I use for black metal ...

Did you go with certain models he already had and tweaked them or did you get a complete custom wind/set?

I have installed over a dozen sets on my own and client guitars. Very nice pickups. Crazy pricing.

 

[psychic_driver]

Did you go with certain models he already had and tweaked them or did you get a complete custom wind/set?

I have installed over a dozen sets on my own and client guitars. Very nice pickups. Crazy pricing.

After much discussion he suggested 2 different models he already had & then tweaked them to better suit my needs

Crazy pricing indeed. There was a 20% off sale on that I ignored ... I wanted him to have the extra cash for taking so much time to explain stuff to me & wind shit to my specs

 

[Music&Chaos]

After much discussion he suggested 2 different models he already had & then tweaked them to better suit my needs

Crazy pricing indeed. There was a 20% off sale on that I ignored ... I wanted him to have the extra cash for taking so much time to explain stuff to me & wind shit to my specs

Oooh nice! If you dont mind and can recall, what models did you go with in each position and what mags do they use?

 

[psychic_driver]

Oooh nice! If you dont mind and can recall, what models did you go with in each position and what mags do they use?

I've got a legacy humbucker, alnico V, wound hot in the bridge & a 59 special, alnico II, wound cold in the neck.

To me the greatest guitar sound of all time is when Sunn strikes a new note after like 10 min of sustain & feedback ... The slow pick attack, the massive sounding & incredibly rich depth of distorted sound ... Chewy & thick, grim ooze ... But i also want definition for death metal chugs & nasal grinding leads.

So I needed pickups that offer a compromise between maximum tonal range, depth & clarity (typically a PAF type "vintage" pickup wound colder) and the tight aggression and drive of the "modern" metal sound. Jose fuckin nailed it. My les paul is far clearer than before, articulate without folding all the harmonic information into a flattened & focused midrange like a super high output ceramic pickup would

 

[Music&Chaos]

I've got a legacy humbucker, alnico V, wound hot in the bridge & a 59 special, alnico II, wound cold in the neck.

To me the greatest guitar sound of all time is when Sunn strikes a new note after like 10 min of sustain & feedback ... The slow pick attack, the massive sounding & incredibly rich depth of distorted sound ... Chewy & thick, grim ooze ... But i also want definition for death metal chugs & nasal grinding leads.

So I needed pickups that offer a compromise between maximum tonal range, depth & clarity (typically a PAF type "vintage" pickup wound colder) and the tight aggression and drive of the "modern" metal sound. Jose fuckin nailed it. My les paul is far clearer than before, articulate without folding all the harmonic information into a flattened & focused midrange like a super high output ceramic pickup would

I have experience with both of those base pickup builds in customer guitars and I have a Legacy bridge installed on one of my main guitars. I can basically hear your set without needing to hear them - that's slammin! Like you said - a huge breadth/spectrum of sound presented. Super dynamic pickups.

 

[Beyond Black]

I've been running the Synergy Deliverance module in a PS-2A and boosting it with an MXR Custom Badass OD. The Deliverance is very raw and aggressive but not saturated enough on its own so the MXR gets it there without losing what I like about the core tone. I recently got the SLO II module to try something spongier with more give and saturation, but I'm not really getting along with it. I think l'm more in your camp of getting a lot of the punch, grind, and rawness from the amp and looking to just add a bit of give, sponginess, and dynamics with an alnico. So maybe something like the Godwood could be a good call


Oh yeah L500 does seem like a good fit for really aggressive alnico. Definitely would order from Billy & Becky / Wilde rather than BL USA, fuck that guy. When you mention the medium output alnico, are you talking about the L500L?


Planet Tone also seems like a good shout, I'll take a closer look at their stuff

Yes, the L500L. The XL is the highest output version,

From the website

The L-500 comes in four versions:
C = 2.8 Henry
R = 4.8 Henry
L = 6.8 Henry
XL = 9.2 Henry

The original set was L500R and L500XL with chrome housing and cream coils, but black coils quickly became players’ general preference.

The L500R has the inductance of a traditional humbucker, and both the L500R and L500C can be used in any position to fit your tonal needs and application. The L500L and L500XL are typically recommended for the bridge position due to their high inductance. For the widest variety of tonal options with the L500L and L500XL especially, we recommend the Q-filter, which can add substantial versatility by lowering the highend volume while preserving and extending the range of response. This makes the Q-tone like a crossover for using a lower inductance pickup for your highs, rather than the dramatic highend rolloff associated with traditional tone controls.

The L500 models may be used with 250k or 500k pots, with the exception of the XL that requires 500k. This allows both drop in replacement generally for most guitars with humbuckers, but also flexibility in mixing with our Noisefree Singles for Fender-style guitars. The L500L with 250k pots is tonally similar to the L500XL with 500k pots.

The L500 is a 5 conductor pickup that easily be installed for series/parallel, split coil, and reverse phase.

 

[harddriver]

The 1400 is currently in my guitar and it's great! Haha maybe it would make sense to just stick with that, but curious to see what some alnico pickups would be like. You know how it is, grass is always greener

Opps I didn't see where you said you already had the 1400 in there, sorry about that. I would say try an AlNiCo 8 magnet pickup like some of those Lynch pickups had those were around 12-13K ohms if I remember correctly, I think Arcane and Pariah made them..

 

[PDC]

A couple of A2 pickups with very different DCR that I am absolutely sold on right now are the Pariah Pasadena White and the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Frankenstein.

The Pasadena White is loosely Pariah's answer to the Duncan '78. I have a few Duncan '78s and while I do like them, they can sound a bit bright and a bit thin depending on the guitar - or the weather - or your mood. The Pariah Pasadena White sounds like a Duncan '78 with more punch and a slightly smoother top end. I am crazy about that pickup in heavier, denser guitars. I've got it in a Heavy Northern Ash Musikraft build and it delivers.

I recently got my hands on a real Duncan Frankenstein - having cycled an EVH Frankenstein and several Jalen Franky's through my stable of guitars - all with good results. But the actual Duncan Frankenstein just sounds bigger, livelier, and ballsier than the EVH and Jalen versions. In a lighter bodied guitar like Alder or Swamp Ash, the Duncan Frankenstein is money.

 

[MattQc]

I'm looking to try out a good alnico bridge pickup after sticking to ceramic in my Les Paul for the past few years.

I like the grind and sizzle that ceramic pickups can have, but am interested in alnico for the increased openness, touch sensitivity, dynamics, give under the fingers, and low end chunk.

What are some good options with these traits? I'm mostly interested in medium output options so things stay open and don't flub out in C# standard while still having enough push for metal, but I'm open to lower and higher output suggestions.

For context, I currently use the Mighty Mite 1400 which I prefer over the SD Custom, WCR Iron Man, and Gibson 500T I've had. Love how aggressive it is, but again just want to try something out with a bit more squish, give, and dynamics since I think that might be the sweet spot with the rest of my gear

I had to verify and they are indeed ceramic and not Alnico but you should check them anwyay,
Dimarzio Titans, theyre are my preffered pickup I think.
They are more open, chunky, tight, not too compressed either, still has plenty of bite, high output but can be rolled back nicely, etc.

 

[scottosan]

Try something with an ALNICO 8 magnet. Same output as ceramic, but more mids

 

[Solarflares]

Try something with an ALNICO 8 magnet. Same output as ceramic, but more mids

Just be careful George Lynch doesn’t come along and grab you by the middle!

 

[MattQc]

What did you end up with?

 

[chumbucket]

I've got a legacy humbucker, alnico V, wound hot in the bridge & a 59 special, alnico II, wound cold in the neck.

To me the greatest guitar sound of all time is when Sunn strikes a new note after like 10 min of sustain & feedback ... The slow pick attack, the massive sounding & incredibly rich depth of distorted sound ... Chewy & thick, grim ooze ... But i also want definition for death metal chugs & nasal grinding leads.

So I needed pickups that offer a compromise between maximum tonal range, depth & clarity (typically a PAF type "vintage" pickup wound colder) and the tight aggression and drive of the "modern" metal sound. Jose fuckin nailed it. My les paul is far clearer than before, articulate without folding all the harmonic information into a flattened & focused midrange like a super high output ceramic pickup would

Do you use the middle switch position? I was wondering how that sounds with this Planet Tone PU combination.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Do you use the middle switch position? I was wondering how that sounds with this Planet Tone PU combination.

His specific combination is goig to yield a wider breadth than normal overall between the neck and bridge. I would think the middle position sounds really cool. PT pickups tend to perform extra well in the middle position with every set I have tried.

 

[psychic_driver]

Do you use the middle switch position? I was wondering how that sounds with this Planet Tone PU combination.

As you would expect, the neck pickup is darker and has lass bite than the bridge so the combination has a rounder sound and a smoother feel under the hand. It cuts better than the neck alone & sustains more than the bridge by itself. I use it when I want maximum sustain & a bigger sound but because of the treble loss its not suitable for chugging. Other times I'll play middle position with bridge tone on 10 & neck tone on 0 for a kind of cocked wah lead sound. Cool effect for melodic bits or arpeggiated rhythm parts

His specific combination is goig to yield a wider breadth than normal overall between the neck and bridge. I would think the middle position sounds really cool. PT pickups tend to perform extra well in the middle position with every set I have tried.

What is a more typical breadth between neck & bridge pickups ?

 

[chumbucket]

As you would expect, the neck pickup is darker and has lass bite than the bridge so the combination has a rounder sound and a smoother feel under the hand. It cuts better than the neck alone & sustains more than the bridge by itself. I use it when I want maximum sustain & a bigger sound but because of the treble loss its not suitable for chugging. Other times I'll play middle position with bridge tone on 10 & neck tone on 0 for a kind of cocked wah lead sound. Cool effect for melodic bits or arpeggiated rhythm parts

What is a more typical breadth between neck & bridge pickups ?

I'm thinking about this same combo for a LP, but with the neck magnet swapped to an AIII or A4. Sometimes I need that middle position to get my Jimmy Page on.

 

[Music&Chaos]

As you would expect, the neck pickup is darker and has lass bite than the bridge so the combination has a rounder sound and a smoother feel under the hand. It cuts better than the neck alone & sustains more than the bridge by itself. I use it when I want maximum sustain & a bigger sound but because of the treble loss its not suitable for chugging. Other times I'll play middle position with bridge tone on 10 & neck tone on 0 for a kind of cocked wah lead sound. Cool effect for melodic bits or arpeggiated rhythm parts

What is a more typical breadth between neck & bridge pickups ?

Well, you have a set that pairs pretty well - in that they are both 59 style pickups - but the difference between the extra cold wound and lower magnetic pull neck and the extra hot wound and A5 bridge is just a bit greater than if you had them both A) Wired as standard instead of extra hot and extra cold B) You had them wired extra Hot/Cold but used A5 or A2 mags in both positions C) You had them wired the same but both pickups have matching magnets.

What I mean to say is that you wanted a great range, and I feel like you achieved it with your set. If you wanted the range to be slightly less or slightly closer in range, you could make one of those 3 tweaks.