Music&Chaos
Well-known member
Hello RT,
Just got to do a really fun comparison. I will prepend this with the fact that the A3 pickup is staggered albeit a slightly more modern stagger at approx 10-12" radius.
The A5 pickup I tested is non-staggered.
I tested a Planet Tone DG Bridge pickup.
These are quite hot for a strat at around 13k.
Think big, open, clear.
So, I originally had the A3 in my guitar and had the thought "what if it had just a bit more mid oomph and squish under the fingers? Let's try one with an A5 in it.
The results were not what I expected -
A5:
This pickup is thick with some upper mid bite and grind. The bass is full and is pretty tight, I mean it's a single coil, but not as tight as the A3. The top end is slightly warmer/softer, as are a number of frequencies, due to the added midrange. This actually removed a bit of cut to the sound, but added some beef in the low mid register. This did not give me the added squish under my fingers I thought it would, but again, it did fill some frequency areas, but seemed to slightly reduce others. A balanced sound, with a nice growl to it. I think most people would prefer this type of sound as opposed to the "In your face" sound of the A3. That being said....
A3:
I vastly prefer the cut of the A3. Something about the body of the notes and harmonics are more in your face with less fluff around it. Does that make these less forgiving? Yes. I prefer that HD nature of the sound though. The A5 adds mids that many people would prefer, but there is something a bit more spacious, as if the pickup has a bit more headroom due to the decreased magnet strength. The attack on some of the low thunk/chug riffs is not something that can be dialed in, it is inherently there due to the magnets. You lose some low mid beef, but you gain bark and bite. For a strat, i think i would prefer the extra bit of snap, and for lack of a better word "clarity" that the 3s provide.
I really really thought I was going to prefer the Alnico 5 over the Alnico 3 variant by miles, but they just reminded me of how good the A3s really sound.
I thought about shifting some of the poles on the stagger to even out the E/B just a touch but kind of don't want to touch it.
I have a buddy having a new DG set coming in for install. I may see if we can get the bridge A3 unstaggered for testing against the staggered. Why not?
I am getting all fo my recording processes down for trying to track some of these comparisons.
I have a list of comparisons to do - I need to get started!
Just got to do a really fun comparison. I will prepend this with the fact that the A3 pickup is staggered albeit a slightly more modern stagger at approx 10-12" radius.
The A5 pickup I tested is non-staggered.
I tested a Planet Tone DG Bridge pickup.
These are quite hot for a strat at around 13k.
Think big, open, clear.
So, I originally had the A3 in my guitar and had the thought "what if it had just a bit more mid oomph and squish under the fingers? Let's try one with an A5 in it.
The results were not what I expected -
A5:
This pickup is thick with some upper mid bite and grind. The bass is full and is pretty tight, I mean it's a single coil, but not as tight as the A3. The top end is slightly warmer/softer, as are a number of frequencies, due to the added midrange. This actually removed a bit of cut to the sound, but added some beef in the low mid register. This did not give me the added squish under my fingers I thought it would, but again, it did fill some frequency areas, but seemed to slightly reduce others. A balanced sound, with a nice growl to it. I think most people would prefer this type of sound as opposed to the "In your face" sound of the A3. That being said....
A3:
I vastly prefer the cut of the A3. Something about the body of the notes and harmonics are more in your face with less fluff around it. Does that make these less forgiving? Yes. I prefer that HD nature of the sound though. The A5 adds mids that many people would prefer, but there is something a bit more spacious, as if the pickup has a bit more headroom due to the decreased magnet strength. The attack on some of the low thunk/chug riffs is not something that can be dialed in, it is inherently there due to the magnets. You lose some low mid beef, but you gain bark and bite. For a strat, i think i would prefer the extra bit of snap, and for lack of a better word "clarity" that the 3s provide.
I really really thought I was going to prefer the Alnico 5 over the Alnico 3 variant by miles, but they just reminded me of how good the A3s really sound.
I thought about shifting some of the poles on the stagger to even out the E/B just a touch but kind of don't want to touch it.
I have a buddy having a new DG set coming in for install. I may see if we can get the bridge A3 unstaggered for testing against the staggered. Why not?
I am getting all fo my recording processes down for trying to track some of these comparisons.
I have a list of comparisons to do - I need to get started!
