Alnico II vs Alnico V (for early EVH)

[MARCO]

I'd love to hear what Dave has to say.
NITRO as far as the clips and/or EVH tracks, his tone change had more to do with recording techniques, cabs/speakers and amp set up. The guitar itself was essentially the same for the first 2 albums for the most part.
If Dave says it was a Alnico II you guys will still say "whatever" so whats the point. According to you Duncan has it all wrong....are you kidding me? Call Greg Burnett from Fender/Charvel and ask him yourself. He and Chip were in the building process of the Frankie, pickup included.
Everyone's ears will hear something different, I agree, but its obviously different from the major manufacturers who have worked closely with EVH........go figure!

[rockstah]

all i can go is my ears and my hands. you want new van halen tone?.. great! u found it.
im still searching for the tone that gave me wood. ( pun intended )

[SoZo]

I have not read this whole thread but I think I agree with Rockstar. There were no A2 magnets back then... they were going for A8 and Ceramic as UPGRADES.
A5 yes... Gibson had bins of magnets in the 50’s and 60’s sitting together and some were over charged and some were discharged and weak.

Van Halens PAF if it was out of a ES335 would probably be the shorter type A5 2 1/8" not 2 1/4". Not bragging like I did anything great but I showed Seymour Duncan one of the shorter magnets for his first time FYI!

Maybe this is why guys like a A2, its close to a short A5... ?

Not to be an ass but have you guys ever owned a PAF.. I have owned them and played lots. I dont know what he is currently doing but Van Halen is in it for the money now.

[nitro]

Marco dave wasnt around back then(Early days 70s)Neither was burnette and chip ellis, if you are nieve to believe all the marketing BS(Duncan-fender etc,etc)(As far as Duncan being wrong, myself,rocksta and many others believe the same thing,people who have experiance and knowledge about equipment know that)which it sounds like you are then thats fine with me,if you like alnico 2 type pickups well thats great keep playing them,someone can give you real good advice but you dought them,you rather take advice from people who started to work with ED in the late 80s and also people who started to work with him recently,ive been doing this since the 70s,i guess in your opinion all the stuff i have posted on this site are all lies and BS because i what to fuck with peoples minds and give them bullshit information....................

[StuntDouble]

Mark, did you try the Ultra7T in your strat with your MXR EQ out front; if so, what'd ya think? That combo is the closest I've gotten. A8s to me sound quirky...muddy, with a flood of lows and shrill highs, but with the right EQ'ing they come to life, and the MXR just sounds freakin pissed off when combined with that pickup. I think it was Mark C that posted somthing about it a while back and I'm glad I tried it; I haven't tried anything that I thought came as close to VH1...just my ears though.

hmmm...shorter A5 and an A8; I'd like to try those in my Blisterbucker when I get home; kinda makes sense for a higher output humbucker since I'm introducing a mid-boost with an EQ rather than using a pup that has more of an inherent mid-boost to it's sound.

BTW, has anyone tried Duncan's alternative 8?

[F#m7]

I have not read this whole thread but I think I agree with Rockstar. There were no A2 magnets back then... they were going for A8 and Ceramic as UPGRADES.
A5 yes... Gibson had bins of magnets in the 50’s and 60’s sitting together and some were over charged and some were discharged and weak.

Van Halens PAF if it was out of a ES335 would probably be the shorter type A5 2 1/8" not 2 1/4". Not bragging like I did anything great but I showed Seymour Duncan one of the shorter magnets for his first time FYI!

Maybe this is why guys like a A2, its close to a short A5... ?

Not to be an ass but have you guys ever owned a PAF.. I have owned them and played lots. I dont know what he is currently doing but Van Halen is in it for the money now.

Are you saying Gibson didn't use A2's in Pafs from the late 50's to the early-mid 60's? If you are, thats completely incorrect. A5's were eventually settled on, but even then, other grades were put in helter skelter. I have a set of A2 pafs that can nail alot of classic tones, including early VH with the right wood under it going into the right amp. No problems with being too soft or mushy in the low end, although that has been my experience with 95% of newer production A2 mag pickups. I also have some A5 Paf's that do well too. What did VH use? I doubt he even knows, but some of the generalizations being made in this thread are suprising. As far as A2 being more of his modern sound and A5 being his old sound? Aren't A5's in all of his post frankie designs(MM, PV, EVH)? A5 is his modern sound. It might be his old sound too, but don't say A2 can't be it, cause I've got one that will nail it. All the cut and bite you could ask for. I'll try to get some clips together one day soon. Also for a modern made pickup using A2's, check out throbaks sle-101's. Pricey, but they have alot of the same qualities of the originals.

[MARCO]

NITRO you are stil not answering my question so let's agree to disagree. Your opinion is the minority so I wont even go there.

I knew there was someone that would chime about the Alnico II. Thanks F#
Like I said earlier, it was an A5 for his newer/modern sound and A2 for the old sound. From the guitars I have had and amp/cabs, that seemed to be the logical answer based on what I heard bbut I still think that Fender and Duncan cant be that f-ed up to use a Alnico II...........THERE IS NO BENEFIT $$ WISE NOR ANY REASON OTHERWISE TO USE ALNICO II OVER ALNICO 5......there's a reason and no one can seem to come up with an intelligent answer other than opinion. For you guys to say Duncan and Fender have it all wrong makes you look stupid!!

[nitro]

Marco,for your information im not in the minority,ive wasted enough time here anyway,so you believe what you want and also listen to the people you want, your the nieve type and there are people out there like you who wont take good advice,rudy leiran can give you advice and you would dought him..............

[SoZo]

I "was told A5 was the spec the pickup was built around". What manufacturing did... I sure dont know... Could be ? I agree "other grades were put in helter skelter"

And if it was setteled on then im sure a late PAF out of a ES335 would of been A5...

Who Knows I was born in 69...

How do you know your magnets are A2?

I have not read this whole thread but I think I agree with Rockstar. There were no A2 magnets back then... they were going for A8 and Ceramic as UPGRADES.
A5 yes... Gibson had bins of magnets in the 50’s and 60’s sitting together and some were over charged and some were discharged and weak.

Van Halens PAF if it was out of a ES335 would probably be the shorter type A5 2 1/8" not 2 1/4". Not bragging like I did anything great but I showed Seymour Duncan one of the shorter magnets for his first time FYI!

Maybe this is why guys like a A2, its close to a short A5... ?

Not to be an ass but have you guys ever owned a PAF.. I have owned them and played lots. I dont know what he is currently doing but Van Halen is in it for the money now.

Are you saying Gibson didn't use A2's in Pafs from the late 50's to the early-mid 60's? If you are, thats completely incorrect. A5's were eventually settled on, but even then, other grades were put in helter skelter. I have a set of A2 pafs that can nail alot of classic tones, including early VH with the right wood under it going into the right amp. No problems with being too soft or mushy in the low end, although that has been my experience with 95% of newer production A2 mag pickups. I also have some A5 Paf's that do well too. What did VH use? I doubt he even knows, but some of the generalizations being made in this thread are suprising. As far as A2 being more of his modern sound and A5 being his old sound? Aren't A5's in all of his post frankie designs(MM, PV, EVH)? A5 is his modern sound. It might be his old sound too, but don't say A2 can't be it, cause I've got one that will nail it. All the cut and bite you could ask for. I'll try to get some clips together one day soon. Also for a modern made pickup using A2's, check out throbaks sle-101's. Pricey, but they have alot of the same qualities of the originals.

[nitro]

Eds original PAF came out of a 1961 gibson es335.

[SoZo]

Then its a short magnet... Guess it could of been A2 or A5??? but it is prob a short magnet for sure...

Also, if they did make A2 according to F#, then a short A2 would be real weak... !

Long Magnet PAF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBbJ9WUMSW4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7La7Cfrc ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John

Eds original PAF came out of a 1961 gibson es335.

[Ruben]

Tried a lot of pickups but seriously only an AV magnet can sound so alive
So just try the SD 59 it's great (and cheap also!)

[jcs]

try an a3 sometime,thats what i have in my 65 sg and i've a-b the guitar with my tech friends real 61 sg/les paul.

a2 was much in my 65 sg,, a5 a bit too strident and edgy,,, a4 was too weak and bright.

these were tried in 4 different highorder pickup winds from 8.1k to 9.7k..

keep in mind various manufacturers of all of these mags will have slight differences plus you cant argue magnet charge is crucial..

i suspect there are different sounding a2 magnets out there.

[F#m7]

The fact that the pickup came out of a '61 335 probably establishes it as an A5, although there are some short mag A2's out there, but I'd say then that it's probably pretty likely that it had an A5 bar in it. But it could have been A2. A5 was the magnet Lover spec'ed, but A2 was used early on I believe, because it was cheaper. As far as knowing which is which, knowing what year they are from is helpful, if you don't know, magnet length would be your next clue. A2's are longer, I'd have to dig up the spec. A5's were a little shorter. Use of the A5 was pretty standard by '61, although people have found short A2's(I've never seen one). That, coupled with the tone, should give you a pretty good indication of what mag is being used. Although depending on the wire and the wind, an A2 can fool you into thinking it's a super sweet A5. Fun stuff.

[bmf5150]

so is an A3 between A2 and an A5?