Alnico II vs Alnico V (for early EVH)

[Ruben]

Just bought an off the shelf '59 (Alnico V) and gigged with it last night. I had to cut some hights on the amp EQ because the pickup is BRIGHT.

Compared to my other bridge pickups, like the 78 (Alnico II) and Antiquity (Alnico II) This is the closest I've gotten so far when it comes to early EVH. It just has the clarity in the hights what makes it sound and feel like VHI

Alnico II is great also but when it comes to that chrystal clear 'sizzle' well...to my ears A2 doesn' t cut it.

Anyway I also have made myself a Hybrid (Custom/'59, A2) which I love also. Think of replacing the magnet with an AV and see what happens.

For know:A5 IS the way to go IMO

Just my 0.02 here

[sadwings75]

Just bought an off the shelf '59 (Alnico V) and gigged with it last night. I had to cut some hights on the amp EQ because the pickup is BRIGHT.

Compared to my other bridge pickups, like the 78 (Alnico II) and Antiquity (Alnico II) This is the closest I've gotten so far when it comes to early EVH. It just has the clarity in the hights what makes it sound and feel like VHI

Alnico II is great also but when it comes to that chrystal clear 'sizzle' well...to my ears A2 doesn' t cut it.

Anyway I also have made myself a Hybrid (Custom/'59, A2) which I love also. Think of replacing the magnet with an AV and see what happens.

For know:A5 IS the way to go IMO

Just my 0.02 here

The A2 magnet definitely has a nice sound, but as for as Ed's early sound, I found that the A5's high end and tighter sound gets me closer. To me, the A5 sounds more alive; more excited. People talk about Ed using an eq in his setup, and in my experience whenever I've put a mid boost in front of the signal of a guitar with an A2 mag the results sound muddy. It seems like he may have used a pickup with an A5, and used the mid boost; that has always worked nicely for me; it has the qualities that I like about the A5 but sounds more round.
You should definitely go ahead and keep experimenting with other stuff and keep notes of what setup sounds the best and why, so that you can always go back. I've also found that the pickup's distance from the strings can really change the sound of the attack. The 59 in a floyd equipped guitar can have way too much high end, so it also depends on that as well, as well as sucking out other frequencies. At the moment, financially speaking, I'm stuck with my only playable guitar having a floyd, which also has a '59 neck in the bridge. There are elements of the sound that I like, but I think until I can get a guitar with a vintage style trem, and this won't be until I have the money to buy the parts from Warmoth, that I'm going to do some experimenting of my own with slightly hotter pickups to try and fill in the sound a bit.
I have two of the hybrid pickups around and enjoyed them when I used them but opted for the '59 because I wanted a cleaner sound, but at this point I think it would be worth the trade off until I can get another guitar.

[nitro]

Ruben you made a good chose............

[rockstah]

Ruben i agree the a2 is alittle too warm and soft for evh. sure it will work but a5 sounds closer.

[WERNER1]

Sorry,...I'm sure it's probably comon knowledge around here,..but what guitar did you put the '59 in? .. .. (wood / neck? ) ...

Anybody put A5's in a '78? .... wonder how that worked out and in what guitar that went in ?? ...

And Rockstah,...how'd you get such a big freaking avitar any way!?!?

Rick

[rockstah]

i host my image on photobucket.com

[WERNER1]

I thought the image size was limited to like 80x80 pix. or 8kb. ?? ..... I guess if you can coax those insane tones out of your Marshall(s) ... you can do just about anything

[Ruben]

@Sadwings: That's exactly what I hear: The sound is more , tighter and way more exciting when compared to AII which is somewhat polite

[MARCO]

The Frankie and EVH Duncan are Alnico II so go figure.....obviously everyone has a different ear but the original Gibson PAF in the frankie was an alnico II early on. For the Frankie, Fender started with an A5 and found it to have a harder sound, more modern. The Alnico II makes sense because the aggressiveness is coming from the ash, the brass nut, oversized block, maple cap fb etc. and the browness is coming from the magnet.
I say assymetric wind Alnico II is better which is what they are making the replica with and the EVH Duncan, which everyone has a hard on for , for some reason.
Just my $3.23 worth!!

[sadwings75]

The Frankie and EVH Duncan are Alnico II so go figure.....obviously everyone has a different ear but the original Gibson PAF in the frankie was an alnico II early on. For the Frankie, Fender started with an A5 and found it to have a harder sound, more modern. The Alnico II makes sense because the aggressiveness is coming from the ash, the brass nut, oversized block, maple cap fb etc. and the browness is coming from the magnet.
I say assymetric wind Alnico II is better which is what they are making the replica with and the EVH Duncan, which everyone has a hard on for , for some reason.
Just my $3.23 worth!!

What I've said is simply based on my own experiences, and I'm open to the idea of different ideas. Eddie's playing on it's own may be the thing that sounds so exciting and us mortals have to use an A5 to compensate. Unfortunately I've never played an ash bodied guitar before so I couldn't comment on the effect firsthand, but have heard that it's sound is hard and bright, which probably would help compensate for the looser sound of the A2. Every so often I like to go through and try things I've tried in the past with the experience that I've gained since trying them in the first place. It's been probably a year or so since I've tried the A2's, maybe now I'd hear something different or have more insight in trying different variables.

[nitro]

I dont believe eds gibson paf was alnico II,i believe it was alnico V.

[TheDarkness]

Both A2 and A5 magnets are great, but for EVH I lean more toward A5.

[IloveMyMarshall]

The Frankie and EVH Duncan are Alnico II so go figure.....obviously everyone has a different ear but the original Gibson PAF in the frankie was an alnico II early on. For the Frankie, Fender started with an A5 and found it to have a harder sound, more modern. The Alnico II makes sense because the aggressiveness is coming from the ash, the brass nut, oversized block, maple cap fb etc. and the browness is coming from the magnet.
I say assymetric wind Alnico II is better which is what they are making the replica with and the EVH Duncan, which everyone has a hard on for , for some reason.
Just my $3.23 worth!!

+1000000 and then sum!! and all the above and lets not forget the sizzle from Eddies hands!! He played with attitude!! And he played HARD
I will stick with A-II --

[TheDarkness]

Couldn't Ed's original PAF been A5? I thought Gibson loaded many originals with A5s. However, the originals were very inconsitent from what I have heard. Like Nitro though, I'm thinking his was Alnico 5.

[nitro]

It was a alnico V.