Alnico vs Ceramic - Which do you prefer?

I just installed some Mototone Black Magic pickups that have both Alnico and Ceramic in each. Still doing some comparisons with my other guitars but I like what I'm hearing so far.

My other guitars have ceramic Duncan JB's in them so I guess my vote would be for Ceramic otherwise.
 
I had a ceramic Bareknuckle Nailbomb in my 7 string, I always felt the sound was a little too scooped with me disappearing into the band mix. I then got an alnico Nailbomb and bam! I was back in the band mix again. Because according to the BKP website ceremic Nailbombs are a little more mid scooped whereas the alnico's have more mids. So alnico it is for me now. Of course now that I have the Axe I could have easily solved it with an EQ block.
 
Muad'zin said:
I had a ceramic Bareknuckle Nailbomb in my 7 string, I always felt the sound was a little too scooped with me disappearing into the band mix. I then got an alnico Nailbomb and bam! I was back in the band mix again. Because according to the BKP website ceremic Nailbombs are a little more mid scooped whereas the alnico's have more mids. So alnico it is for me now. Of course now that I have the Axe I could have easily solved it with an EQ block.
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Actually that’s a very good point about the Axe - an EQ block might fix any pups
 
I really can’t beleive how popular Suhr pickups are....is that a commonality particular to FAS heads like ourselves or is that a current/contemporary popular choice in passives?

I myself, as mentioned, seem to gravitate slightly towards the active pickups, but by no means am I exclusive

Enjoy your new pup powermac
 
White Light of Death said:
Very true. Rex, how do you as a home guitarist check/measure resonant peaks at home, or do you get the info from the sites And apply the info as you try the pickups?
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Without test equipment, you rely on published info — or your ears.

With passive pickups, the resonant peak is affected by your guitar cable and the amp's (or pedal's) impedance, so you can't strictly go by published data. Rather than worry about where the resonant peak is, just go for pickups that sound good to you. If you're trying to "fix" a pickup that doesn't sound right (good luck with that :)), play with input EQ until it sounds better.
 
Rex said:
Without test equipment, you rely on published info — or your ears.

With passive pickups, the resonant peak is affected by your guitar cable and the amp's (or pedal's) impedance, so you can't strictly go by published data. Rather than worry about where the resonant peak is, just go for pickups that sound good to you. If you're trying to "fix" a pickup that doesn't sound right (good luck with that :)), play with input EQ until it sounds better.
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see, what one question could lead to? That is great, incredibly useful info right there.
and FWIW, I think the published info isn't that reliable, the most useful measure is Dimarzio's inhouse EQ chart honestly

(I used to alternate between active and passives. These days, I am playing with Fishman fluence so I can't complain, like anyone complaining about Fishman really need to shut up and learn to play or just shut up and play, honestly, and obviously im very happy with them as they have both an active and passive profile...Ive been a fishman fan ever since JP started using them standard on his piezos, and I always thought to myself, why the hell doesn't fishman do something …..and then the Fluence came out, so that was it for me honestly.)
 
White Light of Death said:
I really can’t beleive how popular Suhr pickups are....is that a commonality particular to FAS heads like ourselves or is that a current/contemporary popular choice in passives?

I myself, as mentioned, seem to gravitate slightly towards the active pickups, but by no means am I exclusive

Enjoy your new pup powermac
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Suhr is popular here I reckon in part for the same reason that fractal gear here is very popular. They both cost a shitload of money and that tends to generate a lot of positive feelings to the product.
 
Loaded the custom 5 into one of my les Pauls yesterday. Still need to find the sweet spot as far as height goes, but it sounds really good so far. Not quite as much top end as the suhr DA, and a little less hot. But so far digging them.
 
jefferski said:
JB's are Alnico 5. Did you mean JB Jr's?
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Warren D's signature guitars come with a a JB w/ a Alnico 2 in it. I've thought about ordering it from Seymore Duncan's custom webshop. I'm always afraid of doing that because you never know what it will sound like until it's too late and you've bought em.

My answer would typically be Alnico's but I thought about it and the reason is because the PAF had alnico's and I always 'believed' I liked hot wound PAF style pickup like Ed VanHalen. That is until a discovered the that the Duncan Distortion was ceramic. I have one that I have tried in several guitars over the years. Right now is resides in a Ibanez RG, neon orange I bought in '87. That guitar sounds awesome. But I love playing my Charvel, which has Dimarzio Super Distortions. And those pickups are kind of flat sounding without some mid boosting before the amp (Input EQ or a Cliff's PEQ tip). I've wondered what JB's or Warren D's JB would sound like in it (most Charvels come with JBs). But I figure with all of the power in the AxeIII the pickup's tone would be easily compensated for because you can share the eq hitting the front of the amp.
 
Bman said:
Warren D's signature guitars come with a a JB w/ a Alnico 2 in it. I've thought about ordering it from Seymore Duncan's custom webshop. I'm always afraid of doing that because you never know what it will sound like until it's too late and you've bought em.

My answer would typically be Alnico's but I thought about it and the reason is because the PAF had alnico's and I always 'believed' I liked hot wound PAF style pickup like Ed VanHalen. That is until a discovered the that the Duncan Distortion was ceramic. I have one that I have tried in several guitars over the years. Right now is resides in a Ibanez RG, neon orange I bought in '87. That guitar sounds awesome. But I love playing my Charvel, which has Dimarzio Super Distortions. And those pickups are kind of flat sounding without some mid boosting before the amp (Input EQ or a Cliff's PEQ tip). I've wondered what JB's or Warren D's JB would sound like in it (most Charvels come with JBs). But I figure with all of the power in the AxeIII the pickup's tone would be easily compensated for because you can share the eq hitting the front of the amp.
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Demartini pickup The RTM is basically and old JB with a smoother top end and less upper mid spike
its a bit warmer
 
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