Ceramic Vs Alnico Pickups Tone
Alnico viii is generally between ceramic and alnico v with quite a bit of magnetic pull punchy with upper mids but a little more warmth than ceramic.
Ceramic vs alnico pickups tone. A brief history of stingray 5. Try the blind test to find out. So we often hear. Now alnico 3 will give you a lot less gain and you will get a very vintage eric johnson style tone on clean and kind of a zz top or acdc overdrive.
There are two major types of magnets used in loudspeakers. Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool. You will note the significant differences in the tone that is related to the different pickup ceramic vs. 4 is a little weaker and has a little less gain and more of an old school tone and overdrive.
The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response. You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction. In it s rod form alnico 5 gives the traditional fender tone. If you enjoyed this video be sure to like and subscribe https nextgeng.
Look at alnico pickups if you want the most organic tone possible and consider ceramic pickups if you want a very straight laced and precise tone. With the proper match of components you can get more sensitivity wider frequency response and more power handling ability. Taking a close look at the differences between alnico and ceramic magnets and their effect on tone. We use alnico 5 in all of our strat tele and bass pickups.
Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues. Alnico and pre amp types 3 band vs. You will find many extreme metal players using low output alnico pickups as well as blues guys using ceramic. A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups.
5 is fairly similar to ceramic. Ceramic is quite strong and gives a very bright tone. Are alnico speakers really worth the extra cost. Alnico tends to produce a very musical pickup in most.
Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides. This is by far our most widely used guitar pickup magnet. These magnet types differ and this difference affects a speaker s overall tone. The size and type of magnet also affects a speaker s sound.
Alnico 5 gives that open airy top end sparkle that we re so used to. If you forced me to really break it down for you. In fender style pickups it has the best balance of extended lows mids and highs. Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.
Alnico 3 is weaker than alnico 4 which is weaker than 5.