Ok... so I have a 490r and 498t in my LP... on their own they are both great sounding but they really are a mismatched pair... eq so the neck sounds sweet and the bridge is harsh and shrill... eq for the bridge and the neck is like a muddy swamp... so replace the pickups it is.... or is it?... a couple of quid later and I have two a4 bars to swap into the pickups... out with the a2 in the neck and a5 in the bridge...
Both pickups sound sweet now, more importantly they work better as a pair... i think so anyway... tbh, could all be in my head...
little vid showing the differences.
6 little sound bites.
original pups 1st... neck, both, then bridge
new a4 mags... neck, both, then bridge.
amp settings was the same for all clips - bright channel vol 2 tone on 10...
chain was LP - 5e3 - sm57 - logic.... No post, its as it was recorded.
Is there a difference or is it just in my noggin?
Comments
I've had good experience swapping magnets in the SD Custom Custom - put an A5 in mine which made it a Custom 5 and sounds way less mushy and flabby. Might try a ceramic some time to turn it into a Custom. The difference is noticeable imo.
axisus said: Prolly yep! no gigs this week which is always a bad thing, gives me time to nerd out!... was done primarily to see if it actually made cock all difference... was surprised to see it does...
It's more about fine-tuning the balance rather than chasing radically different tones.
I, for instance, hate JBs but like distortions. They're the same pickup with alnico 5/large ceramic magnet respectively. It's certainly not just a subtle change between those magnets.
I did wonder, with the 490R/498T pair where most people find the neck muddy and the bridge shrill, does anyone just swap the two magnets so the A2 is in the bridge and the A5 is in the neck? I quite liked the combination of A2 bridge/A5 neck in my cheapie Vanson humbuckers, so it seems like it might work to de-mud the neck and mellow the bridge a little.