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Alnico Pickups Vs. Ceramic Pickups - Quick Comparison
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- Опубликовано: 12 ноя 2021
- Let me know if you could hear a difference and which one you preferred in the comments!
Guitars are a USA Peavey Predator and an Artist Strat style guitar
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I tested this out using two Strats, comparing back to back recordings, and found the OPPOSITE of what I was told. Ceramic pickups had more bass, Alnico V pickups had more treble. Both had the about same output / volume.
That’s an interesting observation, it really shows at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what pickups they are, as long as you like the sound of them🤷♂️
@@danieljdtaylor Yes. I like the Alnico V pickups in the Fender Player Strat. They have some character. :)
Subjective. Ceramics might sound better in a hollow body Gretsch to some tastes.
This right here is the truth.
I like the Alnico V if set really low almost at pickguard level (ok, like an eighth of an inch on the neck pickup, it sound way more balanced imo, aka less treble)
Yet, on ceramic I like them really close to the strings 😅, for higher output.
I use ceramic on HSH / HH for punk or high gain genres ,
AlnicoV on SSS strat for bluesy or SRV songs
I don't know about the sound,BUT many brands are ridiculously OVERPRICED for a chunk of magnet!
I can't tell the difference and the majority of the people won't give a f*ck what kind of pickups you're using as long as you sound good on stage.
Agreed, the different does not matter in most contexts
Magnetism is the same, there is no two kinds of magnetism. If you make a ceramic magnet of the same strength as an alnico and similar pickup construction, you will get the same results. Small variations because of the materials will make impossible to be 100% the same, but this like tone wood bullshit. Get a well constructed pickup and choose by its caracteristics and not the material of what its made.
My first encounter with the two pickups side by side was in 2014. Fender had just released an FSR (Fender Special Run) Telecaster. That year they also released the American Professional Series. Both looked like 52 telecasters with ash bodies. I played both side by side through a Marshall. They looked pretty much identical. I kept returning to the FSR Telecaster, liking it better than the American Professional Tele, although the FSR was $1000 dollars less in price. It sounded more aggressive and broke up better when the guitar volume was on 10. When I rolled the volume down it was smooth and clear, just like the American Professional Tele. I wound up buying the FSR with ceramic magnet pickups. Those pickups may be cheaper, but they have a feel of their own. The alnico magnets are smoother, and lower output. If that is what you are looking for, then you have found the pup for you.
When I play my Les Paul or SG through my Marshall JVM 410, the first thing I notice is how much faster they drive the amp to break up. I find the ceramic pickups tend to do the same thing but not to the same extent as the humbuckers on my Gibsons. I rarely play any of my solid body guitars on 10… volume or treble. Thanks for the video! Great job!
Love this comment mate! It really demonstrates that there is no better or worse when it comes to ceramic Vs Alnico, just personal preferences. I myself prefer Alnico pickups but some of my favourite sounding guitars have ceramic pickups that punch so hard and it’s great! Thanks for leaving your comment mate, cheers!
I don't know tons about pickups but I just replaced my neck squire ceramic with alnico today. First impression, Alnico has more output and sounds warm and round.
The other crazy thing is it feels more comfortable when playing fast, usualy I use my other guitars with humbackers for that cause the cermaic single coil starts getting nasty sharp overtones when I use fast picking.
All that being said I still think the cermaic bright tone has its application on different contextes.
I see what you’re saying mate, Ceramic is generally less forgiving to play which could be why it feels easier on Alnico pickups
There's a lot of microphone overdrive in this video so it's impossible to tell what "gain" is from the pickups.
I prefer alnico. I just bought a strat. Jv modified. I suspect ceramic. I need to change those pickups. The dynamic is to different. I prefer by far the warmth of alnico
A lot of people do prefer Alnico pickups unless they’re doing really high gain heavy playing. I love a lot about both sides
ALNICOS sounded square and cold for me unlike CERAMICS - theyre rounded and heavy. I got me high output ceramic single coils on my ST neck and it screams!
ceramics are brighter to my ears
Yeah agreed, brighter and more aggressive
Ceramics are a bit muddyer. Actually, by my opinion, some of them sound better than alnico only at bridge position with distortion.
Personally, I like the ceramics more. To me they have more of a warmer
Noisier sound and get fuzzy with gain. Probably feeds back very nicely when playing cranked. I might also be biased because I just dropped $1400 on an MIJ Strat with them in there lol but still
Lol lol lol
I like ceramics but warm and fuzzy are 2 things I don't want in a pickuo
MiJ Strats have Alnico. Pretty much all Strats above $350 by Fender Co have Alnico. Usually between 2 and 5.
The difference is the most distinct with a higher gain. Ceramic PU's get very buzzy and Fuzz like. They can have a very unpleasant sound especially in the high end.
I honestly prefer Ceramic pickups for medium-high gain stuff, more punchy and brash which I personally like
@@danieljdtaylor I have an ancient Peavey, U.S. made Strat with them in. I don't use it as I have 13 guitars of which I actually take 10 to a gig and use all 10, lol. I play Metal but I just don't like the sound of Ceramic or active PU's Nothing wrong with either it only an ascetic decision. When I want more aggression I use a Fuzz either on it's own or stacked on an OD.
@@Paul_Lenard_Ewing ceramics in general are cleaner with high gain. Are you sure you aren’t confusing the two?
@@Paul_Lenard_Ewing
You actually use 10 a night or BS'ing?
You're making too broad of a generalization. An overwound alnico will usually sound fuzzy and unfocused/messy under gain compared to something like a Dimarzio Tone Zone ceramic.
They both sound great, but the alnicos do sound better IMHO, and more "vintage" if you will I might add- if that's considered "better."
I would completely agree with that
I like gain sound of the ceramic
Alnico sounds better to me. I actually don't like sound of strat's bridge single coil, but I like neck pickup sound. Alnico is clearer and chymier. strat's bridge pickup should be humbucker or, even better, p90
I agree with the P90 in the bridge for a strat! Still get the great in between settings but a fatter sound in the bridge
They do sound a bit different, but your clean tone was still driven....the only time I hear actual like "oh yeah those are Alnico,bor those are high end pups".... when you're CLEAN "clean".
On a clean channel, alnico pups have that Clsssic bell like chime, those crystal sparkly tones.
Fair enough! If I had my time again I’d record this video again for sure!
I've got an SD Hot rail (ceramic) in my strat in the bridge position and I love it. With regular Strat pots, it sounds great. Honestly, pots make a huge difference with brightness. From what I understand, humbuckers usually have 500k pots and singles have 250k pots. My Strat isn't annoying or shrill in the bridge position. Its got a lot of mids. It sounds amazing for low to medium gain. Its cool because i can use the neck and middle single coils, and then switch to my bridge pickup and get a really cool dirty tone. I think my hot rail also sounds fantastic with high gain through a more British-voiced amp. The only thing is, its pretty hard to get a decent clean tone, but I dont ever use the bridge pickup for cleans. I like to have at minimum low to medium gain for my bridge pickup.
That sounds great! I agree the pots make a big difference to the sound, particularly when you’re mixing humbuckers and single coils, love the breakdown of your guitar man! Sounds like it would sound immense
@@danieljdtaylor thanks man. Yea I love my Strat. It's so fun to play. Mine has a maple fretboard, which I love, but I plan on getting one with a rosewood fretboard and a regular size humbucker someday as well. I'm saving up money right now. I'd honestly far prefer to get a Fender Mustang in black with a rosewood fretboard and a bridge humbucker, but I think I might have to hit up the Fender custom shop for that, and that's way too expensive for me right now. I just really like short scale guitars because I have small hands.
Ceramics sound better for me on drive sounds
I agree on heavy drive sounds for sure
both sound good to me but I actually prefer the ceramic sound
I don't know. You were right there in the room. What did YOU think?
I think the ceramic pickups have more midrange punch and a higher output, but those differences are fairly marginal. They’re potentially differences only the player would notice.
Ceramic all the way
Depends on what amp you use to
Most test/demo just playing a tune or riff they like but really people should demo the clarity of harmonics with sustain and test out the lowest and highest note on the strings. Also the type of strings matter as do frets and nut to get more resonance. Everything the strings sit on my custom Warmoth guitar is stainless steel and is almost intimidating because it picks up so much but also because I have scalloped frets ;) RUclips may also reduce the sound quality through compression. Maybe when creating demo videos users should aim for 24 bit 97 khz at least with Flac in with their video editor. I'm currently shopping for the best noiseless strat pickup with bell/chime like sound but haven't had anyone attempt making that sound, even on Fender's website, they all do riffs but I'm not shopping for riffs lol
I guess the reason being that, most of the time, the context through which people experience pickups firsthand is playing riffs and songs, not just letting individual strings and notes sustain to listen out for harmonic content. I see your point but I believe providing context is also important.
@@danieljdtaylor True but there are so many playing styles so if it's not their own, it can/has been distracting.. Personally i play all kinds but still find it harder to determine the quality unless sone one played an open note in the lower and upper ranges. I think maybe more universally acceptable would also include the open notes and harmonics just as someone tuning their guitar.
Thanks for the video. While the Predator is definitely a solid guitar, it's pick ups are not what you would say is good about the guitar, not that they are bad, just that maybe they are on the lower end of the ceramic pick up world(?). Where as the Fender has a higher grade of pick up. So what I am saying, is that while I definitely appreciate your time and your video- love how you get straight to it, that's awesome!, it seems like comparing a high end German steel knife of one style to one you bought at big box store of a different style. Is that fair? Not saying the big box store isn't perfectly good, just not as thoughtfully constructed.
Thanks mate I appreciate the feedback. I think the reason this comparison does work is because they’re both affordable guitars with affordable pickups in them. If I were to compare a $300 set of Alnico pickups to a $50 set of ceramics (or visa versa) it wouldn’t have made sense. They’re on a level playing field in terms of spec and price so if the ceramic pickups fall short for you in this comparison, maybe it’s just a personal preference 🤷♂️
I think I like the ceramic. Newer doesn't always mean better.
That's very true
alnico is just too noisy on higher gains
Thanks
The cermanic sounded slight darker. You'd never know the difference imo if you didn't play them side by side but then again live always sounds different but this gives a good ball park. Did you by chance lower the volume on the heavy take with cermanic? Quite a bit quieter & people always think louder sounds better me included.
I don’t believe there was any volume change? I know RUclips can compress stuff in funny ways sometimes but who knows 🤷♂️
Ceramic neck single coils are best, alnico is thin and cheesy and best for bridge humbuckers
I like Jim root style EMG open coil ceramic humbuker pickup.
Clear sound alnico
I think what a lot of people here in the comments are missing when they say theirs had a difference is that in the room you will hear those differences, but in AB recordings like this the differences are less. Add gain and a full mix to a recording and its probably barely noticeable at all
Good shout, once it’s put into a properly mixed track, you won’t hear the difference. It doesn’t change the “feel” of the instrument and how you attack it, which can make a bigger difference in receding.
Once you add distortion...they sound pretty much the same.
For my ear ceramic pups sound weird on the higher gain stuff
am i tone def, they both sound the same to me.
Did you use only the pickups shown at the beginning? Caus they were both ceramic. (And sounding good)
The pickups shown at the beginning were not what I used, I have no idea what the actual pickups used in the video look like underneath
@@danieljdtaylor thanks for the clarification. That makes sense.
Main difference is that alnico is way more sensitive.
Different sounds. Too distorted to judge.
Ceramic is hotter, but maybe lowering their mounting plate can compensate
Different sounds may be due to the pickups 🤷♂️
On clean ceramic sounds like plastic tho it can handle high distortion better. I prefer alnico tbh
Tone is in the hands.
A lot of it is, yes
I think the Alnico sounds more clean and with more definition. But it's just what I think...;)
It’s all different opinions aye! That’s the point I guess, neither is objectively better as it’s just opinion
Slightly diference between bridge
Ceramic the best
Alnico sounded heavy tone..
Ceramic for metal, alnico for blues rock
This is probably the most unscientific test ever....
Well, I’m not a scientist 🤷♂️
alnico win
Alnico - Warm
Ceramic - Bright
Ceramic more Rock
... hm... verschiedene Gitarren...
ist nie gut...
wer mit der grundsätzlich Charakteristik nicht vertraut ist kann damit garnichts anfangen...
der Unterschied kann auch am Holz der jeweiligen Gitarren liegen...
🙄🤔...
That’s true, I do believe they are both constructed from the same woods (albeit with a roasted maple neck on one). I think this video still gives a solid indication in the subtle differences between the pickups.
@@danieljdtaylor.... ok.... that s fine.... so... knowing this... I ll hear it again....
sure I was interested....
and thank you very much for your information.... that s kind
.... greetings... and have a good time
Ceramic seems weak in high gain
Lol, tell that to Synyster Gates.
Ceramic is too sharp and bright
While alnico is warm and not to sharp
Thats a fair observation, the bright sharpness may work in favour of some genres of music
Alnico sounds too twinky
Twinky isn’t a word I’ve heard use to describe tone before haha!
Que mal suena las dos.
Not a huge difference.
Ceramics are too bright and trebly to my liking, also sterile. Alnico is warm and round, which has more vintagey character.
Alnico pickups are often considered more "vintage" sounding, but Ceramics have their place in heavier styles of music for sure.
Maybe... the only thing we are hearing is our bias, not the pickups; "too bright", "warm" or "sterile" doesn't mean anything 🤷. For example, to me Alnico let to hear better the strings and the wood of the guitar while Ceramics don't so you hear more of the pickup itself, more of it's "character" so to speak. 🥴.
These sound like crap. I might be missing the intent, so I apologize in advance. But damn none of this was good. Not sure what is wrong here, but none of it sounded like professional equipment.
Probably because I’m not a professional recording producer in any way