PAF Magnets: AlNiCo II, III, IV & V Compared

[@Evyanaf]

What a great and interesting comparison. To me the alnico 4 sounded the best, kinda bringing some Klon frequencies qualities into the mix.

[@qua7771]

I used to be strictly an A2 magnet pickup user until trying Wizz pickups.

[@jaredhunt5681]

I really like that you used multiple passages for comparison and mixed up the order of the comparisons. My first thought when seeing that you were comparing 4 magnets was that it was unfortunate that we wouldn't get back-to-back comparisons between certain pairs. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was wrong. This is a fantastic comparison. I found that AlNiCo III had my favorite bass side sound and AlNiCo II had my favorite treble side sound. Now I wish I could get half-sized magnets. Haha

[@Seraph-kb3ev]

Jared hunt… just use the 3s o the bass side and the 2s on the treble side🤷‍♂️.

[@steffenbrix]

Thank you for such a great clean tone example.... Alnico 2 is the winner here

[@jacolux]

Very well done video! 👍 IMO A5 was too boomy in the bass and I didn’t like the tone in the A3. A2 and A4 was more equal. I should take A2 for a guitar with much chord playing and A4 for chords and solos. So overall I think I would pick A4.

[@garygallagher7341]

Excellent video, Joe. I never expected such a noticeable change when comparing magnets! I agree the Alnico II sounded appropriate for that guitar (through KZbin anyway). I am a believer that pick-ups and speaker are the key mods to any rig. The celestion gold and alnico II seem to complement each other very well. Thanks for the huge effort. I can imagine it was a massive pain. Totally worth it!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks Gary - glad the video was useful and the differences came through!!

[@kennyjohnson336]

I think I like the 3's best. I appreciate this video, must have been a tedious several hours to make this video. Cheers

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Sure was ;-) Cheers Kenny

[@Sams911]

4's for me hands down

[@within_a_doubt7421]

Nice job with the quality and video editing! I would say I like the 4 for the cleans and I liked the 2 a little bit more for the crunch.

[@derekcostello1016]

Thank you - most interesting. IMHO I thought the A2 was the sweetest overall.

[@frantisca]

Considerable job: thanks a lot ! 2’s are great for S type, 3´s for LP, 4’s for SGs, 5 for Teles. My 2ç… Cheers ! 🤘🏻

[@billywhyte6693]

Ah well @ 69yo... A5 has dropped in my books... but 3 neck & 4 have caught my attention... maybe 2 neck... but I have a bridge wound p90 in middle on my tele. I'll have to do what you did with my bridge wound neck mule (tame it with A2) & swap A5 in p90 for a pair 4s first try. Jeeez

[@benjohnson4810]

I like the alnico 4 the best i think. Alnico 2 is what i'm most used to and probably prefer overall.

[@billywhyte6693]

4 gives the bridge a sparkle... but 2 (or3) has the acoustic warmth on the neck. It gets worse when using P90s (only at neck... seen my self combine a 5 & 2, because that's all I had & got a magic cleen strum}. Tooo many variables! It's when we get a crap dull sound we notice it most

[@scottanderson6807]

Great video and great effort! I have Wizz with A4 and A2. The A4 has incredible harmonics and the most singing lead tone I’ve ever had. Downside is that they are a bit more compressed mid-rangey and not as dynamic for rhythm guitar. The A2 is more detailed and have a great dynamic range but don’t have that super responsive and singing lead sound as much. On your video, the A2 sounded huge and complex. It may have been my favorite for you. However, as well done as this video is, its pretty well impossible to get a sense of the feel and response of the different mags. That would surely have a big impact on my preferences

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep - very hard to get feel across on KZbin! :-)

[@DennisAlvarezMusic]

A2's all day long! I changed to A2's in my DiMarzio 36th Anniversary pickups on my LTD EC 401. I'm very happy with them.

[@adamwatson6916]

I tired the Wizz recently but they were too bright a touch thin for my tastes. They had A4 Mags. Maybe that was it. I have never gotten on with A4 and more often then not don't like A5 . I have tried some A5 sets I have tried but usually I don't. I do love the old short A5 gibson patent sticker pickups though short A5s are a different animal then lomg A5. Short A5 have a little more midrange compared to long A5 and its lack of mids that turn me off of long A5. I am an A2 and A3 fan . Un oriented A5 is nice mid ground between A2 and A5 .

[@adonikam1]

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT VIDEO!! THANK YOU!! AWSOME AWSOME JOB AND EXPLANATION!! FANTASTIC PLAYING!!

[@stefanoenricosalvadorebesu1445]

Alnico 5 for overdrive, altough they may be a bit too bright for a maple body guitar. For cleans, they all sound good. Alnico 3 seems to be a popular choice for Broadcaster inspired pups.

[@pstreetblues]

Alnico 4 for me. That's what I have in my Wizz Premium Clones.

[@henrikkaveryd3374]

One of the most thorough and best comparisons of magnets on the interwebz. Well done 👌

[@duck_5150]

I dig that alnico 4...great video

[@ootoobings]

Very informative and helpful video! I now feel confident in my decision to go with the Mojotone 59 PAF's since I found the A4 magnets to be the most pleasing to my ears in this video. I was also surprised to hear how much of an acoustical tonal quality the A5's had here. Thanks!

[@edt.5118]

It seems the type of magnet used in low impedance pickups doesn't matter: Lace Alumitones and the original Les Paul low impedance pickups.

[@jimlee9294]

Alnico 4 and v30 speaker! For telecaster!

[@susannoland7385]

IMO A2 is kind of tin box sounding, A4 was great A5 I like this one too. Thanks for this it must have been time consuming!

[@stevelaferney3579]

Marvelous work Joe. Well worth the effort and thanks for making this video so we could hear differences. I too like the Alnico II’s and IV’s in Bridge on my Strat. PAF’s are best in A-II’s. Nice guitar. Cheers.

[@qua7771]

I always liked A2 magnet PAF type pups until I tried Wizz premium clones.

[@RokinLee]

wow well done! must have been quite an undertaking. Great reference tool. I recently acquired some Bulldog pafs (highly recommend!) and they came with A3 or A4 neck and A5 bridge. Loving the A4 neck and A5 bridge combo in an 335. Bridge is wound slightly hotter. Also got a les Paul with BKP mules A4s.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Will keep a lookout for some Bulldogs :-)

[@crappy60]

Alnico 4 was definitely warmer yet brighter than Alnico 2.

[@captainflamson]

Came for the mag comparisons but man I love that guitar! Will definitely check those out!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

It’s a real beauty :-)

[@soy3908]

9:46 10:02 10:18 10:34

[@SteveD2176]

Gotta say 2, 3 and 4 sound fantastic in their own ways but the 5 just never cuts it for me. It's like the others have this extra presence the 5 just totally lacks

[@BeastMadeReviews]

love the guitar! Very cool video! I liked all the magnets. lol. I have a telecaster with Alnico 3 magnets and love them. To my ears, they seem to do something a little different. Great job!

[@mikestroud9969]

Alnico 4 sounded the best to me. Thanks buddy 😎👍✌️🎸🎸

[@AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXV]

The worst part: you'll never find another Alnico IV like that sound-wise. Alnico IV is literally a range of each metal component that make up an Alnico magnet. While the amount of Nickel is constant in each of the other Alnico magnets, Alnico IV is not, it's whatever the maker decided to put in within a specified range. Same with Aluminum and Cobalt.

[@capaya8139]

4:04 4:22 4:40 4:57

[@deanallen927]

How fun! I thought the IV was the loudest with the fatness of the II but better highs. I heard more upper mids and more balance over all in the V's, "a magnet for everyone". I thought the II was a little muddy and dull. And the III predictably lower output and bright. But it all depends on your guitar settings how they will compare in the real world. I do not like the Gibson 490 (II) as I find them quite dull and lack luster. I use similar pickups with V that I love. Thanks for doing this!

[@Kevbo4]

Great comparisons. Thanks for the effort. I like the 2s.

[@craigtodd8297]

Im 14 minutes into the video and i slightly favour 3 over 4. It seems that Joe prefers 4.

[@ronboff3461]

excellent job! most helpful! thank you

[@noelholden6608]

Very interesting, and THANKS for doing this. I'm now convinced that a lot of the early PAF's (Jimmy Page, Kossoff) had A4 magnets. I think A2 sounded the best, because I could hear fatter yet still defined highs. If I played in a power trio with a Les Paul, I'd go A4. Again, great job on getting the contrasts so clear.

[@frankiecalabro2617]

Love your videos Joe, you do such great research. It’s so helpful! Alnico 2 are my favorites!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks Frankie :-)

[@LeeKirkman88]

For me Alnico 2 and 4. 4 being warmer and thicker. 5 definitely isn't doing it for me too much low end.

[@billgaber4282]

Joe, I went to university to learn loudspeaker design and acoustics. This comparison/contrast study is worthy of a masters degree presentation. I was shocked at the differences. Although I'm not going through the enormous effort to change magnets, I'm going to spend this weekend adjusting the heights of my pickups (5 instruments) because magnetic strength clearly is important and I'm beginning to appreciate that they influence the movement of strings. The saw-tooth Jaguar pickups on my bass VI strongly attract a screwdriver to them and this bass is punchy with no sustain. I suspect that the magnets are very strong and the pickups should be dropped. Thank you for your efforts, but now I have a huge study to conduct myself! Best wishes.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Aha, thanks for the kind words Bill :-) Yep, with PAFs especially even a half-turn of the height screw can make a noticeable difference!

[@lonpollard902]

Do consider that the differences between magnets isn't just magnet strength, as the magnet composition plays a big role in the inductance of the pickup. Thus the different compositions result in differences in inductance, which plays a role in how they sound. Perhaps variable inductance and variable magnet strength could be used to arrive at what would be the ideal combination, from one individual to the next, and from one guitar to the next.

[@LPCustom3]

I love A-IV's. I've used them for ages. I have probably 7 or 8 early T-Tops an have installed A-4's in each one and to my ears they just sound right. They sound the closest to a my PAF's and to early Pat.#'s (really PAF's with the next gen sticker..).

[@valendis]

Alnico IV sounded the best to my ears, the IV and II were the best sounding to me

[@Laionel76]

Really nicely done ! It might have been quite a pain to go though all those modifications. A hell lot of work and patience, congrats. As you say in the outro part, the magnets make a hell of a difference. Same magnets : an alnico IV set For combinaisons : Alnico III and Alnico II, I think both ways would work. I would associate A II (B) + A III (N) with blues and rock whereas A III (B) + A III (N) may fit more country, pop and jazz.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Aha yep, the workload was high in this one! :P

[@AlessandroCorazzi]

Very good comparison, the difference by hearing only and not playing is minimum imho... but if i had to choose i think alnico II

[@yudhistirramjatan3953]

Appreciate the effort! This was an amazing and informative video. Thank you :D

[@SeemoreDunkan]

Perk I love your videos.. You just keep comparing the things I'm interested in. PLEASE use a Fuzz Face as a part of your comparison :) They are so picky about what goes into them that I think it would be an important area to ''check''. And of course a JTM45 is a great amp to check those into :)

[@scottmoody4595]

A4 seem to be “Ballsier”, more mid-lows, and more even between all strings.

[@georgeestremera1464]

I just ordered a set from Wizz with an A2 bridge and A3 neck. That combination has been working for me recently.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Ace! They're brilliant pickups - and that's the magnet pairing I've now settled on in this guitar too :-)

[@sysdoc4806]

Prior to your comments about what you were hearing in the different pickups, I had already pegged the Alnico 2's were the best sounding. I thought your comments were spot on and was amazed that you thought that the Alnico 2's sounded the best too. Thought for sure you were going for the 5"s, but happy that you heard the same things that I did...

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Glad we were hearing the same things!!

[@jcwm01]

Surprised to say I seemed to favour the 4 in the bridge. 5 sounded great too. I can't even imagine how long it took to make this vid. Great stuff. Thanks for all the effort. Cheers!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

There was a LOT of unscrewing and restringing to be done :P Cheers mate!

[@jimi-sv2rv]

AlNiCo 4--------♥♥♥

[@stephanpeters3875]

Joe, I'm late to this party... but this is absolutely fantastic! I am imagining the hours spent to make this 19 minute video. Personally I liked the IV, 4 sound best overall... that is listening to this streaming at whatever kbps with whatever compression KZbin uses. Fantastic job!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@VanjaSpirin]

Funny to see how personal taste works. A2 and A5 are the best to me, because A2 is the clearest, and A5 is the most aggresive. I usually put A2 on a neck position, wired im parallel.

[@jayartz8562]

Funny, I like a higher wind A2 in the bridge and A5 in the neck of a 2 humbucker guitar so the neck doesn't get muddy with gain. A5 in the bridge of a HSS strat and leave the 250k pots.

[@theboopsmithy8523]

I've started winding my own for a while and I love the comparison. Especially when delivered by a young James May.

[@paulkreeft2091]

A2 might be a bit warmer but it’s really splitting hairs

[@billywhyte6693]

play it right handed now

[@markmillett9869]

Alinco 3 for me,

[@dannyhowell3184]

That was very good. I’m pleased someone out there is going to this kind of effort! My advice would be to do another video where you use some software to measure the frequency range of the pickups and compare them using a little bit of science. I think you could easily get another video out of all your work!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I'm not _that_ into frequency analysers etc - I tend to just go with what I'm hearing rather than getting too deep into the exact physics of it. I'll leave that vid to somebody far more knowledgable than I! :P

[@mvdz1]

i think for me id have alnico 2 pickups

[@Sean0780]

Surprisingly, the A5 was my least favorite overall. Some bits sounded great, but it seemed to lack any top-end sparkle and chime in the video. The A2 and A4 seemed the over all favorite. The A3 had a profile of a “more polite” A2 with a tad more clarity. The A4 seemed to not be as hard sounding as the A5, and it had the sparkle and chime of the A2. Which is good to know, since I have a set of Wizz A4’s waiting to go in a 335. The A2’s were pretty great in all positions! I’ve always enjoyed A2 and A3 in the neck (especially on lower wound pickups), and I’ve typically enjoyed A5’s in the bridge. My OX4 medium wind A4’s in my 335 have woken up with some height adjustments. Which has put me on the fence about putting in the Wizz for the moment! Everything is completely dependent on the guitar, winder, and etc! Ex. The Monty’s PAFs seem incredible in every video I’ve seen them in. And those have an A5 neck. Which never seems like a neck pickup “option” in my experiences.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Yep, it's completely dependent on every 'factor' of the pickups working together as a whole - the magnet choice is a big part of it, but DC resistance/coil offset/covers/no covers/carbon content of pole screws/etc all influence the tone too. And, as you say, it's very guitar specific too...the Monty's are my favourite pickups for thinlines :-)

[@HEZ63]

If adding my personal experince with this demo: Alnico III sounds most naturally to me, especiall if it's used with lower wound pickups, while it tends to create a little bit too loose bass in higher wound ones. If you build-in an adjustable bass cut, especially for the neck pickup, you nevertheless get great sounds. I usually do and instead make bridge Tone to a master Tone eg. on a Les Paul. One advanatage of Alnico III is, that you can screw the pickups - or at least the screws - much closer to the strings, as it is the weakest magnet. As an all-round solution I'd choose Alnico IV, sounds most balanced to me, no noticable bass, mid, treble domination. Alnico II can sound nice, but is to mid-voiced usually for my taste, also has a tendency to create a too loose bass too - but this even an Alnico V PAF often does as neck pickup, while in direct comparison Alnico V sounds thinner, more mid-scooped, I would say. But of course the magnets alone are not everything, which makes a PAF sounding good or not.... Another simple thing to alter / improve your PAF sound is it, to raise the screws, so you get a narrower magnet field. Ritchie Blackmore eg. did this, when he still played an ES-335 and no Strat in times of Deep Purple MKI. Quite another, maybe additional thing is it, to turn around the neck pickup, so that the screws are further away from the neck. If you then also raise the screws, you also can reduce some bass muddiness and get some more transparency. But the effect still will be less noticeable than eg the one between a SH-1 and an SH-2 neck pickup. So I prefer using a bass-cut mostly instead. A different thing, to alter or improve a PAF sound is it, to check the real values of the potentiometers. They hardly will show exactly 500k, most probably everything between 480k and even 380k and this of course also affects the sound. Or think of some Epiphones, at least some years ago, which used 500k for Volume and 300k for Tone. Even if fully turned up, the pots will send a part of the signal to ground, the lower the value, the more. If you look for exact 500k, better install 1M pots and reduce them to the desired value with a parallel resistor (Pot input to ground). So you can fine-tune every pot exactly and also alter the character, if you are not happy with the results easily. Higher values means, higher resonance peak, lower values mean a more dampened, flatter one, but too high values also can sound too thin and too shrill, so the "perfect" values also depends on the complete guitar construction, the used woods and hardware too. So sometimes 500k can be the right coice, sometimes it maybe is not, also depending on the sounds, you are looking for. Nice comparison!

[@DougHinVA]

that riff is very much like the Byrds

[@lamoksaabit6794]

4:04 - 4:58 9:46 - 10:03

[@jaco_h5013]

My favourite pickup combinations in my guitars are alnico IV neck with V bridge, alnico II neck V bridge or alnico III both neck and bridge all sound amazing in their own ways👍

[@aristidesvillegas7167]

Hi bro why not Alnico V on neck and IV on bridge?

[@jaco_h5013]

@@aristidesvillegas7167 its all personal preference and depends on the music played i.e im talking vintage style paf tones over heavy rock or metal but i find alnico V neck pickups to bassy maybe because its the strongest magnet out of the 4 mentioned

[@aristidesvillegas7167]

@@jaco_h5013 thanks bro.

[@aristidesvillegas7167]

I recently isntalled an Alnico V on my SG neck, and Alnico IV on Bridge AND althought as you said neck pick up has now More bassy sound I Loved it because Is bassy but with definition.

[@bootlegapples]

AC2 is most rounded in highs,most compressed.AC3 big in mids /upper mids,A4 tight & balanced with push in lower mids(makes sound darker than really is I suspect),A5 big lows and highs.No suprise here.Thx for demo.

[@sarahhey8654]

Slash likes Alnico II's also :)

[@theguitarprofessionals8584]

hell yeah

[@jerrymacklow1452]

I was also very surprised by the sonic differences. More obvious than complete pickup changes often are. I liked the 2 best too. I like the clean 50's sounds. The 5s definitely sounded more modern but have a nasal quality I'm not keen on. I have spent a lot of time reducing this in my old semi acoustic. I won't be changing any magnets though. I have finally got a sound I really like. Have you tried alnico 8? A thought on coils and magnets: In speakers, a lightweight coil in a heavy magnetic field generally gives a quicker, more immediate sound, think Lowther drivers. Gretsch Filtertrons have relatively low coil impedence, suggesting fewer windings, a lightweight coil but still have the output, suggesting heavier magnets. They also have the clearer, less low-end sound. Maybe that is worth experimenting with, say, PAFs with low windings and super powerful magnets. Keep up the good work.

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I've not tried A8 - I tend to just stick with the vintage spec stuff as that's the sound I know I like. So that probably also means I won't be experimenting too much with low wind/powerful magnet PAFs :P I like living in my tiny little box ;-) heh

[@auntjenifer7774]

Where did you buy your magnets from ?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Cermag - I _believe_ that's where Wizz source theirs.

[@Marco-ho3cy]

Awesome work man. cheers

[@BradRocker]

i'm likin' the 5 best for a band situation, but the others are fine.

[@stevegunn9971]

Great comparison, thanks!

[@rickya3877]

Great comparison...I preferred the 2's in that guitar...4's were nice too...I did'nt like the 5's at all

[@田中りん-b3y]

4:04 2 4:21 3 4:40 4 4:58 5

[@christiancris8252]

Is it possible to know the brands of these different microphones, please?

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Microphones are: sE Electronics RNR1 ribbon; 1970s Sennheiser MD441 dynamic; and an Aston Spirit condenser. Room mic is a Schoeps CMC6. 👍

[@henryfearless3017]

My equalizer converts my Jalen and super d pickups to whatever pickup I want to hear. For 59.00 can't beat it.

[@valueofnothing2487]

Come on. I mean, just search youtube you will see a million of these. They tell you nothing. Here is something - take a single coil, 6 g strings, 6 different pole pieces with different magnet strength/ and or type. Use a picking machine and have it strike each string into the computer and look at the frequency response and amplitude. Then you will will do what no one has ever done - show the relationship between magnetic strength and type and output.

[@MrRobGodek]

Awesome video.

[@gabrielalcantaradaza642]

Alnico 4 ❤️‍🔥

[@deanallen927]

Great video. Harrison's red "Lucy" Les Paul that was used heavily on The Beatles' last three albums, as it turns out had Alnico III and it's a crisp and bright guitar. Here, they seem less bright than the II's; weird. Now with some overdrive, the III sounds brighter. I'm thinking the IV for the bridge and III for the neck would make a nice pair. The IV has an aggressive, larger feel than the others to me. The V has a nice amount of all frequencies. I think the V and III are the best "all 'rounder" magnets, as best I can tell. NICE JOB!

[@adamwatson6916]

All Paf clones have 42 gauge wire. If it's not 42 gauge it's not a PAF clone and it has to be plain enamel . If it's poly wire its not a PAF . Poly wire was a feature of late Patent sticker pickups and T tops .

[@slpc30]

Thank you for this video !!

[@lonpollard902]

Very well done. All magnets seemed to have their own pluses and minuses, and I suspect it's a you say, guitar dependent. As well as personal preference, playing style, etc.

[@enricopallazzo8510]

Really interesting video Joe. The Alnico 3 was my least favourite. I loved both the A2 and the A4 but i think the A4 has and edge on the A2 because it has a more "balanced" tone. Speaking of pickups, Joe i have a question for you: I know you have/had a LP with humbucker sized P90. Do you think there is a tone difference between soapbar P90 and humbucker sized P90?

[@billgaber4282]

Oh that's an interesting pickup comparison. That would be complicated by mounting dimensions but nonetheless a scholarly study. If only we could motivate a guitar manufacturer to sponsor it. Perhaps Perky could collaborate with Rob Chapman!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Thanks Enrico :-) Yeah, the A4 seemed to have the 'flattest' tone of them all, but not in any bad way. I've never really done a comparison of the HSP90s and soapbar/dogear 'real' P90s....it's the Bare Knuckle Nantucket HSP90s I've got in my black Les Paul. They definitely _sound_ like P90s to me - though how close they are to the real ones, I'm not sure!

[@BeesWaxMinder]

T O T A L L Y agree with you

[@donarmando916]

That guitar sounds nice. The magnets did not make a huge difference, at least to my ears and what comes through on my mobile phone speakers.

[@danielsapach5686]

The music introduction was completely annoying and unnecessary

[@JamesJensen01]

I wish you had included ceramic magnets as a final comparison. Great video, though.

[@chillpillology]

2&4 do it for me! nice shootout.

[@carminelombardi9575]

Love the 2's smoother and you can always use a good eq pedal like the MXR 10 band eq, to shape it and dial it in.

[@jstnR]

Thanks Pat

[@richardwright5885]

Interesting! I guess those pickups will have been designed around the A2 magnets - the winding will be specced to make it sound good. 5 was my least favourite - I also didn't like the A5 humbuckers in a G&L I had - basically sound like strat pickups with more bass, which is fine but not what I wanted. This video came and the right time, been looking at a D'Angelico which has A4 Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups in. They sound good to me!

[@gtrsh04]

too much tok

[@_David_E_]

Thank you for spending the time to do this. Your commitment and attention to detail is admirable. I found this a very interesting test. In some ways I was surprised at how little difference there was and in others how much difference there was. It's difficult to describe. My takeaway is that the A2s are the most chimey and harmonic, the A5s thicker/darker, with less subtle harmonics from the guitar but they were pushing the amp more, which is sometimes desirable. The A4s had a nice tonal balance, with almost all the subtle harmonics of the A2s but perhaps a little more harmonics from the amp being pushes a little more. The 3s seemed similar to the 2s to me but didn't really stand out. For my purposes, needing a versatile tone, I'm leaning towards the A4s. I really liked their balance of tone and response. I'd love to see the same test done with P90s, or humbucker sized P90s, as it'd be interesting to see where the sweet spot is with them. Thanks again.

[@adamwatson6916]

This video confirms why I prefer A2 and A3 .Both A4 and A5 have top much low end for my tastes which is great if your playing heavier styles where you need a more firm low end .

[@Ben_Horne]

I loved the Alnico 3’s.

[@adamwatson6916]

I like A3 best in this setting. Especially on the overdriven tones . A2 sounded great on everything but was a bit to soft on heavier stuff a lacked a little clarity on the open chords. A5 was the clearest on the overdrive but it sounded hollow dull and had to much upper mid ring . A4 did nothing for me . The A3 was perfect on overdrive it split the difference between A2 and A5 . It had more clarity then the A2 it had less bass but also tigher bass more treble and slightly less mids while still having plenty of mids to cut through. Compared to A5 with overdrive the A3 were not quite as clear due to having more mids but A3 sounded more balanced and less boomy had more vintage nasal Honk and did not sound as spikey on rhe highs . A3 had a sweeter top end without being too rounded in rhe highs

[@thomassieghold2698]

Loved how tame the highs with the alnico 3 were on your clean setting. I'm going to buy a A3 magnet and test it myself!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

I've settled on A2 in the bridge and A3 in the neck - I love the scoopy 'Fat Strat' quality the A3 give the neck p'up :-)

[@ACEMediaProductions88]

Interesting to hear that each one does have its own character, though for my personal preference based on my age, my type of music genre, being a dad, a dog lover, a nature lover, tree hugger, a Lord of the Rings fan, or whichever that may or may not have an influence to my liking....im inclined to like ALNICO II more... because! i don't have to explain myself that's just reality that we all have our own difference lols!

[@JoePerkinsMusic]

Personal preference is all that matters :-)

[@Dr.Hosamtalhami]

Awesome work man 👏