Alnico Warpig output level

[pankot]

Hi All,

A while back I upgraded an SSH style guitar with a mixed set of BKs - namely:
Neck: Slowhand
Middle: Trilogy
Bridge: Warpig (Alnico)

I've been very happy with the results, but something has always bugged me at the back of my mind. It's probably that I'm misinterpreting the product specs, so here goes.

As you'd expect with the above layout, switching from the neck to the middle I get a slight volume jump, and switching to the bridge a jump again. But - here's what nags me - the jump when switching to the Warpig is not as much as I would expect. It definitely is a "hot" pickup, but I can't help thinking that something which reads 22k and is described as "A true beast and heavy as hell itself" should be louder. The stock pickups in my old Westone Thunder are noticeably louder (though to be fair I always felt they were very hot pickups.)

I've checked out everything I can think of to eliminate possible problems:
Wiring - ok (simple circuit - pickup switcher to volume pot - no tone controls)
Pickup - ok, reads 22k, wired in series, both coils live
Volume pot - checked out,no problems (500k)
Adjusted pickup height

Now, the pickup sounds fine, and when used with gain delivers the heavy sound you would expect. So I'm starting to think that the Warpig's heaviness is from its bass response rather than just raw output level, and that I should stop thinking DC ohms = loudness.

In conclusion: Very happy with the pickups as is, but need reassurance that I'm not missing a trick to get an even better result!

[badgermark]

DC resistence =/= volume. Don't worry about it, closer to the pickup to the strings the hotter and louder the pickup will sound. The trilogy should be a hot pickup, and in the middle position it should be pretty loud anyway. Dont fret, if it sounds good then stick with it.

[ericsabbath]

you should stop thinking DC ohms = loudness.  :D

my friend got that impression too, so he swapped for a painkiller
I found the warpig to be as loud as the holy diver, just more compressed
but if you like the tone :P
tweak the height a bit to see if you like it sounding louder, but the tone won't be the same

[pankot]

Thanks for the responses - I should really learn to trust my ears more than spec sheets.  :lol:

If the warpig is similar in output to the HD then I think everything is ok.

I blame having a Westone Thunder IIIA as my first proper guitar. The pickups were stupid loud to begin with, and then it had an active boost circuit with...... wait for it.... 26dB boost.  :lol: I don't think there was such a thing as a clean sound with that guitar.  Permanently skewed my expectations of "hot" pickups ever after.

[ericsabbath]

an active boost circuit with...... wait for it.... 26dB boost.  :lol:

holy cr@p! that's a huge kick
I have a cold sweat bridge on the way for a SG
I was thinking of installing some kind of mid boost circuit

[pankot]

I have a cold sweat bridge on the way for a SG
I was thinking of installing some kind of mid boost circuit

I've used the boost circuits from artec http://www.artecsound.com/pickups/electronics/index.html with good results - no 26dB circuits available though!

[Ratrod]

Hey Eric, I have an active circuit that I don't use anymore. It's a Koch GPA Deluxe. It has 3 preset switch and an on/off switch. You can program it with dip switches to do clean enhancement, treble boost, bass cut, 5, 10 and/or 20 db boost and/or 20db lead boost with bass cut.

I've been planning on selling it. PM or mail me if you're interested.

[Antag]

I'm not convinced there's anything wrong here.

I'd certainly expect the jump between a Trilogy middle & Warpig bridge to be less than the jump between the Sultans' middle & Miracle Man bridge that I had on my alder strat.  That MM/Sultans HSS set rendered the clean channel unusable - you either got a nice mid/neck sound & blew your ear drums out when switching to the bridge or a decent bridge sound & couldn't hear the mid/neck even if you hit the strings as hard as you could.

FWIW, I swapped out the MM for a Nailbomb & it's much better balanced (& not far from what I'd expect from a WP/Tri combo).