Alnico IV fans unite!

[5F6-A]

Many players find Alnico IV loaded pickups stiff, bland, boring and simply not good sounding.
I beg to differ but... what is your experience? Tim?

[brian_ward]

i have an aIV p91 and its anything but stiff bland and boring.

[Twinfan]

I haven't got on particularly well with anything AIV - I like AII or AV.  I find AIV a bit in the middle of the other two and not very inspiring.

YMMV of course!

[AndyR]

I actually thought of you TF when I read this thread earlier :lol:

I love my AIV Mules now, but I found they were an acquired taste. AV Riff Raffs made sense to me immediately. I wouldn't want to have to part with either now I've got them, but probably I lean towards the Mules nowadays.

However, and it would depend on the guitar I guess, if I lost them all and I could only afford one BKP humbucker set, my first thought would be AV Riff Raffs because that's the sound I grew up with and they seem the easiest to get a voice I can use (ie pick it up, plug in, adjust amp EQ, start twanging... and there it is!).

The Mules always seem to require a bit more effort from me physically, if I haven't played them for a while it's about 20 minutes worth of noodling after getting the amp EQ vaguely right... BUT, when I get it, they really do reward that effort.

I've never tried AII (not in humbuckers, anyway), but I suspect I might like them quite a bit. I suspect they might give me what I get out of Mules but in a more immediate "plug-in and go" fashion.

I can't remember, what are the magnets in Francine?

Anyway, yeah, 5F6-A, you can count me in as an AIV fan :lol:

[gwEm]

for me, A4 Mules are the archetypal BKP

[Twinfan]

I can't remember, what are the magnets in Francine?

Francine has AII magnets, just like the original  ;)

I find AIV doesn't have the power of AV or the sweetness of AII, so it just hasn't really worked for me in any pickups I've tried (both BKP and non-BKP).

Hey, but we're all different right?  :lol:

[AndyR]

Hey, but we're all different right?  :lol:

Yep, indeed :lol:

Funnily enough, I've just been trying the little buggers out and discovered something interesting that I'd not noticed before...

I have not fiddled with the amp EQ this time and:

• The AIV Muled Love Rock sounds stupendously yummy...
• The AV Riff Raffd SG sounds ok, but thin and light-weight by comparison, amp needs some attention before I get much jollies out this one today...

And what was the amp last used for? (ie, what's it set up for?) strats, and strats... a little bit of tele... and then lots more strats... :lol:

It seems with this amp set for stratty stuff, I can plug me Love Rock straight in and boogie... but I have to, as I would expect, fiddle around to get the SG (and my MQ'd Explorer, incidentally) to give me complete satisfaction. But the Love Rock happily shares amp settings with the strats.

[Tim]

You must be joking!! Stiff, bland, boring!! Whoever says that can't be playing real Alnico IV powered humbuckers. It's one of the most organic of the Alnicos with the best balance(assuming that it is being used correctly of course). I think this is a case of people listening with their eyes not their ears.

[Philly Q]

As far as humbuckers go, I've only tried AIV in neck pickups (notably the Abraxas, which I liked a lot).

I've said many times that I favour a really warm, sweet neck pickup, to the extent that most people might even regard it as a bit mushy.  So I like the sweetness of AII, but I also find it lacks a bit of "oomph" somehow - my impression is that AIV solves that problem.

I'm not sure if an AIV bridge humbucker appeals - for that, I like AV very much.  An AV bridge/AIV neck combo seems good to me.

[Elliot]

I'm an A4 fan - I love the mules in my Esprit - they just rock.

[Telerocker]

What is the tonal difference between AIV and V? I have a Crawler (V), but I interested in Mule and Abbraxxas in the future. For another guitar. Crawler stays!

[BigB]

Many players find Alnico IV loaded pickups stiff, bland, boring and simply not good sounding.
I beg to differ but... what is your experience? Tim?

I've only played one AIV pup so far (as far as I know at least ,)) which is my Crawler neck, and none of the above terms apply to this pup. 

[Philly Q]

What is the tonal difference between AIV and V? I have a Crawler (V), but I interested in Mule and Abbraxxas in the future. For another guitar. Crawler stays!

Here's a good place to start:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8005.0

[Mr. Air]

I really like my MQ neck (IV). Lovely big, round and warm tone. Defenitely not stiff, bland or boring.

[5F6-A]

You must be joking!! Stiff, bland, boring!! Whoever says that can't be playing real Alnico IV powered humbuckers. It's one of the most organic of the Alnicos with the best balance(assuming that it is being used correctly of course). I think this is a case of people listening with their eyes not their ears.

+1  :D :D :D :D :D