software

Was thinking about the new SD/Ibanez pickups, and how the bridge uses ceramic magnets, and the neck uses Alnico (5, I believe). Made sense to me, and got me thinking....

I have a JB 7-string in my Ibanez RG2027 at the bridge, and a Dimarzio Air Norton 7 at the neck. The JB uses Alnico, the AN7 uses ceramic. Maybe I should swap the magnets? The bridge likes a good powerful output, and the neck likes to be sweet.

Swapped the magnets. Observations.

SD JB-7 - The AN7 uses a smaller ceramic, which I put in the JB-7. So now I guess the JB is a JB JR/DD Lite 7-string! I also put black hex screws in the screw polepiece holes. Sound is still JB... sparkly, bright, clean, beautiful. It seems a bit more compressed, not quite as quot;sweetquot;, with a bit more crunch and scream. Still has that lovely growly purr, though. Basically a more metal JB. Low strings are a bit tighter/crisper, and have a delicious snarl. Leads RIP.

Dimarzio AN7 - Put the A5 in the AN7, and also put some black hex polepieces in it (the AN7 looks just like a JB bobbin/polepiece-wise). This made the AN7 just about perfect. I always loved this pickup, but side-by-side with the JB, it sounded a bit cold and sterile... sorta compressed. The A5 made it a tad quieter, bass is smoother, but it has a more even, organic midrange now it seems, with the trademark quot;bloomquot; of the A5 magnet (which the JB also still seems to have quite a bit of, despite (?) the ceramic magnet). Sounds almost like an old-school Strat single-coil mixed with a smooth jazz neck humbucker. And it still has that AN clarity, just a bit more buttery. Heavy distortion (the AN does heavy better than any neck pup I've heard) still sounds great... maybe better, as it's smoother and punchier.

I now I was a bit worried doing this, as I'v never swapped magnets before, but I took my time and it worked out great.

sweet man, great job, i've wanted to try a magnet swap for awhile.

Glad you like it!

Magnet swaps are easy and can give you HUGE results. I did a mag swap in my LP custom and was very happy with the results, particularly for the bridge pup.

Some guys say that hex polepieces increase bass, and give you an aggressive edge just a FYI, FWIW, for ya for your tone pursuit. Haven't tried it but your report seems right in line with that.

Luke

Any chance of a clip of them in action?

Here ya go. A little ditty of the JB in action, rhythm and lead. RG2027 straight into Digitech GNX3, into Cakewalk Sonar 4.

from : localhost/post an AN7 sample later. Clean with some lead.