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I have an Antiquity HB set in my LP Classic. I love the neck pickup, but I'm starting to rethink the bridge pickup after putting a Pearly Gates bridge in my LP Studio. The Antiquity bridge sounds nice, but a bit thin and not as impressive as the PGb. I haven't had a chance to run the Antiquity bridge HB through an OD pedal, which might perk it up, but I'm wondering whether a PG, CC, or Seth bridge might provide a thicker and ballsier tone than the Antiquity bridge. What bridge HB are you using with the Antiquity neck HB?

I've tried the Custom Custom with both a Seth Lover neck and an Antiquity neck.

If you're looking for an alnico 2 bridge pickup that's stronger than a vintage paf type pickup like the Antiquity but will compliment and sound great with a neck Antiquity or Seth Lover I'd say go for the CC. It's my favorite of the custom series humbuckers and it's one of my favorite humbuckers. Lew

Lew. Question for you. I love my CC bridge in my Hamer too. But I'm looking for a different neck pup. Do you experience a serious drop off in output from the CC to the Seth/Ant? I'm just concerned because the CC is a fairly hot pup and those are supposed to be more vintage output wise.


Originally Posted by Jeff5Lew. Question for you. I love my CC bridge in my Hamer too. But I'm looking for a different neck pup. Do you experience a serious drop off in output from the CC to the Seth/Ant? I'm just concerned because the CC is a fairly hot pup and those are supposed to be more vintage output wise.

Hey Jeff, I know you've pointed this at Lew, but something else that you may like is an A5 pickup in the neck with the CC in the bridge. I personally like the Jazz neck and it works great with the CC. The CC doesn't really overpower it at all, it's actually quite a happy match.

Then I would think that the Antiquity and Seth would work just as well with the CC, as Lew indicated.

The Seth is an A2 though. Is the Antiquity A5 or A2? Or is it ceramic? I honestly don't know, that's why I'm asking. I was just giving an A5 mag option.


Originally Posted by Jeff5Lew. Question for you. I love my CC bridge in my Hamer too. But I'm looking for a different neck pup. Do you experience a serious drop off in output from the CC to the Seth/Ant? I'm just concerned because the CC is a fairly hot pup and those are supposed to be more vintage output wise.

No, I don't. I like a little lift when I switch to the bridge pickup because it's usually because I'm taking a solo and the little boost in volume is a plus. Plus, if the bridge pickup is just a touch louder than the neck pickup I don't have to turn the neck pickup down as far when I switch back to rythym and that sounds better to me too. Lew

ErikH,

The Antiquity HB uses an aged alnico 2 magnet. I think the Ant. neck HB may be a little weaker than the Seth or APH-1 necks, but I have them in different guitars so I can't be sure. The Ant bridge HB definitely sounds weaker than the PG bridge and perhaps the Seth bridge, but again I have them in different guitars so YMMV.

Kelsey


Originally Posted by KelseyErikH,

The Antiquity HB uses an aged alnico 2 magnet. I think the Ant. neck HB may be a little weaker than the Seth or APH-1 necks, but I have them in different guitars so I can't be sure. The Ant bridge HB definitely sounds weaker than the PG bridge and perhaps the Seth bridge, but again I have them in different guitars so YMMV.

Kelsey

Gotcha. Looked at the Antiquity page and either I'm going blind (possible...lol) or I just can't read anymore. I didn't see any mention of the mag type for it. I figured it would be weaker than a Seth considering what it's supposed to be. I like the Seth but never tried the neck pickup, I've only played a guitar that had a Seth in the bridge. I like how the A5 Jazz matches up with the A2 CC. It doesn't get muddy at all and stays very articulate.

try to put a full power A2 on your Ant bridge HB.i have an ant neck and a seth bridge on my LP. with the stock aged magnet on the ant neck,it sounds weak and overpowered by the seth bridge, it was not a good match. so i put a full power A2 on the ant and now it matches perfectly with the seth and sounds better too.

I've heard other people mention thinness with regard to the Antiquity bridge HB, but it's not something I've experienced with mine. I currently have an Antiquity set in an LP Classic and an Alnico II Pro set in an LP Standard. I find the Antiquity bridge quite fat and smooth and higher output than the Alnico II Pro. I previously had a set of Seths in the Standard and felt they were about the same output as the Ants but a tad brighter. I'm at a loss to offer an explanation for the differences in our experience.

or try to adjust the pickup height to 1/16quot; from the strings(fretted at the last fret).

I have mine adjusted pretty close to the strings. I believe Seymour recommends this for the Antiquities.


Originally Posted by Simon_FI have mine adjusted pretty close to the strings. I believe Seymour recommends this for the Antiquities.

I agree with Simon amp; Bry. I have no problem getting great tone from my Ants. Just monkey with the height 'till you get it right.

Jeff

I'll have to re-check the height of the pickups, but I think they're pretty close to the strings, as that's how I usually set my A2 pickups. As I said, the pickups sound good, but the bridge seems to lack some umph compared to the Seth Lover and Pearly Gates I have in other Gibsons. I should have a chance to try the Ants through an OD/boost pedal and cranked up a bit more tonight, so maybe this thread will be moot tomorrow morning.

For those of you who have changed the magnet in the Ants, how did it change the tone? I really don't want to change the neck pickup tone too much, as it has a very appealing hollowness and complexity in the mids, and also seems to have more clarity than the Seth neck. I also think that a change at the bridge that would compromise the balance with the neck wouldn't be worth it to me.

[QUOTE=Kelsey] As I said, the pickups sound good, but the bridge seems to lack some umph compared to the Seth Lover and Pearly Gates I have in other Gibsons. QUOTE]The quot;oomphquot; you're talking about in the PG's and Seths, is probably the initial quot;bitequot; they have in their attack. I have both Seths and Ants and the Seths are similar in output, but have a distinctive quot;edgequot; to them. I'm sure that PG's are even moreso in this regard. The other thing you should do is check the output reading on the Antiquity to see if maybe it's not all it should be (should be in the 8K range).

Good luck,

Jeff

Well, the pickups weren't as close to the strings as I thought. I guess I didn't raise them after I adjusted the pole pieces to follow the fret board radius.

Anyway, I had a chnace to crank it up a bit last night, and after the adjustments the Antiquity bridge pickup sounds much better. It worked very well with my Fulldrive 2, too, so it stays put. I have to say though, that it's hard to beat the APH-1 neck and PG bridge combo that I put in my LP Studio -- if you don't need covers, then you can save some dough with that combo at no loss in tone.

Thanks for the replies everyone!