Ceramic vs Alnico

[slomatic]

What's your preference? I usually go with a ceramic pickup, but am considering an Alnico as my next purchase (http://www.motorcitypickups.com). Pros and cons for each??

[skybone]

I prefer Alnico over Ceramic's personally, they just seem to have that vintage, warm, classic rock crunch-edge tone that ceramic's just don't have IMO. They let the guitar and amp "breath", where ceramic's tend to overpower the dynamics of the wood & wire, and with an almost HiFi sounding amp like a Matamp, they'll produce a sweet tone whether you're cranking the fuzz, or dialling back for some sweet, clean(ish) tones. Again IMO. ;)

Stick a set of Alnico humbuckers in a good mahogany bodied guitar, like an SG or an LP, plug into a sweet valve amp. and you have instant pure rock fury...

[Garfunk M. Rafferty]

I'm an alnico man myself, find Ceramics too "brittle". I agree they can over power the guitar/amp/pedal you're using, alnico just sounds more natural to me.

[Poorbob]

All I know is that Alnico is considered by a great many to be the "musical" magnet.

[chocolate wheelchair]

it all depends for me,

ceramics are great when going through extreme amounts of fuzz/distortion, but when on an overdriven or clean setting i prefer alnico's.

i like to mix and match on guitars, gives me the best of both worlds!

[Sauniere]

Depends on the music, but generally I prefer Alnico. I like how Alnico interacts with fuzz pedals. But a great ceramic pickup can be loads of fun when you want to slam an amp into overdrive. Same goes for speakers. Depends on the application.

[slomatic]

Cheers for the tips lads, I'm thinking I'm gonna try out an alnico. I use a loud overdriven amp and a Meathead so i reckon I have enough gain as it is, and hopefully the alnice will give me a tad more warmth in the tone. I have a ceramic in my other guitar so a bit of variety will be good.

The company I found seem really good - http://www.motorcitypickups.com . I'll drop a review once I'm hooked up!

[1bottlerocket]

Depends on the pickup, alnico seems to be the most commonly used material by high-end builders but a well designed ceramic can sound good too. Personally, all the pickups I have in my guitars are alnico but I didn't consciously set out to get that. Try checking out Lindy Fralin, Jerry Amalfitano, or Jason Lollar.