Tonerider AlNiCo IV Classics, Analysis and Review
Nov 11, 2016 13:42:48 GMT -5
pablogilberto likes this
Post by antigua on Nov 11, 2016 13:42:48 GMT -5
www.tonerider.com/alnico-iv
I had bought a set of Seymour Duncan Jazz pickups a couple years back, which I put into an Epiphone Les Paul remake of the 70's Artisan model, and I never felt they did the guitar justice, so I was looking for a more straight up PAF clone, and I decided to give Tonerider a shot.
I have here a set of the AlNiCo IV's, and though I have not isntalled and listened to them yet, the technical break down is extremely promising, and quite surprising for a lower priced offering.
A summary of the quality aspects: this is the lowest priced PAF clone I've analyzed to date that features, a wood spacer, nickel silver base plate, and a nickel silver cover. A Seymour Duncan '59, the go-to PAF clone for many decades, features a plastic spacer and a brass cover, though they do claim to use nickel silver base plates, and are priced at $115 with a gold cover for ONE pickup, while the Tonerider IV's are priced $105 for TWO PICKUPS. That's less than half the cost for a more technically authentic PAF clone.
I had previously dissected Chinese Donlis double cream PAF clones , which can be had for as little has $25 for a neck and bridge set, and while the Donlis set is priced lower than the Toneriders, the Tonerider beats the Donlis with the wood spacer and nickel silver appointments, while the Donlis is nearly equivalent to the Seymour Duncan '59, save for the the base plate metals.
I don't believe there is any merit to the claim that excessive wax potting is detrimental to tone, but it's believed by some to be a virtue, and it sure is nice to have have to mess with so much of it when performing magnet swaps and the like, and the Tonerider features a very light amount of wax potting, especially compared to DiMarzio, who entirely displace all of the air with wax in their covered humbuckers.
About the only detail I can think of is that they didn't use plain enamel magnet wire, but as you can see below, the bode plots track a Gibson 57 Classic almost exactly, so it appears that the insulation coat is electrically trivial here.
Price aside, these are more authentic, and better performing PAF clones than many of the $100+ offerings on the market.
Specs:
Tonerider AlNiCo IV AC4 Bridge
Series DC Resistance: 8.42K
Series Inductance: 5.496H
Gauss: 280 screw / 280 slug (AlNiCo 4)
Resonant Peak: dV: 3.6dB f: 6.97kHz (black)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.1dB f: 2.50kHz (red)
Tonerider AlNiCo IV AC4 Neck
Series DC Resistance: 7.61K
Series Inductance: 4.588H
Gauss: 230 screw / 260 slug (AlNiCo 4)
Resonant Peak: dV: 3.3dB f: 7.13kHz (green)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.3dB f: 2.67kH (gray)
Bode plot:
Cover quality:
The first big issue of quality is the gold cover. Any metal that sits between the strings and the coils is in a position to cause a lot of damping. The Tonerider outperformed a Seymour Duncan cover I keep on hand by 1.2dB at the resonant peak. Having no cover raises the peak another 3dB, so it could be said that the Tonerider cover is 25% more electrically or magnetically transparent than the Seymour Duncan cover. I don't know precisely what metal is used for the gold cover, but all the clues point to nickel silver.
How it compares to a premium priced humbucker:
The second issue of quality is how it compares to higher price humbuckers from reputable brands, and for that comparison I have a Gibson 57 Classic with brushed nickel silver cover on hand.
It can be seen that the three pickups nearly overlap, especially the Gibson 57 Classic and the Tonerider IV bridge. For all intents and purposes, they have identical knees, and the resonant cutoffs barely differ.
Construction:
Regarding construction, there is not a lot to say, other than they get the details right. It's not at all common to see a nickel silver base, nor a wood spacer in an aftermarket PAF clone at this price point. The Epiphone ProBuckers get these details right, though they deviate from the PAF footprint slightly and include two wood spacers. AFAIK, this is the lowest priced PAF clone on the market to also feature a quality nickel silver cover.
I appreciated that the covers were secured with relatively small, easy to melt globs of solder.
The four screws holding the bobbins in appear to be steel, where as most tend to use what appear to be brass screws. Steel would be ever so slightly better.
Another attention detail paid is the tape used on the bobbins. Many makers, such as DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan, use a fabric-like cloth tape on their coils. The Gibson 57 Classic and pictures of a real PAF provided by Throbak show what looks like a more paper-like sticky tape, and it can be seen that the Toneriders use a tape on their bobbins that looks substantially similar to Throbak pictures.
Pictures:
Nickel silver base plate:
Very light wax potting:
Attractive wood spacer:
You can see that the magnet wire insulation coat is clear:
Inside the Tonerider neck, very clean, light amounts of wax:
Testing the Seymour Duncan cover over the Tonerider neck pickup:
Plotting the Gibson 57 Classic:
I had bought a set of Seymour Duncan Jazz pickups a couple years back, which I put into an Epiphone Les Paul remake of the 70's Artisan model, and I never felt they did the guitar justice, so I was looking for a more straight up PAF clone, and I decided to give Tonerider a shot.
I have here a set of the AlNiCo IV's, and though I have not isntalled and listened to them yet, the technical break down is extremely promising, and quite surprising for a lower priced offering.
A summary of the quality aspects: this is the lowest priced PAF clone I've analyzed to date that features, a wood spacer, nickel silver base plate, and a nickel silver cover. A Seymour Duncan '59, the go-to PAF clone for many decades, features a plastic spacer and a brass cover, though they do claim to use nickel silver base plates, and are priced at $115 with a gold cover for ONE pickup, while the Tonerider IV's are priced $105 for TWO PICKUPS. That's less than half the cost for a more technically authentic PAF clone.
I had previously dissected Chinese Donlis double cream PAF clones , which can be had for as little has $25 for a neck and bridge set, and while the Donlis set is priced lower than the Toneriders, the Tonerider beats the Donlis with the wood spacer and nickel silver appointments, while the Donlis is nearly equivalent to the Seymour Duncan '59, save for the the base plate metals.
I don't believe there is any merit to the claim that excessive wax potting is detrimental to tone, but it's believed by some to be a virtue, and it sure is nice to have have to mess with so much of it when performing magnet swaps and the like, and the Tonerider features a very light amount of wax potting, especially compared to DiMarzio, who entirely displace all of the air with wax in their covered humbuckers.
About the only detail I can think of is that they didn't use plain enamel magnet wire, but as you can see below, the bode plots track a Gibson 57 Classic almost exactly, so it appears that the insulation coat is electrically trivial here.
Price aside, these are more authentic, and better performing PAF clones than many of the $100+ offerings on the market.
Specs:
Tonerider AlNiCo IV AC4 Bridge
Series DC Resistance: 8.42K
Series Inductance: 5.496H
Gauss: 280 screw / 280 slug (AlNiCo 4)
Resonant Peak: dV: 3.6dB f: 6.97kHz (black)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.1dB f: 2.50kHz (red)
Tonerider AlNiCo IV AC4 Neck
Series DC Resistance: 7.61K
Series Inductance: 4.588H
Gauss: 230 screw / 260 slug (AlNiCo 4)
Resonant Peak: dV: 3.3dB f: 7.13kHz (green)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.3dB f: 2.67kH (gray)
Bode plot:
Cover quality:
The first big issue of quality is the gold cover. Any metal that sits between the strings and the coils is in a position to cause a lot of damping. The Tonerider outperformed a Seymour Duncan cover I keep on hand by 1.2dB at the resonant peak. Having no cover raises the peak another 3dB, so it could be said that the Tonerider cover is 25% more electrically or magnetically transparent than the Seymour Duncan cover. I don't know precisely what metal is used for the gold cover, but all the clues point to nickel silver.
How it compares to a premium priced humbucker:
The second issue of quality is how it compares to higher price humbuckers from reputable brands, and for that comparison I have a Gibson 57 Classic with brushed nickel silver cover on hand.
It can be seen that the three pickups nearly overlap, especially the Gibson 57 Classic and the Tonerider IV bridge. For all intents and purposes, they have identical knees, and the resonant cutoffs barely differ.
Construction:
Regarding construction, there is not a lot to say, other than they get the details right. It's not at all common to see a nickel silver base, nor a wood spacer in an aftermarket PAF clone at this price point. The Epiphone ProBuckers get these details right, though they deviate from the PAF footprint slightly and include two wood spacers. AFAIK, this is the lowest priced PAF clone on the market to also feature a quality nickel silver cover.
I appreciated that the covers were secured with relatively small, easy to melt globs of solder.
The four screws holding the bobbins in appear to be steel, where as most tend to use what appear to be brass screws. Steel would be ever so slightly better.
Another attention detail paid is the tape used on the bobbins. Many makers, such as DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan, use a fabric-like cloth tape on their coils. The Gibson 57 Classic and pictures of a real PAF provided by Throbak show what looks like a more paper-like sticky tape, and it can be seen that the Toneriders use a tape on their bobbins that looks substantially similar to Throbak pictures.
Pictures:
Nickel silver base plate:
Very light wax potting:
Attractive wood spacer:
You can see that the magnet wire insulation coat is clear:
Inside the Tonerider neck, very clean, light amounts of wax:
Testing the Seymour Duncan cover over the Tonerider neck pickup:
Plotting the Gibson 57 Classic: