I preferred the A2 in both positions....but the difference was so small I doubt anyone but the player would really notice a real difference

It seems to me alnico 2 is smooth and alnico 5 is brighter and sharper

Overall I prefer the Alnico 2 as they sound much nicer when you are playing clean and I still prefer them when playing with distortion (Maybe because I listened to Slash too much when I was a kid) as they got enough power for me. The Alnico 5 sound great with distortion but not that great in clean. It's a matter of taste anyway, I don't think that there is a right or wrong answer.

Definitly the Alnico 5 in both positions. But it's a tast story

Awesome comparison! There is definitely a difference, and you summed it up perfectly. In my opinion, both pickups sound better stock. I feel like the added brightness of the Alnico 5 is a bit too much for the bridge position, but it provides clarity in the neck.

I put humbucker sized P90s in a semi-hollow...a5 in neck and a2 in bridge because I didn't want the bridge overly bright and the combo is awesome!

A2s are yes the Slash tone-smooth and liquidy; A5s are what Angus Young uses so obviously a little more blaze and punch; both are amazing though depending on what type of music you wish to play👍

I love the sound of A2 pickups, it’s obvious they don’t have as bright of a top end but there’s something in the mids that just sounds so smoky and thick to me.

Sounds like the A5 has more highs. Makes the A2 sound a little smoother. I could see an A2 in the neck and A5 in the bridge for a very versatile setup.

I was watching to decide whether or not to buy 2s or 5s. I will be buying 2s after watching this. Great video. Thanks!

Going from alnico 2 to 5 is very noticeable when its your own gear and you know it well, its harder for me to notice the difference on other peoples rigs, but when its the one i use on a daily basis, its night and day in terms of tonal qualities and feel

I came for the comparison…I stayed for the super-tasty licks! Thanks!!!🙏🏽😎💪🏽🏝️🤙🏽

Love the A2 on neck.

For me, the A5 on the Bridge, l liked the A2 in the Neck but experimented by changing the A2 magnet to a A4 magnet only, really liking the sound so far.....

A2 in both positions for me. They just sound more musical. You can always add more gain if needed. Love the tone you've got going there, especially with the A2s.

I appreciate the succinct demo and clean presentation. Great Comparison! Difference is marginal at best and probably the player would be the only one to notice, but I liked the extra clarity in the Alnico 5. I only ever use the bridge humbucker with distortion anyways

Cool video dude! Personally I like the A5 in the bridge and A2 in the neck. More clarity with the A2 in the neck to my ears and a bit more mid push with the A5 in the bridge.

I can hear the lows more in A2 and it’s warmer whereas the A5 is definitely brighter with the highs. I like both equally for different reasons. The difference is this: Van Halen 1 and 2 Eddie used A2 magnets with his Northern Ash Frankie (Alnico 8 in the Ibanez Destroyer which is Runnin’ with the Devil/You Really Got Me; any song without the trem bar) and on 1984, in his 5150 poplar body Kramer, he used an A5 (Panama, Girl Gone Bad, House of Pain; on Drop Dead Legs, and Hot For Teacher I think he may have used an A5, not 100% on that, but it was a Gibson Flying V made of Korina, or aka Black Limba, which really pronounced the tone a lot). Disclaimer, before anyone goes off on me about the Brown Sound being more complicated than that: yes I know it’s a series of different things that create the brown sound tone and the magnets are just one piece of the pie.

For me alnico 2 all day long. Nice vid bruv! 👍

Playing wise, you nailed it. Personally, I prefer A2 neck and A5 bridge. Thank you for this excellent comparison 👌

Great video Louis. Both pickups sound almost the same for me to me tbh. Good content bro!

I’ve been struggling to tame a harsh, bright bridge pickup in my R7. Just realized it’s A5, so will be swapping it out for a BB2 or 57 to see if that smooths things out. Could definitely hear the difference in your demo - thanks!

A2 was warmer / thicker / rounder. And A5 was brighter / more articulate, and in your face.

For clean tone, A2's are warm and creamy. For gain, the A5 sound is a bit fuller with more top end. I personally prefer A2's

Very nice comparison. The differences are subtle but there.

i agree with you louis ..i like both pickups im not very picky

A5'S all the way. They are clearer, more defined, sure they are louder, but being loud isn't everything, that is not what I am talking about, they seem just to hit every note in the chord nicely, and overall, the distortion area is where I think they are just better too. I like the punch too. if you didn't adjust the volume, that's my take on it.

Great video and its good to hear a clean comparison, most other videos Ive watched are just comparing crunchy/gainy tones. Im still undecided what to buy to put in my Epi LP, probably go for the All's, I think, maybe.....

I was a big believer in A5 and I have several guitars with them but I am leaning toward the A2 for the mid presence. I may need to do some magnet swaps! THanks,

Rick! There's a walker in the bushes!

Great demo man! Simple... to the point. The older I get, & deeper into pickup knowlege I get... I like A2's more & more...

depends on what music you want to play. if you want to play rock, alnico 5, and if you want to play blues, jazz and fusion, alnico 2

Great comparison, thanks man

Through KZfaq the difference is unnoticeable. I believe it'd be more obvious live.

Really useful video. Thanks! My experience using A-IIs v A-Vs is more about feel than tone. A-IIs play softer while A-Vs are tighter and punchier. I think they affect the way I play more than the way I sound tbh.

A2 for a more smooth bluesy tone, A5 for a more aggressive hard rock/metal tone... imo

Thank you from Brasil!

This was awesome! Thanks for making this! I liked both but preferred the A5 because they seems to have a bit more bit and attack.

In order to be a proper Alnico II Vs Alnico V comparison, you would need to retain the identical bobbins/coils under the same position of the string with the magnet the only variable, hence swapping the bar magnet the only logical choice for this to be a 'proper' comparison.

A2 sounded warmer to me. Very nice

at 2:01, love what you are playing. I can't tell a difference, listened several times.

Can you make some longer videos, I'm drinkin'!

I prefer the A5, slightly. Which is good, as I've just ordered a set of A5 PAF's for my favorite guitar

A2 isn’t as piercing as the A5 when playing single notes with OD. The A2 is fairly even flat sounding while the A5 is more sharp in the attack on highs and lows.

Hey bro!!!!!!!! I have seen all your video and I loved the licks with that bluesy sound, I would like to know in which albums I can listen to more of that... Greetings from Lima Peru

Alnico 5 in the bridge and Alnico 2 in the neck for me.

I love how the A5 sounds with high gain and it seems to me that it's easier to get pinch harmonics with an A5 pickup than with an A2. I have a guitar with burstbucker 2 in the bridge and one with burstbucker pro, and even tho I prefer the more "musical" tone that the A2 has, the one with A5 just shines with distortion.

The a2 pickups to me sound wormer to me and a5 sound duller but that’s just me I would definitely go for the a2 over the a5

The A5 seems to have more definition but sounded like it was a little farther away unless it's my imagination.

great video

Hi Louis ! Merci pour ce test très instructif. Il y a très peu de tests des full Monty's sur KZfaq. D'après toi, est-ce qu'ils sont recommandés pour le blues propre (style BB King) et le Vintage un peu énervé (style ZZ Top Lagrange) ? Si tu as d'autres extraits de ces micros dans des registres clean, blues ou rock, cela m'intéresse énormément :) Thank you !!

A2 in the neck for Slash leads, A5 for AC/DC rhythm.

Loved the V much better in all examples, much clearer and defined without sounding thin. On a very bright amp like a alnico 2 can be fine.. But for my style that has amps like jtm 45 the alnico 5 is clearly better.

I preferred the A2 in both positions. But then all my LPs have A2s with vintage 50s pots and wiring.

It's a matter of what your ears could pick up between the a2 and a5 humbuckers. Enormous difference in mid range--this a2 pickup has twice the mids of the a5 pickup. That was the biggest difference with the frequencies. The A5 pickup was pretty scooped with a little bit more low end also

I couldn't tell the difference at all to be honest, this was an interesting test though I've never thought of doing that.

A5 all the way for me

I always just assumed the 5s were what I wanted as i like high output (but not overwound) "vintage style" PUps, but I just took what folks told me for granted and never actually listened to a head to head, n ow I wont buy Hums unless they are A2s, probably gonna do the same with P90s and Dano PUps too but now I know to use my ears and not just look at numbers and specs, and least of all take tone advice of peers as gospel, no matter how many say the same thing! Thanks for opening my mind and helping me on my quest for the guitar tone so perfect it can undo space and time. Almost there, sorry about the universe...

I just really like alnico 2s in a Les Paul. 5 has it's place, but I like the 2 best overall.

I have a set of Monty's PAFs. I swapped out the A5 on the neck to a polished A2, the A5 was a little too harsh for me. The A5 in the bridge sounded cool though

Verylittle difference to my ears. They both sound great.

Alnico 2 dude. I bought an ibanez 🤮 that had a small ceramic in the butt & alnico 5 in the neck. It was horrible. I got an A2 & stuck it in the butt. Guitar sounded much happier. Had beefy mids & singing highs. Bottom end was still present & it was a lot punchier than SD Slash Pups. I think the bridge was about 15k & it was a good swap.

Thank you.

Thanks brother

Let's face it, very very little difference. I've always said, give EVH a £20 guitar and it would sound amazing, give me a £10k custom shop guitar and it would sound like me with an empty wallet. Basically, tonal sound on a guitar is 90% player feeling/experience and 10% equipment

alnico 2 for me, more bright and punch.

Once the distortion was used i had trouble telling the difference

My choice: A2 in neck position and A5 in bridge; the better of two world.

Fucking A. Great job

Alnico 5 for neck, 2 for bridge

2s sound Clearer 5s are fuller to my ears.c]8-)

The difference is half a notch on amp tone knob.

Sound the same. For hard rock and rock styles, Alnico V. Tighter and bigger sounding.

Hi Louis. Are you happy with the full montys? Any drawbacks?

A2'a have a meatier sound in both positions. The A5's are a little sweeter-sounding.

Alnico2 is more harsh, but no body.. A nice vintage or metalized lead punk sound... The alnico 5 has a natural nasal sound much more punch in heavy metal but a little generic specialy when the strings decay... Hard decision but easy judgin by the style you want

I like the tones with the magnets the way they were originally. A2 in the bridge and A5 in the neck. Just curious, why did you install the neck humbucker upside down? Are there a significant difference in tone compared to the screws towards the neck?

My vote A2 Bridge, A5 Neck

Personally preferred the fuller sound of the A5 kind of felt the A2 had a muddyness to the sound although that being said wasn't a massive difference.

The A2 magnets sound much sweeter, A5 is way too bright for my taste.

thx

This entire 'shoot out' doesn't make sense at all. There is a lot more string movement under neck pickup compared to the bridge hence the neck pickup's output would be reduced to compensate and balanced with the bridge pickup... so if the bridge pickup has more output anyway, it makes no sense just to slap it into the neck position as this would give you too much output for that position. This is why aftermarket pickup manufacturers have position-specific models for each range. For example, Seymour Duncan has a 'Neck' and 'Bridge' model for each one of their designs. For a proper comparison, you would need to have a neck position-specific alnico II compared with a neck-specific alnico V in order to be a logical and fair comparison. Once again the same for the bridge position.

A2 more aggressive i.e. more in the 2kHz .... the A5 sounded softer less attack i.e. less in the 2kHz more in the 5kHz region to me and a fraction more in the lower end. Very subtle differences

What is funny these people are saying the A2 is more smooth, I am hearing the opposite, I really like the A5's, but I am a Big Fan of the A2's as well, to more guitars!

i don’t knie how everyone ist hearing with… nur the a2 is just linear and the a5 is has scopped mids

To me the difference is so insignificant it would not be worth the trade out.

I just need to know which one make me play like slash 😂

A2s in both positions. No comparison. Just my preference.

Alnico 5 has more clarity than alnico 2

👍🇺🇸❤A2

A2 in Last example more dirty

did you swap the magnets and keep the coils the same? One pickup may have had more coils? Great chordwork 1:40 to 2:00, loved it

A2

alnico 2 !!!!!!!!!! is betterrrrrr!!!!!!!! ( for mi obbiusly )

I cant hear a difference. I don’t think actually swapped them.

A5 more mud

Alnico 2 sounds like slash, Alnico 5 sounds like metallica

Alnico 5 has more treble

I don't feel a lot of difference 😩

alnico 5 has more meowts and more cats than alnico 2 ;)