So last night the Warthog was installed into my Cherry Tokai Love Rock LP.
First thing to note is where you can obviously spot where they?ve cut corners to keep price down.
The basic cream plastic of the bobbins is far from the best quality and looks more dirty white than cream. The finish on the fixed pole pieces is far from what you?d get from Seymour Duncan. The overall impression is a bit cheap looking, especially next to the maple top.
But we don?t buy new pickups because of the way they look.
So, the sound: The basic spec?s of this pickup are Humbucker, A5 magnets, DC resistance 13.9 k. So it?s not far off a Seymour Duncan Custom 5, which is handy as I have one of those in my Tokai Explorer.
Just to let you know what this will get used for it?s rock, big heavy cheesy rock. Thus I didn?t spend too much time with it on clean.
Now there is a big difference between this and a C5. Both have plenty of go and lovely tight bass but the Warthog does not have the scooped mids making it much warmer and thicker sounding. Hmm, bit like a C8, oh, I?ll compare it with that as well. This is were it gets a little unfair really as my C8 is in my ?300 Ibanez with a floating bridge not the ?600 LP with a fixed bridge, even so I?d still say the Warthog would have the edge on tightness of bass and general character.
So I?ve got three guitars, with three similar spec pups in the bridge that really sound very different from each other. Over all Warthog takes the winnings on tone, it?s really good, but visually the Swineshead pickups seem to leave quite a lot to be desired. Now in a painted guitar rather than something you can see the wood it wouldn?t be as obvious, also being next to the covered neck pup doesn?t help.
So do I recommend them and would I buy them again. The short answer is yes and yes. This pup is better than a C5 in sound and costs less, obviously those of you over in the states will have a different opinion as I doubt you pay over a $100 for a standard bucker.
My only gripe is the appearance, you can get cheaper pickups that look much better and sound pretty good (Iron Gear Hot Slag as an example). If they were anymore expensive I?d be more tempted to bite the bullet and go for Bare Knuckles or similar, but they?re really expensive.
So, tone is really important, appearance not so high and on a bit of a budget, then check out Swineshead Pickups.
Also found out that my LP has a solid maple cap, which makes even more of a bargain.
First thing to note is where you can obviously spot where they?ve cut corners to keep price down.
The basic cream plastic of the bobbins is far from the best quality and looks more dirty white than cream. The finish on the fixed pole pieces is far from what you?d get from Seymour Duncan. The overall impression is a bit cheap looking, especially next to the maple top.
But we don?t buy new pickups because of the way they look.
So, the sound: The basic spec?s of this pickup are Humbucker, A5 magnets, DC resistance 13.9 k. So it?s not far off a Seymour Duncan Custom 5, which is handy as I have one of those in my Tokai Explorer.
Just to let you know what this will get used for it?s rock, big heavy cheesy rock. Thus I didn?t spend too much time with it on clean.
Now there is a big difference between this and a C5. Both have plenty of go and lovely tight bass but the Warthog does not have the scooped mids making it much warmer and thicker sounding. Hmm, bit like a C8, oh, I?ll compare it with that as well. This is were it gets a little unfair really as my C8 is in my ?300 Ibanez with a floating bridge not the ?600 LP with a fixed bridge, even so I?d still say the Warthog would have the edge on tightness of bass and general character.
So I?ve got three guitars, with three similar spec pups in the bridge that really sound very different from each other. Over all Warthog takes the winnings on tone, it?s really good, but visually the Swineshead pickups seem to leave quite a lot to be desired. Now in a painted guitar rather than something you can see the wood it wouldn?t be as obvious, also being next to the covered neck pup doesn?t help.
So do I recommend them and would I buy them again. The short answer is yes and yes. This pup is better than a C5 in sound and costs less, obviously those of you over in the states will have a different opinion as I doubt you pay over a $100 for a standard bucker.
My only gripe is the appearance, you can get cheaper pickups that look much better and sound pretty good (Iron Gear Hot Slag as an example). If they were anymore expensive I?d be more tempted to bite the bullet and go for Bare Knuckles or similar, but they?re really expensive.
So, tone is really important, appearance not so high and on a bit of a budget, then check out Swineshead Pickups.
Also found out that my LP has a solid maple cap, which makes even more of a bargain.
