[darkbluemurder]

If so and you’re into magnet swapping try an A2 in that Custom 5.

Actually,  one of  the C5s I have started its life as a Custom Custom until I replace the A2 with A5

Cheers Stephan

[gregr]

The only thing is that it may be a bit bright with 500k but I can lower the load until I like it.

Just roll the tone control back to increase the load (smaller impedance = larger load). Then you have lots of room on the control to turn it up and cut through.

I’ve found that raising the bobbin and lowering the screws makes a world of difference on the Air Norton as well.

[darkbluemurder]

That is correct as we have AC signal but the load in that case is only reduced  above the cut-off frequency of the cap - below that the tone pot is isolated from the volume pot. With the large caps like 0.022uf and higher, this is noticeable as the cut-off freq is low. However, I am normally using a cap ten-fold smaller, i.e. 0.0022uf  so the effect is not drastic.

Cheers Stephan
 

[gregr]

Makes sense. I prefer 22nF, as I use the tone control to hang back. I find the small tone caps more useful with single coils.

This talk about the AN prompted me to dig out my guitar which also has the HFH in the neck. The guitar has a volume control for each pickup and a master tone control, ‘50s wired. Pots are 500k, 22nF tone cap. I added a 680k shunt resistor to the AN to even out the top end (~6kHz) between the two pickups. This allowed the tone control to work better between all three pickup combinations.

[LoveMyIbanez]

That Nash video has such insane tone. I had a Bluesbucker in the neck matched with my AT-1 for a while: they actually pair up very very well, but that particular guitar has a strange midrange whine (I don't know how else to describe it) on the G and B strings that the BB emphasized.
I'd love it if there was a slightly less hot, less middy, brighter AT-1; but Ray might be right about the 36th bridge being the closest option, and likely a better match for the 36th neck I already have than an AN. I think I'll still try the Fortitude, and if it's a miss, exchange it for the regular 36th bridge.

[gregr]

For what it’s worth the stuff I wrote about the AN was in response to Stephan’s initial post about it. My contributions were tangential; it didn’t ever seem like it would be a good fit for you.

For whatever reason I didn’t mention the Breed Neck before.

https://web.archive.org/web/20111229072557/http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/breed-neck

“In the bridge position, it has a very warm, hot PAF® tone — really smooth, with nice harmonics.

Magnet: Alnico 5
Output mV: 325
DC Resistance: 10.39 Kohm
Year of Introduction: 1997

Treble: 6.5
Mid: 7.5
Bass: 7.5”

Back then the AT-1 was spec’ed at 5.5/8/8

[LoveMyIbanez]

Yeah, I've heard a lot about the Breed neck used in bridge position on this forum and the Duncan one. Going by numbers alone, it would seem perfect. Man I wish Dimarzio would follow Seymour Duncan and BKP's route and offer recordings of all their pickups playing the same music clips. I really dislike bridge pickups for the most part: I've owned 7 pickups on 5 different guitars, and the AT-1 is the first one that I really enjoy playing on.

[Speeddemon]

I'd love it if there was a slightly less hot, less middy, brighter AT-1;

Hmm, that does kinda sound like a Duncan SH-14 Custom 5 would do the trick. It has definitely less mids, more balance than a JB, with bigger AND tighter lows, slightly less output and more high-end than an AT-1.

And the Breed Neck might be a good option too; I had it as a neck pickup in a Charvel So-Cal where it was thick and big, but slightly too jangly up top. Replaced it with an Air Norton.
I have the AT-1 in the bridge of a Les Paul Standard, where it replaced it a regular Norton, as I wanted a tad more beefiness in the lows, but sometimes I miss the wild crunch and harmonics of the Norton...The AT-1 comes close, but it's a bit more behaved and polite.

[darkbluemurder]

Coming back to that dual hum tele with the AT-1 in the bridge. I asked the DiMarzio tech support what they would recommend if I wanted something with more bass punch and overall clarity. They suggested the Norton. Found one used, put it in and sure they were right but it slightly overshot to the bright side in that guitar. But then I remembered RayBarbeeMusic's post that the usual load of 500k should be reduced to appr. 380k. That provided the midrange bark that I liked about the AT-1 which the Norton was lacking with the 500k load, but now coupled with the bass punch and the bite of the Norton. About the same output as the AT-1 with a load of 500k. Love the guitar now.

Many thanks to the DiMarzio Tech Support for their assistance and Ray for sharing his knowledge.

Cheers Stephan