# How is the Rondo 8 string pickup? (Cepheus Alpha)



## Eddie Loves You (Oct 1, 2008)

How do you guys like it? I see that Rondo is selling them now. 

Anyone replace theirs and looking to sell


----------



## TomAwesome (Oct 1, 2008)

Based on all the reviews and clips I've been seeing and hearing respectively, they seem to be surprisingly good.


----------



## darren (Oct 2, 2008)

I liked mine so much, i bought a second one to put in the neck.


----------



## Ishan (Oct 2, 2008)

If they keep the specs or refine them even more for the next runs of Intrepids, it's gonna be great


----------



## TimSE (Oct 2, 2008)

darren said:


> I liked mine so much, i bought a second one to put in the neck.



as did i


----------



## RomeApartJizzy (Oct 2, 2008)

Can an EMG be pulled out and replaced with one of these? I'd like to make a pro dual passive with these pick ups... possible?


----------



## darren (Oct 2, 2008)

Possible, but you'll want to install trim rings of some sort to hide the larger EMG-sized routes. Or call up Seymour Duncan and ask them to make you some passive pickups in Blackout Phase 2 housings.


----------



## Diggy (Apr 5, 2009)

Are Rondo 8 string avialable for purchase?...where?


----------



## COBHC (Apr 5, 2009)

Rondo Music Electric Guitars 8 string guitars here

http://www.rondomusic.com/cepheusalpha.html pickup here


----------



## cvinos (Apr 5, 2009)

those prices...


----------



## possumkiller (Apr 5, 2009)

LOVE the pickups.


----------



## gunshow86de (Apr 5, 2009)

cvinos said:


> those prices...



Those are the deposit prices. But the final prices are still the most reasonable on the market. Especially since most people are just wanting to experiment with one.

And yes, the Cepheus pickups are really nice. There are actually two versions, Alpha and Beta, that are made for neck or bridge. I think both were very well matched for the guitar. The bridge could use a little more "bite," but I think that has more to do with it not being close to the bridge. I wish I wouldn't have ordered the BKP MM8, frankly the Cepheus was good enough. My Intrepid has been sold, and I still don't have my BKP, which makes me a sad panda. Some advice for anyone who preordered; be patient, wait until you hear the stock pickup before you buy another brand.


----------



## MFB (Apr 5, 2009)

gunshow86de said:


> Those are the deposit prices. But the final prices are still the most reasonable on the market. Especially since most people are just wanting to experiment with one.
> 
> And yes, the Cepheus pickups are really nice. There are actually two versions, Alpha and Beta, that are made for neck or bridge. I think both were very well matched for the guitar. The bridge could use a little more "bite," but I think that has more to do with it not being close to the bridge. I wish I wouldn't have ordered the BKP MM8, frankly the Cepheus was good enough. My Intrepid has been sold, and I still don't have my BKP, which makes me a sad panda. Some advice for anyone who preordered; be patient, wait until you hear the stock pickup before you buy another brand.



Are you saying I should wait on your MM8 then?


----------



## gunshow86de (Apr 5, 2009)

MFB said:


> Are you saying I should wait on your MM8 then?



That depends. If you are buying the Intrepid simply to mess around and try out an 8-string, then I would wait. But if you are sure it will become one of your main instruments (which is what I was thinking when I bought mine), then you will probably want to replace it. It's a really nice, medium output pickup, but, like I said, it lacks some "bite" that I prefer.


----------



## G0DLESSENDEAVOR (Apr 7, 2009)

cvinos said:


> those prices...


 
That was my initial reaction to them. Even after the deposit fee and the estimated shipping. I may pay another 100 or so for shipping but it's still a hell of a price. Besides, I might not like or need an 8 string. Agile's are a good bargain for anyone who has not played and held an 8 string.


----------



## thinkpad20 (Apr 10, 2009)

Does the Cepheus Alpha work well as a neck pickup? I'm thinking possibly of putting one in the neck of my incoming RG2228 and then ordering a BKP for the "real thing."

For that matter, anyone want to sell me a used Cepheus?


----------



## thefpb2 (May 11, 2010)

thinkpad20 said:


> Does the Cepheus Alpha work well as a neck pickup? I'm thinking possibly of putting one in the neck of my incoming RG2228 and then ordering a BKP for the "real thing."
> 
> For that matter, anyone want to sell me a used Cepheus?


i may, getting a q-tuner for the neck, pm me if interested, q-tuner in the mail as we speak


----------



## AVH (May 11, 2010)

I wrote about the Cepheus pickups briefly in my Interceptor 830 review, they're clearly copied from the Lundgren, but are surprisingly good on their own merits. Like the Agile instruments themselves, I would say it's a great bang for the buck.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ex...-and-m8-install-long-40-pics.html#post1905943


----------



## maccayoung (May 11, 2010)

Dendroaspis said:


> I wrote about the Cepheus pickups briefly in my Interceptor 830 review, they're clearly copied from the Lundgren, but are surprisingly good on their own merits. Like the Agile instruments themselves, I would say it's a great bang for the buck.
> 
> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/ex...-and-m8-install-long-40-pics.html#post1905943



That's a fantastic review. I'm interested in an 8 string with passives and I was thinking I'd have to do an immediate swap out. After reading your review I think I'd give the pickups a good try out before ordering anything.


----------



## Werwolf999 (May 11, 2010)

I was a actually pretty impressed w/ the Cepheus. As stock pups go, they are just about the best I've used, except maybe for the ones that came in an old LP I had once.

It's funny too because I figured I'd just end up replacing them w/ a BK Warpig, but they're good enough on their own not to warrant the added expense. Plus, there was someone here who posted about replacing his w/ a BK recently. Believe he actually had the cut the pickup saddles in order to get them to fit into his Intrepid, so you might want to think about that before shelling out some $$$ for replacements.


----------



## MF_Kitten (May 24, 2010)

i´m gunna sell my cepheus, but it´s packed away right now. i´d have to dig it out (moving houses, all my stuff is stowed away in boxes)


----------



## george galatis (May 24, 2010)

they are high output...but i thing aren't to much hot
i have em on ma 828


----------



## Jessy (Jun 16, 2011)

I have a passive Cepheus in the bridge position from a low-end Intrepid. It is easily the worst pickup I have ever used. (Along with stock pickups on a variety of brands, I have owned a few Duncans, many Dimarzios, and most EMGs (bass and guitar for the latter)). Take this with a grain of salt, though, because my desires are probably not in-line with the majority of 8-string players. I want as little high frequency filtering as possible; Q-Tuners are my favorite pickup to this point. This pickup is the complete opposite of that. It's so dull that it sounds more like it's in the middle position, to me, than the bridge. I don't fault Agile for this; in order to get the high output that most of its customers probably want, they need to use a lot of wire, which leads to the pickup being a serious lowpass filter. 

Parallel wiring doesn't sound good either; there's just no sparkle in this thing. However, if you're a fan of pickups like Duncan's Invader, or Dimarzio's Air Zone, you may be into it.

I just got my D-Activator Neck model in the mail (for the bridge position), and I'll be making some comparison videos shortly. I'm hoping it will be a significant improvement, but the recordings will tell.


----------



## Metallica35 (Jan 5, 2015)

Just got my new interceptor pro 8 string with Cepheus alpha pickups. I was shocked playing it. These pickups kick some serious ass. I'm an active guy usually (EMGs all the way), but I wanted to see what all the hype about BKPs was. I have a set of aftermaths that are gonna get put in this 8, but honestly if they aren't everything everyone raves about, I'm going to put the Cepheus alphas back in and call it a day. Originally I planned on putting EMGs in if I didn't like the BKPs. These are very very solid pickups. I do like the high frequency filtering because it eliminates the "ice pick" sound when you play leads. I think they're just great pickups overall!


----------



## Spaceman_Spiff (Jan 5, 2015)

Holy necro bump Batman!


----------



## Owen Cassidy (Jan 6, 2015)

This is the only thing holding me back on the Agiles... Can anyone compare it to a dimarzio d-activator or ionizer for me?


----------



## MerlinTKD (Jan 8, 2015)

Owen Cassidy said:


> This is the only thing holding me back on the Agiles... Can anyone compare it to a dimarzio d-activator or ionizer for me?



I own an Agile Septor 828 with Cepheus pickups. They're supposedly based on Lundgren M8's, but as I've never played a Lundgren, I can't say how close they come. I CAN say, they have ceramic magnets, very tight and biting; definitely midrange focused, but still full sounding; they're a bit noisier and 'fuzzier' than the BKP Painkillers I have in my 7-string. WAAAAYYYY better than the Duncan Designed pickups my 7-string came with, or any similarly priced stock pickup I've ever played.

If I had to compare them tonally, to another brand and model (based on recordings I've heard), I'd say they remind me most of the BKP Aftermath bridge (though not near as dry), or somewhat of the Dimarzio D-Activator, and they do have a very similar tonality to the M8's. I'd say thicker and less snappy than the Ionizers.

Just my ears and opinions though, take with the requisite salt grain.


----------



## HeavyD (Jan 9, 2015)

A friend of mine has an Agile 8 string with the stock pickups (which were Cepheus) and while it wasn't tonally mindblowing, it certainly did the trick with enough clarity, note separation and handled the 7th and 8th strings just fine with fresh strings and a good setup.

As most of you probably know, if the setup doesn't allow the low strings to sound clearly, no pickup is doing to fix the clarity.


----------



## ctmetal01 (Mar 11, 2015)

I'm glad there are people who are happy with cepheus pups... I bought an Agile 8 string pendulum last year and it came with the nine string active model (it's a multiscale guitar), I was pretty disappointed so I'm swapping them out with passive Guitarmory prototypes. I might be selling mine if anyone is interested in making offers. I should be getting my new pups in this week so my cepheus should be ready to ship next week. I will say though that they are pretty decent in a studio setting, but I cant get them to sound good live playing through an axe fx II, line 6 pod pro x, or through an engl fireball. Maybe I was spoiled by the SD blackouts that came with my seven string agile.


----------



## Dominoes282 (Mar 11, 2015)




----------

