Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Hellbilly1969 on February 12, 2008, 11:00:25 AM

Title: Which way to go
Post by: Hellbilly1969 on February 12, 2008, 11:00:25 AM: Hi,

I currently own a USA Warlock loaded with a Nailbomb (Bridge), a Charvel 675 loaded with a Miracle Man (Bridge) and a Fernandes Steeler also loaded with Miracle Man (Bridge)/Cold Sweat (Neck), all pickups were expertly installed by those cool dudes at Feline.

At the end of next month I’ll be getting my dream guitars, a late 80’s USA Jackson King V and Kelly. They’ll be both tuned down to C and I will be playing a cross between Death/Black Metal and good ole straight forward Metal. Due to already having Miracle Mans I would like to try something different, but not hugely so there isn’t a massive gap tone wise when I jump between the two. I do love the tone of the MM’s but options would be nice.

I currently run my guitars through a 5150 and Mode 4 Cab, using sometimes stomp pedals or a GT8. I also use the GT8 for recording and will be probably getting a POD XT as well.

Does any one have any suggestions regarding pickups to go with?

Cheers.
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Ratrod on February 12, 2008, 11:17:20 AM: How about a (ceramic) Warpig?
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Hellbilly1969 on February 12, 2008, 12:20:19 PM: Quote from: Ratrod
How about a (ceramic) Warpig?

Tried a standard Warpig and found them a little too bassy, for me. Are the ceramics in the sane kught tone wise?
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Nolly on February 12, 2008, 12:57:50 PM: The C-pig is a hell of a lot tighter. It's a brutal super-precise pickup, a completely different beast to the alnico one, which has a really sludgy/doomy sound.
Maybe put one of those into one guitar, and a Painkiller or Nailbomb in the other?

Ultimately, make sure you ask Tim, he's pretty infallible!
Title: Which way to go
Post by: MDV on February 12, 2008, 02:18:19 PM: WPs dont sound sludgy at all.

Mine is tight. Not as tight as the ceramic, but tight.

In addition, you can EQ a warpig really easily: too bassy? Screw the neck-wards poles down. Too bright? Turn the bridgewards poles down. Or a combination of both, or different heights for each string.

Its a superbly fine-tunable pickup.

It may sound muddy in a very dark, 24.75 scale guitar and without a setup along the lines above.

Mine in a basswood/maple Jackson DX1 sounds heavy, tight and articulate.

So I think you would be very happy with a ceramic pig. Eases the transition from MM, sounds tighter than the pig (which is still tight: its just relative to the MM, painkiller and C-pig that it isnt) and will work very well with the V and Kelly.
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Ratrod on February 12, 2008, 02:58:32 PM: Like MDV, my AV Piggy is in a basswood guitar with a Fender scale maple neck. When tuned down to C or C# it's less doomy sounding than my Crawlers in the same tuning.

It's a good fine tunable pickup. You can get some nice changes experimenting with pickup and pole screw heights.
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Hellbilly1969 on February 12, 2008, 03:15:13 PM: I've heard Holy Divers are pretty vercitile on high gain amps.

Has any body heard any truth in this?
Title: Which way to go
Post by: MDV on February 12, 2008, 04:17:11 PM: Word to that effect has come my way, yes.

The two Med-high ouptup BKs I've had in the bridge have been extremely versatile (crawler, nailbomb), and the warpig is suprisingly versatile, too.

So it makes sense. I'd be much more suprised if the HD was a one-trick pony (I dont think BK make any of those, except, maybe, the ceramic warpig).
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Nolly on February 12, 2008, 09:43:47 PM: Looks like you should ignore my comments about the alnico WP. To be fair, the only one I have tried was in the heaviest SG I've ever picked up, which probably didn't help.

Holy Divers are reputedly very versatile, though I've also heard they have lots of low end, which might not be to your taste. I'll let someone who owns one advise on their suitability though.
Title: Which way to go
Post by: MDV on February 12, 2008, 09:51:35 PM: I dont think what you said is to be ignored, nolly.

It just needs the context (guitar and maybe amp, and you gave the guitar so now we understand your experience of the pig better) and in the pigs case, its overlooked that it can be eq'd a lot.

Its a thing people overlook, all the time, myself included. The sound of the guitar is not the sound of the pickup. Its the two working together, and BKs are very guitar-sensitive.

The best understanding of the pickups sound comes from swapping them around and noting differences (for example, ratrod; I seem to recall you crawlers are in a yamaha SG: I'd place a modest bet from having crawlers that the pig would sound heavier in the SG than the crawler does: correct me if you've tried this and I'm wrong, though :) )
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Ratrod on February 13, 2008, 12:43:51 PM: I haven't tried my Warpig in the SG. It would sound very similar to a Warpig in a Les Paul. Anyone here tried that?
Title: Which way to go
Post by: Hellbilly1969 on February 13, 2008, 03:25:50 PM: I think the way to go might be the ceramic Warpig in one and a Painkiller in the other.

Thing is I've been wanting to try a Painkiller since I first heard about it, now I get my chance.