Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Players => Topic started by: Watsonica on March 13, 2008, 03:21:10 AM
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Long overdue, but I finally found the time to upload something using the BKP Trilogy pup I recieved months ago.
The guitar is a 1989 Hondo Strat copy with the original neck pup and a stock Fender in the middle with the middle (Fender) pup wired to merge volume wise with either the front or back, but for the most part this is the BKP trilogy in the bridge and for much of the harmony work.
Tim outfitted this BKP with a zinc plate on the bottom because I wanted to get somewhat close to the sound of a P-90 while still maintaining the single coil (Strat) sound. I'm playing thru a Boss GT-8 and all is recorded into a Boss BR-1600CD multi-track recorder.
The song is Brian May's "Last Horizon", oddly I've just become familiar with this song even though it's been out for years. This is NOT backing tracks. I used a Boss DR-5 to play the drums, bass and keyboards and played all of the guitar parts seperately choosing not to use the Harmonist built into the GT-8 altho I'm sure it could have done well. The Trilogy is 16k.
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O MY WORD!!! I think hunter has a contender :wink: 8)
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Wow, this is fantastic...!
Something does tell me you're a big Boss fan ;) The GT-8 sounds lovely here.
You'll have to do more clips :) There aint enough single coil clips about.
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That sounds really great.
What are the cleans like? Does it do "Stratty" cleans?
Mark.
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Thanks guys ,I'll try to upload another clip a bit later (should I put it in this thread or a new one?)
I haven't changed the strings on that guitar in ages and it didn't bother me much to do one with that much distortion (lol) but I'll make one with cleaner sounds so that you can really hear the difference..
What are the cleans like? Does it do "Stratty" cleans?
The cleans are "Stratty" and even "Tele" believe it or not Mark....the volume control with that pup is very versitile depending on how much you give it, that was one of the things that I stressed to Tim ...that I wanted it to retain the "Strat" sound and still be able to pump up to a P-90..I think he succeeded, but you guys will be the judge on the next clip.
Gem~
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[EDIT] I apologise to the 3 that have already downloaded this tune, but even tho I'm only improvising with myself here there was a bass and rhythm note at about 5:17 in the recording that was driving me up the wall so I remixed it and changed only that part while adding another rhythm. This is the final mix for whatever it's worth. Watsonica~
Since nobody said anything I'll go ahead and post this here rather than making a new thread. This isn't a cover tune but another demo I threw together to show some of the cleaner sounds of the Trilogy.
Same equipment as the first clip but no distortion in front of the Fender Twin. And again these are old strings, haven't had an opportunity to change them in a while.
The whole thing here was done with only the Trilogy bridge pup...no other pickup was used on my guitar during the recording. For my style I generally switch back and forth between all pups on a gig, but you could actually do a whole gig with just the Trilogy bridge pup alone.
The only changes I made were with my volume control btw...the pup is that sensitive.
On both of my clips the only effects that were used were from the GT-8 and none on the Boss BR-1600 recorder.
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wow, that was a great clean clip, ( and dirty clip as well, )but , being not much of a fan of single coil bridges, I am very amazed at this sound. Please tell us how you had your tone knobs on the guitar. any tone rolled off, or volume turned down? Man, that was awesome! loved the length of it, too> I heard some bill frisell, Jeff beck and albert lee, as well as lotsa YOU, very original playing. I always wind up replacing my strat bridge p/us w/ humbuckers, but I might just trade my Apache bridge for a trilogy, and get the zinc plate. Do you think the plate made the major difference?
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wow, that was a great clean clip, ( and dirty clip as well, )but , being not much of a fan of single coil bridges, I am very amazed at this sound. Please tell us how you had your tone knobs on the guitar. any tone rolled off, or volume turned down? Man, that was awesome! loved the length of it, too> I heard some bill frisell, Jeff beck and albert lee, as well as lotsa YOU, very original playing. I always wind up replacing my strat bridge p/us w/ humbuckers, but I might just trade my Apache bridge for a trilogy, and get the zinc plate. Do you think the plate made the major difference?
Thank you lifted...my tone control is actually disconnected and out of the circuit..has been since my brother replaced the mid pup for a Fender and wired it with it's own volume control a few years ago, so it's all picking dynamics and volume.
@1:35-1:44 the volume was full up ..but I was not striking the strings with full force ( I play with a Jim Dunlop 3mm Big Stubby) while plucking the strings between the 21st fret and the neck pup- I rarely pick behind the middle pup unless I intend it to be "bright" or "snappy" and generally have a light touch except when "pinching" harmonics-
and @ 2:40-3:56 it was constant at about 6 and 1/2 on the volume...the rest of the recording I varied greatly.
I did get a variety of tone just by changing the volume control though and thru the 2nd clip I used about 5 on the lowest setting and you can hear it get a bit darker and "middier" as I turn it up to full.
I believe that the zinc plate makes a MAJor difference, when you back off the volume you get into Strat and Tele tones but bring it full up and it can get HB and P-90 tones and bite. Tim Mills is a genius. I was never able to get a Fender bridge pup to sound good switching from neck to bridge without compromising the EQ before but this pup plays nice with both my Middle (Fender) and my neck (original Hondo) pups.
Oddly, the original Hondo neck pup (which I love) has a thin zinc or maybe aluminum (?) plate on the bottom and sounds better to me than any Fender I've had. For whatever reason it does match up really well and that's the only reason I haven't put a BKP in the neck position but I wouldn't hesitate to do so if I could afford it right now. BTW the price on the BKP Trilogy bridge pup alone is extremely reasonable.
I probably should have improvised on the Brian May tune but darn, the notes he played were so perfect ..what on earth would you sub them with? lol.....I approached that more like a classical piece out of respect for BM. Actually I did have to improvise a bit on that...the Hondo only has 21 frets (Brian's having 3 more) and for the last notes on the tune I had to use a glass slide.
Before I got the BKP I used my neck pup an awful lot and would never have attempted doing a full song with only the bridge unless it was strictly called for (R&R and the like).
You can hear what the neck pup sounds like on this clip> http://boomp3.com/m/88b179079c17/machine-gund-watsonica and also a lil bit of what the Fender bridge pup sounded like (if I rememeber right) before I changed it to the BKP, most (if not all) of that tune I did with the Hondo neck pup cuz it sounded so much better (to me) than the Fender, obviously if I'd had the BKP at the time there would definitely have been more bridge playing in that one.
Watsonica~
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Nice playing and clips! For Machine Gun are you using the GT-8 for the vibe effect? It sounds pretty good except for the parts where it goes chukka chukka chukka chukka chuk. Awesome cover of my favorite Hendrix song.
I feel the same way you did about fender bridge pickups so I think my strat needs some new life. This and that slowhand clip have me convinced. Thumbs up!
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Nice playing and clips! For Machine Gun are you using the GT-8 for the vibe effect? It sounds pretty good except for the parts where it goes chukka chukka chukka chukka chuk. Awesome cover of my favorite Hendrix song.
I feel the same way you did about fender bridge pickups so I think my strat needs some new life. This and that slowhand clip have me convinced. Thumbs up!
Thax! lol..ya ..I agree about the "chucka" part..I got quite inebriated before I got the guts to record that and I'm no drummer..had to "tap" those parts out on the machine in real time and I'm not a perfectionist either (lol) so I let it ride, and this isn't a comparison of my playing or recording skills I hope? ...But of the differince in sounds? I normally play with 009 strings and I had 10's on at the time so I'm glad I tuned down to D (I have arthritis 10's kill me).
I used everything in the GT-8 that I thought Hendrix would have had available to him at the time of his New Years eve recording of 69-70..so yes it is the univibe. I tried my best (equipment wise) with the GT to stay as true to the original as possible, of course I improvised the hell out of the piece musically lol, only thing was ..to get feedback (direct recording) I had to use the "feedbacker" in the GT.
If you get the Trilogy with the zinc plate, I tell ya, you won't be dissapointed..great pick-up. It's been a while now and I don't quite remember if I gave Tim the links to my songs on Soundclick (I've since departed from there...different story..nother time)...so that he could hear the sound I was getting ..but whoa..the man just seemed to know what I wanted...you really do need to correspond with him at least a bit tho..he's so fabulous...a real craftsman.
Oh ..the "slowhand"? not familiar with that..I assume it's a Clapton pup (BKP)? I'll have to look into that. yes :wink:
EDIT. k..just heard Steve's "slowhand" clip and ya..I think the trilogy's can do that...sounded fantastic. I see he's using "Apachies" now? ..a bit more traditional sounding (think Hank Marvin) but tonal heaven whether boosted with distortion or played totally clean..the trilogy is just a tad "hotter" tho (than the Apachie) and is really (to me) suited for someone who wants as many variables in tone that you can get from one pup just by changing the volume and picking dynamics.
It's just a pet theory of mine, but if you're "heavy handed"? (agressive picker-consistantly) maybe choose something like the Apachie or Irish Tours? But if you're like me ...(I normally have a light attack) then a higher gain pup like the Trilology or Sinner would suite you fine I think, just my own thoughts on that, but whatever you do (while you can) talk to Tim Mills first..he'll really get you where or as close as you could possibly want to be. Keep in mind that I also use a volume pedal a great deal...headroom is very important to me and that's why I chose the way I did with Tim's invaluable help, whatever you choose..you'll be getting a very "rich" and quality pick-up..regardless of your style, bar none.
Tim must be an alchemist..lol..I don't think the man can make a bad pup..let alone sell it if he did.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Guitar+Pickup/product/Bare+Knuckle+Pickups/Trilogy+Suite+Set/10/1
mine is Submitted 09/08/2007 at 09:16am by Watsonica
Watsonica~