Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: jthompso on February 11, 2009, 12:01:43 PM
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Im going to put some Bare Knuckles in my Ibanez RG 7620 and am just wondering if anyone knows a good match for this guitar? Im playing progressive metal through a Framus Cobra and want something articulate and warm. The guitar body is American Basswood - what would you suggest?
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What music styles do you play? So far I would say Nailbomb or Holy Diver for Basswood...
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What music styles do you play? So far I would say Nailbomb or Holy Diver for Basswood...
As stated above Im playing progressive metal. Im looking for something with a tight, punchy bottom end, warm and articulate. Ive ordered a set of Miracle Mans for my Schecter Hellraiser as I heard they were great with Mahogany, not sure about basswood though.
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I use Cold Sweat 7s in a korina Flying V which pretty much fit what you've described.
Not sure how they'd work in basswood - if it's any help, Chris Broderick used these in his RG1527 before he defected to Dimarzio.
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i'd say nailbombs, they're very versatile and adapt well to every genre... cold sweats are great all-rounders too, but i suspect you'll find the bridge a bit too cold (it's ceramic, after all...) in basswood... warpigs would also be an obvious choice (i use them in my RG and they're very warm) but maybe they sound too aggressive and raw for your music style... in general i found every BKP very articulate.
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I have a Framus Cobra too
the Diver works great with a bright boost in front of the amp, like a SD-1, Wylde OD (this one is wonderful for metal) or tube screamer
without a boost, the Cobra lacked a bit of sustain with the HD
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Mmm, so the cold sweats might be a bit to "cold" in basswood!! From what Ive read I think the War Pig might be a bit too raw for my needs, the Cobra is a pretty raw sounding amp to begin with. Im not really into boosting my amp so the Holy Diver probably isnt right. Im wanting something warm and organic sounding that is articulate with a good, tight bottom end.
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I have a Framus Cobra too
without a boost, the Cobra lacked a bit of sustain with the HD
That not only depends on the amp you're using, but mainly because of the guitar itself. Naturel sustain
has to do with the guitar you're playing and using it the 'right' way. I never have any secrets in my set-
up; one amp, one guitar (no mid boost from the amp or pedals, just a pure and honest rocking Les Paul
tone). It's a personal thing.
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Im going to put some Bare Knuckles in my Ibanez RG 7620 and am just wondering if anyone knows a good match for this guitar? Im playing progressive metal through a Framus Cobra and want something articulate and warm. The guitar body is American Basswood - what would you suggest?
Without question, the Cold Swear or Miracle Man. I've sold countless sets of pickups to folks with basswood Ibanez 7s, and those are the models that always seem to respond best. The Cold Sweat is brighter with a bit more high-mids, super tight and clear with cool growl. The Miracle Man has more fluid upper mids, thick low-mid chunk. With some amps the voicing of the MM wins out, in others the CS or others are more favorable. It really depends.
The Holydiver and Nailbomb can sound great in basswood too but in my opinion aren't an ideal match for a basswood 7-string due to the loose bottom end. If it was a 6-string tuned standard then I think it would be okay, but I strongly recommend going with the ceramic for a basswood 7.
I would go with the Cold Sweat personally.
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Im going to put some Bare Knuckles in my Ibanez RG 7620 and am just wondering if anyone knows a good match for this guitar? Im playing progressive metal through a Framus Cobra and want something articulate and warm. The guitar body is American Basswood - what would you suggest?
Without question, the Cold Swear or Miracle Man. I've sold countless sets of pickups to folks with basswood Ibanez 7s, and those are the models that always seem to respond best. The Cold Sweat is brighter with a bit more high-mids, super tight and clear with cool growl. The Miracle Man has more fluid upper mids, thick low-mid chunk. With some amps the voicing of the MM wins out, in others the CS or others are more favorable. It really depends.
The Holydiver and Nailbomb can sound great in basswood too but in my opinion aren't an ideal match for a basswood 7-string due to the loose bottom end. If it was a 6-string tuned standard then I think it would be okay, but I strongly recommend going with the ceramic for a basswood 7.
I would go with the Cold Sweat personally.
I have a miracle man bridge in an ibanez RG470F. Warm is one word I wouldn't use to describe it! Articulate, very, very tight, fat bottom end, great low mid grind and singing highs on the upper strings. Cleans aren't wonderful, but
certainly serviceable. I'm not convinced it's right for the given music preferences, though - I use it for hardcore/downtuned punchy metal.
Nailbomb sprung to mind, but as you say, the NB with low tunings might not work so well as a cold sweat.
Painkiller might be worth considering, but again this may be a touch too raw and potentially cold. It's very, very tight, though.
Let us know what Tim suggests, too!
Roo
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Thanks for the responses guys! It seems as though most of the pickups are being characterised as being either articulate, punchy but not warm - or warm but not as articulate and very raw. Im really wanting something that is warm but not overly raw, more smooth. Think Pettrucci's tone on Awake (I know amp etc have a lot to do with this as well). Should I even consider a "Vintage hot" or "Vintage" humbucker? I am playing pretty heavy stuff though - think Nevermore, Opeth, Dream Theater, Scar Symmetry, Andromeda etc
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I have a Framus Cobra too
without a boost, the Cobra lacked a bit of sustain with the HD
That not only depends on the amp you're using, but mainly because of the guitar itself. Naturel sustain
has to do with the guitar you're playing and using it the 'right' way. I never have any secrets in my set-
up; one amp, one guitar (no mid boost from the amp or pedals, just a pure and honest rocking Les Paul
tone). It's a personal thing.
not really
an amp can react completely different depending on how you set things before it
my les paul has a ton of sustain
but the cobra has a ton of headroom in both preamp and power amp sections
it does have a huge amount of gain, but it's a forced dry gain from using high gain level settings, not from straight gain stages compression like most amps
it has twice the preamp voltage of a bogner or laney, so the stages always sound very open and don't get compressed (too much headroom), and that affects a lot the sustain
some amps just need more push in front of it to force it
not to increase the gain, but to get that tube compression that makes your leads sustain way longer and makes everything sound meatier
I always used the crunch channel with gain 5-6 and a "clean" boost
sounds way better and more defined than using the lead channel unboosted with a ton of gain
I use a late 70's Maxon 6-band EQ boosting the mids in front of it, but that's a bit more noisy than using an overdrive
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The Holydiver and Nailbomb can sound great in basswood too but in my opinion aren't an ideal match for a basswood 7-string due to the loose bottom end. If it was a 6-string tuned standard then I think it would be okay, but I strongly recommend going with the ceramic for a basswood 7.
no pickup will sound loose through a Framus Cobra
not even if you want it to
it's a very clean, stiff and defined type of high gain
like a way tighter SLO100
it's actually an annoying quality sometimes
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Hey Erik,
Do you have any tips to smooth out the raw, abrasive growl of the Cobra?
The Holydiver and Nailbomb can sound great in basswood too but in my opinion aren't an ideal match for a basswood 7-string due to the loose bottom end. If it was a 6-string tuned standard then I think it would be okay, but I strongly recommend going with the ceramic for a basswood 7.
no pickup will sound loose through a Framus Cobra
not even if you want it to
it's a very clean, stiff and defined type of high gain
like a way tighter SLO100
it's actually an annoying quality sometimes
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Hey Erik,
Do you have any tips to smooth out the raw, abrasive growl of the Cobra?
Bias it, use a pickup with a low-mid rather than high-mid emphasis (WP, HD, etc), preferably speakers that aren't too brittle or buzzy like V30s tend to be.
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Hey Erik,
Do you have any tips to smooth out the raw, abrasive growl of the Cobra?
Bias it, use a pickup with a low-mid rather than high-mid emphasis (WP, HD, etc), preferably speakers that aren't too brittle or buzzy like V30s tend to be.
Gday Vic,
Thanks for all your advice so far, I appreciate it! Ive ordered some Miracle Mans to put in my 7 string Mahogany Hellraiser, do you think that would be a good combo with the cobra? I was under the impression that the miracle mans were more high mid than low mid prominant and therefore would match better with the low mid of the Cobra?
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Hey Erik,
Do you have any tips to smooth out the raw, abrasive growl of the Cobra?
Bias it, use a pickup with a low-mid rather than high-mid emphasis (WP, HD, etc), preferably speakers that aren't too brittle or buzzy like V30s tend to be.
Gday Vic,
Thanks for all your advice so far, I appreciate it! Ive ordered some Miracle Mans to put in my 7 string Mahogany Hellraiser, do you think that would be a good combo with the cobra? I was under the impression that the miracle mans were more high mid than low mid prominant and therefore would match better with the low mid of the Cobra?
the raw tight nature of the cobra is something really difficult to tame
mine is now modded for a british crunchy midrange and a more dense tone with smoother highs and it's still tight as hell, even with the power amp section modded to smooth things a bit
what Vic said about the speakers is very important
I didn't like it with the vintage 30 neither the century vintage, cause they make it sound even more dry
this amp definitely works better with greenbacks, cause they compress the mids a bit and make the highs smoother, speaclly because they match the amp wattage
mine is running two power tubes only at 50w (cause it has 5 years power tubes, so a pair started to redplate)
in 50w, I run only half of the cab (2 x greenbacks), cause it sounds way better matching the power rating of the amp with the power handling of the speakers
when I run only 50w through the whole 100 watts cab, the mids don't sound as alive and it sounds thinner too
about the pickups,. I think that's relative
th Holy Diver is smoother, but I had the Miracle Man and Cold Sweat in the same guitar and played a 7 string with a Painkiller through it and they all worked better, except for cleans
the Miracle man can get a bit spikey on the highs, and doesn't sound as good without a boost (cause boosts usually emphasize the midrange)
the painkiller worked awesome even without a boost, causde it's already really mid heavy
but my favorite is definitely the cold sweat, since it has the qualities of both miracle man and painkiller, but a warmer overall tone and a hair less output
the miracle man has a ton of low end punch, a very unique snarl in the low mids and a lot of cutting treble, but it lacks a bit of center and high mids
you can have your amp modded to smooth some specific points in the power amp (grid resistors to the phase inverter and power tubes, fizzy cap linking the PI outputs, FRED rectification diodes and a higher negative feedback resistor), and they will make a noticeable difference, but won't turn it into a Bogner or something that smooth, unless you go extreme (and that would kill part of the aggressive nature of the amp)
for bedroom playing, the great secret is to plug a "bleedin' cable" into the return (coming from nowhere) and use the FX mix knob as a volume cut
I set the distorted channels volumes at 9-10, master at 3-4 and then the FX mix around 8 will give you a nice tone at bedroom volume
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Hey Erik,
Do you have any tips to smooth out the raw, abrasive growl of the Cobra?
Bias it, use a pickup with a low-mid rather than high-mid emphasis (WP, HD, etc), preferably speakers that aren't too brittle or buzzy like V30s tend to be.
Gday Vic,
Thanks for all your advice so far, I appreciate it! Ive ordered some Miracle Mans to put in my 7 string Mahogany Hellraiser, do you think that would be a good combo with the cobra? I was under the impression that the miracle mans were more high mid than low mid prominant and therefore would match better with the low mid of the Cobra?
the raw tight nature of the cobra is something really difficult to tame
mine is now modded for a british crunchy midrange and a more dense tone with smoother highs and it's still tight as hell, even with the power amp section modded to smooth things a bit
what Vic said about the speakers is very important
I didn't like it with the vintage 30 neither the century vintage, cause they make it sound even more dry
this amp definitely works better with greenbacks, cause they compress the mids a bit and make the highs smoother, speaclly because they match the amp wattage
mine is running two power tubes only at 50w (cause it has 5 years power tubes, so a pair started to redplate)
in 50w, I run only half of the cab (2 x greenbacks), cause it sounds way better matching the power rating of the amp with the power handling of the speakers
when I run only 50w through the whole 100 watts cab, the mids don't sound as alive and it sounds thinner too
about the pickups,. I think that's relative
th Holy Diver is smoother, but I had the Miracle Man and Cold Sweat in the same guitar and played a 7 string with a Painkiller through it and they all worked better, except for cleans
the Miracle man can get a bit spikey on the highs, and doesn't sound as good without a boost (cause boosts usually emphasize the midrange)
the painkiller worked awesome even without a boost, causde it's already really mid heavy
but my favorite is definitely the cold sweat, since it has the qualities of both miracle man and painkiller, but a warmer overall tone and a hair less output
the miracle man has a ton of low end punch, a very unique snarl in the low mids and a lot of cutting treble, but it lacks a bit of center and high mids
you can have your amp modded to smooth some specific points in the power amp (grid resistors to the phase inverter and power tubes, fizzy cap linking the PI outputs, FRED rectification diodes and a higher negative feedback resistor), and they will make a noticeable difference, but won't turn it into a Bogner or something that smooth, unless you go extreme (and that would kill part of the aggressive nature of the amp)
for bedroom playing, the great secret is to plug a "bleedin' cable" into the return (coming from nowhere) and use the FX mix knob as a volume cut
I set the distorted channels volumes at 9-10, master at 3-4 and then the FX mix around 8 will give you a nice tone at bedroom volume
Thanks for the tips Eric, much appreciated. Im using the cobra cab with greenbacks already. I really love the Cobra, but its a very dark tone and it seems to get lost against our other guitarist so hopefully the MM's will give me some more presence. Im also getting some CS's for my Ibanez 7620 so it will be good to compare. I played the Cobra through my mates Bogner Ubercab the other day and it was absolutely amazing - smoothed out all the abrasive qualities and just sounded warm, punchy and huge - highly recommend this cab with the cobra!!
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Thanks for the tips Eric, much appreciated. Im using the cobra cab with greenbacks already. I really love the Cobra, but its a very dark tone and it seems to get lost against our other guitarist so hopefully the MM's will give me some more presence. Im also getting some CS's for my Ibanez 7620 so it will be good to compare. I played the Cobra through my mates Bogner Ubercab the other day and it was absolutely amazing - smoothed out all the abrasive qualities and just sounded warm, punchy and huge - highly recommend this cab with the cobra!!
yeah, the cobra is a very dark amp (lot of people will say it's bright, but it's only brighter than the dragon), unless you use a lot of presence (and that will make it sound too spikey)
but I never had problem on cutting through the mix
it smoked every Mesa my bandmate had and can handle his 5150 even with the cr@ppiest cabinets I have to use at studio (mostly meteoros or valvestates)
when I had its matching cab at studio, I alwayshad to cut bass and mids, or the other guitarist and the bassist couldn't be heard
the ubercab was the v30 or greenback version?
I've played the cobra a few times through an oversized mesa with v30's and hated it
but maybe greenbacks would fix that
the cobra cab is very hard and "boxy" sounding cause it's small and frontloaded (I actually love it)
it has a lot of projection, and that's awesome for live playing
just ask anyone who's over 15 m from the stage
in front of the stage, you may have even volumes, but the cobra cab just throws your sound way further
but I imagine a backloaded cab with the same speakers can be a nice option to smooth the amp a bit
people on harmony central forum love that Splawn straight cab for the Cobra
back to the pickups question...
maybe the alnico warpig might be a good choice, since it's a fat and smooth pickup like the holy diver, but has a bit more mid push and compression and a bit more top end presence
it's like a holy diver with EL34's :D
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Thanks for the tips Eric, much appreciated. Im using the cobra cab with greenbacks already. I really love the Cobra, but its a very dark tone and it seems to get lost against our other guitarist so hopefully the MM's will give me some more presence. Im also getting some CS's for my Ibanez 7620 so it will be good to compare. I played the Cobra through my mates Bogner Ubercab the other day and it was absolutely amazing - smoothed out all the abrasive qualities and just sounded warm, punchy and huge - highly recommend this cab with the cobra!!
yeah, the cobra is a very dark amp (lot of people will say it's bright, but it's only brighter than the dragon), unless you use a lot of presence (and that will make it sound too spikey)
but I never had problem on cutting through the mix
it smoked every Mesa my bandmate had and can handle his 5150 even with the cr@ppiest cabinets I have to use at studio (mostly meteoros or valvestates)
when I had its matching cab at studio, I alwayshad to cut bass and mids, or the other guitarist and the bassist couldn't be heard
the ubercab was the v30 or greenback version?
I've played the cobra a few times through an oversized mesa with v30's and hated it
but maybe greenbacks would fix that
the cobra cab is very hard and "boxy" sounding cause it's small and frontloaded (I actually love it)
it has a lot of projection, and that's awesome for live playing
just ask anyone who's over 15 m from the stage
in front of the stage, you may have even volumes, but the cobra cab just throws your sound way further
but I imagine a backloaded cab with the same speakers can be a nice option to smooth the amp a bit
people on harmony central forum love that Splawn straight cab for the Cobra
back to the pickups question...
maybe the alnico warpig might be a good choice, since it's a fat and smooth pickup like the holy diver, but has a bit more mid push and compression and a bit more top end presence
it's like a holy diver with EL34's :D
The Ubercab had Celestion V30 and G12T75 speakers. It was unexpected, because Ive hated every V30 loaded cab Ive played the cobra through (mesa, Marshall and Bogner). The Ubercab sounded COMPLETELY different though - I guess the G12T75's really help to smooth out the mids, also the Ubercab design is quite different to conventional cab design - whatever it is, the cab seemed to fix all the little niggles I have with my tone through the cobra cab, which is easily the best cab Ive heard with the cobra head, second to the Ubercab! When I get enough cash Ill definately get one ($2200 in Australia!).
Ive actually started diming presence and treble on the Cobra so I can hear it properly in my band - the other guitarist has a Krankenstein through an Ubercab. It doesnt sound too bad and has definately helped with definition, but its still not as dominant as the other guys sound. The Cobra also isnt a very loud amp comparatively so that could be part of it. Anyway, Ive already ordered the MM's so hopefully Ill be happy with them in the mahogany Schecter Hellraiser 7.