Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Guitarzan on October 10, 2005, 12:55:53 AM

Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Guitarzan on October 10, 2005, 12:55:53 AM
Which pickup works best with a mahogany body? I recently got a new guitar and am looking for the best BKP. Has to be a humbucker set. Which calibrated set or pair is good for a wide range of sound? I heard the mule set covers a really broad spectrum. I'm looking for something that can go from jazz to metal with lots of distortion. Maybe a Miracle Man/Warpig Bridge with a Mule neck/
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: HJM on October 10, 2005, 06:13:50 AM
The Mules are a really great tone, but you need to dig in as the output is low, I might go as far as a Nailbomb bridge with a Mule neck, but I think the difference in volume will be too great.  How about something on the vintage hot side, a VHII, Abraxas, or Riff Raff?

Oh...wrong forum mate :wink:
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Peterku on October 10, 2005, 09:57:14 AM
If you have something to boost the signal, an OD pedal or boost pedal for instance, you could do metal easily with the Mules, too. Last time when I had rehearsal with my band, I used a V-Stack pedal as boost, and my Mule-loaded Artist sounded heavy as hell yet really articulate.

HJM's right, the Mules are low-output, great-sounding pickups, and they don't help you at playing (= they show all your mistakes), which is a very good thing IMO.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: PhilKing on October 10, 2005, 12:10:29 PM
Listen to the Riff-Raff - it is designed for mahogany bodied guitars.  I have a Warpig/Mississippi Queen combination in my Explorer, the Warpig has a great bottom end push in the sound.  Another one to think about would be the Crawler set.  If you go with the Abraxas, get the alnico V set, to give you that little extra because of the mahogany body.

You will get more responses in the 'Pickups' forum (this is what HJM means).
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: indysmith on October 10, 2005, 04:35:42 PM
Quote from: PhilKing
(this is what HIM means).

LOL HIM.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: PhilKing on October 10, 2005, 05:04:05 PM
Quote from: indysmith
Quote from: PhilKing
(this is what HIM means).

LOL HIM.


I typed it very early in the morning  :oops:
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Guitarzan on October 11, 2005, 02:04:50 AM
How well do you guy's think a riff raff and mule combo will work? From what I am reading the riff raff is like a low output nailbomb and the mule is versitile. Maybe the Riff raff in the neck and the mule in the bridge?
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Ratrod on October 11, 2005, 12:15:28 PM
Quote from: Guitarzan
How well do you guy's think a riff raff and mule combo will work? From what I am reading the riff raff is like a low output nailbomb and the mule is versitile. Maybe the Riff raff in the neck and the mule in the bridge?


I'd do that the other way around. Mule in the neck and Riff Raff in the bridge.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: PhilKing on October 11, 2005, 01:35:39 PM
I have Riff-Raff/Stormy Monday set up in my Les Paul and it works really well.  With the Mule, I used an Emerald for the bridge.  I had put up a couple of tracks with the Riff Raff in the players section.
The Riff Raff has a 'cleaner' distortion (if that makes sense), it is a more open sound.  The Emerald is also a great lead pickup, but in the Thin Lizzy tone range, with a bit more drive than the Riff Raff, but all the harmonics still.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Skybone on October 11, 2005, 02:56:30 PM
Funnily enough, I was talking to Tim about this yesterday when I ordered a set of Crawler's for my mahogany bodied '78 Ibanez Iceman. It used to have a set of Emerald's in it, but they didn't quite have that certain "something" that I have now come to expect from BKP.  :?

I've now fitted them to my latest Tokai Love Rock and they sound great!  :D

From what I can gather, the Crawler is a really good pickup that can accomplish a wide variety of tones, and will go well with a mahogany bodied guitar.  :P
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Peterku on October 11, 2005, 03:17:27 PM
Quote from: Ratrod
I'd do that the other way around. Mule in the neck and Riff Raff in the bridge.
Does the Riff Raff have an Alnico II magnet? If it does, you might want to choose something with a little bit more bass for the bridge position to complement the Mule better.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: _tom_ on October 11, 2005, 05:21:51 PM
Quote from: Peterku
If you have something to boost the signal, an OD pedal or boost pedal for instance, you could do metal easily with the Mules, too. Last time when I had rehearsal with my band, I used a V-Stack pedal as boost, and my Mule-loaded Artist sounded heavy as hell yet really articulate.

HJM's right, the Mules are low-output, great-sounding pickups, and they don't help you at playing (= they show all your mistakes), which is a very good thing IMO.


Which V-Stack pedal do you have? And how good is it for boosting a breaking up, crunchy valve amp into Led Zep and up to GnR style tones? Theres allways another pedal I want  :lol:
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Peterku on October 11, 2005, 07:07:41 PM
Quote from: _tom_
Which V-Stack pedal do you have? And how good is it for boosting a breaking up, crunchy valve amp into Led Zep and up to GnR style tones? Theres allways another pedal I want  :lol:

OFF Topic: I have the BHM model, the red one. Since it models an AC30 with a treble booster in front of it, it's not really a regular booster but rather a dirty sounding treble booster at the lowest gain settings. At the rehearsal I mentioned, I used it to really drive the amp and smooth out the texture of the amp's OD (it was a hybrid amp).
However, with the gain at 12 o'clock (the pedal has lots of gain) and fed into an almost cranked Mesa combo's clean channel I got a hi-gain lead sound at my last gig that was hard to describe. Imagine a smooth Brian May-type sound with infinite sustain and a lot more push. Unlike a lot of modelers this is definitely a pedal that sounds best when played loud. :twisted:
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: PhilKing on October 11, 2005, 08:28:27 PM
Quote from: Peterku
Quote from: Ratrod
I'd do that the other way around. Mule in the neck and Riff Raff in the bridge.
Does the Riff Raff have an Alnico II magnet? If it does, you might want to choose something with a little bit more bass for the bridge position to complement the Mule better.


Tim upgraded the Riff-Raff and it now has an Alnico V magnet.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: big steve on October 11, 2005, 11:12:08 PM
it has whatever magnets you ask Tim to put in it...
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: PhilKing on October 12, 2005, 01:04:49 PM
Quote from: big steve
it has whatever magnets you ask Tim to put in it...


If you buy it without specifying, the new Riff Raff has Alnico V.  So if you go to one of the authorised retailers and buy one there, depending how long they have had it, it should be A5.

If you order direct then of course you can ask for what you want, but Tim did some work on the Riff Raff earlier this year and changed its voicing slightly.  He now has it set up for Alnico V as standard, where before it was AII.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Guitarzan on October 12, 2005, 11:21:57 PM
How come the crawler costs more? I 'm actually thinking about getting a crawler but if the riff raff is cheaper them I might go for a set of riff raff's.
Title: Which Pickup?
Post by: Skybone on October 13, 2005, 09:30:37 AM
It costs more because Tim has to pay Geoff a royalty for the use of his name.

It's the same with ANYTHING that has someone's name on it.

Les Paul must be an absolute millionaire on royalties alone!

Zakk will be making quite a few quid from Gibson, MXR, EMG and Marshall.

It's like the old Nike sponsorship of Michael Jordan, that guy was worth millions of dollars in royalties alone, before you factored in the money he got for playing Basketball.

Look at Beckham, he's making an absolute fortune by promoting various products, and putting his name to all sorts of stuff.