Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: BillysStrat on September 23, 2009, 10:41:48 PM
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Hi guys,
I was given the name of this brand by one of the guys over at the Ibanez forum, never heard of them before but from the reviews they look good so far!
I've pasted my post from there onto here and am grateful for any advice anyone has to offer :)
I want to upgrade the pickups in my s2170 prestige.
I bought this last winter as a compromise replacement for my Les Paul, I just couldn't stand the weight, but although the guitar plays really well after a pro set up (and looks beautiful) I don't like the pick ups that much - which sound very boring compared to my US Deluxe Strat (HSS, fender locking trem)
My initial thoughts are something along the lines of:
Bridge HB:
Duncan Screamin' Demon or Dimarzio Tone Zone - or BKs??
Middle SC:
Duncan Hot Rails
Neck:
Duncan 59
...and maybe replacing the switch, volume and tone with proper US made kit since it's going under the knife.
This will all be done professionally as I'm no guitar tech.
I'll be running this through a Marshall TSL122 and playing general classic rock, no fancy dropped tunings to worry about.
I'm looking for a gloriously big fat tone, not worried about true strat tones as that's what the Strat does very well :D
Any contributions very welcome!
Thanks,
Billy
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those are mahogany/maple/rosewood right? and what sounds are you into?
I'd say coldsweat since your choices from other companies were fairly hot, bright and crisp but if you say what kinda music and tones youre after you could get a more solid answer.
Rob
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Wait 'till MDV comes along or any of the other "senior" forum members. :lol:
I'm looking for a gloriously big fat tone
Going from that I'd say a Holy Diver for the bridge, other than that... I couldn't really recommend you anything :D
Good luck.
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For those tonewoods, and pickup comparisons, I would go for a VHII in the bridge, a Trilogy in the middle, and a Mule in the neck.
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holy diver bridge, cold sweat neck
the cold sweat bridge is not really fat
the nailbomb is very focused too
the diver works great with tight/bright amps like the TSL
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All-mahogany body. That's what I'm wondering about equipping it with the HD, which may be a little thick for classic rock. Well, a fat tone WAS required..some like the mother, some like the daughter. Some like both.
Since it's classic rock and all-mahogany, I'd probably go with the vintage hot category. The hotter side to make the tone thicker that is.
Black dog, Emerald? Mother's milk or slowhand in the middle.
-Zaned
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Thanks for the help guys.
I'm after a big fat bluesy rock sort of sound, not so much stratty-sounding as I have a US deluxe, but something a little different. The amp is my Marshall JCM2000 TSL122 2x12 100w combo (replacement for a stolen Boogie, but that's another story) which does sound pretty good cranked up with a THD hotplate to help with volume attenuation
Have to say I love the Ibanez look and playability but not so impressed by the stock pickups but that's no big deal and everyone's ears are different which is why BK and the like came along to help us out!
On thing I wondered about is will BK pickups fit, is there a G and F version like Duncans?
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Yeah it's mahogany bodied with a crazy swirled ebony top - which looks amazing - and maple neck, rose fretboard, ZR trem, this one here in fact;
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/30514-ibanez-s2170se-s-prestige-series-natural-flat-.html
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Great looking guitar by the way! having a ebony top would give it a maple level of brightness, so I would think that many of the BKP humbuckers would suit your needs, Crawlers are really popular as are Nailbombs and Holydivers, you could always do what most of us do and ask Tim, and yes BKP do both G and F spacing.
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For pure fatness in classic rock applications, consider the Crawler set. Tonnes of mids, thick, rich, enough bass and treble to balance them out, extremely versatile
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i'm not sure about the exact pickups required, but i'd point out that most ibanez superstrats I've tried with mahogany bodies (but bolt-on maple necks) have actually sounded nothing like gibson-style mahogany guitars. the rga121, for example, is really rather bright. I'm not sure avoiding fatter pickups is a good idea, if a fat tone is in order, in other words. :)
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That's a good point Dave, a bolt on maple neck on a slim line mahogany body does sound different to the true LP sound.
This is the bit that threw me - I've never bought pick ups before and an S is quite an unusual mix I'd guess? - I'm not sure where to go as the wizards on both the Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio sites don't ask if your neck is bolt on, neck thru or fixed and I'd have thought that was way way more relevant that the fretboard.
Also they don't ask if your body is capped or not. Seems to be missing the full picture?
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Hi - I'll pitch in with my thoughts as a guitar maker
You got the s series as a comprimise Les paul - to get a lighter weight , but I suspect that tonally you would like it to sound more like an LP
For this purpose I would chose the Crawler set.(used by Geoff Whitehorn)
These pickups can make a strat type sound almost like an LP - and classic rock is what they can do really well
It's like a PAF on steroids and the neck pickup is like a fruity sounding PAF
So for fat bluesy tones I think it would suit you well
You will want to get the short leg, wide spacing version with 4 conductor wiring - to allow for the coil split sounds in positions 2 and 4
I really like the S -series guitars for comfort - wish I could find a hardtail version though!
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That's a good point Dave, a bolt on maple neck on a slim line mahogany body does sound different to the true LP sound.
This is the bit that threw me - I've never bought pick ups before and an S is quite an unusual mix I'd guess? - I'm not sure where to go as the wizards on both the Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio sites don't ask if your neck is bolt on, neck thru or fixed and I'd have thought that was way way more relevant that the fretboard.
Also they don't ask if your body is capped or not. Seems to be missing the full picture?
yeah, those wizards are rubbish if you ask me, don't go into anywhere near enough detail, and when they occasionally do go into detail, as you suggested, it's where the details aren't as important. :lol:
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Hi - I'll pitch in with my thoughts as a guitar maker
You got the s series as a comprimise Les paul - to get a lighter weight , but I suspect that tonally you would like it to sound more like an LP
For this purpose I would chose the Crawler set.(used by Geoff Whitehorn)
These pickups can make a strat type sound almost like an LP - and classic rock is what they can do really well
It's like a PAF on steroids and the neck pickup is like a fruity sounding PAF
So for fat bluesy tones I think it would suit you well
You will want to get the short leg, wide spacing version with 4 conductor wiring - to allow for the coil split sounds in positions 2 and 4
I really like the S -series guitars for comfort - wish I could find a hardtail version though!
:lol:
I'm not a guitar maker.........just sayin' jon ;)
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Yeah Dave, I went through both SD and dimarzio's wizards and thought great that was easy enough - but then it clicked that they hadn't asked anything meaningful, so now I wonder whether their recommendations are in fact a load of old bollocks :D
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Thanks for your advice Feline.
Yes I'm after a more LP kind of fat arsed grunt, as you say the S is so comfortable to play - I wish they came in fixed bridge too!!
I remember you guys getting a top notch review in Guitarist many moons ago!
It must be years as I haven't subscribed for three at the very least, but I remember the cool 12th fret markers.
hope everything is going well for you.
Hey would you have a recommendation from SD and Dimarzio to compare against?
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Forgot to say I'm wanting to replace all threepickups so a full H-S-H rig is in order.
Plus switches and tone / volume as well :)
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Irish tour or slowhand to go with the crawlers then. Slowhand is on the darker, thicker side, IT, on the middier glassier punchier side.
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Well, you probably would want to stay with the 5-way switch, and have a 500k pot with a 1 meg tone control. The reason I suggest the VHII/Trilogy/Mule combo is because I've seen some clips with an Edwards LP with VHII's in them, and while your S series is definitely not as thick as an LP/LP copy, the VHII's still sounded wide and fat in that. I also recommended the Trilogy because as you probably know, BKP singlecoils are not hum-cancelling, and something similar in strength to what you wanted(the SD Hot Rails), and since you didn't care if you get real good strat tones, but that can also blend in well with both the bridge and neck.
As for the Mule, it's an obvious choice in placement of a Duncan 59, and judging from some clips, sounds alot better. Really smooth.
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Thanks for your advice Feline.
Yes I'm after a more LP kind of fat arsed grunt, as you say the S is so comfortable to play - I wish they came in fixed bridge too!!
I remember you guys getting a top notch review in Guitarist many moons ago!
It must be years as I haven't subscribed for three at the very least, but I remember the cool 12th fret markers.
hope everything is going well for you.
Hey would you have a recommendation from SD and Dimarzio to compare against?
Close (ish) may be Duncan custom 5 and 59 but wire gauge is different (44 gauge polysol on the Custom 5) compared to the 43 gauge enamel covered onthe BKP crawler bridge
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So would the Custom 5 and 59 be a good choice as a basis to compare?
Would I need a trembucker picup for the neck as well as the bridge?