Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Pierre on November 10, 2005, 07:44:09 PM
-
Well as you can read in my other thread, I suspect there may be something wrong with the wiring. Or else, it's just not as tight or ballsy as I imagined. Don't get me wrong though, you'll see why:
The pickup is warmer than the FullShred it replaced. WAY warmer. The bass are less present, and it's not as good for chugging, I find.
However it's AMAZINGLY clear. More than the FullShred. It'd be perfect for Thrash for instance: not too much gain on the amp, but a lot of fast riffing.
The tightness didn't make me want to say 'OMFG' (yeah, in geek talk like this) as the FullShred did. On the contrary, I feel it's less tight than the FS, but way smoother (whereas the SeymourDuncan was very crunchy. That's not a bad thing at all :D)
It's not much hotter than the FullShred, but I can feel it has a little more strength to it. I thought it'd be tighter and with more output personally.
I feel the Harmonics are clear and pronounced, but harder to get than on the FullShred. I feel there are just less than on the FS overall. It's what caused my suspicions since it's supposed to be pretty strong in this level.
At first I had reversed the red and black wires (thinking black was hot...) but I rewired it correctly and well, I didn't notice a huge difference in sound. What should I have noticed?
Also, the pickup is 3.5 away from the strings on the low E screw piece. I arranged those screws to be in a zig zag pattern (if anyone experimented with this and can tell me tips or good positions for these, I'm all open :))
Overall, even though I expected something 'more', I can tell why Bareknuckle pickups get such a good reputation. The degree of clarity is AMAZING, especially for such a high output pickup. Thanks Tim for a great product, and if anyone can tell me if what I noticed is normal, I'd be glad :P
Oh I forgot to add, the strings are brand new too... Maybe this could influence the sound in a negative way?
-
You mentioned strange values on your pot's in your other post, could you elaborate on this please.
The fullshred only DC's at 14K and has a alnico V mag, so if you are not hearing more power and less bass something is wrong.
Do you have a voltmeter?
-
My guess is you have pots for active pickups, I can't remember the value of those anymore but I know they'll make a passive pickup sound weak and thin.
The Miracle Man should be used with 500k pots.
-
Red should go to hot, black and screen to ground(usually the rear of the volume pot) and green and white soldered together and taped out of the way if you're not using them for a tap.
Swapping red and black simply routes the signal the opposite way round the pickup so won't alter the tone at all, only when the p/up is switched on with another one would you get a problem-basically it'd be out of phase.
SD wiring uses black as hot and green as ground...if you did this then you'd get a very weak tone so check your wiring.
-
I did that Tim, Brow made me realise it haha! And I understand now why I didn't hear a difference after I put it back on correctly.
And yes, I do have pots for active electronics. The guitar has a midboost with it (6db) which adds output and mids. I really like this thing, but it really could be the problem? The FullShred sounded killer... The Miracle Man is better mind you, just maybe not at its best. Should I just get 3X500K pots and rewire the whole thing without the midboost?
-
Should I just get 3X500K pots and rewire the whole thing without the midboost?
Yes
That sounds sensible, and from what i've heard midboosts suck tone aswell... :?
-
Alright :) I should get some soon and see what gives. Hopefully it'll give it more output too. Thanks guys!
-
what tha $%&# Pierre?
you are spending too much time on The cabaret
spend more time on electronics
ahahahahah when you said that something is wrong (in the beginning of your post) with the miracle man, i was like "wooow, what tha $%&#?"
but when you said about the active stuff.. i presumed that you have a 25k pots
so, kick those cabaret hooker pots and put in 3 500 k
Better, only one volume. forget about the otehrs. you will have the true sound of the pickup. ahahahah
for MALES only huh?! ahahahahaha
Hails
J.P
after that, iŽm really lookign forward to sell all my pickups, except my emgs. that iŽl keep.
cause i want to compare the articulation and tightness of the emg 81 witrh the ones on the bare knuckles iŽll buy.
-
ROFL!!!
JP put the SMACK down on this post!
-
AHAHAHA hEJ DAVEY
How ready is your guitar going?
-
steadily going on for the moment =)
-
Ok I decided on the wiring:
Each on/off switch will control each pickup, as usual.
There will be a volume + tone for the neck pickup, and just volume for middle and bridge. This way the MM will get as little interferences as possible.
I don't quite know how to wire this though... I'll have to have a volume + tone in parrallel with the neck pickup's circuit, and a volume in parrallel with middle + bridge circuit? Each switch is connected to the other by their middle slug, and the left slug is connected to the pickup's hot wire.
-
Have you tried bypassing the electronics to see if it makes a difference to the tone?
-
Have you tried bypassing the electronics to see if it makes a difference to the tone?
My thoughts exactly. Just wire it straight to the ouput jack directly - no switches or pots of any kind. Then go forward from there.
I have my VHII wired this way - single pickup directly to the jack. I really think it improved the tone of that guitar 100%!! Not even a volume control on that guitar. :)
-
WHAT THA $%&# BEN
explain that again to me
-
Check it out, JP:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/VHStratNoStrings.jpg)
NO volume control, NO tone control. When you plug in the guitar, it's on all the time, full volume.
-
I guess it'd be possible, and I wouldn't need new pots... How do I do that? I have to unwire the switch from the pots, and wire the lug which was previously connected to the controls directly to the jack? Is it ok to have 2 hot wires connected to the jack?
-
Coming in late on this - how many pickups?
-
Well right now there are 3 pickups in the guitar, and they all are affected by the volume/tone/midboost controls. I want to make the bridge pickup bypass this basically, but still have its switch.
-
how did ye get on Pierre?
The pickup to jack option sounds cool, gonna keep that in mind for my next project :P
-
I haven't done it yet. I'm waiting to get more details on the wiring and whether it's safe, but I can't find any info on this type of connections.
-
Wow... so ok I tried it...Basically it's now wired directly the output. No controls at all for the MM... and I was expecting a heavy metal pickup but, I find it lacks output. It seems less powerful than how it was with all the electronics. There also seems to be less harmonics, but the sound has more character, more tightness.
Edit: I grounded the MM onto the midboost pot. There's another wire there, connected with it. When I turn down the midboost, the pickup shuts, but there's very little effects on the tone until I almost have it all the way down. Is that sucking tone?
Edit 2: it's VERY bassy and the controls on the POD seem to have less effects than before...
-
well i don't know whats going on but here's my input.
I have a MM with double allen head poles and I find this thing nearing my EMG 81 in output and has comparable harmonic content, slightly less, but the sound better and fuller although not quite as loud ( bearing in mind that the 81 is active!!) It has VERY tight bass, almost too tight for some things, and a very smooth mid output, that I think you might be perseving as not very high output as the PU is not to mid orientated.
The Fullshred if I remember correctly is VERY mid orientated and coupled with the fact that you have a mid boost, then to me it sounds as though you are just used to the fact of having tons of mids which can make a PU sound very heavy.
Tim and co. can correct me here but to my knowledge having alot of mid presence in a PU can make it sound louder than it might be and also the mid spike in your rig would start to overdrive an amp quite easily.
Anyway thats just my Idea. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got my MM, and to be quite honest, I wasn't that blown away by it when I first plugged it in (it was the first aftermarket PU id bought and I didn't have a huge experience with different guitars so I didn't know what I was listening for).
BUT after a while, you figure out how to get the best out of it.... and then you love it.
But as I said, it is comparable to an EMG 81, but with more bass and highs and less mid. but alot more dynamic and nowhere near as mushy.
If you think that it is based on Zakk who uses EMG 81's then its gotta be in that ballpark. why don't you listen to Tims MM clip on the players are of Miracl Man and then see if yours sounds similar?
MMM
-
I listened to a whole lot of these. In each clips, it sounded either heavier (the Ozzmosis clips) or just tighter and better (Ben's clips).
That would make sense about the mids. Maybe putting this pickup in a basswood guitar isn't the best thing then? My guitar has a pretty warm sound I found but doesn't favor the mids that much (midboost makes up for it).
Meanwhile I'll just always use the Boss SD1 as a boost before I do more mods. I'll try a Duncan Custom and maybe make a hybrid with the Fullshred. Maybe I'll also put a row of Allen keys on the bass side of the pickup.
Maybe I just need a JCM800? :P
I'm sure I'd be more happy once I retube the Laney and find my tone with it. So far I just use the POD and it kicks ass, but maybe it's just not as good. Every guitar I try on every other amp seems to get pinch harmonics much easier, and more harmonics too for some reasons.
Thanks for the comment!
-
yAH, I UNDERSTOOD BEN
Well how to do that?
i guess it has a lot of microphonics right or not?
how can you compare that with a 1 volume pot wired guitar?
please compare the highs, middles, bass and output please.
with distortion, OF COURSE.
J.P
-
yAH, I UNDERSTOOD BEN
Well how to do that?
I just wired the pickup directly to the jack. 2 wires, butt simple.
i guess it has a lot of microphonics right or not?
Nope, you just can't turn it off from the guitar; you have to put the amp on standby.
how can you compare that with a 1 volume pot wired guitar?
please compare the highs, middles, bass and output please.
with distortion, OF COURSE.
J.P
I think that the sound is a bit richer and has more dynamics.
It's a weird way to go, I admit, but I like it. Plus, it drives friends crazy when they plug in and look for a volume control that's not there! LOL
-
thanks guys
J.P
-
well my MM is in an all maple guitar which isn't a mid heavy guitar at all. I put it through an sd-1 into my Vox valvetronix and it sounds brilliant, effortlessly powerfull and doesn't sound pushed.
-
I have a MM set in a Warmoth PRS clone and they sound excellent. Before that I had them in a Korean Explorer (Richwood), where they still sounded great.
can you measure the resistance to make sure there is no problem on them?
-
I have no voltmeter. I need one though it'd seem. I can't really afford one at the minute. I'll try if I can borrow one anywhere.
-
PIERRE
just one thing
HAHAHAHA REWIRE IT. IT MUST BE WRONG
-
WITH FULL DISTORTION you really are a nutcase :P
:)
MMM
-
aHAhAHHAahahahahahaHAhah
-
Edit:
Nope it all works now! I had forgotten a grounding wire (to the bridge) and I inversed the wires on the jack. All is great now!
AWESOME PICKUP!!!!!!! And I know what's wrong basically: it's just that the amp model on the POD doesn't have enough gain for Zakk Wylde stuff. It was never the pickup, though MAYBE the FullShred is a touch hotter for some reason (it'd be weird, but it's still the impression I have). Now I'm really happy with it! Cheers BKP for an amazing pickup. You can expect some single coil order soon ;)
-
s o u n d $%&#ING Clips
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
:shock:
-
One thing I've found with BKPs, is that they have so much more harmonics that you have to rework your amp ettings a bit, usually I don't need as much mid and top, as the harmonics make the guitar jump out without the need for too much boost on the amp or desk.