Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: gaex86 on February 20, 2010, 12:11:36 PM
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What do you think guys? Is the MQ too hot? How is it on clean settings? I've heard some demos and it seems to me not muddy at all. Also with which tele bridge pickup would you pair it?
I'd like something like blackguard or a yardbird.
Give me your thoughts!
Thx
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Hello and welcome ! :)
In contrast ( but not wholly contradictory ) to my comments on another ( Rob's ) thread, where clean Tele neck sounds were being sought, I would heartily recommend / use myself - a M.Q in a Telecaster, as my needs for spacious are already met with other B.K.P. My reason for 'prescribing' an M.Q to one person wanting cleans - and yet doubting it a bit in another case, is as follows :
The M.Qs are very clean, on a clean amp setting - but it is a relatively 'fat' and assertive clean, however sweet. Pickup height adjustments can dial in a real edge to the notes. As I once described the M.Qs : " They are not shy in the showers " . If you want spacious detail ( finger picking perhaps ? ) The Manhattan, or Stormy Monday might be more suitable.
I used to use M.Qs in a semi- hollows 335 type copy, and in that situation, they were gorgeous ! When I tried them in an Archtop, they where clean and thick, but not any where near 'spacey' enough. Their clarity is ( as you have already presumed ) More Telecaster pickup / FAT strat pickup type clarity. Their clarity punching through the mix, and dominating in their own sweet way.
The answer will of course be swung on your choice of bridge pickup, but I cannot assist with / comment on that aspect.
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Thanks for the reply.
I'll try to explain the point. I got an american fender tele with a seymour duncan 59 humbucker in the neck and a stock bridge pickup. I find the SD humbucker too muddy and dark sounding and they don't seem to have a lot of clarity. After a little of debating I had choice to go back to the single coil route and take a yardbird set. But some days ago I've heard a couple of clips of a tele deluxe of a friend equipped with a set of MQ. I was stunned by the clarity of the notes and lack of muddiness; totally different from my neck pickup. Also keep in mind that the clips were recorded on a simple micro cube with no effect at all and this really impressed me. So after this experience I've began to consider the opportunity to put an MQ in the neck and match it with an appropriate tele pickup in the bridge. I'm always looking for the right compromise between the distinctive twang of the tele and a little of versatility, and since the tele signature sound is the bridge IMO, I thought this could be a good choice. Don't know if I'm wrong.
Keep in mind that I play rock and no country or finger-pickin, so I'm not absolutely looking for a super-cristalline clean, just want something that can stays pretty clean when needed and not drive the amp too hard.
After this things would you recommend me or not the MQ, and what do you think of my idea?
I like to hear advices so tell me fairly if I'm saying stupid things :lol:
Cheers!
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Hello again . :)
No, you are not saying any "stupid things" - that's our job !
Now I understand the situation better, I heartily recommend M.Qs for the job - with the bonus that you have heard why I would recommend them. Just enough ooomph ! to dominate the amp, but can stay clean sounding until your teeth shake. Remember to specify neck pickup when ordering, as the M.Q bridge is Alnico V - and the neck Alnico IV ( smart design eh ? ).
The great thing about B.K.P - is that you will never get that 'Muddy' sound found in most stock pickups. You can have 'Dark' by request, but even that is subject to the usual B.K.P quality. My own M.Qs are without a guitar just now ; but I do so love their sound, that I am keeping them for a 'donor' guitar in later times. Your overall plan sounds great too !
Do remember to come back and tell us about the end result . :D
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Thanks a lot for your answer and your help! I really appreciate your advices!
Now I need to figure out which tele bridge would be better to pair with a MQ in the neck. I'd like to avoid, for what is possible, an evident jump in volume going from the bridge only position, to both and neck only.
Also I got to figure out if it's better a 500k or 250k for volume and tone.
Any suggestions are welcomed!
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Thanks a lot for your answer and your help! I really appreciate your advices!
Now I need to figure out which tele bridge would be better to pair with a MQ in the neck. I'd like to avoid, for what is possible, an evident jump in volume going from the bridge only position, to both and neck only.
Also I got to figure out if it's better a 500k or 250k for volume and tone.
Any suggestions are welcomed!
Hi,
As previously mentioned, I have no knowledge of which B.K.P Tele bridge would match the M.Q .- BUT, would point out that the M.Q likes / needs a 500k volume pot. It may be categorised as a single coil, but it is ( as you may have gathered by it's size ) a quite heavily wound and fat sounding one . It benefits from being allowed to 'open up' as much as ( if not more than ) my B.K.P humbuckers. I do hope those with a M.Q / Tele bridge set, join in a.s.a.p. At least on Monday there is the ultimate ( i.e Tim's ) opinion awaiting ! :)
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Yeah I've heard that the MQ, and generally p-90, need 500k to really shines.
I think I'll shot a mail to Tim to have an advice, because surely he knows what is the best neck/bridge combo! I guess my tele will look more gorgeous than ever with a set of BKP!
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Yeah I've heard that the MQ, and generally p-90, need 500k to really shines.
I think I'll shot a mail to Tim to have an advice, because surely he knows what is the best neck/bridge combo! I guess my tele will look more gorgeous than ever with a set of BKP!
I was about to recommand the Blackguard Flat 50s bridge - GREAT Tele bridge for grinding rock tones and way more ballsy one would expect from a vintage spec'd pup - but I'm not sure how well it would work with a 500k pot.
For another option, someone here has a Piledriver bridge/MQ neck Tele (Andrew W, if your read me...) and it seems to work fine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOjBj1Nz3M
But anyway - Tim is The Man, as usual 8)
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Yeah I've heard that the MQ, and generally p-90, need 500k to really shines.
I think I'll shot a mail to Tim to have an advice, because surely he knows what is the best neck/bridge combo! I guess my tele will look more gorgeous than ever with a set of BKP!
I was about to recommand the Blackguard Flat 50s bridge - GREAT Tele bridge for grinding rock tones and way more ballsy one would expect from a vintage spec'd pup - but I'm not sure how well it would work with a 500k pot.
For another option, someone here has a Piledriver bridge/MQ neck Tele (Andrew W, if your read me...) and it seems to work fine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOjBj1Nz3M
But anyway - Tim is The Man, as usual 8)
My only concern with the piledriver is that it seems to me too hot and maybe too oriented for heavy distortion and hi-gain sounds.
This is just an impression because I've never tried it!
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Hi cannot comment on how the volume difference between bridge and neck p90 type pickup. I got no experience with the later. What I can say yardbirds for me are versitile. Lovely cleen tone covers most bases very well apart from metal.
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My only concern with the piledriver is that it seems to me too hot and maybe too oriented for heavy distortion and hi-gain sounds.
This is just an impression because I've never tried it!
Well... Never tried it neither, but from the reports and sound clips, it's surely more "modern" (ie, very hot and a bit compressed). I considered them for my own Tele, but followed Tim's advises instead and gave the Blackguard Flat 50s a try... and didn't look back :mrgreen: But since you were asking for a Tele bridge / MQ neck setup, I thought I would mention this option too.
Anyway - Tim knows it's stuff, for sure.
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My only concern with the piledriver is that it seems to me too hot and maybe too oriented for heavy distortion and hi-gain sounds.
This is just an impression because I've never tried it!
Well... Never tried it neither, but from the reports and sound clips, it's surely more "modern" (ie, very hot and a bit compressed). I considered them for my own Tele, but followed Tim's advises instead and gave the Blackguard Flat 50s a try... and didn't look back :mrgreen: But since you were asking for a Tele bridge / MQ neck setup, I thought I would mention this option too.
Anyway - Tim knows it's stuff, for sure.
I'd like, for what is possible, to keep a little of that vintage vibe of the tele. Let's see what is Tim's advice!
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I'd like, for what is possible, to keep a little of that vintage vibe of the tele. Let's see what is Tim's advice!
Please let us know when you'll have his answer.
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MQ's (and P-90's in general) have a hefty output. I have my neck MQ matched with a bridge Warpig, so I think that it will be hard to match it with a tele bridge. Having said that, Tim will wind pickups to make a set, so he can probably tame it a bit. I have my Piledriver matched with a Slowhand neck pickup and a Brown Sugar with an original Mini-Humbucker.
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If you don't use the tone control much could you not wire the pups with two volumes. 500k for the neck and 250k for the bridge.
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I've got MQs in an Explorer, and Blackguard Flat 50 and Yardbirds in teles.
I have a feeling that the MQ might be pushing the BG or Yardbird bridge a bit far, but I couldn't say for certain as I've never tried pairing them. I did love the MQ/Piledriver clips from Andrew W, it sounds like you can get a reasonable balance from that pairing...
BUT! I'm going to throw something else into the pot:
If you're prepared to go for the visual look of the standard tele neck pickup, consider getting a set of Blackguards with a 4-way switch. This gives you the standard tele tones plus a superb "extra" of bridge and neck in series.
All my teles have a 4-way switch, but the two with Blackguard Flat 50s really shine in position 4. It's not dissimilar to an MQ tone, and it pushes the amp in a nice fat way with all the bite of the BG bridge. Most of the time I use a Les Paul or an SG (or the MQ'd Explorer), if I want that sort of tone. But if I'm wearing one of the BG teles already, there it is in position 4 :D
The Yardbird set does the same, but not quite as fat and growly as the BGs do.
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Thanks Andy. This seems a nice option!
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Also I got to figure out if it's better a 500k or 250k for volume and tone.
Here's a tip I got from HTH on this forum:
If you're using a single pot shared between a humbucker (or P-90) and a single-coil you can use a 500k volume pot and add a 500k resistor from the "hot" end of the single coil to ground. That way the single-coil effectively "sees" a 250k pot when it's selected (I guess you'd still have to decide on 500k or 250K for the tone).
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/HumbuckerSinglewith500kresistor.gif)
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I think the MQ and Piledriver balance well in terms of output, i.e. you don't feel a huge change in volume when you switch from one to the other. That said they are very different beasts tonally: the MQ is very fat and can be quite dark as you'd expect from the "Mountain" reference in its name. It is still quite vintage voiced though which cannot be said of the Piledriver. The Piledriver is very modern sounding, huge output and lots of compression, you can turn the volume on the guitar down but the output is so great it pushes my amp into overdrive even at lower volume settings. It's a great pickup though and balances well with the MQ if you want a vintage tone option AND a modern one in the same guitar. I should also say that my Tele is a weighty pine Mexican number which never sounded that Tele-ish in the first place so your mileage may vary. If you want any kind of twang I'd choose something other than the Piledriver. You could get a Blackguard Flat 50 or Boss in the bridge and perhaps a slightly underwound MQ in the neck - that would preserve more of the Tele quality I'd have thought. My two cents anyway.
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Thanks Andrew. This is exactly my thought. I want to preserve the vintage sound of my tele and listening to your demo the piledriver seems too modern.
Maybe an underwound MQ will do the trick! I gotta ask Tim!
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If you're prepared to go for the visual look of the standard tele neck pickup, consider getting a set of Blackguards with a 4-way switch. This gives you the standard tele tones plus a superb "extra" of bridge and neck in series.
FWIW, same pups and wiring here, and I can testify the series position is killer. I can't say how it compares with a P90, but by itself it's fat and warm, crushing on power chords riffs (can do hard rock just as well as a humbucker), singing on leads, gives kind of a "best of both worlds" mix of SC and 'buckers.
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Thanks Andrew. This is exactly my thought. I want to preserve the vintage sound of my tele and listening to your demo the piledriver seems too modern.
Maybe an underwound MQ will do the trick! I gotta ask Tim!
no need at all to "underwind" the MQ... neck unit is alnico IV, and sounds sweet and vintage. try to play with pickup height and you'll get everything from the cleanest cleans to sligtly broke up tones...
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So I've sent a mail to Tim and he told me that many customers have an MQ in the neck and a BG in the bridge of their tele and are very happy with this combination. Tim also thinks that the yardbird bridge will easily partner with an MQ neck. He said that the MQ neck is underwound compared to the bridge and I won't have any problem of jump in volume switching from bridge only to bridge+neck to only neck! For the pots problem Tim adviced to use a 500k volume and tone.