Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: fr33man1 on November 17, 2010, 11:24:05 AM

Title: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 17, 2010, 11:24:05 AM
I got this black babe till two weeks and I can't resiste to put some BKP's in it.

I do love the grain and character of those Classic 57 pickups but the output is just low and the sound is muddy and lacks clarity and the trademark BKP note separation.

I won't detune it or maybe just a step lower in D. I'm more looking for an uber boosted vintage pickup with more character. I' dont want uber tight sound, think SOAD first tunes, massive but still grainy and organic.

My only problem is that I went through on the whole comtemporary line (except the pigs and C bomb). The MMan was too smooth for me, the nailbomb is a too easy choice, I love them but I had like 4 sets of nailbombs already.

Also tried the cold sweats and even if they are balanced and cool pickups I'm finding the bridge too crispy with too much high end for my tastes.

Endly I had RYells too and I'm sad to say they were the BKP I disliked the most, too Steve Stevens for me to sum up.

Oh forgot the Holy divers that are awesome pickups but my les paul was dark so it did not match very well with my ex custom.

I'd like to be schooled on Crawlers and Emerald (maybe black dogs). I'd rather go alnico with clear, tight but not surgical pickups. Good output, nothing crazy, for a solid heavy rock/metal sound. I think saying I'd like a warm thick sound with good balance of frequencies that does not go messy when dialed with some gain would sum it up the best.

I was about to forget infos for the neck pickup, as long it shines in clean (not too sparkly nor too dark) and can pull out some creamy thick lead sounds with some balls and output (more in the 8/10k zone, i tried alot of pickups below this output and was never really happy)

Many many french thanks if someone can read this  :P and more seriously help me out.

Cheers.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: Twinfan on November 17, 2010, 11:29:35 AM
I think Emeralds may be just thing - inbetween vintage PAFs and very hot modern pickups?
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: AndyR on November 17, 2010, 12:57:36 PM
I'm wondering whether you should consider Abraxas as well?

Not tried them myself, but there was a little period when several people got them and posted a lot of enthusiasm on here. I got quite interested at the time.

The impression I was getting was that Abraxas are "PAF+" - you get the vintage PAF with more. I'm imagining they can cover vintage tones and push things a bit further.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: PhilKing on November 17, 2010, 01:18:58 PM
Crawlers are very balanced pickups, the Abraxas set is more of a hot PAF tone.  I like the Abraxas (I have them in 2 guitars).  I have Emeralds in my all mahogany Les Paul Custom, and they give a great rock sound, with very good lead tones from both the neck and bridge pickups.  They have a punchy tone with a ton of harmonics.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 17, 2010, 04:15:35 PM
Think i'll go with an emerald bridge and vhII neck  for thick a5 vintage vibe sounds. Should fit the bill for some E and drop D heavy riffage.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: brian_ward on November 17, 2010, 05:34:08 PM
Think i'll go with an emerald bridge and vhII neck  for thick a5 vintage vibe sounds. Should fit the bill for some E and drop D heavy riffage.

make sure you reply with your findings with the emerald vhII findings.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 17, 2010, 05:37:58 PM
I'm awaiting for some hunter knowledge, hes tried many of  those vintage bkp's. When mvd and eric get along on a high output pickup I usually go for this one or I shift mind to a nailbomb set (never disapointed me in any guitar). I'm just in the mood of something different. I'm kinda liking the overall old school feel and tone of this reissue les paul but I wanna treat it with good pickups.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: BigB on November 17, 2010, 10:18:16 PM
Don't know how Crawlers might sound in a LP, but if it's rather on the bright side they might fit your requirements: alnico, clear, tight yet organic, enough output to drive your amp but still clear and open sounding, warm and thick, bridge stays well defined under heavy distortion, lovely warm cleans and distorded tones on the neck, plus a really nice quack in the middle position. But once again, this is on bright guitar with tight lows and lot of mids.
 

Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: Telerocker on November 17, 2010, 11:13:59 PM
Crawlers or Rebel Yells.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: Alex on November 17, 2010, 11:32:02 PM
The Black Dog is kind of hotter, meatier, but still vintage.
I'm not 100% sure about how bright it is - I feel it is a very balanced pickup with lots of mids. Maybe other people have more experience on that. It just works in my guitar.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: ericsabbath on November 18, 2010, 05:51:00 AM
I do love the grain and character of those Classic 57 pickups but the output is just low and the sound is muddy and lacks clarity and the trademark BKP note separation.

I won't detune it or maybe just a step lower in D. I'm more looking for an uber boosted vintage pickup with more character. I' dont want uber tight sound, think SOAD first tunes, massive but still grainy and organic.

The MMan was too smooth for me, the nailbomb is a too easy choice, I love them but I had like 4 sets of nailbombs already.

Also tried the cold sweats and even if they are balanced and cool pickups I'm finding the bridge too crispy with too much high end for my tastes.

Endly I had RYells too and I'm sad to say they were the BKP I disliked the most, too Steve Stevens for me to sum up.

Oh forgot the Holy divers that are awesome pickups but my les paul was dark so it did not match very well with my ex custom.

I'd rather go alnico with clear, tight but not surgical pickups. Good output, nothing crazy, for a solid heavy rock/metal sound. I think saying I'd like a warm thick sound with good balance of frequencies that does not go messy when dialed with some gain would sum it up the best.

I was about to forget infos for the neck pickup, as long it shines in clean (not too sparkly nor too dark) and can pull out some creamy thick lead sounds with some balls and output (more in the 8/10k zone, i tried alot of pickups below this output and was never really happy)

damn... PAF character + output, less smooth than a miracle man, not as bright and crispy as a cold sweat, tight, alnico, warm, thick

VHII set?

as a Nailbomb fan, maybe you would enjoy the Riff Raff
it has a similar voicing (thick bass, not too much mids, biting top), but in an authentic PAF format with more bite
I can't comment on the output cause mine has a thicker magnet, so it sounds as punchy as the Nailbomb, but without all the compression
you can ask Tim if he would make another one like mine (8.47k, 4 mm alnico 5 magnet), but I doubt that
it was his own suggestion after I described what I wanted (a thick and biting PAF style pup) and that I needed something capable of pushing the amp HARD
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 18, 2010, 02:35:52 PM
I'm thinking custom riff raff , emerald or crawler. Dunno yet. My les paul is not really dark, its very light for a custom (under 4kgs) and very resonant.

Oh I think I'll give BKP a call, they might know it better as they produce them after all.  :P

thanks for the thoughts, I'll keep ya tuned and try to make decent sample with that pod engeenery machine.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 20, 2010, 03:02:44 PM
just dropped a lonely nailbomb bridge laying on my desk and well it fits the job as usual. Tight, clear, growly, bkp trademark. The neck seems really 'poor' now.

dunno which neck pickup to choose now and bothered by the fact the aged covers looked cool and its a black nailbomb.  Is there any neck pickup with a sweet clean tone and nice overdriven push in the nailbomb outpout 'park' ? I know vhII is a nice neck pickup too, the cold sweat as well. What about that a5 afermath neck pickup ? how does it sound ?
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: HTH AMPS on November 20, 2010, 03:11:25 PM
defo Abraxas, thats a great pickup in a Les Paul, here's one in action... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-vNNMyWMU

Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 20, 2010, 03:32:13 PM
Sounds nice indeed, any idea of the output in kohms ? I kinda like the nailbomb neck but if there is someway to get the same output but with a more creamy deep tone I'd be way pleased.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: Nolly on November 20, 2010, 05:07:38 PM
The Abraxas neck is around 7.5kΩ, AIV magnet.
There isn't really another neck humbucker around the 10kΩ mark like the Nailbomb... If you're positive you need that output perhaps if you talk to the lads at BKP they can make you a modified NB with an adjusted wind or magnet swap to give you the fatter sound you want.

EDIT: Actually, just remembered the Emerald neck is about 9.5kΩ with an AIV mag.. I've not had a chance to compare one directly with the NB neck but perhaps that could work for you.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: kevinr on November 21, 2010, 12:17:39 AM
Nolly! are you sure that Emerald neck is AIV? I'm in the market for one and if thats the case I will go for a VHII to pair up with my Emerald bridge.
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: Nolly on November 21, 2010, 01:05:40 AM
I'm fairly sure, but it might be best to check with the BKP lads themselves before changing your mind!
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: PhilKing on November 21, 2010, 09:06:26 PM
Nolly! are you sure that Emerald neck is AIV? I'm in the market for one and if thats the case I will go for a VHII to pair up with my Emerald bridge.
The Emerald neck is 9.6k AV.  The Abraxas has a 7.4k AIV neck pickup and the Crawler is a 7.6k AIV pickup (the Mule is 7.2k AII or AIV)
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: kevinr on November 23, 2010, 08:15:43 AM
You are correct Nolly! Tim says AIV, and reccomends HD neck (as I prefer AV)
Title: Re: 68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap
Post by: fr33man1 on November 23, 2010, 08:31:36 AM
Well I sadly broke my nailbomb as I tried to see if the cover would look fancy and I noticed that bkp's are always a bit overwound to prevent covers to tame highs too much and it vibrated so I decided to take it off. The removal process damaged the wire I think, errrr, never try to cover a bkp, next time I'll let the pro do it.