Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: mkh02 on December 07, 2010, 04:48:54 PM
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Hey guys
Put a post on last week regarding my first venture into changing the pickups in my strat. Decided on Trilogy's to get a Deep Purple vibe with a bit more gain.
I have some spare cash and want to upgrade my whole working guitar rig your advice would be very much appreciated as to be honest I am unsure as to what will work best.
My other band is a classic rock covers band and my goal is to get the most varied sounds from my rig so here goes...
1- Fender Stratocaster (Trilogy Suites) already decided lol!
2- Fender Stratocaster (Sinners)
3- Gibson Les Paul (Nailbombs)
4- Ibanez Jem (War Pigs)
Our set list ranges from Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Ozzy, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Alice Cooper, Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, UFO, Gary Moore...you get the idea a mix of classic rock up to semi Modern Metal ...not going to be playing any modern Thrash/ Detuned stuff.
Do you think this selection will be versitile enough to get me the tones relative to the stuff I am playing.
At first thought I realise I have kinda gone more towards the Hi Gain end of the spectrum but I prefer a higher gain sound with more sustain. I feel I can control it well enough to really let the notes scream out when needed.
Also do you think these pick up selections match the guitars?
My thought was to have my Strats hot, my Ibanez to have a killer metal sound and the Les Paul a little more traditional for the Zep Stuff.
All your help is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Mark
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I'd have gone a slightly different direction if I were you:
1) Fender Stratocaster - Trilogy Suites
2) Fender Stratocaster - Slowhands (I just don't think you need anything more powerful than Trilogy Suites and Slowhands will give greater variety in your guitars.)
3) Gibson Les Paul - Either an Emerald or Rebel Yell for the bridge. Both are some of the best pickups I've ever heard and are ideally suited to a Les Paul. If you went with a Rebel Yel in the bridge, I'd use a Cold Sweat in the neck. If it was an Emerald bridge pickup, I'd either use an Emerald calibrated set or use a Mule in the neck.
4) Ibanez Jem - I think Nailbombs would be better in the Jem, not because the Nailbombs won't work in a Les Paul, but because I just think that a versatile pickup like a Nailbomb is better in the Jem and either the Emerald or Rebel Yell are too good in a Les Paul to miss out on the opportunity of using them.
OK, now everyone can disagree with me but that's what I'd be inclined to do 8)
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If I were in your position, I would choose the following:
1) Trilogy Suites, with zinc baseplate on the bridge and neck, RWRP middle
2) There's an "off the menu" Dave Gilmour style set that BKP do combines the middle and neck from the '59 slab boards with a rather overwound bridge (I've nicknamed the set the "Crazy Diamonds"). Don't be put off if you're not a DG fan, because what you get is a fantastically versatile set, especially with an RWRP middle - absolute classic strat tones from the middle and neck, smooth woody "hollow" sounding positions 2 & 4, and a punchy bridge that can bring the rock without overpowering the other pickups and that can also roll back for more polite sounds.
3) Black Dog bridge, Mule neck. There's basically no Les Paul sound you can't do with that set - the Black Dog will take you all the way from Led Zep to modern metal, while the AIV Mule neck is an absolute masterpiece.
4) Nailbombs. Perfect all rounder set for a guitar like a Jem.
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- Sinners in a strat is far away from a trad. stratsound, but if you want real balls in the plank, they are the way to go. I think what Nolly´s suggests is interesting. I didn´t know there´s a secret DG/set.
- For a Les Paul there are many options, like Crawlers, Mules, Black Dogs, Abbraxxas. Since you fav heavier tones the Black Dog is good choice. Read it will do lower tunings with authority. Hunter posted some nice clips with the Black Dog.
- In the Jem, Holy Divers or Nailbombs
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nolly, the great, nailed it :D
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I will only comment on the LP and agree with Nolly, that either Black Dog or Mule would be a great choice to cover all the classic rock up to 80s metal you gotta deliver.
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Thanks for all the advice so far guys.
Agree on the strat pickup selections and the ibanez!
I am a little hesitant with the black dog and mule for the les paul to be honest.
I am a little worried they may not have enough gain or power for hard rock or metal...
Wouldnt a more contemporary one be better? Say a cold sweat or warpig to get that Gibson snarl?
Again I do tend to find a more distorted hi gain sound to play better and sound better for rock....
I may be missing the whole point so forgive me but I have usually found it it better to have huge amounts of distortion and gain available then you can bring it down if need be however it is impossible to go the other way!
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This is a Black Dog in a Les Paul:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/790683/Black%20Dog%20solo.mp3
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Wow ok that is way heavier than I would play....confused lol!
What is the point of the hotter contemporary pickups if you can get that sound with the more retro ones?
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Well, there are lots of different opinions on the subject, check out this recent thread: http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=22747.0
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Nailbombs seem the popular choice for the Jem and while I still think a set of Slowhands would sound great, I confess that the 'Crazy Diamond' set that Nolly mentioned sound fantastic. The Les Paul simply gives you loads of different options that are all good. The Black Dog certainly has a good reputation and I think that you're right that a Cold Sweat set would work well. I think when I bought mine Tim said that one of his Les Pauls had a Cold Sweat set in it. Nevertheless, I'd still check out the Emerald and the Rebel Yell as they really are fantastic sounding. Here's some links:
Emerald
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=20188.0
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=19610.0
Rebel Yell
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3433.0
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The black dog doesn't have that much output, but it can sound very heavy. I wouldn't worry about it not being loud enough unless you want balls-out metal.
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Hi,
First thoughts were that they were all rather high gain and quite modern sounding. Nothing wrong with that but to cover all bases I think the odd pickup from the vintage range would not be a bad thing.
For the gibson I think Mules is a great shout, that a few people have already said. It can do just about everything form a nice clean tone to great overdrive /distortion rocktones.
The other strat I would be tempted to look at one of the lower output ones. I have not found a bad one, though for me it would be mothers milk.
Has for the jem I am not really sure. I think I would do the other two first and then have a good play and a think on just what is missing.
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This is a Black Dog in a Les Paul:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/790683/Black%20Dog%20solo.mp3
Sounds really tight with a lot of grind. :) I wonder why a lot of players think they can't play heavy rock/metal with vintage(hot)pickups, unless really heavy grunt is required. I heard so many good clips with ballsout tones from the Black Dog, Mules, Abraxxas. Even my Crawler can provide these kind of tones. With the right amp.
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2- Fender Stratocaster (Sinners)
As far as I know, the Sinner is only sold as a bridge position pickup. You could probably custom-order some underwound ones for neck/middle, but I suspect it would be overkill!
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Sounds really tight with a lot of grind. :) I wonder why a lot of players think they can't play heavy rock/metal with vintage(hot)pickups, unless really heavy grunt is required. I heard so many good clips with ballsout tones from the Black Dog, Mules, Abraxxas. Even my Crawler can provide these kind of tones. With the right amp.
Yeah, wait and see what happens when the new website goes live in the near future. I think when people can hear what the pickups in the vintage and vintage-hot range can actually do they might start experimenting with lower outputs. Not that high-output pickups don't have their place too, of course. :)
2- Fender Stratocaster (Sinners)
As far as I know, the Sinner is only sold as a bridge position pickup. You could probably custom-order some underwound ones for neck/middle, but I suspect it would be overkill!
That's just another case of the current site being out of date - the Sinner is available as a full set, with the middle and neck wound at 15kΩ. A seriously fun set!
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Blimey Nolly, you're so up to date on recent BKP developments! :D
I take it you're heavily involved with the new site? (aka "Chinese Democracy II" :wink: )
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Blimey Nolly, you're so up to date on recent BKP developments! :D
I take it you're heavily involved with the new site? (aka "Chinese Democracy II" :wink: )
Heheh, you could say that, yes.
Don't forget, Chinese Democracy did get released in the end ;)
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As long as Chinese democracy doesn't go with Chinese guitars exclusively. :)
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Don't forget, Chinese Democracy did get released in the end ;)
It did indeed. And, incredibly, it was worth the wait!
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It did indeed. And, incredibly, it was worth the wait!
Was it $%&#!
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It did indeed. And, incredibly, it was worth the wait!
Was it $%&#!
Opinions, opinions.... :P
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Either way, I think you guys are going to enjoy the new site, especially after so many years of the current one's unintentional "retro-chic" :lol:
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Either way, I think you guys are going to enjoy the new site, especially after so many years of the current one's unintentional "retro-chic" :lol:
As long as it's not $%&#ing flash based
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Actually, I don't have a major problem with the current website and I love the personal nature of it all. I couldn't go to Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio and email the owner for high quality advice. You can't put a price on that for me. I tried contacting DiMarzio for advice a while back and their reply was utterly useless. BKP means so much to me that even though I'd prefer humcancelling single coil sized pickups I'll still buy Bare Knuckle and I'll happily pay the little bit extra that they may cost. It's partly down to the quality of the product but it is also heavily down to my ability to contact Tim and the people on the forum. Here I feel very much like I'm part of a family and when I'm on the forum it always feels like I'm talking to intelligent adults with good manners rather than silly kids, which is how it always feels on a certain other popular forum! OK, love-in over, now what would I like to see on a new website?
A more up-to-date products page would help and I'd love to be able to listen to clips of every pickup as clean, mid and high gain, all playing the same thing through the same rig. I'd also like all of these clips to be available in either a dark sounding guitar like a Les Paul and a bright sounding guitar like ermm.... a Jackson SL3 would be nice :D A tone chart might be nice too and more details of neck pickups too. When I got my Cold Sweats I knew it was a ceramic bridge and the DC resistance but I had no idea about the neck. What I DON'T want is some automated pickup selector like they use at Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio as they just don't work. There's no substitute for this forum and speaking to BKP themselves.
Spent so long writing all this I've forgotten what I was going to say about pickups on this thread! :shock:
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I totally agree with Doadman. You feel like a customer/musician at BKP, not a number. And buyers appreciate this. A friend of mine just bought a loaded pickguard with pots, Crawler and Mother's Milks. Looks like I infected him with the BKP-virus. He raves about the craftmanship and customerservice.