Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: MAJ Meadows SF on February 24, 2011, 12:10:51 AM

Title: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MAJ Meadows SF on February 24, 2011, 12:10:51 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AAlWB3IOPc

Check out the Gear walkthrough with Misha and Alex of Periphery, just off the LXD Tour. About 5:30 Misha shows off a new Axe from Mayones. It has BKP humbuckers with quad rail pole pieces. I DEMAND MORE INFORMATION! Nolly has to know something. Spill it!!! Looks baddass as all hell wrapped in bacon, and if it nails a djenty/djunty tone as I would expect... ok enough guessing. Somebody get some info and spoil it for us all! It's bad enough I won't be getting my orders and soon to be orders made by Bernie Rico (slant top) and Daemoness with Aftermaths until after an upcoming deployment, but now I have to miss out on new pickups? I haven't even tried Aftermaths yet. FACK! Damnit at least I have something to come home to.

Freaking renaissance brand of tone...

Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: JacksonRR on February 24, 2011, 02:50:17 AM
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa WHOA. I wonder if he'll half those down for single size then?
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MDV on February 24, 2011, 02:55:19 AM
I suppose since the names already been blabbed

Thats the blackhawk

No I'm not telling you the spec.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: juliangallows on February 24, 2011, 03:53:47 AM
Interest is peaked!!! :D :D
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: ratspeak on February 24, 2011, 04:47:18 AM
I saw this, but I didn't want to say anything.  8) I'm sure it's supposed to be a surprise.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Slartibartfarst42 on February 24, 2011, 08:49:32 AM
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa WHOA. I wonder if he'll half those down for single size then?

I agree entirely. I wasn't even looking at Bare Knuckle single coils as I only want humcancelling but I was looking at a Bare Knuckle humbucker. I was close to ordering new pickups but any purchase I was going to make is now on hold until I find out more about this humbucker and until I find out for sure if there will be a single coil sized version or not.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Nolly on February 24, 2011, 09:27:31 AM
I can't spill any details, but I will say I've been prototyping them for a few months, you can hear them in action on these recordings:

http://soundcloud.com/nolly/sets/snuggles/
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Slartibartfarst42 on February 24, 2011, 11:13:40 AM
As you don't mention testing a single coil sized version I can only assume there are no plans to do such a pickup, which is a pity. However, the humbucker sounds great so I guess I'll need to just delay my humbucker purchase from Bare Knuckle until I can learn more about this beast. It's frustrating but I don't want to buy an existing BKP only to discover in a few months that something that is better for me has arrived. Of course, it may turn out that an existing model is best but I'm not yet sure I want to take that chance.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: lulusg on February 24, 2011, 02:10:32 PM
Enjoyed the clip very much! Great sound and playing !!
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: JacksonRR on February 24, 2011, 02:16:09 PM
Slartibartfarst, first let me say I really enjoyed what you did with the coastline of Norway. Second, it won't be a few months, they won't be out until the end of this year. So says Tim via e-mail and that's ALL the info I was provided.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: juliangallows on February 24, 2011, 03:04:52 PM
Thanx for the clip nolly!!!
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: gwEm on February 24, 2011, 03:33:41 PM
well, thats pretty cool i guess. though i must say i was hoping for something else in the lower output end. i'm sure it will be very br00tal though
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Emperoff on February 24, 2011, 03:50:36 PM
Those things sound huge!. I really hope there's an alnico version of this for more high output alternatives to the Warpig.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Slartibartfarst42 on February 24, 2011, 06:11:18 PM
Slartibartfarst, first let me say I really enjoyed what you did with the coastline of Norway.

Yes, Norway was one I was particularly pleased with. It won an award you know but I like it most because I simply love doing the little crinkly bits around fjords  :D

Tim isn't giving much away on this thing and I'll grant you, the end of the year seems a long way away. If I contacted Tim I don't see him saying 'Wait until the end of the year to get the Blackhawk' so it boils down to how patient I can be. I'd also like to see an alnico version with a more balanced EQ than the Warpig. I doubt I'd bother waiting for it if I knew it was only going to be available as ceramic.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: gwEm on February 24, 2011, 06:28:37 PM
tim has said in the past he thinks blades only work well with ceramic magnets. i don't know if this extends to a super-quad blade though.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Emperoff on February 24, 2011, 07:16:46 PM
Slartibartfarst, first let me say I really enjoyed what you did with the coastline of Norway.

Yes, Norway was one I was particularly pleased with. It won an award you know but I like it most because I simply love doing the little crinkly bits around fjords  :D

Tim isn't giving much away on this thing and I'll grant you, the end of the year seems a long way away. If I contacted Tim I don't see him saying 'Wait until the end of the year to get the Blackhawk' so it boils down to how patient I can be. I'd also like to see an alnico version with a more balanced EQ than the Warpig. I doubt I'd bother waiting for it if I knew it was only going to be available as ceramic.

Have you tried asking to him? Maybe he'll tell you if there's plans on alnico versions. That wouldn't actually tell much about the pickup specs, so it's worth a try.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MAJ Meadows SF on February 24, 2011, 10:12:09 PM
@MDV: come on dude! Sworn to secrecy I take it. No worries; I guess specs will follow someday. I'll be glad to hear some more clips in the future with different tunings, amps, and styles.

I couldn't help pointing this out or blowing the lid off, though I see someone did already blab the name. Blackhawk sounds cool; I'd love to know the name reference. I'm sure it's not the band, or the heli. We call those UH-60 crash-hawks. I would name a high output pickup after an explosive device or blast related action (IED, over-pressure, back blast, grenade, claymore, etc.) because I fancy anything loud, violent, and that goes boom.

Considering RSF, Periphery, and others are testing the Blackhawk it would be safe to assume at least the proper application for this beast, and the tone sounds very tight, modern, aggressive, but organic and not way over the top. But I was surprised at how awesome the Black Dog sounds at metal, and I've seen Schafer of Iced Earth use the Riff Raff live; massive tight sound. So, we will see! I'd kill for an Aftermath with the MM or C-Pig massive low end.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Emperoff on February 24, 2011, 10:21:30 PM
Considering there's already the Painkiller and the Aftermath, I really hope Tim doesn't focus that much on the "Djent" bandwagon and release something different...

But considering the guys that are testing it I highly doubt it :?
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MDV on February 24, 2011, 11:21:01 PM
I think the djent bandwagon found tim to be fair, rather than the other way round.

The PK was designed for a raw british crunchy JCM800-in-a-pickup sound. The aftermath was designed for fast palm muted complex modern thrash. Those audience found aspects of them beneficial, is all.

And yes, I believe the helicopter was what tim was thinking of. Plus that it had 'black' in the name and sounded cool. There is no musical reference in it. Perhaps partly (pure speculation with ragard to the name, but its true that) tim doesnt want it pigeon holed into one genre.

Details? No. I was, in fact, sworn to secrecy and have likely said too much already.

Odd how these things get out (last time it was my fault :lol:, but hey, I think it was about a year ago I first heard the earliest ideas for the blade pickup spec, about 5 months for the name and spec: I'm surprised it took this long for it to get blabbed about!)
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: PhilKing on February 24, 2011, 11:44:42 PM
I know Tim was working on it last April/May, but he road tests everything before he lets it go to others, so that would be part of the reason it's been around for so long.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MAJ Meadows SF on February 24, 2011, 11:50:24 PM
I wouldn't worry about the Blackhawk sounding "djenty". Part of that tone is amp driven; and if you listen to Nolly's clip, it doesn't seem anything like a Painkiller or similar clone. There's a lot of pickups used for different tones you can achieve a djent sound with, however most of them are dogshite compared to BKPs. This one is "djunt" to me, very smooth, almost Lamb of God'ish. No Messhuggah tone there, but an obviously powerful midrange. You gotta realize most BKP's have a pronounced midrange anyways, which lends to the clarity. There's no doubt a plethora of uses for this pickup.

Ah and it says djunt on the top right of the clip. But it's partly Amp/effects/technique.

@ MDV: totally agree with djent finding Tim's creations useful. It's just chance. There are a couple awesome Stan Hinsley pickups Matt Sotello of Decrepit Birth uses, and they sound djenty out of an ENGL (those curious listen to him on "The Resonance" off Polarity). And as far as the helicopter goes, I will say they ride like a Cadillac which makes sense while hearing the smoothness of the tone.  And it's Misha's fault for showing them off on camera; I was waiting to see if a poison dart hit him and a hooded figure drag him off stage... At any rate we'll be eagerly awaiting you lucky dudes to post future info or at least sound clips in the future!
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Nolly on February 24, 2011, 11:53:55 PM
And yes, I believe the helicopter was what tim was thinking of.

Noticed how many blades a Blackhawk has?
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Emperoff on February 25, 2011, 12:08:14 AM
It's Misha's fault for showing them off on camera; I was waiting to see if a poison dart hit him and a hooded figure drag him off stage... At any rate we'll be eagerly awaiting you lucky dudes to post future info or at least sound clips in the future!

Seriously? That's the best thing that he could have done (if not intentional). I remember the avalanche of kids asking about the Aftermath (rumours of a tweaked Painkiller that seemed to be the ultimate djent pickup), which was custom made, as MDV knows. The hype grew and grew and now there's a couple of Aftermaths NPD every week on some forums.

This time, shown to public by Periphery (which is growing exponentially in popularity) may cause even a bigger impact.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MDV on February 25, 2011, 12:09:40 AM
And yes, I believe the helicopter was what tim was thinking of.

Noticed how many blades a Blackhawk has?

It really hadnt occured to me :lol:
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MAJ Meadows SF on February 25, 2011, 12:33:47 AM
@Emperoff: Roger that. I was thrilled to see it, purposeful or otherwise it will make it popular. I'm just trying to find some footage of Misha using that Mayones. I just need to be freaking patient.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: ericsabbath on February 25, 2011, 12:45:00 AM
I'd expect something somewhat in the cold sweat ballpark, but less aggressive in the upper mids, more "hi-fi" and twangy, like Joe Barden pickups or something (?)  :?

am I getting close?
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: JacksonRR on February 25, 2011, 02:02:50 AM
Nolly, I liked that clip. It reminded me a lot of Between the Buried and Me guitar tones. The chugs and especially the pinches. I would love to hear it doing other styles/different EQs. I'm really hoping he decides to give the HS and HSS players a matching "little buddy." He went through the trouble of providing a camo finish for SCs, but good design is harder than good clothing.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: bulb on February 25, 2011, 06:19:09 PM
hey guys
i see a few of you talking about tim focusing on "djenty" pickups
keep in mind its all technique, certain pickups may be more condusive to that sound than others, but honestly its 95% technique

I doubt that Tim (or the original designer of the PAF pickups) was trying to get those pickups to sound "djenty", but i can make them get that metallic edge quite easily even though they are very low output and almost seem to be aimed at getting ridiculously rich clean and mid gain sounds. (to the point where im probably going to put a set in my Blackmachine B2 and my Carvin Holdsworth)

So just keep in mind that when im testing out new pickups/guitars/gear and whatever that there are far more criteria than "how djenty is it" that i (or other modern metal guys) use to judge how i like it.  Things like note definition, how well and evenly it reacts to complex chords and how musical it sounds with palm muted chords are way more relevant, as well as how tight it is and how well it reacts to stacatto riffing.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: juliangallows on February 25, 2011, 07:59:11 PM
hey guys
i see a few of you talking about tim focusing on "djenty" pickups
keep in mind its all technique, certain pickups may be more condusive to that sound than others, but honestly its 95% technique

I doubt that Tim (or the original designer of the PAF pickups) was trying to get those pickups to sound "djenty", but i can make them get that metallic edge quite easily even though they are very low output and almost seem to be aimed at getting ridiculously rich clean and mid gain sounds. (to the point where im probably going to put a set in my Blackmachine B2 and my Carvin Holdsworth)

So just keep in mind that when im testing out new pickups/guitars/gear and whatever that there are far more criteria than "how djenty is it" that i (or other modern metal guys) use to judge how i like it.  Things like note definition, how well and evenly it reacts to complex chords and how musical it sounds with palm muted chords are way more relevant, as well as how tight it is and how well it reacts to stacatto riffing.

This is so true!!  If I had a pawn shop no name guitar with stock pup's running through my standard rig I could come close to getting the same sound I could with my BK's and my favorite axe, but the BK's make it so much easier to achieve the tone I am after.  IMHO, tone is 70% in the player, the amp, the guitar, the pickups are what get you 100% to where you want your tone to be.  
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: bulb on February 25, 2011, 08:08:30 PM
This is true, but what i was getting at is that when looking at pickups i tend to look at things that are more pickup dependant, for example you can change the way you hit and palm mute your strings to make it "djentier" but you cant affect a pickup's note definition nor how it responds to your pick attack, you cant affect it's note separation on a chord or how evenly it will ring out the notes.
And i was just saying THOSE are the criteria i use to assess how i feel about a pickup, not how "djenty" it is, because that is more technique than the pickup itself.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: juliangallows on February 25, 2011, 08:17:25 PM
Word up! :D
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: shobet on February 25, 2011, 08:24:19 PM
And yes, I believe the helicopter was what tim was thinking of.

Noticed how many blades a Blackhawk has?

Errr, 8, 4 on main rotor and and 4 on the tail one.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MDV on February 25, 2011, 08:33:07 PM
And yes, I believe the helicopter was what tim was thinking of.

Noticed how many blades a Blackhawk has?

Errr, 8, 4 on main rotor and and 4 on the tail one.

4 on the bridge, 4 on the neck :lol:
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on February 25, 2011, 11:48:33 PM
I suspect that at some point in the future there might be a second pickup design with the 4 blade construction

Once the manufacturing method is there for the BlackHawk , in time Tim may develop another differently voiced one

All in good time!
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Pale Rider on February 26, 2011, 12:31:17 AM
Even though I prefer the 12-pole piece classic humbucker look, this is interesting.
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Emperoff on February 27, 2011, 08:52:35 PM
This is true, but what i was getting at is that when looking at pickups i tend to look at things that are more pickup dependant, for example you can change the way you hit and palm mute your strings to make it "djentier" but you cant affect a pickup's note definition nor how it responds to your pick attack, you cant affect it's note separation on a chord or how evenly it will ring out the notes.
And i was just saying THOSE are the criteria i use to assess how i feel about a pickup, not how "djenty" it is, because that is more technique than the pickup itself.

Misha, I wasn't referring as the pure "Djent" technique, but as the musical genre, as it's how the term is nowadays. This days people looking for a pickup seems to be more obssessed with tightness than everything else, but I'm personally interested in other things, like how organic and alive can sound for other styles besides modern metal.

Can't really say much because I don't even know how the pickup sounds, that's why I said "I hope it's not another pickup aimed at... blah blah"

Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Madsakre on February 27, 2011, 10:18:24 PM
blah blah core.

Im really excited to hear it :)
Rail pickups have always interested me. I have an old jackson pickup with quad rails which i quite like :)
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: Vilches3 on February 27, 2011, 10:47:52 PM
ahhhh any word on when these are coming out? i was considering an aftermath but that clip sounded awesome........I imagined a blade pickup woulda been named something like the Trendkill or The Philosopher or something along those lines relating to a famous blade player like Dimebag or Chuck Schuldiner. But the Blackhawk sounds cool too. The clip sounded incredibly balanced and clear. Ahh can't wait to hear more about this. I didnt even read all the comments- got too excited  :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Prototype Bare Knuckle Pickups with Quad Rails
Post by: MAJ Meadows SF on March 07, 2011, 09:08:12 PM
Yeah a lot of rail pickups are considered high output metal pickups, but it seems that Tim is aiming for something different with these. I replaced the X2N in my Schuldiner, even though I did like the pickup and it really had the Death tone, with a MM. I thought of highest output, etc, etc, but it came down to dynamics and power, ease of harmonics, and all things pointed to the MM. The axe sounds totally different now; very huge which is funny because it's a really small, light guitar. But it's metal as f*ck. Think Decapitated's "The Negation" or "Names" at the 0:35 mark \m/. We just have to find out more about the BlackHawk to get a better picture. And actually hear it.

To continue Bulb's comments: I think Tim never tries to nail a genre with a pickup but rather create unique, dynamic, clear sounding pickups in all output levels to give the player a great set of tools to formulate the tone they desire. It's all subject to the ear. I personnaly can't listen to one single sound clip and think "wow that's the tone I want, that pickups is this or that". i want to hear lots of uses for the pickup at different settings and amps to get the feel of its potential. But you have to play it yourself too. It's mostly technique; a bad player can make great pickups sound like shite. I always end up wanting to hear something played with my tone, instead of wanting someone elses. Maybe they are in the direction they want, but ultimately I want it to be uniquely me, and that is more personal skill and technique than anything.

There's a lot more to pickups than genre tones. One of the first pieces I play to hear a pickup's range is "Die to Live" by Steve Vai. It makes you dig a lot of sound out of the pickups so you get a pretty good idea of intonation, clarity, eq, harmonics, and response. That's just what works for me, before I start noodling around or whatever. So, as stated before, it wil be interesting to learn more about the new pickup and it's uses.