Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: witeter on January 13, 2012, 11:05:25 PM
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Ok guys, I have had an aftermath bridge installed into my Schecter Omen Extreme 6, its a great inexpensive guitar but thought id give it the bkp treatment to make it a greater guitar...
The guitar is a mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. In my other guitar (PRS SE CUstom24) I have a c-bomb calibrated set and in my PRS SE Tremonti I have a cold sweat set I play mostly metal through a mesa single rec and marshall 1960a cab.
Output: Not as high as the cbomb but then again i dont think its meant to be, again, dont panic about this-u can always turn your amp up a tiny bit more!. So dont be surprised if it doesnt sound as loud as you expected. What i found imperative though is pickup height-i know people go on about it but its true, and the AM needed more attention in this area than my other bkp's. Having it closer to the strings i personally found it too fuzzy and compressed - out of the other pups i mentioned it is the one i have furthest away from the strings. I suddenly found it sounded clearer and with great balance: the sound really came into its own. So remember: tweak, tweak and tweak some more.
Sounds:The AM has its emphasis on the midrange spectrum, this means that the bass feels smaller and its not as 'big' as the c-bomb/coldsweat. This does not mean that you miss out on a good whopping thud from palm mutes, it just means it doesnt emphasize the bass frequencies as much as the other pups. One thing i have to mention is how clear it is, i think this is also down to its 'dry' nature; though there is some compression going on it doesnt seem to have as much of it as the cbomb as it was more percussive though not as big sounding. Its attack is more precise and to the point-it knows its frequencies and goes for them-in this guitar the midrange felt clearer than even the coldsweat. Its great for metal and all its conotations, but i dont find it as flexible as the cbomb or coldsweat.
Palm-muting also has a different voicing to the other pups, it has more of a snarl than a chug-hard to explain, but i like it a lot :-)
Tightness:I find it to be the tightest of the pickups i own. At times it almost felt like it had a noise surpressor built in as to how responsive it is to palm muted flurrys-you stop chugging and theres silence....dead silence
All the notes sound clear and precise, surgically so, if youre used to having extra stuff and noise in your pups masking your sound thisll come as a shock-i think it makes u a better player.
Cleans: For a ceramic pup it sounds good, clear and chimy with a good balance.Again its not as good here as the cbomb/coldsweat but you wont be getting this pup to play your cleans...
So to sum up id recommend this pickup to any player who wants a very tight, percussive and clear pickup geared towards the metal end of the market- I personally love it as it adds a different dimension to my arsenal. It is not as big or as warm as a cbomb or as crunchy as a CS though what it does offer is an aggresive midrange with a good balance of treble and extremely tight bass. Leads sound great on it too but i feel this pup is a match made in heaven for fast technical metal riffing:punchy, clear and TIGHT, get the Aftermath and be prepared to practice more ;-)
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haven'nt tried the c-biomb (onlu alnico bomb), but replaced the cold sweaty for an afterath in the same guityar ($%&# i'm drunK(
agree about everything, though
:lol: :lol: :lol:
$%&# i spilled the beer all ovber the keybostrf :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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lol no worries man ;-)
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JAlmost forgot - the guitar was also fitted with a CTS 550k vol pot, a push pull tone pot (from the BKP shop) and a 0.22 jensen capacitor
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oh... that wasn't pretty
:stupid:
sorry :lol:
I wonder if a symmetrically wound ceramic nailbomb would sound like a more compressed and less razor sharp aftermath
I miss something ceramic with the fat midrange of a holy diver, but not ultra tight
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Nice post. I was considering an Aftermath to replace my c-pig and to put into another guitar I have but I've gone down active street for them being X series and Blackouts. Works better for me.
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Hi Dr Pain, no probs whatever works for you; i do notice that sometimes players that go from quite high active pups that add a lot of noise to your sound (not saying this is your case) can be shocked to find that bkp's are lower output and on top of that crystal clear-so if youre not used to it it can give the impression of 'not enough gain'-some people dont like this. I prefer it this way as I like my amp/pedals to do the gain/overdrive side of things and let the pickups produce the clarity under gain i have always craved.
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I'm still hanging between cbomb and Aftermath. lately I was leaning to Aftermath, but I can't believe that cbomb is better on cleans, being higher output. I play some nu metal/hardcore/grunge type of music with some cleans so... hm.
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I fell into the trap of "more gain needed" with the c-pig but less was best. Hit the sweet spot and the sound launched out. But I found when I got an 81 in a guitar equipped with it that I liked its clarity and quietness and I could let my amp/pedals do all the work and get the tone I wanted.
I guess everyone gets to such a point but different gear to achieve it. I don't regret buying the pig as I've learnt a lot. Just over time it's not for me. Aftermath may have been far better for me but who knows.
Most of the music I like has an 81 involved so it only seemed natural for me to go there.
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The EMG81 is a great bridge pickup thats for sure, lots of punch though i do find it noisier than bkp's but thats actives for ya' and its defo not great on cleans. But yes its a fantastic metal pup!
visitorQ- i find the cbomb to be more flexible and open when dealing with a wide variety of music styles, for that guitar i wanted something that was tight but which also allowed for clarity on chords, progressive playing and could cover more than just metal; hence why the BKP team suggested the Cbomb. I find its cleans to be warmer-yes it has more output but i think the Aftermaths cleans sound a bit spikier because of its dryness. Its not bad at all, just not as good at cleans as the Cbomb imo :-)
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visitorQ- i find the cbomb to be more flexible and open when dealing with a wide variety of music styles, for that guitar i wanted something that was tight but which also allowed for clarity on chords, progressive playing and could cover more than just metal; hence why the BKP team suggested the Cbomb. I find its cleans to be warmer-yes it has more output but i think the Aftermaths cleans sound a bit spikier because of its dryness. Its not bad at all, just not as good at cleans as the Cbomb imo :-)
what about cold sweat? Tim recomanded those for my style of music. I also told him that my guitar splits coils. But when I heard the sound clips I felt that aftermath has more punch because it has more mids.
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The coldsweat is a great crunchy, clear pickup with lots of punch, its like a more articulate and clear cbomb. Its cleans are the best out of the cbomb and aftermath in my opinion-and the neck pickup is fantastic!
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the aftermath is louder and more in your face than the cold sweat
also much more mid grind
but the sweat still has a punchier low end, although the mids aren't fatty
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what tuning do you use?
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what tuning do you use?
was that for me or VisitorQ?
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what tuning do you use?
was that for me or VisitorQ?
you ;)
ever do much in E-standard, or?
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All the stuff I play is in E standard or drop D tuning :-)
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All the stuff I play is in E standard or drop D tuning :-)
thats very cool. i was hoping you would say that! how would you say the pickup handles doing a more vicious 80s metal tone.. something like Accept or early Megadeth? That kind of raw ceramic sound.
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I think it would do it fine-however i cant comment as to whether itd be the best bkp to achieve that sound. For that kinda era people go on about the HolyDiver so maybe that would suit best? the aftermath is deffinetely snarly and has a raw edge but maybe itd be too clinical for a 100% pure 80's metal tone?
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I think it would do it fine-however i cant comment as to whether itd be the best bkp to achieve that sound. For that kinda era people go on about the HolyDiver so maybe that would suit best? the aftermath is deffinetely snarly and has a raw edge but maybe itd be too clinical for a 100% pure 80's metal tone?
Thanks alot for your opinion.
When people say '80s tone' they could mean alot of things. The Holy Diver is perfect for alot of that stuff (I have one) but its quite 'round' sounding rather than raw.
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Hmmm ok-the aftermath is certainly raw but my concern would be its dryness-though to be honest any bkp can pull off any kind of music with the right amp/right player. How about the painkiller? its hoigh mids/treble i imagine would offer rawness and from what ive heard, in standard tuned guitars it sounds not as full-hence it may suit that 80s metal sound?