Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Slartibartfarst42 on August 31, 2012, 09:23:46 PM
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I wasn't going to bother reviewing these but the difference is so astonishing I really feel I must.
My two guitars are a Jackson SL3 and PRS SE Custom 24 and I've put BKP 550k pots in both with Jensen BKP 0.022 caps. The first thing you notice is the size of the caps; they're HUGE. Compared to the tiny caps that you usually get, this was like trying to install a can of Coke in the guitar but whatever it is that's in those things, it sure works. I also found the pots were a bit wider than the stock items on both guitars so I had to carefully file the holes a little larger so they'd fit.
What's Good?
I've heard this said before but I'll say it again here because it's absolutely accurate. It's like having a thick blanket taken off your rig when you fit these. Everything is so much clearer and more cutting than before, to the extent that I'm having to adjust all of my settings to accommodate the effect. Notes that may struggle before now really sing and for the first time I use the tone pot!! In the past, turning the tone down has always made some aspects of my tone a bit too muffled and 'dead' but now that simply isn't the case. Now I can solo on the neck pickup with the tone at zero and it's as clear as a bell anywhere on the neck. Awesome! Fitting this lot has also released a hell of a lot more volume. Because of the extra clarity, it really cuts through now and all of the controls are super-responsive. Before fitting these I always had my boost channel maxed out for solos to give me the extra volume I needed but the first time I hit the boost tonight, it damn near blew my head off!! I've had to almost half the amount of boost I'm getting.
What's Not?
The pots could be a bit smoother in their operation and it was a pain that I had to get a file out to my beautiful guitars so they'd fit but other than that I can't think of a thing.
Summary
Bare Knuckle pickups will drastically improve your guitars but honestly, until you install these pots and caps you're only hearing half what they're capable of. I swear to you, they're worth the expense and I really didn't expect to be this enthusiastic about them. Buy Bare Knuckle pickups and you'll wonder why you ever wasted time on Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio and EMG but install BKP pots and caps with your new pickups and your jaw will hit the floor in astonishment at just how good they sound.
Hope this helps and if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
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Where could someone purchase BKP pots?
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https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=24_71&zenid=26e5a5c53021d605cb205a4d0f9c5a46
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Well, I have a question. I recently got myself Bareknuckle Electronics, meaning a new 5 way switch, a input jack, 2 Jensen 0.022 Caps, and 3 500k Jensen Pots. I'm going to rewire my Strat completely (has a Holydiver in the Bridge and two Slowhands), should I get the 550k BKP Pots or will the 500k do just fine?
Cheers and thanks for the review!
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That's a difficult one because although my previous pots were 500k, they weren't BKP 500k pots. I'm sure your 500k pots will be an improvement over the stock items. All I can tell you for sure is that the 550k pots are a significant improvement over the 500k units in my Jackson SL3, which is hardly a cheap guitar, and a colossal improvement over the 500k pots that came standard in the PRS SE.
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Well, I'll have to work a little bit more then to afford those :P
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Well, I'll have to work a little bit more then to afford those :P
I'm REALLY, REALLY sorry about this but I've got to say this...
GuitarIV, I really don't like your avatar. That guys face annoys the heck out of me. Ok, I just had to let that out :)
Now I shall allow the thread back on track.
I don't have enough good stuff to say about BKP electronics. Really excellent quality.
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I haven't tried the bkp pots or caps. But that's more personal preference.
I prefer to either have no pots and just an on/off toggle or a 1M pot with no tone control as I like to keep my tone as pure as possible and I find 500k pots neuter things too much. Even the 1M is pushing it quite often which is why I generally leave it out.
I really hope BKP add some ~1M pots in the future.
It's great to be hearing positive feedback regarding the smaller components as I imagine if demand rises the range may be expanded at some point.
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Well, I'll have to work a little bit more then to afford those :P
I'm REALLY, REALLY sorry about this but I've got to say this...
GuitarIV, I really don't like your avatar. That guys face annoys the heck out of me. Ok, I just had to let that out :)
Now I shall allow the thread back on track.
I don't have enough good stuff to say about BKP electronics. Really excellent quality.
Hahaha, that guy is Devin Townsend, a musical genius. He's a little bit crazy so that picture of him was taken like this on purpose :P
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I keep BKP pots and Jensen caps in stock at all times - so anyone coming to me can get both BKP pickups and the pots and caps direct from me.
Often when a customer is seeking new pickups I will suggest the pot and cap change first.
This seems to be a real eye opener - especially on Gibson SGs with their 300k pots
That way the player can actually hear what the stock pickups sound like , and can make slightly better and more informed decisions on what BKPs would be good for them based on what they hear after the pot/cap change.
A few times the "lifting of the blanket" effect is so great that the player is totally happy with the existing pickups for the time being - although they may well come back for BKPs later.
We can even wire up harnesses if you want something to drop into a LP or suchlike
The one below has a 0.022uF on the bridge tone and a 0.015uF on the neck tone
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/CUSTOM%20BUILT/20th%20anniversary%20Lion/20thanniversarylion11.jpg)
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wow those capacitors are huge!
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I keep BKP pots and Jensen caps in stock at all times - so anyone coming to me can get both BKP pickups and the pots and caps direct from me.
Often when a customer is seeking new pickups I will suggest the pot and cap change first.
This seems to be a real eye opener - especially on Gibson SGs with their 300k pots
That way the player can actually hear what the stock pickups sound like , and can make slightly better and more informed decisions on what BKPs would be good for them based on what they hear after the pot/cap change.
A few times the "lifting of the blanket" effect is so great that the player is totally happy with the existing pickups for the time being - although they may well come back for BKPs later.
We can even wire up harnesses if you want something to drop into a LP or suchlike
The one below has a 0.022uF on the bridge tone and a 0.015uF on the neck tone
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/CUSTOM%20BUILT/20th%20anniversary%20Lion/20thanniversarylion11.jpg)
Hey Jonathan.
Do you know if Earvana do a R10 Floyd nut? I keep checking back on their site but they haven't seemed to have updated it since the first time that I looked.
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wow those capacitors are huge!
Yes, they are but fortunately my guitars had plenty room inside to fit them, though it might have been a bit more of a struggle in a Telecaster. Still, the bottom line is the tone and they certainly work. I can well believe that having changed the pots and caps, some people don't bother changing the pickups.
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Will these pots and caps fit in an Ibanez S? Hope so as just bought them haha.
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the pots will fit in an S series - the cap may be a problem - might have to use an orange drop instead
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Damn. The wiring diagram I'm following has the capacitor on the tone pot, as to connected to both pots. Got another question though:
What's the difference tonally between DiMarzios and BKPs wiring for an HSH setup? I never realised you could wire up a guitar in different ways, so just a tad bit confused.
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Damn. The wiring diagram I'm following has the capacitor on the tone pot, as to connected to both pots
Doesn't make any difference by itself, the circuit behaves exactly the same way whether the cap is before or after the tone pot.
What makes a difference is whether you have the cap+pot before the volume (cap+pot connected to the pup's hot and volume pot's input) or after (cap+pot connected to the volume pot's output, known as "gibson 50s wiring").
Got another question though:
What's the difference tonally between DiMarzios and BKPs wiring for an HSH setup?
Please post links to the DM diagram (I assume the BKP one you're talking about is the first one on this page https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/schematics.php (https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/schematics.php))
I never realised you could wire up a guitar in different ways, so just a tad bit confused.
Yups, when you don't understand how it works (hence what makes a difference or not) it can be really confusing indeed.
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I understand that the pots allow for more clarity and treble. (I think.) What do the caps do? What effect does it have on the tone?
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This is the Dimarzio one I've been following. Compared to the first one you mentioned that is. Obviously the colours will be different with BKP, but as you can see things are connected to different places such as the capacitor.
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I'm pretty sure that BKP pots are simply CTS pots. The difference being the value difference of 50k. The tolerance is generally +/- 10%, but CTS will select pots within 5% tolerance for manufacturers with specific needs. The 550k pots don't roll off as much treble, so the effect of"having a blanket lifted off the speaker" is the result. Added clarity is a great thing. When I buy pots in bulk for my amplifier builds, I sometimes test the values to tailor the sound by using greater or lesser treble rolloff. It's surprising the effect you can achieve with such a simple thing.
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I'm pretty sure that BKP pots are simply CTS pots. The difference being the value difference of 50k. The tolerance is generally +/- 10%, but CTS will select pots within 5% tolerance for manufacturers with specific needs. The 550k pots don't roll off as much treble, so the effect of"having a blanket lifted off the speaker" is the result. Added clarity is a great thing. When I buy pots in bulk for my amplifier builds, I sometimes test the values to tailor the sound by using greater or lesser treble rolloff. It's surprising the effect you can achieve with such a simple thing.
i am pretty certain i read that too.
and indeed, being at 550k instead of 450 will add clarity.
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i want to order some of these pots and capacitors with some pickups i will be ordering soon, but i am a bit worried about how they will fit with a telecaster... 4 way mod on one, humbucker with a splitting switch on the other. not sure if there will be enough room for all that. it's already a tight fit with my current wiring harnesses.
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I'm pretty sure that BKP pots are simply CTS pots. The difference being the value difference of 50k.
AFAIK there's a bit more to it (have heard that these "BKP" CTS pots were a bit less stiff).
@Nez: not able to read any wiring diagram right now, sorry. I'll give it a look tomorrow ;)
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AFAIK there's a bit more to it (have heard that these "BKP" CTS pots were a bit less stiff).
Not sure about that, as the four 550K that are on my LP are pretty stiff compared to anything I've used. The tapper (spl?) is good and all, but turning them is not as effortless as my other guitars, being them emg pots, squier pots, ibanez pots, allparts pots, epiphone pots, etc.
Just a matter of getting used to them, I guess.
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AFAIK there's a bit more to it (have heard that these "BKP" CTS pots were a bit less stiff).
Not sure about that, as the four 550K that are on my LP are pretty stiff compared to anything I've used. The tapper (spl?) is good and all, but turning them is not as effortless as my other guitars, being them emg pots, squier pots, ibanez pots, allparts pots, epiphone pots, etc.
Just a matter of getting used to them, I guess.
Mine are far looser than the stock Gibson pots.
Edit: Scratch that, my volume pots are BKP 550k and they are rather stiff. My tone pots are CTS push pulls and they are very loose.
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I haven't tried the BKP 550k pots, but I find with CTS pots generally, the type with a "scoop" in the back are looser than the more common flat-backed type. I much prefer the first type!
(http://i7.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/7f/1d/d2f1_12.JPG)
(http://www.mojotone.com/CTS-3M-Potentiometer-Reverse-Audio-image.jpg)
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Pity there's no BKP pots with push/pull switches as well - but I don't think CTS make any push/pull pots.
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AFAIK there's a bit more to it (have heard that these "BKP" CTS pots were a bit less stiff).
Not sure about that, as the four 550K that are on my LP are pretty stiff compared to anything I've used.
I meant "a bit less stiff than run of the mill CTS" - which are really really stiff :lol: