Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Pierre on May 08, 2013, 12:48:24 PM

Title: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 08, 2013, 12:48:24 PM
Hi guys, I'd like to get something slightly brighter/ballsier in my MM AL HH. The guitar is all Mahogany body/all Rosewood body, and as such is lovely sounding but a tad too mellow for me.
I'd like to inject some steel into it. I was thinking a slightly brighter pickup.

Power is no issue right now, so nothing overly hot. Something balanced, but with a tiny little aggression in the treble.
I have one pickup in mind which sounded AMAZING in a LP Custom... but I'd rather not influence the forum's opinions :)

So what's a great pup to add character to a mellow guitar, without losing clarity and that midrange 'crunch' you get with Mahogany?

Ah other issue: the tab holes in the MM are DiMarzio specific and Bareknuckles don't fit :( Would the team be able to account for this with custom tabs or do they offer stock tabs which fit?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Kiichi on May 08, 2013, 02:34:22 PM
Are the tabs those triangular ones? If so we just had a thread somewhere where it said you can just put that in the comment box and bäm.

As for the PUs, if you want character, not overly hot, bright, agressive and midrange crunch I can only say Rebell Yell, rebell yell, rebell yell.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: 'Ash' J. Williams on May 08, 2013, 02:42:19 PM
Riff Raff or Rebell Yell for more output.
Also, put a request for "triangular mounting tabs" in the comment box.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 08, 2013, 03:04:32 PM
Thanks :) RiffRaff is what I had in mind. It sounded just amazing in that LP; a small treble spike to drive the aggression up, but such a rich and responsive pickup! From what I can read the RY would be similar in spirit, but badder sounding. Could be the key here!
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: BigB on May 08, 2013, 07:50:51 PM
Was about to suggest the RR too  :lol:
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Telerocker on May 09, 2013, 11:02:39 AM
RR will do fine, but what about a VHII?
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: ericsabbath on May 10, 2013, 06:45:54 AM
RR will do fine, but what about a VHII?

this
the VHII a little hotter, edgier and punchier than the riff raff, but they still sound like cousins
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 10, 2013, 10:40:43 AM
I actually went with the RY, based on the current pickup's output (I hadn't realized they were that hot!). We'll see how that goes :)
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Kiichi on May 10, 2013, 11:03:23 AM
Get back to us with the results mate!
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: darkbluemurder on May 13, 2013, 10:23:45 AM
VHII was my first impression, too, but I must say I prefer the RY. I think you will be very happy with it.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Telerocker on May 13, 2013, 09:50:06 PM
Congrats! Fiddle with the height to find the sweet spots. BKP's are sensitive for that.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 14, 2013, 01:09:35 PM
Funnily enough; my baseline for pickups are Duncans, and most people say the RY is like a more refined, ballsier JB. Normally I really don't like the JB and swear by the Custom pickup family (the SH-5 is just unbelievable).
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Philly Q on May 14, 2013, 02:44:45 PM
Funnily enough; my baseline for pickups are Duncans, and most people say the RY is like a more refined, ballsier JB. Normally I really don't like the JB and swear by the Custom pickup family (the SH-5 is just unbelievable).

There's a guy who used to post on here, Antag, who absolutely HATES the SH-5.  :lol:  Personally, of the three "Customs" I quite like the SH-14, although it can be quite harsh sounding.

I don't think the RY is much like the JB at all.  It's a lot tighter, less bass, probably a bit brighter and generally less "messy" sounding.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 15, 2013, 10:07:42 PM
Great to hear that :)
I won't install it for a while, I just restrung it and I hate locking tuners!
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 20, 2013, 12:15:08 PM
CRUSHING! Man those Axis pickups in the guitar are truly great (not sure what they correspond to in current DiMarzio models), but every time I replace a pup with a BK I'm impressed by the clarity they offer.
The RY are great for this guitar: they took a little mellow-ness away and added this great KRAAAANG factor to it. Loving it.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Kiichi on May 20, 2013, 12:24:15 PM
Great to hear! Don´t forget to tune the height, RYs are especially sensitive to that (I have had very noticable changes within half a screw turn). If you love em now, keep in mind chances are good that they can get even better! =)
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Philly Q on May 20, 2013, 02:27:28 PM
CRUSHING! Man those Axis pickups in the guitar are truly great (not sure what they correspond to in current DiMarzio models)

On the DiMarzio site they used to say the closest models are the Air Norton for the neck position and the Tone Zone for the bridge position.  They've updated that now to say the Air Norton neck and AT-1 bridge.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Pierre on May 20, 2013, 05:42:49 PM
Mhmm they sound nothing like I remember the ToneZone (bassy, quite big and large sounding, not very tight or bright). The AT-1 sounds much closer, but I'd say slightly less powerful (I have one in a Strat and it sounds really great).
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: Philly Q on May 20, 2013, 06:23:44 PM
I think the timbers and construction make a big difference.  I tried a Tone Zone in a couple of LP/SG set-neck mahogany guitars and hated it, but when I had an Axis Sport (ash body, bolt-on maple neck, hardtail) I really liked the sound of the Axis pickups in that.
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: darkbluemurder on May 22, 2013, 03:43:16 PM
I can only say that a Rebel Yell bridge sounds nothing like a ToneZone - completely different animals.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: Ballsier bridge pickup for a MusicMan Albert Lee HH?
Post by: ericsabbath on May 22, 2013, 06:58:32 PM
I can only say that a Rebel Yell bridge sounds nothing like a ToneZone - completely different animals.

Cheers Stephan

the alnico miracle man is in the tz ballpark, but it's no near as compressed and muddy