Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Kiichi on August 07, 2013, 09:36:14 PM
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Hey guys,
looks like I finally got around to writing my first review. Having created the collection thread it is really a shame. Letīs just hope I can get around to the others faster ;)
At least I managed to get out a wall of text as I like to do.
Hope no one dies half way through and it helps some people.
Anyhow lets talk about has been my first and what is so far my absolute favorite BKP: The Rebel Yell bridge!
My short review is: IT F*CKING ROCKS!
Really that is the most important thing about it, but let me back off and elaborate.
I got this PU for a Ibanez S series guitar, with the goal of getting a very versatile rock and metal set.
After specifying what I want to BKP they said RY bridge, IT middle and Mule neck.
Went for it and am extremely happy.
Generally you get a nice rock and metal voicing which is generally on the modern side in feel but always has a great vintage vibe in there. Modern take on a classic sound one could say.
Makes sense cause it is wound in a modern way with vintage wire.
In terms of style this thing does so much, I can easily take it from blues to old school rock and pop punk, over old school metal (nWobhM and others) and powermetal to modern thrash and back again.
Anything that you want to rock really.
On the extreme side you can see what our dear Nolly did on Red Seas Fire with it and know that it can deliver both true classic sounds and technical modern metal.
How can it do so much and why?
Iīll first go through the three main frequency-bands one by one and then try to put that together and add details to the picture.
The low on the RY is a very cool thing in my eyes. It is generally not the big and crushing kind as you find in other pups, it is more of a punchy quality. The general voicing of the RY makes it a lot tighter than you might expect from a AV magnet PU.
It really is always tight, but warm and organic, the classic AV qualitys. What that results in is a bottom end I always like to describe in an analogy:
With other metal pups you get a bottom end that if it were a fighter it would be that really big guy whos punches just got in your direction and then through you. The RY is a smaller muscle packed karate guy who has these precise stone breaking punches, which do have insane force, but are more about hitting the right spot. And then there is the Aftermath which is some kind of cyborg.
Hope that gets is across somewhat xD
I really dig that punchy bottom end in comparison to the body check ones other PUs have.
While the RY is generally bright, it is not thin, as the bottom end is present and sure does its work, but is not the focus point of the voicing.
Also the bottom end response can be changed by height changes more than on any other PU Iīve tried.
The mids on the RY is where this thing really shines and they are at the core of the sound, especially the higher mids. Here the PU has a spike which gives it itīs voice, which as I said before rocks.
Low mids are there to fill things up, in the center mids you find a nice little growl, but it is in the highs mids where things get really cool.
I wanted a PU with a lot of harmonics going on that just feels alive and that is what the RY is. Alive and rocking. The higher mids are so full of harmonics it makes for a really nicely complex sound which is just up front and center, cutting through the mix like the egomanic hair metal singer pushing himself to the front of the band and doing insane show moves.
There is so much going on and it just screams out.
The high end on the RY is close the higher mids. It is definetly very present and cutting but not harsh. Again an extension of all the harmonics going on.
Also makes for a great pick attack.
All together this makes for a PU that will not only make you happy because it rocks and screams, delivers nice pinched harmonics and has an insane range of styles, it will also make your bass player happy because while you still got weight and punch behind your palm mutes you are not interfeering with him, and you better keep that guy happy, bass over the head hurts...
I must also add that the RY is not only generally very versatile it is even more so because as I hinted before it is incredibly sensible to height changes, more so than anything else. Half a screw turn can have rather dramatic results.
Now I mostly talked about the distorted rythm tone (maybe I should have mentioned that earlier, but hey I talk about rocking all the time so whatcha expect I talk about), but I would like to loose a few words on the lead and clean tones.
I really like to use this PU for lead tones quite often, although I still use the neck for the majority of lead work. Thing is the RY is of course less rounded, more agressive and cutting, so when I want that extra thing to really throw this over and go crazy and stop with the sweet singing I go to the bridge. Plus then I can add in a pinched harmonics left and right (I play a lot on the high strings around the 12th to 15th fret) and I can get them suprisingly easily there, making for great Skid Row like things.
For clean sounds I generally do not really dig the RY bridge as it sounds too middy, which makes it hardly usable for me, HOWEVER, I have an autosplit wiring and my RY turned around so that the screwcoil is away from the bridge and when I go into the autosplit position I get the slugcoil, which is closer to the bridge plus the middle (Irish Tour), which makes for the most glorious clean sound for strumming (also cool for picking, but neck is better). Super clear single coil like sound, rather tele than strat like with a quality in the high end you assosiate with brand new strings (yes that goodness at any time). This position was even further improved when I added a PRS style 2,2k resistor in series with the green and white wire of the bridge PU, which results in the screw coil not being completly shut off, giving me a little extra output and bottom end. Amazing stuff.
Want a PU that rocks? Screams? Breathes life into guitars? Has a punchy low end? Is versatile?
Get the Rebel Yell and youīll want more, more, more!
Cheers
Kiichi
Anyone read this far? Cool, have a pint mate!
Did I forget to touch upon something? Got questions? Go ahead I will answer anything and add in things I might have forgotten.
Edit: Forgot my gear as fhn_lopes pointed out. I use a Orange Tiny Terror Hardwired Edition (gain and tone at about 2 o clock usually) loaded with TAD STR Powetubes, a a JJ AX7 in V1 and a Tung Sol AX7 in V2 going into a Marshall 2061CX hardwired cab which is 2x12" loaded with Celestion G12H30 speakers.
In front and always on when not clean is my Juansolo Klon(e) set to the more setting which is 2, 12 and 10 o clock.
For clean tones I use the same cab, but with a HTH Amp 5W Fender Tweed Champ style loaded with a 6L6 powerstage tube instead of the 6V6 it came with. Sometimes gets an extra compressor from a MXR Supercomp set very lightly so it mostly impacts sustain and the attack only very slightly.
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Anyone read this far? Cool have a pint mate!
I'll have a nice glass of Merlot.
Nice work, good review! 8)
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Great review Kiichi, although you're not making it easier for me to ignore my G.A.S. and get a RY myself... :?
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Just curious, what kind of power metal bands you would associate this pickups sound for?
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Would it be good for Dio? Maybe the Craig Goldy era? I saw Goldy playing with Budgie a few years ago, absolutely fantastic.
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To be honest I am not that well versed in all the power metal band, maybe I am too young, so I canīt comment too much on that actually.
I feel it is nice for newer stuff like (old) Edguy or (mostly old) Avantasia, at least I would feel very comfortable playing it with the RY.
Helloween (Keepers should be easy) also works nicely. Blind Guardian too, older stuff mainly I would say.
Just had a listen to "All the fools sailed away". With the RY in a LP or something thicker than the Ibby S I can see it doing that.
When I think of powermetal there is just always a lighter more middier sound than other metal and upper mids seem important.
I am pretty sure with a proper amp and some tuning it can be tuned to any powermetal sound more or less as long as it can use the upper mid spike and a generally slighly lighter (that punchy thing) and agressive sound, which to me it does with powermetal.
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Just had a listen to "All the fools sailed away". With the RY in a LP or something thicker than the Ibby S I can see it doing that.
For some nice Magica era Goldy stuff go to 5.00 on this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtqLjzuSsOU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtqLjzuSsOU)
But yeah when most people think 'power metal' it's Helloween, Dragonforce, or something of that nature. Of that genre I don't mind Helloween but really only listen to Dio
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Yeah, I'm talking more old Stratovarius, Helloween and Gamma Ray and the endless clones of them. I am leaning towards the Holy Diver in my Ibanez S but I keep hearing about this quality sound in the RY that isn't in other pickups, that keeps me intrigued.
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When I had a Rebel Yell - in a thin-bodied all-mahogany Les Paul - the tone always made me think of '80s hair metal (specifically Ratt....)
Would that adapt to power metal, given a slightly more neo-classical playing style? I've heard most of those power metal bands mentioned, but only in small doses.
Ignore me if I'm just confusing matters.
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GREAT piece of text right there Kiichi! Liked the way you put things together, gave me a nice idea of what this thing is capable of.
Just one thought, I think we should allways add into our reviews what amp, cab and speakers we are using, and if possible, the pedals too. Results may vary a LOT, and I say that bc my guitars behave VERY differently according to the set I'm using.
My VHII loaded strat may sound a bit harsh in a JCM800, but it sounds perfect in my plexi.... but in a mesa mark III it's a prog metal machine! What a pup for prog metal, really punchy and tight (when you use a TS pedal). Very different from the brown sound I get in my rig... just my 0.02$
cheers!
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Hair metal certainly is a strong suit of the RY. Gives me a lot of Skid Row. Thinking of Round and Round that works amazingly too.
That is a tone I am a bit more familiar with as well.
Good point fhn_lopes, very valid. Will add it in immediatly.
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Listening to round and round now, tone-wise, yes, but perhaps it's just because it was recorded in the mid 80s it has less power than the power metal of the 90s. Really not sure what to do now, bloody S shape body ! ! :?
If it was a thicker chunk of wood I would grab the RY no worries.
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Interesting that you say it should be capable of old Avantasia, Not sure if you know the song, The Tower, during the verses when the song kicks in, there is some tight palm muted fast riffing, if the RY can pull off that tightness and tone on the power chords.. I'm in ! :D
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Interesting that you say it should be capable of old Avantasia, Not sure if you know the song, The Tower, during the verses when the song kicks in, there is some tight palm muted fast riffing, if the RY can pull off that tightness and tone on the power chords.. I'm in ! :D
Of course I know the song! I have all the Avantasia stuff sides the newest album and seem em live twice so far. Just giving the tower another listen figure it out.
I can say I probably could not really pull it off with my Orange as I find the sound to be a bit more american. Could probably do it with a Marshall too, but not with my amp.
However with a fitting amp and correct settings I think the RY could pull it off, probably even in a S but donīt hold me to it, that is more of a guess.
The tighness should not be an issue if you have a tube screamer of something to make sure the low end is kept in check. The RY is as tight as alnicos can come I think.
The voicing all should fit, as I feel there is that old school upper mid spike in there two, or at least I think to hear it right now, but that is not with my good headphones but with my normal system.
The amp of course has a big big part.
Still for that kind of tone generally the RY would probably be my first choice I must say. Dunno how exactly the HD or Cold Sweat for example would fare, which both should be cool too.
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Ahhh.. lucky man, not many bands like that come to Australia... :( Thanks again for the help, great review btw, it sparked my interest back to the RY. hehe.
My amp will soon be a Laney Ironheart studio into an 11R to shape and tweak the tone and for effects. I think that side of things will achieve the sound I'm after, I know Timmo Tolki used Laneys for a long time there and the Ironheart is supposed to be pretty good, doubt I will ever need to use full distortion for what I want.
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Ahhh.. lucky man, not many bands like that come to Australia...
Yeah, since they are german and I am still in Germany (moving to sweden in a few weeks to study) I am in a good position there. Plus Wacken Open Air is just around the corner for me, you get a lot of great stuff there (Avantasia for a third time next year).
Dunno about the amp you have, but if it can deliver the right pressure in the bottom end that is most of the battle here I feel.
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Interesting gear Kiichi! Cool to hear that the rebell yell is punchy in the low end the way you described, coming from a 15w watt amp with el84 tubes. Imagina what it can do in EL34 or 6L6 50w amp ina 4x12!! That's why I asked for the gear, it counts a lot.
BTW, how is your TT dealing with od pedals? A friend had one in the past, awesome tones, but it didn't handled od pedals well, and the best boost he found was a MXR 6 band EQ. I like the TT tones and the G12H30, perfect match for the amp. I beleave you can get some tones that are very close to Steve Steven's BKP clips (with a rocca 18), don't you? I dig'em a lot.
Actually I'm kinda undecised (who isn't?) about what bridge PU for a LP classic.... I fell for the RY once but was tempted by the emerald, because I'm going for an emerald neck... Wondering how that combo would work in my gear... I'm afraid the Emerald gets too bright... I want it to be my hard rocker, but I need an moderate to high output pickup as I'm using a stock plexi circuit with an EQ boost only.
The way you described the mids helped me a bit... I use an old BOSS GE-10 with a midboost, and it works PERFECTLY for my VHII, and I want something that can work fine too for my lespaul, so I don't have to tweak the settings all the time (or get another boost). I'm afraid that a pickup that is too middy could be WAY too middy with that kind of boost... What do you think?
Cheers
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Interesting gear Kiichi! Cool to hear that the rebell yell is punchy in the low end the way you described, coming from a 15w watt amp with el84 tubes. Imagina what it can do in EL34 or 6L6 50w amp ina 4x12!! That's why I asked for the gear, it counts a lot.
BTW, how is your TT dealing with od pedals? A friend had one in the past, awesome tones, but it didn't handled od pedals well, and the best boost he found was a MXR 6 band EQ. I like the TT tones and the G12H30, perfect match for the amp. I beleave you can get some tones that are very close to Steve Steven's BKP clips (with a rocca 18), don't you? I dig'em a lot.
The way you described the mids helped me a bit... I use an old BOSS GE-10 with a midboost, and it works PERFECTLY for my VHII, and I want something that can work fine too for my lespaul, so I don't have to tweak the settings all the time (or get another boost). I'm afraid that a pickup that is too middy could be WAY too middy with that kind of boost... What do you think?
For one the EL84s I have in there are not quite the classic type, they carry a bit of a different flavour in them too, some describe it as a bit 6L6 like. Gave a bit more top and bottom end and just supercharged the amp a bit in feel, pumped it up.
Sides that yeah, the TT with those speakers in that cab is amazing. Tried every cab I could find and this one just won flatout.
Gotta try to see how SS like I can get sometime, could be that I can get into the realm.
Personally I think in general the TT likes OD pedals, though I dunno anymore how much the tube changes played into that. It is a bit picky yes, but not more than other amps I feel. With the RY my Tubescreamer type makes everything a bit too middy, same can happen with my Crunchlab (which will go as soon as I have the money, although I swore for a long time I loved it xD). For neck PUs it is better and it works nicely with my Stockholm bridge I feel.
The Klon(e) however can be used always with anything. Glorious pedal. When I set it right, which is not hard to do, when in doubt more setting works everytime, it just wakes the amp up. More punch, more harmonics, etc. just more of all the good stuff. The whole thing comes alive!
The transparent quality of the the Klon(e) really helps here.
Never run a distorted sound without it, just feels boring without it now xD
A boost is great, a treble boost is better, a treble boost with some nice distortion added in fed into the amp? WIN!
Your fear of it becomming too middy might hold true I think, hard to tell how exactly your amp and cab work with this. Also I donīt quite know how the VHII and RY compare. I believe the VHII has more bottom end, but sides that I am at a loss.
I would like to say get a RY and a clone of a Zvex Super Hard on, which are super easy and cheap to build (heck I have one in the controll cavity of one of my axes taped to the side of a push pull pot xD) but if you donīt want to get another boost maybe the Emerald is saver here. Both PUs love LPs.
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Good review Kiichi.
Good point to mention amps, cabs and pedals. I get very different results using either a Rockerverb 50/2x12-cab or a The Valve 2/50-combo. Voicing, gainreserves, speakers and configuration have so much influence. By example, my Crawler-loaded swampash strat fits the Orange perfect, but has nearly too much midrange on the The Valve 2/50, bec that amp has a darker character with the emphasis on the lower mids. Besides that it's a thick sounding amp that in my opinion benefits from brighter bridge-pickups like the Mule, the RifRaff, the Emerald or the Rebel Yell. Even a tele sounds thick on the drivechannel. The Rockerverb has big lows, but the accent on the uppermids, which are more agressive in comparison. The Crawler smoothes out things, where the Mule needs to tailored with the treblecontrol. Ergo, pickups are just a part of the chain.
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Great review! This post pretty much push me over the edge and I ordered a pair of calibrated RY's after going back and forth between the Abraxas.
I can't wait to put this into my PRS.
Thanks Kiichi!
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Well, get ready to rock and tweak the height of the bridge. Hope you enjoy it and look forward to your thoughts once you have them. =)
And as kind of a general update here: That Ibby S series spoken of here sports a Crawler bridge and MQ neck these days, plus a slowhand middle (which will go back to IT though). The RY bridge got a calibrated neck to play with and sits in an ESP-ish LP where it sounds way fatter and punchier. Really quick gut punch. An upfront machine that goes straight through the mix. Lovely.
Made the change cause the Ibby is just such a small and light body that I wanted a bit more low end warmth and fullness which the Crawler now does. Though I often miss the sound the RY gave me in it. If I could, Iīd get a second Ibby just for that.