Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Sinok PLA on November 02, 2013, 12:29:20 PM
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Hello everyone! This is my first post and I would really love some help from the veterans. :)
I have bought the A/Warpig set and A/Nailbomb set, but still can't find the tone I'm searching for, as my sound and play-style seemed to "choke" in bass and compression with these pickups .
I have a Gibson SG and Gibson Explorer, both full mahogany and rosewood board.
The style I play is a mix of 80's metal/rock with some modern aggression.
My band is influenced by Judas Priest, The Sword, Mercyful Fate, Down, Metallica,etc
I used 57 Classic and BB Pro and while both served me well, I needed to upgrade because i needed some more "balls" and less humming noise. My band mate plays with the SD JB set on his Gibson V, but while it sounds and plays awesome, it has something "soulless" in my ears.
My distortion pedal is CTC Black magic, my amp head is a Marshall JTM45/2245 30W, my strings are Ernie Ball Not even Slinky Cobalt and our tune is C Standard. The cab differs in what studio or gig I play.
So having in mind all this, I would like to hear your suggestions for the appropriate BKP pickups.
Cheers! :D
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Cold Sweats (scooped tones) or Rebel Yells (agressive uppermids, not too much bass).
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I would agree.
Cold Sweats or Miracle Man for the SG.
Cold Sweat or Rebel Yell for the Explorer.
Actually I would probably say get a Cold Sweat set, try it out in both, and get back to us. I'm sure you'll like it in both guitars, and you might end up ordering a second set the same. The Rebel Yell will also work in each. The Miracle Man might be a bit dark in the Explorer but has an excellent rep in SGs.
I have an SG with a Cold Sweat set in it that I am very happy with. I didn't like the A-Bomb in it for the kind of tones you are after. I'm not sure which pickups you put it what, but I found the A-Bomb very good for '80s hardcore, especially the UK 82 sound associated with The Exploited etc.
I also have a Warpig set (with alnico bridge) in an Epiphone Explorer with the 'korina' or limba body, which I believe might be *slightly* brighter than mahogany. I find it to be reasonably dark but it suits the styles I play in that guitar, which are a combination of crust punk, old school death metal, old grindcore, and doom.
I couldn't get a good Judas Priest sound out of the A-Bomb. The Cold Sweat is nice for any JP stuff from Sad Wings of Destiny to Nostradamus
The only thing that throws me a bit is the tuning - doesn't sound very '80s rock to me, unless you count the most extreme acts of the late '80s like Autopsy and Entombed ... I think the CS will handle C standard well though. The seven string versions of the Cold Sweat and Rebel Yell have been well-received.
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Something from the Vintage Hot range should do!
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I have the Apig on the SG and the Abomb in the Explorer. Neither works well, the bass drowns the clarity of the power chords and dynamics.
This is a sample of what we play and our sound: http://youtu.be/ER5D6KQCACs (http://youtu.be/ER5D6KQCACs)
I play with SG and the 57 classics on this.
I hope this video helps you to redirect what is the best choice to equip. :)
Side note: I want to avoid Ceramic cause I don't like the way it bites, I want the sound to be more 3D with depth and clarity.
Thanks for detailed replies <3
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first riff already caught me :D
welcome to the forum
vhII sounded great in my gibson SG
for the explorer, the rebel yell might be worth a try
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I have a Gibson Firebird Studio that has a lot more in common with an Explorer than it does with a full blown Firebird - all mahogany with a set neck and rosewood board.
This is my guitar with Rebel Yells. Obviously nothing in common with the stuff you play but should give you an idea. I'm using a Cornford Roadhouse with the gain about half way up.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtwUEr8v17Y (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtwUEr8v17Y)
Here's the first gig I played with the RYs. I've adjusted them a bit since then.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei7tXpewNUM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei7tXpewNUM)
They are great pickups that will that take tons of gain. Liked your song. Reminded me of early Sabbath. Your SG sounds good. The low end on RYs is held back a bit - I love it because it has a lot of clarity. I hate mushy low end.
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I agree that Cold Sweats will work well. It's much brighter than the Warpig and is a lot more open sounding but retains a distinctly 80's Metal feel to it in a different way to the Holydiver.
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Yeah I think definitely the Cold Sweats for the SG and the Rebel Yell for the Explorer.
The Rebel Yell will give you all that you like from the Nailbomb but without that extra bass you don't need, and it's a little smoother sounding as well. The Explorer body provides a lot of bass on its own.
The Cold Sweat does not sound especially 'ceramic' in sound. It's cleans for example are excellent - I like them better than what I had with the A-Bomb, which people compliment on its cleans.
The neck pickup in both of these sets is exceptional. Basically they are similar, but the Rebel Yell is a Cold Sweat modified to better fit with the Rebel Yell. I find it hard to imagine that you wouldn't be happy with these two sets. I had a listen to your clip and I think I could get a similar sound from my SG with the Cold Sweats
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the cold sweat sounds quite bassy in explorers, in my experience
and combined with body wood and size, there's a lot of low mids as well, although not as much as a nailbomb
I'd definitely pickup the rebel yell over the cold sweat in his case
maybe even an emerald
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You guys are AWESOME! :D
Very helpful replies
I'm going for the Cold Sweats on my SG even though it's ceramic, I'm gonna let you know Agent Orange what I think, but I'm pretty sure they will be awesome. ;)
Richard, your clips where very helpful (and rockin' \,,/), so i'll go for the rebel yell. Though I would like to ask something first:
1: Does the bass get out of control? (in the nailbomb it does)
2: Does the palm muting sound close to the video I posted?
Thanks once again for your detailed replies. <3
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The Cold Sweat does not sound especially 'ceramic' in sound. It's cleans for example are excellent - I like them better than what I had with the A-Bomb, which people compliment on its cleans.
I only have neck Cold Sweat, but I totally agree that it has amazing and excellent cleans, but neck version is an Alnico V one.
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I have the set, and I was very surprised by the excellent clean sound in the bridge. The clean sound in the neck is fatter and more rounded (and generally sounds more like a neck pickup!), but the cleans on the bridge are excellent and blend very well with those on the neck in the middle position.
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I found CS neck as bright, very clear, defined and crisp sounding pup. I match it with CBomb and to be honest, cannot complain on mid-position tone. I think in that position CS`s crispiness and bright character slightly dominates and stands out over rather darker sounding CBomb. To clarify I have mahogany body/neck, maple top and rosewood fingerboard guitar.
generally speaking very nice pup, highly recommended.
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You guys are AWESOME! :D
Very helpful replies
I'm going for the Cold Sweats on my SG even though it's ceramic, I'm gonna let you know Agent Orange what I think, but I'm pretty sure they will be awesome. ;)
No worries, I hope you like them as much as I do. They are very versatile in the SG. Ben from BKP described them to me as 'the pro's choice' when I asked him which out of them and the Miracle Man set I should go for. I find that they can cover stuff from Thin Lizzy to Celtic Frost. With the latter I just turn down the tone knob and I'm there. If you were in an Accept cover band I would have recommended the A-Bomb, but other than Accept and a few other similar sounds I found that it didn't do metal that well in an SG, and sounded very hardcore most of the time. People describe it as '90s metal but there's a lot of '80s hardcore in '90s metal and that's what I could hear ... Sepultura was the main metal band I heard in it. The Cold Sweat bridge has a much broader range in metal and rock.
I don't think you can go wrong with a Cold Sweat and a Rebel Yell playing alongside a bandmate with a JB. Ben from BKP suggested both of those for a friend of mine who plays alongside a guy with the SD Jazz/JB combination in a Les Paul Standard. You'll definitely be able to sit nicely alongside him in the rhythm parts and then blow him away with your lead sound ;)
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What would be the main difference between bridge Cbomb and bridge Cold Sweat? EQ charts are quite similar (CS might be a bit brighter)?
thanks.
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The Nailbomb would be 'hairier' and 'rougher' sounding than the Cold Sweat if my alnico version is anything to go by. Differences would be in the type of wire and the way it is wound, symmetry, etc.
Both the ceramic Nailbomb and the Cold Sweat work pretty well in the same applications, just that they have different sounds. It might also be the case that the EQ is only very approximate, and some frequency ranges (e.g., mid-mids, or low-mids) might differ within the category 'mids'
Listening to the clips is probably a better guide as to the sound differences, as they are recorded in the same guitar with just a pickup change. There are clips for the C-Bomb.
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Richard, your clips where very helpful (and rockin' \,,/), so i'll go for the rebel yell. Though I would like to ask something first:
1: Does the bass get out of control? (in the nailbomb it does)
2: Does the palm muting sound close to the video I posted?
Thanks once again for your detailed replies. <3
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I don't do a lot of palm muting and I always play in standard tuning so maybe someone else can chime in. Many people comment that the RY doesn't have a lot of bass. I usually play through a 1 x 12 open backed combo and the RY has more than enough low end for my needs but it's very controlled and articulate. At rehearsals I often play through a Marshall half stack and this gives PLENTY of low end thump. To quote Steve Stevens ' It's so full of clear bottom and perfect pick attack.'
My main guitar for years was an SG with a JB in the bridge. I was very happy with it but since I've got the RYs I don't use that guitar at all. I played a gig with another band last year and ,on a whim, I took my SG. I wasn't happy with what I was hearing. The low end of the JB gets flubby very quickly when I crank the gain. The RY can produce the same singing tone in the highs but the low end behaves MUCH better.
This is a good clip:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX7Fbw5refI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX7Fbw5refI)
This one let's you hear the low end:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ppjENE6J8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ppjENE6J8)
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet but the RY is very re-active to height adjustments. Small turns of the screw can produce very different results. Be prepared to spend a lot of time experimenting, it really is worth it. Good luck and keep us posted with the results.
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On count of the RY low end I always feel like to say that it does not have a lot of low end is not exactly right, as it misleads people. Thing is that it just is not the focus point of the voicing (the would be the high mids). The PU however is in no way unbalanced. The low end is there and is very clear and defined, not the pushing kind but the punching. Very tight and present. It just does not pump and push, but trust me it hits hard.
It has all the power someone who does not need uber low tuned bassy sound wants. Your bass player will love you and you still have all the in your face punch for palm muting.
At least that is the way I feel.
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It has all the power someone who does not need uber low tuned bassy sound wants. Your bass player will love you and you still have all the in your face punch for palm muting.
At least that is the way I feel.
That's what I was thinking when I suggested it. There's a LOT of bass in an Explorer naturally, in the same way that an SG has a lot of mids. The guitar will fill in the low end of the EQ anyway, especially if you have done stuff to improve the sustain like locking bridge and tailpiece studs.
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It has all the power someone who does not need uber low tuned bassy sound wants. Your bass player will love you and you still have all the in your face punch for palm muting.
At least that is the way I feel.
That's what I was thinking when I suggested it. There's a LOT of bass in an Explorer naturally, in the same way that an SG has a lot of mids. The guitar will fill in the low end of the EQ anyway, especially if you have done stuff to improve the sustain like locking bridge and tailpiece studs.
Exactly, especially in such a guitar there will be no lack, but the RY will keep it controlled so it does not go muddy or just over. I have mine in a Ibanez S series, not the bassiest guitar around by a long shot though no strat, and while it is somewhat bright in there, it is not thin or lacking low end of punch for my tastes. Thus I think you are absolutly right suggesting it. +1 Sir!
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Thanks again for the replies! :D
I contacted BKP to see if it is possible to change my Warpigs (i'm gonna keep the nailbombs in the case i get a brighter guitar).
Cold Sweat set on the SG and Rebel Yell on the Explorer, but with the VHII neck, it seems like a nice combo as i see in the forum and hear from the clips.
I'll keep you guys posted with the results :)
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Which clip is that?
I've seen a clip of the Rebel Yell neck with the VHII bridge, I hope you haven't gotten them mixed up!
I like the clips of the VHII neck that I have heard.
From what I can tell the Rebel Yell neck is the middle ground between the VHII and Cold Sweat necks, combining aspects of both.
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The Rebel Yell's bass is very much in control. It will work well for the Explorer.
The Cold Sweat would be my pick for the SG to balance the middy character many SGs have.
Cheers Stephan