Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Arthurus on November 04, 2013, 03:43:47 PM
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So I bought this pickup 2 weeks ago and it arrived a week after. I installed it last saturday in my MM Silhouette in place of the Holydiver, which will go in my Vintage V100 (Les Paul copy).
My god, it does all I wanted it to do (so far).
You see, I thought the Holydiver lacked some things in this guitar.
First, it lacked girth. A bit too focused in the mids to me (maybe this has to do with the alder body).
Secondly, I thought it didn't have enough bite.
Finally, I wanted more power.
Well, this pickup is THE answer to my needs.
I'd like to precise I play progressive metal and that I tune to D standard/Drop C.
When I play 5th chords, it sounds really angry. The low mids are there and we hear them (as opposed to the Holydiver). It really "crunches". Like Misha Mansoor would say, it "purrs".
It has a lot of clarity, but I'd say the notes get a little more blurry than with the Holydiver when playing open chords. Which to me, is more of a good point. I like when it sounds a bit more "loose".
Honestly, I prefer the leads with the Juggernaut. A lot of people say the Holydiver is the must-have for solos, but I like the Jugg better. It has more bite and has more sustain, but the high mids are rolled off a bit.
Maybe the mid-gain sounds were better with the Holydiver. I haven't had much time to check them out, but I fear it may have too much low mids.
By the way, the highs are really sweet. I'd say maybe a bit sweeter than with the Holydiver? But at the same time, the lows really growl.
So to me, this is the best pickup I've had (so far). Sounds really how I wanted. Just perfect. Maybe I'll spot a bit flaws when I play longer. Something tells me I won't.
Great pickup. Go guys, don't wait any longer !
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Here is a test clip ! There are mistakes here and there, but i'll take the time someday to correct them. I hope you'll enjoy it as it is !
https://soundcloud.com/arthur-laborderie/kiss-my-flower (https://soundcloud.com/arthur-laborderie/kiss-my-flower)
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I like the base sound, but it feels very much like there is a blanket on there. No air in the high end.
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Sorry to go off at a tangent here but how does the Holydiver work in the Vintage?
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Sorry to go off at a tangent here but how does the Holydiver work in the Vintage?
I haven't had the time to put it there yet. I'll tell you when I do ! I'll do a test clip too.
I like the base sound, but it feels very much like there is a blanket on there. No air in the high end.
Yeah, maybe it's just the way I put the mic in front of the amp, I tend to put it too far from the center. I was going to track it again anyway.
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I'll upload a review in E standard, next month (when they arrive).
What did you use to record?
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My Mesa Boogie DC-5, a Shure SM57, into an Alesis IO4 interface. Recorded with Logic pro 9. That's all folks !
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I like the fat crunch in the mids
I imagine how it might sound in marshall-based amps
the solo is a bit low, but I like your playing
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I think the guitar sounds best very early in the clip - very fat and crunchy. The solo tones are mixed quite far to the background.
Cheers Stephan
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Can you make a sample with this mic settings?:
the SM57 on axis to the cap edge and very close to the grill cloth.
It will be more natural than the first sample.
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Can you make a sample with this mic settings?:
the SM57 on axis to the cap edge and very close to the grill cloth.
It will be more natural than the first sample.
Will do !
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I did as you said and did another test clip. Same link guys, enjoy !
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Yes, I like that a lot.
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So I re-recorded the guitar parts on one of my songs, and I figured I should share it.
When I recorded it for the first time with the Holydiver, I thought the guitar tone missed something, and now it's crushing !
https://soundcloud.com/arthur-laborderie/grey-rain (https://soundcloud.com/arthur-laborderie/grey-rain)
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Sorry to go off at a tangent here but how does the Holydiver work in the Vintage?
I can answer that since I have a set of HDs in my V100.
They rock! Feels like they has a little less output than the should, but it gives it a great old school tone backing off the volume. It can really rock, but it also sounds great rolled off. Creamy mids that suits the guitar IMHO. My favorite is actually the neck pickup, gets some great "jazz box" tones out of it with the volume rolled off. Put it on 10 and it's nice and fluid.
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Thanks for this, it's very helpful!
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I'll add to this my 2c (not that you've asked). I use the pickup in a fairly balanced baritone, tuned to B standard, 27".
First, I agree with all the points the OP made. To add to this, there are three things I've noticed.
* the pickup really "crunches" in a sense that it has a lot of centre mids, and that's where its main weight is. However, the mids give it a quite dry feeling and that in turn makes it sound rather modern. For all the versatility it has, don't expect a vintage sound from it.
* due to its tonality - it neither screams ridiculously on the hight end nor does it thunder with huge lows - it sounds, in a way, better with a drum track than on its own. I believe this is probably Misha's influence from being one of three guitar players in a downtuned, busy mix.
* I agree that it works very nicely for soloing. It sits somewhere between the HD and the Miracle Man in that respect, and both those pickups IMO are great choices for soloing.
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This is very interesting.
It seems there is always this tension between the tone we 'want' and the needs we have. Like being the only electric guitarist means wanting a really huge and 3D sound but the minute you have one or two other guitarists to work around, the frequency spectrum needs to narrow significantly to accommodate it. It's also the case where live, you don't want excess frequencies outside the mids just so that people can actually hear what is being played.
I find that when I'm the only player and I'm doing lower gain stuff, I like my Godin LG with Seymour Duncans. The guitar sounds 'thicker' and 'beefier' for this sort of a sound, which is an asset. For high gain stuff, it gets muddy, sloppy, undefined, and very loose. The very things that I like about it become huge drawbacks once I start trying to work with a different genre.
The Les Paul sounds 'thin' and 'midrangey' for the low gain sounds but when I pile on the gain it is tight, articulate, bright, with great string separation and a wonderful pick attack. Perfect for High Gain.
I'm thinking of doing a warmoth project at some point and I've been thinking a lot about what I'd want an instrument to do that my other guitars do not do. A maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and alder body sound like a good idea. I'd like an A-Pig or a Jugg in the bridge, I think. Hard to know what to do because I can't predict the tone of the guitar once built and then I can't predict how it would work with my amp. Reading these reviews gives a lot of ideas for sure but I'm still a bit fuzzy on what I'd like.