Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: littleredguitars2 on January 13, 2014, 11:33:18 PM

Title: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 13, 2014, 11:33:18 PM
after the very slow shipping times over christmas season i finally got my new bridge pickup for my telecaster. i never felt like i needed to get the neck piledriver because i hardly use the neck pickups in guitars for one, and two, because the neck seemed adequate for what i'd use it for anyway. but the bridge definitely needed an upgrade. the tone wasnt bad, but obviously i wasnt meant for heavier styles without the help of a boost pedal or something of the sorts. even through my mesa boogie rectifier it severely lacked output and punch.

so it was obvious that the piledriver was the way to go for me. i play heavy stuff from fast punk to heavy rock. but i planned to use this as my main guitar with my band. we have sort of a Bayside esque style i'd say. anyway, i love the overall character of the telecaster vibe and i was really glad that the piledriver didnt take away from that at all. it still sounds 100% like a telecaster. just with a set of balls. compared to the pickups i've used in the line, i'd say it reminds me of the mule for its character and the rebel yell for overall output and crunch factor. some may say thats weird, but i took a comparison video (which i will be posting soon) and it really reminded me of those the most. big chords sound AMAZING with this pickup and overall i dont think its super overpowering like i was expecting but i AM curious how it will sound through my peavey 5150 head that i use with the band. i imagine it will fit very well.

i havent really messed with the pickup height too much since i was having some trouble with it. pretty sure the pickup wire kept getting caught underneath the pickup when i screwed it in causing it to bottom out. that being said, i'm not sure how sensitive this pickup is to pickup height, but if its like any of the other BKP's i'm sure it will have a considerable difference.

here is the video i posted earlier of the before and after for the piledriver, and i will be posting a BK comparison video between the mule, piledriver, rebel yell, and stockholm soon.

skip to 9:03 for the piledriver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQWdkVLI7R0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQWdkVLI7R0)

hope i was in depth enough. if you have any questions i can try to help. thanks!

edit: i managed to fix my height problem. it WAS sitting on top of the other wires and bottoming out. so i put it a little closer to the strings and it definitely pushed the pickup a lot more. practically in the ballpark of my stockholm.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 01:39:15 AM
only thing that would make this better is a better set of pots. since its such a hot pickup would it be best to go up to 550k? or stay at the 250k? the pots on this thing barely do anything until i have it turned to almost halfway. the volume pot that is.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: darrenw5094 on January 14, 2014, 01:46:33 AM
So is the Piledriver got any Single coil sound or is bad ass bucker tone?

Strange about the volume pot btw
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 01:55:06 AM
sounds like best of both worlds to be honest
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Dave Sloven on January 14, 2014, 02:38:51 AM
I've read before that you should increase the volume pot to 500K for Piledrivers
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 02:50:03 AM
Hmm.  I'll send the guys an email
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Brow on January 14, 2014, 08:01:35 AM
I have a cheapie 'toploader' Tele that I put a Piledriver in a while ago. Strangely enough that came stock with 500k pots so I've left them in and they work fine. I spoke to Tim about it at the time and he said that 500k pots would work well as a 250k pot might take too much treble off.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: metale on January 14, 2014, 08:42:54 AM
Hmm.  I'll send the guys an email

I'm also interested in their feedback about the pots.

Glad you sorted the fiting problem.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Dave Sloven on January 14, 2014, 09:36:21 AM
The 5150 will bring the br00tz no matter what!  :D

Would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Rebel Yells, Stockholm, and Piledriver through the 5150 just to see how different they sound.  Granted they are in very different guitars but I think it's still useful.  Give us a bit of the palm-mute br00tz riffing if you can.  I would be interesting to hear the full spectrum.

I'm also interested to hear a good recording of the Rebel Yell neck.

I also wonder how you EQ your 5150.  My 6534+ doesn't seem to be happy until the presence is on 9 or more.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 11:52:10 AM
The 5150 will bring the br00tz no matter what!  :D

Would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Rebel Yells, Stockholm, and Piledriver through the 5150 just to see how different they sound.  Granted they are in very different guitars but I think it's still useful.  Give us a bit of the palm-mute br00tz riffing if you can.  I would be interesting to hear the full spectrum.

I'm also interested to hear a good recording of the Rebel Yell neck.

I also wonder how you EQ your 5150.  My 6534+ doesn't seem to be happy until the presence is on 9 or more.

yeah the 5150 is a very special beast. my presense is usually around 7 or 8. i'll see what i can do for ya
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 12:26:32 PM
heres the reply from ben

Quote
Hi Jon,

We normally recommend our custom design BKP 280k pots for volume and tone, for Piledrivers.

You can order them here:

www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop)

We also recommend the BKP Jensen 0.022 capacitor if you want to upgrade that too.

Kind Regards,

Ben
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Kiichi on January 14, 2014, 01:19:23 PM
Wooohoo, thanks for the review, added it to the big board! A follow up write up would be cool once you played around more and have used it with the Peavy.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 01:21:25 PM
Wooohoo, thanks for the review, added it to the big board! A follow up write up would be cool once you played around more and have used it with the Peavy.

Will do.  Thanks man
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 06:36:40 PM
just remembered i had 2 spare 280k pots and a .022 cap from when i sold off my trilogy suites! can't wait to put them in my tele
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Telerocker on January 14, 2014, 09:11:53 PM
Thanks for the demo man! Piledriver sounds like the ultimate rockpickup for a tele. I would be interesting to hear it through some vintagestyle amps like a Fender Deluxe and a plexi Marshall.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 14, 2014, 09:15:20 PM
Thanks for the demo man! Piledriver sounds like the ultimate rockpickup for a tele. I would be interesting to hear it through some vintagestyle amps like a Fender Deluxe and a plexi Marshall.

yeah i bet it would sound awesome through a plexi definitely.
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 17, 2014, 10:39:07 AM
here is a quick idea how it sounds through my 5150. not the best video by any means but you can certainly get an idea of what it can do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6l-7M_nXaI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6l-7M_nXaI)

my settings were as followed
pregain 3.5
low 4.5
mid 5.5
high 6
post gain 1.3
resonance 6.5
presence 8
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Dave Sloven on January 17, 2014, 05:38:04 PM
Sounds like it could keep up with my Cold Sweat bridge pickup
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: littleredguitars2 on January 17, 2014, 07:10:48 PM
I'm willing to bet it could for the most part.  It's killer.  Just needs a good bit of gain to push it
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: ViggoPower on January 18, 2014, 11:28:06 AM
Here's a metal song I recorded with Piledriver for anyone interested.
It's got a bit of an old school vibe and, at least to me, you can hear that it is a telecaster.

https://soundcloud.com/viggop/ravn
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: Dave Sloven on January 18, 2014, 01:10:49 PM
I like it!  Sounds like it would be ideal for black metal
Title: Re: Piledriver bridge review
Post by: ViggoPower on January 19, 2014, 03:54:36 PM
I like it!  Sounds like it would be ideal for black metal

Hehe yeah, it can sound very sinister if you want it to!