Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: boogiejeff1 on October 28, 2014, 11:40:52 PM
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I play a 62 reissue strat. I use a modded Marshall JCM 800 head with an avatar 2x12 open backed cabinet. I use a boost pedal. I run pre gain on about 6 and my gain about 2. I play in the notched positions mostly and on the neck. I love Ed King, Steve Gaines, Eddy Shaver, Trower, Hendrix...That type of thing...I'm LOVE the old style quack..I'm almost decided to try a set of the 59 patent pending..but something says try the "IRISH TOURS"...Will I go wrong?
Thanks. Jeff
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Irish Tours are hotter, have more bass, mids and less highs than the 59 slabboards, which have more woodiness and a genuine late fifties, early sixties stratvibe. I have both IT's and Mother's Milks, which are close to the 59 slabboards. The IT's can get close to the Mother's Milk of you turn the volumeknob a tad back. There's still enough woodiness and glassiness, The neckpickup is really, really good. Perfect for clean stuff, pop, funk, blues(rock) and rock.
I play in coverband and do nearly all songs with my HSS strat, loaded with a Crawler and Irish Tours. They deliver on every amp. They handle gain very well, whilst keeping clarity and noteseparation, which is a BKP-trademark.
The slabboards are a tad more vintage, If you want slightly more bass but that original vibe, the 63 Pat Pend Veneerboard is a good choice too.
All single coils mentioned are fab in their own way.
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I play country...But I do it with an Eddy Shaver feel....Little dirty and some boost...That's why the IRISH TOURS intrigue me...and the 63 patent pending has me curious too....
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Help me out guys! :grin:
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Telerocker knows his single coils.
If you want a second opinion I would write to BKP directly. They give great advice.
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If you do a bit of fingerpicking I would seriously inspect the Pat Pends with a baseplate on the bridge for some extra oomph.
The IT's rock a little more. SRV or Walter Trout, no problem.
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Telerocker knows his single coils.
If you want a second opinion I would write to BKP directly. They give great advice.
This is also a good thing to do!
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Telerocker knows his single coils.
If you want a second opinion I would write to BKP directly. They give great advice.
Oh, I've written to BKP...They were fantastic...I just wanted to talk to some pickers and get all the input I can find...I LOVE the sound of vintage single coils..I just want a little more UMMMPH.... :grin: :grin:
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Telerocker knows his single coils.
If you want a second opinion I would write to BKP directly. They give great advice.
Oh, I've written to BKP...They were fantastic...I just wanted to talk to some pickers and get all the input I can find...I LOVE the sound of vintage single coils..I just want a little more UMMMPH.... :grin: :grin:
So, what they recommend?
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Yep, I'm intrigued - what do BKP recommend?
Anyway, at least this thread has helped start me play guitar again!! I've been stopped for a good few weeks, kinda stalled between what to play next... This thread and the arrival of my Deluxe 40th Anniversary Boxed Set of... Irish Tour '74 has helped me stick one of my trusty strats on.
I've got ITs, Apaches, and Sultans. The first set I bought was the ITs and I was in roughly the same boat as you. The 59 set didn't exist, so I was thinking "it ought to be Mother's Milks but I have a hankering for ITs".
I went for ITs. It was actually the "wrong" choice for that guitar (a CIJ "62") because the guitar itself is quite "mellow, warm and rounded" sounding. Like Telerocker says, the ITs have more mids and low end than some, so in that guitar I couldn't get the bite and lightness, the transparency that I wanted sometimes - even with rolling off the volume. They've been in a 60s Roadworn for several years now. That's a very lively and resonant strat, and the ITs do EXACTLY what I want in it. It absolutely nails the Rory on Irish Tour 74 strat sound. But when I roll off, it's still a harder, middy sort of sound. That's fine with me... but I can't quite get that gorgeous lightness and melodic cluck of Steve Gaines or Ed King with it. It's possible that I could at a decent volume, gigging with a drummer volume, but I have to play quieter nowadays(!) so I'll never know.
I would say that if you value that "lighter", "sparkly with body" sound, then you should err on the side of caution and go with the 59s (or Mothers Milks) and rely on your boost or whatever to give you more meat when you need it. I'm probably going to try a set in one of the other strats soon.
But if, like me, most of the time you want that more robust bluesy and biting strat that cleans up nicely with the volume control and scrunches like an SG when you need it... then the ITs are for you.
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Actually, I've just learnt something!!
I'm playing my ITs through a POD XTLive with headphones at the moment. I've got one of my "Rory" patches dialed in. I just decided to switch on the extra Semi-Parametric EQ (pre the amp, I believe) and cut by 3db at both 200Hz and 3000Hz ... almost instant Steve Gaines (apart from my playing, that is...) at the flick of a footswitch.
So maybe I don't need more pickups after all!
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Actually, I've just learnt something!!
I'm playing my ITs through a POD XTLive with headphones at the moment. I've got one of my "Rory" patches dialed in. I just decided to switch on the extra Semi-Parametric EQ (pre the amp, I believe) and cut by 3db at both 200Hz and 3000Hz ... almost instant Steve Gaines (apart from my playing, that is...) at the flick of a footswitch.
So maybe I don't need more pickups after all!
Yes you do! :grin:
No serious, nailing someones tone goes beyond a pickup. You need to look at the whole chain. The amp is a big part of it. IT's will sound way different on a Mesa Recto than on a Vibrolux.
Anyway, it's fun to have to have a thread on single coils, which doesn't happen so much lately.
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Telerocker knows his single coils.
If you want a second opinion I would write to BKP directly. They give great advice.
Oh, I've written to BKP...They were fantastic...I just wanted to talk to some pickers and get all the input I can find...I LOVE the sound of vintage single coils..I just want a little more UMMMPH.... :grin: :grin:
So, what they recommend?
They said IT's were the #1 seller....But If I wanted QUACK then the Apache's or the Patent Pending series..
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IT's still have the quack, don't worry, but yeah, Apaches and Pat Pends are less hot. They do cleans with authority. They are all fine in their own way. If you want ultime quack, pick the Veneerboard 63. It has a little more bass than the 59 Slabboard.
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Interesting they mentioned Apaches. I nearly said "have you considered Apaches?" but decided it'll be hard enough deciding without adding more options!
When I'm in "Rory" mode, my IT'd strat is the one.
But, for me personally, Apaches seem to be my favourite, the most "Yeah... THIS is what a strat sounds like!!". They do Rory just as easily, in fact they seem to do anything I like...
I was expecting Apaches to be polite, maybe a bit thin, or something. Not a bit of it. They are fatter than I was expecting, with some surprising "hair" on them. When you turn them down, they do go polite and "nice bubbly strat" - but for me they don't get as thin as soon as ITs seem to do, Apaches retain their "body". Having said that - I too was/am a big fan of the notched positions... but with Apaches, Bridge, Middle, and Neck are so good on their own that I've considering putting a three-way switch in!!! I don't actually use the 2 and 4 positions very much on Apaches.
I wish I could help on the 59 and 63, but I've no experience. I have a gut feeling that 59 might be the one, but that's all it is: a gut feeling based on my own "what do I fancy here?".
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Andy: was playing my strats the last few days too. I was really happy about that, didn't realise how much I missed them. My approach is very different with them, I've taken a couple of pointers from you. Lovely guitars.
BoogieJeff: I have a (more or less) standard JCM800 and find it a little too bright to be used with a strat plugged direct in with a straight cable. The strats I can use like this are loaded with Sinners and Slow Hands. Anything else is too ice picky. I don't know what mods you've done to the JCM, maybe you've had some of the top end rolled off. Myidea of a good strat tone is Rory Gallagher, Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen and Richie Blackmore.
My 'trick' is to copy some of the greats and use a curly cable and a treble booster (Phil Hilborne Fat TB) and then all my strats work like a charm.
If you find strats too bright in general in that JCM I would suggest the Slow Hand set as they are a bit darker but still vintagey enough to get the chime. They quack for sure, but maybe not QUACK.
Irish Tours are great 'do anything' pickups. I would hesitate to use them in maple board strat into a stock JCM800. But some people love them with maple boards, so what do I know ;)
I have the slab board set in a veneer board strat, and they do require a bit of external assistance with the JCM, brilliant tone though if you get it right. I agree with Telerocker that they are brigher than Irish Tours, they can be scratchy with hard rock levels of gain. If you run them clean or with just a touch of gain you get all the classic chime and quack you want.
Most likely, the Irish Tour is the right choice for you. It depends how hot you want to go.
Different also if you pluck with fingers or use a pick. I've assumed your more of a pick kind of guy. If you play with fingers, you don't need to worry about too much brightness.
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Apaches are, to me, the classic Strat tone and as you said Andy, they do sound like a Strat ought to. I've had mine for something like 6 years or so and from the moment I first played them I loved them and whenever that Guitar gets an airing, I fall in love all over again. Naturally, being a guitarist, I like to have more things to play with and if I had the space I'd maybe get another Strat just so that I could have a third set (as I have a Strat with Slowhands in it) and I'd be probably looking at the Mothers Milk set- I don't know. But for the OP, I was thinking at the time that maybe Apaches would be a good choice. It always looks like you are touting the set that you just happen to have but I cannot find any reason that I'd stray from the Apaches. To me they are so versatile and have that chimey warmth and sprang.
Though whilst I mention the Slkowhands, the quack positions are also pretty satisfying but the Apaches edge it for me.
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Thanks! You guys are really great...Some valuable info...I use a Bob Sweet Boost pedal with my setup, a little reverb and that is it...I too LOVE A STRAT TO SOUND LIKE A STRAT...Some guys change from Strats to humbucker guitars and you can't tell they have change... :shocked: I want you to HEAR I'm playing a STRAT....And a Strat to me is all about the neck and the notched positions...Klein once told me..."KEEP YOUR GUITAR AS CLOSE TO SPEC AS POSSIBLE....He told me if you are going for the SCOOPED MIDS" type sound, you will get lost in the mix with another guitar player if you haven't got a good sound man...If you plug into a Fender type amp you should get that scooped mid range sounded...If you plug into a Marshall Type amp you should get a MID RANGE type sound...The more I read..The more I'm thinking Apache's or the 63 set...
But then again the Mother"s Milk does sound really good..
Decisions, decisions...
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You won't be disappointed by Apaches. To me they sound a little more polite than say a 63 Veneer Board, but if you're playing mainly clean stuff that could be a plus.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WddWkNGgp6g (ftp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WddWkNGgp6g) This is the SOUND I try to get as close to...( Wish I could play like EddY did RIP)
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Link doesn't work. Copy paste either, vid not available says YT.
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Let's try this:ftp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI/ftp (ftp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI/ftp)
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Telerocker...Go to YOUTUBE and look up Billy Joe Shaver live at Farm Aid 1994 Georgia on A Fast Train..That's what I'm going for.
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For this you want a thick sounding clear vintage singlecoil, which imo is the Apache. But, also the right amp (something like a Vibrolux/Vibroverb) is important.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI)
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For this you want a thick sounding clear vintage singlecoil, which imo is the Apache. But, also the right amp (something like a Vibrolux/Vibroverb) is important.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzey-oLVhpI)
i would agree with you 100% telerocker. great strat tone there by the way!
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Jeff told me he's going Apaches. Now we wait for a report. :wink:
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Jeff told me he's going Apaches. Now we wait for a report. :wink:
I heard a rumour along those lines as well...
Looking forward to how it turns out :smiley:
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So, how did this turn out?
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Jeff hasn't logged in since last November
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Have both Apaches and 63 - LOVE them both, but nod goes towards the Apache's for anything with moderate gain. Both stellar for cleans and grit. Also have an uninstalled MM sitting around, waiting for its host body to arrive.
But as stated before, the Apaches are the quintessential Strat pickups IMHO. If these MMs don't measure up, they can live in my backup guitar.