Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: ztevie on January 15, 2015, 01:22:57 AM
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Hi!
Looking for some opinions and advice. I have emailed BKP but thought it can't hurt to get some more people chiming in...
I don't have the guitar in question yet. It's a Vigier Shawn Lane, and for those of you who don't know it's basically a superstrat with Alder body, maple neck and rosewood board. 24 frets, 24.75 scale. H-S-H pickup configuration.
It's equipped with Dimarzio Air Classics humbuckers and a FS1 in the middle.
I will give the Air Classics a chance for sure but from experience I know I'll probably want something hotter.
I'm not into Shawn Lane tone at all, I'm more a Sfogli, Petrucci, Gilbert tone kind of guy.
I almost exclusively play on the bridge pickup but would like to find a neck pickup that can do solo tone in the veins if the mentioned artists above.
I do rhythm work with the bridge pup. Rock, metal palm muting. Tight, organic, clear and articulate. Hate mud, mush and flabbyness. Shrill and I've pick is not desired either, but balance with tight bass. Not bad if it can do lead work aswell.
I would like the neck to be tight also, but wit a certain amount of creaminess for sustainrich soaring solo work. I really struggle to find that in my other guitars neck pickups. Creamy and sustain, yes, but as soon as I do fast runs on the thicker strings tones tend to mush together.
So what is a nice BKP neck pup that is bright and tight enough and can cut through in a mix bit still retain some cream?
I've read a lot of threads here and my first thought is a Cold Sweat Bridge and a Holy Diver neck. HD seems bright enough from what I've read and the CS seems to be able to do what i want in the bridge? Or maybe Emerald for the neck?
Appreciate all input!
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That could work, although the CS can be quite bright in alder. The HD-neck is one of the brightest in the modern section.
I throw in two other options:
- A Rebel Yell-set (bright and tight, yet organic)
- the alnico Black Hawk-set (more modern than the RY's, but powerful and tight).
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Thanks!
Yeah, I'm aware that i need to hear the characteristics of that specific guitar before I decide anything. In my experience Alder is a pretty well balanced tonewood.
I've looked at RY too, but everyone seems to think it's a pickup basically made for LP style of guitars, but nothing is written in stone in the world of pickups. :)
I'm not too fond of the Black Hawk design, but function before appearance so I'll look into them a little better.
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Alder is usually not as full and warm as mahogany. In general. There are thin sounding Gibsons and middy Fenders.
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CS bridge HD neck is a good combination, so is RY bridge HD neck.
Cheers Stephan
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RY bridge is actually really nice. It has some great harmonic overtones. When I play and hold a note, it stays sustained and turns into great harmonic feedback. People go on about it's brightness, but I'd say it's presence. It's pretty cool, but I'm going to test it fully before revewing it. The RY neck is actually very fluid btw. It's great for shred. I actually find myself playing vinnie moore style solos on it. It has attack, but is fluid as hell. Sweeps like a champ. I haven't played the CS neck though, which is the articulate fluid pickup. But just bringing this up incase you want more snap which I haven't yet discovered on this pickup yet. :)
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Yep, the thing about presence is right. The RY bridge is still my favorite overall pickup. I could rave on about it, but talking only about the high end the beauty is that it feels like it is just made up of harmonic overtones which jump out. That puts it up front in the most musical way possible. The high end is open, complex, and just so loving. Gives you that warm fuzzy old school feel in the presicion package of today. Brilliant.
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I love it for early Andy Timmons style music :)
I think "it's getting better" and "all is forgiven" is a good example. And if you back off the volume, you can get a great "Cry for you" tone when the guitar first kicks in!
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I've actually been eyeing RY for a long time so it's definitely in the race.
But is it tight enough in the lower frequencies?
I love harmonics jumping out, if it's controllable. Put a Dimarzio Fred in the bridge of an Ibanez RG once and that was crazy! Harmonics all over the place, it was hard to use hi gain and control those overtones, it was just too much.
I've read a bunch of reviews since yesterday and keep going this way that way, Holy Diver seems to be a strong candidate. How does it compare to RY in bridge and neck respectively?
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The Cold Sweat has more bottom end than the Rebel Yell.
If your guitar needs more bottom end, stay away from the RY. On the other hand if it has a lot of bottom acoustically then the RY might be the better choice
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The harmonics are always controlled imho. They just replace the normal high end in a way and therefore are very present. In terms of tightness it can go with the best of them I think. Of course it is not Aftermath tight, but anyone who thinks the RY is muddy is damaged. The low end does not go really low, so it does not have that big push nececarily, but it has a punch like wow. Super fast, precise, and alive. That low end voicing makes it problematic in strats, but in darker axes like LPs it is utter brilliance.
It obviously does Billy Idol stuff easily, but if you listen to Nollys band, Red Seas Fire, you notice that it can do technical modern metal too, which of course requires tightness.
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I put RY into a poplar (I think) Ibanez DT a while ago. Definitely not a great fit for me tone wise, great harmonic though.
I have an alder strat that was using Dimarzio a paf pro in the bridge and I switched that to a Holy Diver. That is a nice combination. Quite tight still and aggressive when pushed.
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Rebel Yell Muddy!!??? Talking of the Bridge Pickup here? Was someone using 25k pots with it again!!??
Giant Lump of Mahogany guitar with thick strings = the beefiest tone you ever heard and it still retains those harmonics!!!