Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Iced Dragon on May 11, 2015, 01:10:41 PM
-
Hi all,
I was looking for replacement pups for my Hamer Centaura (swamp ash body + maple board). Currently it has a Cold Sweat bridge and 2 SD SCs. I want it to be more allround with nice SC cleans.
Originally I was going for a The Mule bridge, but I think to go for a Crawler/Mother's Milk set instead.
Now, while I'm at it, I would install a p/p pot too and have a coil split.
However, now I'm doubting between a coil split or series/parallel.
What would you prefer? Is the Crawler high output enough for having it in parallel?
If opting for a coil split, can one choose which coil is used? If so, which one is generally used? Is it a matter of taste and testing?
Thanks!
-
The Crawler is one of the best split tones out of all the BKP range. Why not do that?
-
Yep, the Crawler splits bloody nicely, so I´d opt for that.
You can choose the coild you want, but traditionally the green and white go to ground when split so that the slug coil remains active. This is because it often has a tad more power than the screw coil and is positioned closer to the neck, thus "seeing" more string vibration it can pick up on, keeping it from going too thin.
-
I have the Crawler in a swampash strat. Fine splits. I have the Crawler paired with Irish Tours, but Mother's Milk are very nice too, just a tad leaner, woodier/glassier, with less bass and a tad more topend compared to the IT. Sounds like an underwound IT. I love the neck-MMilk.
-
I've never been a particular fan of single coils but even I was impressed with the split tones I got from my Crawler. I really miss that guitar as it's one of only two I regret selling over the years. If I had a Crawler again I am 100% certain I would have a split option but I think that's the only pickup I would bother splitting these days. I'm about to install some new pickups in my PRS and I have a push/push tone pot to go in but it certainly won't be used for splits. Actually, I'm not sure what to do with it so if anyone has any suggestions, by all means speak up. I was toying with using it to go out of phase for a more Peter Green sound but I'm not sure.
-
Hey,
thanks for al the feedback. Split it shall be.
Now, I'd like this guitar to be very versatile.
Perhaps 'strat' sound is not as straightforwarward as what I have in mind, but I think of The Shadows' Apache, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray (Because of Me, Don't be afraid of the dark), RHCP's Under the bridge, Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, Eric Clapton, ...
Will MM be too bright?
Otherwise, there is a so called 'thick switch' on the guitar, which pronounces the mids more. I don't know if to leave it as such, which might be interesting, or use it for coil split. Otherwise, I'm interested in having a coil split combined with the neck SC.
Your thoughts? :smiley:
-
That 'thick switch' sounds like the Eric Clapton mod. Personally I'd go Slowhands but that's just because it's the only single coil that's really appealed to me so you can probably dismiss my biased view :tongue:
-
Hey,
thanks for al the feedback. Split it shall be.
Now, I'd like this guitar to be very versatile.
Perhaps 'strat' sound is not as straightforwarward as what I have in mind, but I think of The Shadows' Apache, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray (Because of Me, Don't be afraid of the dark), RHCP's Under the bridge, Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, Eric Clapton, ...
Will MM be too bright?
Otherwise, there is a so called 'thick switch' on the guitar, which pronounces the mids more. I don't know if to leave it as such, which might be interesting, or use it for coil split. Otherwise, I'm interested in having a coil split combined with the neck SC.
Your thoughts? :smiley:
What kind of timbers has the Centaura? Has the guitar a bright or dark natural voice?
If you use 250k pots for the single coils I suppose eq will be balanced.
-
Oh, I thought I had mentioned it, but I suppose that was in an old thread.
It's swamp ash with a maple neck and fingerboard.
-
Oh, I thought I had mentioned it, but I suppose that was in an old thread.
It's swamp ash with a maple neck and fingerboard.
Swampash + maple makes it probably a quite percussive guitar with a lot of snap.
In that case I would go at least Irish Tours: less bright than Mother's Milk, more mids and bass, but still vintage enough for the styles you mention. If you turn the volumeknob a tad down you get close to Mother's Milk.
-
So, I'm still doubting between MMilk and IT.
Say I'd want a typical '80s sound (think the rythm guitar in Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, Madonna's Who's that girl or Nick Kamen's Each Time You Break My Heart), that's single coil, right? (no P90). Quite percussive.
Which would suit better?
-
ok, Ithink I will set for Crawler + IT. I've been doubting between IT middle and MMilk neck, but that might be too unbalanced?
Rolling back the volume will make it clear enough, and since it's only 1 500k tone pot, the IT will probably be still bright enough?
-
Can I objectively know when a guitar is 'bright'?
-
The last question is a tad difficult. In my experience swampash is percussive, but doesn't has to be always very bright. The maple neck will enhance the snap though. I guess you played different guitars through your amp and you must have a sort of reference. Besides that acoustically you can notice if the guitar produces big basses or not.
250k is ideal for a single coil, but I would just try it. It's not a difference between heaven and hell. With these timbers it could turn out quite nice.
-
I don't know if it's the guitar, or the pickups (Cold Sweat & 2 duncan SCs), but I don't find it particularly bright. So, I'm again doubting about the pickups (yeah, sorry for this) ...
I read about the IT middle and MMilk neck, anybody tried the opposite?
Anybody an idea on the 80's sound?
What neck SC could I combine the split Crawler with to get a telecaster-ish sound?
Sorry, lot of questions, but when I look at Geoff Whitehorn's or Brent Mason's or Johnny Hiland's wiring, it should be possible to get this kind of sound (and add an extra dimension to the guitar's possibilities).
-
You might also want to consider the Holy Diver for the bridge
-
Diver is an option too, more modern than the Crawler, less huge and less bass. Both have serious mids and do eigthies metal, just in different way.
For the OP: the IT-neck is more tele than the MM-neck, which has a genuine early sixties sound with all the famous sparkle, hollowness and woodiness.
-
ok, thanks. I think I'll stick with a crawler.
Didn't mean 80's metal, but 80's pop ;)
So, I'm still doubting between MMilk and IT.
Say I'd want a typical '80s sound (think the rythm guitar in Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, Madonna's Who's that girl or Nick Kamen's Each Time You Break My Heart), that's single coil, right? (no P90). Quite percussive.
Which would suit better?
Thanks
-
80's pop production is full of great, clean and sparkling strat tones. You'll want the MMs in that case.
ok, thanks. I think I'll stick with a crawler.
Didn't mean 80's metal, but 80's pop ;)
So, I'm still doubting between MMilk and IT.
Say I'd want a typical '80s sound (think the rythm guitar in Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, Madonna's Who's that girl or Nick Kamen's Each Time You Break My Heart), that's single coil, right? (no P90). Quite percussive.
Which would suit better?
Thanks
-
BKP sell 'Crawler humbucker & 2 Mother's milk single coils' as one of their HSS sets.
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23&products_id=119
-
BKP sell 'Crawler humbucker & 2 Mother's milk single coils' as one of their HSS sets.
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23&products_id=119
Yeah and I have the Crawler/IT's which is a wicked combo. I also have a VHII/Mother's Milk combo, where BKP recommends VHII/Irish Tours, which I think fit better to the Crawler. They can't put all the combo's on their website: by example no Abraxas in the HSS-sets and that is, like the Crawler, a great pickup for bolt-on guitars.
Anyway you can order whatever combo you like at BKP or your dealer.
-
Yeah, well, I checked out the Abraxas on Youtube, and it's interesting, to say the least.
How is it split compared to the crawler?
Heard a nice combination with slowhands ...
So now, I'm doubting even more ...
To recapitulate, I want my Hamer Centaura (swamp ash (probably) and maple board) to be an allround pop/rock/blues guitar, mainly pursuing an 80's sound (not metal per se, I have other guitars, but shred would be a plus), perhaps some Nashville/tele or jazzy sounds too ...
I want nice sc strat-like cleans (until I realised that there are several strat sounds :rolleyes:), sparkly, twangy but dirty blues too ... funky 80's rhythm as heard with Madonna, Michael Jackson, ...; not overly bright though.
SC sounds: jimi hendrix, RHCP, Robert Cray, Chris Isaak, SRV ...
Humbucker: I generally don't like clean bridge humbuckers sounds. Perhaps never played the right one. They never seem 'full' or defined. Hard to define, really. I do want a nice warm, full, 'liquid' lead tone, and a nice not too bright split clean.
I would also like to combine the split humbucker with the neck SC to have some tele-like sound.
So, I'm doubting between
1. Crawler/IT/IT
2. Crawler/IT/MMilk
3. Abraxas/IT/IT
4. Abraxas/IT/MMilk
5. Abraxas/SH/SH
6. other????
Does the middle SC has to be RWRP?
Do you pay full price if you compose your own HSS set?
thanks
-
Abraxas splits beautifully - if not on par with the Crawler, then maybe - maybe a notch below it. I have two Abraxas loaded guitars. Haven't looked back yet. Got a Crawler/MM going into my current build.
-
Abraxas splits beautifully - if not on par with the Crawler, then maybe - maybe a notch below it. I have two Abraxas loaded guitars. Haven't looked back yet. Got a Crawler/MM going into my current build.
Agreed. Both split very good. Btw, the OP doesn't need to worry about the cleans from these pickups. They both produce very nice cleans. Everytime I'm surprised how the Crawler in full humbucking mode cleans up when I turn down the volumeknob. It can even jangle a bit that way. On the other hand, if you turn the toneknob on the guitar, I can pull off some great jazzbox-tones. I even play Setzer on that setting. Setzer on a strat, I should be :police: ...
-
hmmm, difficult, but I think I'll stick with the Crawler/IT combo.
Does the middle need to be RWRP?
Special needs for the humbucker to make the wiring possible?
-
Would it have a large impact soundwise if the guitar was alder instead of swampash, and would it affect pickup choice?
-
Hi all,
sorry to bother you guys again. I've taken a more in-depth listening to the single coils.
I was wondering if the Apaches could be mixed with a Crawler bridge?
When listening to the Irish Tours on youtube, I like them. there's definitely still a quack and a pronounced bass and dynamic, but when listening to the demos here, I think it sounds quite compressed and the bass seems tighter, while the MMilk, Apache and PAT seem to be more dynamic (fuller sounding?).
Another song I associate with the typical single coil sound I'm after: Big Log by Robert Plant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AT7sJkBejc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AT7sJkBejc)
Can this still be achieved with Irish Tours and playing with the tone pot (and perhaps resistors and caps)?
It's a hard decision. BKPs don't come in cheap, and I want to make the right choice :)
Thanks
-
Just had a chat, and I was already considering the '63 veneer board SCs, but Ben French also suggested them. I guess this is more the Robert Cray, James Calvin Wilsey (Chris Isaak), ... kinda sound I'm after.
What do you think about this in combination with a crawler?
Could I still get the tele sound out of bridge+neck?
-
Hi guys,
last week I received my crawler/'63 HSS set.
I installed them with an autosplit and through a push-pull pot coil split+selection of this coil, meaning that when it's split I can combine it with any of the other pick-ups (in theory).
I haven't got the time to really test them thoroughly, but here's a first impression.
The crawler (nearly) blew me away. I've never encountered a bridge humbucker which I liked clean. They often sound kind of nasal to me. The crawler has it just a little bit. Seems like a very balanced pick-up, but might have had a tad more bass, though. With distortion, it's very clean, ideal to get rid of sloppy playing ... Nice, fluent leads. Shred is no prob. Reminds me of Jason Becker's Perpetual Burn but perhaps less drive/output?
The split coil is indeed nice (for so far I have experience with single coils ...).
The '63 veneer board set: wow! In my guitar, nice, warm cleans. Truly single coil sound, but not 100 % what I was after. It might be the guitar having plenty of mids by itself, but at least the neck might have been a bit more scooped, a little more bass and somewhat hotter. They should be clean but have a little more edge to them (does this make sense?). They lack some quack/twang to me. I can get the 'Wicked Game' sound, but less Robert Cray, or, Chris Rea, which I've been exploring recently. But still, very nice sounding, I like them, and are generally what I was looking for, and perhaps I need some tweaking with height and amp settings?
Perhaps MMilk would indeed have been better, but then again perhaps too much treble and over the top twang? Irish Tours, don't know, even more mids?
Or a baseplate?
My splitting options. These add quite some combinations, but I'm not sure if wiring works out 100 % ok. I would expect that position 2 (autosplit) would sound the same as with my coil split + positon 3, but the autosplit sounds fuller, warmer, slightly louder so I'm not sure if the autosplit works with the current wiring (I originally installed everything without coil split, and it seemed (!) different). I don't think different coils are used when autosplit or coil split, right?
But in general, very nice sounds, quit versatile. Shredding with the '63 is no problem too. I mainly miss some twang and output, but amp settings might help a little.
-
Nice to hear mate. With the SCs I´d definetly experiment with height first, it should do a lot. After that my thought would be baseplate, which should do just what you want.
-
Missing twang with the 63 Veneer Board sounds a bit weird. I have Mother's Milk and they twang really good (in an ash strat). The MM is quite close to the 63 Veneer Board. What pots and capacitors you use?
-
Hey,
pots are 500k. The capacitor is 0.01 µfd (Mfd) 100 V DC.
-
500k should twang enough, since I have 250k for the single coils in my HSS-strat.
-
I'll alter the heigths and see what it'll give. Do you expect more twang closer to the strings or further away?
-
Closer, but just give it a try.