Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Blackened on May 01, 2018, 03:42:02 AM
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** i am only concerned with the Bridge position pickup for this discussion
I have a singlecut, Les Paul style guitar that I am looking for a replacement pickup in the Bridge position, for down-tuned metal like Down, Pantera, and Metallica's occasional down-tuned songs. In my case, I plan to tune the guitar to 1 whole step below standard (D), and occasionally drop all strings a half step further (C#) and finally also tune to Drop B. So never lower than Drop B.
I tend to prefer Alnico 5 over Ceramic for pickup magnets based on experience trying different aftermarket pickups.
In this video compilation:
https://youtu.be/hSoDFyYSauc
of clips from different Bare Knuckle pickups doing modern metal, the Black Dog seemed the most well-rounded and clear to me. But my concern is maybe the sound of the Black Dog in this clip is not accurate to how the pickup really sounds? Because it seems odd that a Vintage Hot pickup like the Black Dog seems to sound better for doing modern metal than a number of other pickups in this video that are designed as modern metal pickups (e.g. Juggernaut, Cold Sweat, Painkiller)...
So, does an actual Black Dog pickup sound like what I am hearing in this clip?
If not, what pickup in the Bare Knuckle lineup sounds closest to what the Black Dog sounds like in this clip?
Thanks
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Yeah, it might seem strange, but the voicing of the Black Dog is incredibly well-suited to metal uses. Being a thicker gauge than the contemporary pickups generally use, it's got the lean low end that keeps it really tight, but it also has a smooth without a harsh resonant peak, and a fat mid with that slightly "c--ked-wah" voicing that sounds amazing under heavy gain.
What's the drawback compared to high output pickups? You don't get the amount of drive and compression, but we are still talking about a really punchy pickup, and especially if you use heavier gauge strings and pick with some authority you're going to be generating more than enough power. It'll also make for excellent versatility should you want to drop the gain levels too.
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Yeah, it might seem strange, but the voicing of the Black Dog is incredibly well-suited to metal uses. Being a thicker gauge than the contemporary pickups generally use, it's got the lean low end that keeps it really tight, but it also has a smooth without a harsh resonant peak, and a fat mid with that slightly "c--ked-wah" voicing that sounds amazing under heavy gain.
What's the drawback compared to high output pickups? You don't get the amount of drive and compression, but we are still talking about a really punchy pickup, and especially if you use heavier gauge strings and pick with some authority you're going to be generating more than enough power. It'll also make for excellent versatility should you want to drop the gain levels too.
Cool, thanks