Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: darkandrew on May 12, 2018, 10:38:38 AM
-
Well, here as promised is a comparison between these four pickup sets as used in the same guitar - an ESP Eclipse. For those that aren't familiar with the Eclipse, it's a Les Paul style guitar with a mahogany body and neck, maple cap and rosewood fretboard. The main difference between this and a traditional Les Paul is that the Eclipse has a belly cut on the back and is also about 7-8mm thinner. Tone wise, it's fairly neutral which actually gives it a slightly brighter tone as the top end is not hidden beneath a big bottom.
I'm going to do this a bit differently to usual; I'm not going to go through one pickup and then the next, instead I'm going to do it by frequency band - starting by comparing the bottom ends, the low mids, the centre mids, high mids and finally the top end. I hope that makes sense and proves to be useful. For now I'm going to do bridge pickups only (although I will reference the neck where it's appropriate) but when I've got time I'll try to come back and add a specific neck pickup comparison.
Bottom end: There are two camps here - the rough and the smooth. The Crawler is definitely in the smooth camp, whilst some of the other pickups have a low, gruff rumble like old Spitfires (if you've ever heard a Merlin engine you'll know what I mean), the Crawler sounds more ike a modern car engine - smooth and even. Now, before I continue with the Crawler I think I should describe how I set it up as this makes quite a difference. Close to the strings it is boomy but backed off it develops more mids and a subtle top end - for this purpose it's backed off quite a bit. Even when backed off it's still full but the bottom end is not the dominant feature. The Nail Bomb comes next on the journey away from smooth towards grit and grind - it's got a sizeable bottom end, not too big but more defined than the Crawler and with a chainsaw type of grittiness, the Mule has a slightly less pronounced bottom end but it breaks up into a more rubbley type of tone adding more grind at the low end. This leaves the Holy Diver which is probably on a par with the Nail Bomb for size but is far more broken up and nasty.
Low mids: This is where the Crawler starts to develop its tone - while still staying smooth (I'm probably going to use that word a lot with the Crawler) it starts to grow a prominent hump in the low mids which will continue through the centre mids and then fall again as we go through the high mids and top end. Don't misinterpret this is meaning that the Crawler is boomy or muddy in any way, when properly adjusted it's as articulate as any pickup. I'm also going to mention the Crawler neck here as this is where the two pickups balance - the neck is also a very warm, smooth pickup which mirrors the bridge in many ways, having a gentle top end but more weight further down. The Holy Diver and Nail Nombs pick up a little more weight here too, with the HD's nasty, rubbley break up starting to get even nastier. The Mule, on the other hand, picks up a little more weight but not as much as the others but still retains its grind going through this part of the frequency band.
Centre mids: This is where the Crawler peaks - it's not as much of a peak as say a Black Dog for example, it's a much gentler, smoother (it's that word again) curve. The Holy Divers are also continuing to gain weight and yes they are still sounding nasty (just as you can sum the Crawlers up "smooth", I think it would be fair to say that "nasty" is a word that could be used to sum up the HD) however, unlike the Crawlers, they will continue to rise a bit more into the high mids before falling quite rapidly as you go into the top end. The Nail Bomb and Mule stay fairly flat at this point, neither really taking on much more weight but retaining their individual characters - the Mule maintains its grind but the Nail Bomb beginning to develop its throaty rattle.
High mids: The Crawler is starting to lose weight now as already said, while the Holy Diver is maintaining its peak for a little while longer before it too will jump off the other side of the hill. The Mule is doing its thing of staying fairly flat and grindy while the Nail Bomb also appears to be backing off a little in this area - this is the Nail Bomb's trick; it flattens out in the mids / upper mids with a distinctive rattley tone and then comes back for a second bite as we go up into the top end. This makes it slightly less cutting in a mix than a Rebel Yell but also means it fits much better IN the mix, giving it thickness and texture, just like a great rhythm guitar should.
Top end: The Holy Divers have now begun their rapid decent, with most of the highest top end gone. The Crawlers, well they are still smooth and have a gentle presence in this area, the Mule is quite bright and well represented in this area but without being overly so - I wouldn't call the Mule flat at all, that would not describe it, I think a better description is well balanced but with grind when driven. And then we have the Nail Bomb - for those that thought it had gone to sleep, it's now woken up and it's not happy! The slight dormancy in the upper mids only makes the metallic cut-throat razor of a top end sound even more aggressive - the top end is definitely there, slashing at you at every opportunity but that little respite in the high mids prevents it from becoming shrill or ice picky.
I think that covers pretty much everything that I can think of and I hope that someone finds it useful - I'll try to do a similar thing one day for the neck pickups.
-
Haha, that's an in depth review! I recognize a lot of your descriptions and I realize again why I don't have a Nailbomb (too hairy for me) and a Holy Diver (I prefer the Crawler in a strat). I add that the Crawler sounds better when set quite low. This pickpup has a unique growl when pushed, that I didn't hear in other BKP's. And it cleans up excellent. You can even play jazz on the bridgepickup with the tone dimed a bit. Good to see some love for the Mule too. I love this BKP for (classic) rock.
-
Haha, that's an in depth review! I recognize a lot of your descriptions and I realize again why I don't have a Nailbomb (too hairy for me) and a Holy Diver (I prefer the Crawler in a strat). I add that the Crawler sounds better when set quite low. This pickpup has a unique growl when pushed, that I didn't hear in other BKP's. And it cleans up excellent. You can even play jazz on the bridgepickup with the tone dimed a bit. Good to see some love for the Mule too. I love this BKP for (classic) rock.
Don't underestimate the Nail Bomb. On its own it doesn't always grab your attention, like the Holy Diver does for example, but it is one of my favourite pickups for recording with (the other being the Mule) because it just sits so well in a mix.
-
Haha, that's an in depth review! I recognize a lot of your descriptions and I realize again why I don't have a Nailbomb (too hairy for me) and a Holy Diver (I prefer the Crawler in a strat). I add that the Crawler sounds better when set quite low. This pickpup has a unique growl when pushed, that I didn't hear in other BKP's. And it cleans up excellent. You can even play jazz on the bridgepickup with the tone dimed a bit. Good to see some love for the Mule too. I love this BKP for (classic) rock.
Don't underestimate the Nail Bomb. On its own it doesn't always grab your attention, like the Holy Diver does for example, but it is one of my favourite pickups for recording with (the other being the Mule) because it just sits so well in a mix.
I believe you straightaway. I just don't like the NB for what I'm playing, but I can see it's place in guitarland.
-
Great review!
I haven't owned the Crawler but everything else is spot on
-
I've owned many BKP and after five years I still love my Holy Diver Calibrated set in my Charvel CS (Trilogy Suite RWRP) it seems after years they just sound better with age.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/mantrasky/Studio_zpsv8md0tef.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/mantrasky/media/Studio_zpsv8md0tef.jpg.html)
-
I've owned many BKP and after five years I still love my Holy Diver Calibrated set in my Charvel CS (Trilogy Suite RWRP) it seems after years they just sound better with age.
(https://i.imgur.com/dSoGqad.jpg)
Does the Trilogy Suite overpower the Holy Diver?
-
Does the Trilogy Suite overpower the Holy Diver?
No not at all! I use the Schaller Mega-E 5-Way switch and it blends the coils (series/splits/parallel etc.) together and a great job at sounding like "Five Different Tones" (Tele/Strat 2&4 position/Full bridge/Full neck) it's a great sounding CS Charvel. I tried a few of the other BKP Slowhand, Irish Tour etc. and they seem to sound weak next to (or blended with) the Holy Diver, whereas the Trilogy in combination with the "calibrated HD set" sounds perfect for me! I really love this setup the most, great rock to finger style jazz tones.....
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h76/mantrasky/25_zpsb3nezoyu.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/mantrasky/media/25_zpsb3nezoyu.jpg.html)