Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: BaLLsAgNe on May 16, 2006, 02:38:12 PM
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I have 3 USA Jacksons that I am looking to upgrade the pickups in.. Ive heard things about BKs, but I live in the US so I dont really have access to them other than hearing of them unless i order them myself.. two of the guitars are set for 2 humbuckers (RR-1, DK-1) and the other is a Humbucker and 2 singles (SL-1). I guess I am looking for recommendations as to what pickups I should order.. In terms of style I play mostly metal but to be more specific I would say im looking for tone along the lines of Iron Maiden, Helloween, Dream Evil, Hammerfall, Metallica, Iced Earth, Stratovarius etc etc. I dont necessarily need one pickup that does all of those tones relatively good since I have three guitars to work with so for example if there is one pickup better for maiden and helloween and another one thats better for metallica and iced earth thats fine cuz i can put one in each guitar. I guess the only other things i can think of to be specific about is that for the bridge humbuckers clean does mean something to me, and for the singles in my SL-1 i would be looking for something similar to the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails (i have those in now and dont really have any complaints).
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Hi
I would reccomend a nailbomb, good all round pickup which has a lot of edge and clarity to it.
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definately a nailbomb set and a miracle man set for the humbucker guitars, maybe something a bit lower output for the sl-1? a VHII and 2 irish tour singles perhaps?
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Hey, Welcome to the forum! Wow, You are blessed if you have three to work with! For a hot single coil I would go for Trilogy Suites. For One RR, I would put Nailbomb in Bridge AND neck, And one, I would put Miracle man Bridge & VHII in neck. If you want sabbathy for one of the bridges go Warpig. But I'm just dreaming :idea: You do know about the elaborate sound clips in the Players Forum, Right.? Good Luck
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when you say sets that means a nailbomb in the bridge and the neck (as with the miracle man)?? if thats the case what kind of cleans should i expect to get out of those? another off topic question like i said before I live in the US so how much are these actually going to cost me? when it comes to bridge pickups i basically narrowed it down to the Holy Diver, the Nailbomb, the Miracle Man, and the Warpig.. how do they differ in tone (i have to eliminate one of them).. if sabbathy tones explains the warpig i guess that one would be out (not big on their tone)
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I think there are some clips of the cleans of a nailbomb somewhere on the Players forum.
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my computers speakers suck and im not sure i would trust those anyway because everyone has a different setup so whoever plays with a certain pickup it would probably sound different (i may be wrong but i guess thats just how i feel about it).. would anyone be able to accurately compare the tones of the 4 bridge pickups i listed above (holy diver, nailbomb, miracle man, warpig).. like what kind of sounds would i get out of each
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To clarify, I was mistaken: I thought you had two RRs, but you have a DK-1. For the RR I would do the Miracle man for Bridge VhII in neck, cuz I have heard alot of good neck solo clips of the VHII and (THink Dave Murray) and Slash) and they are beautiful clean as well. Miracle Mans have tight bass and articulate harmonics. For the DK-1 maybe Nailbomb for both neck and bridge The Nailbomb definitely sound great metalized, but alot better clean than the Miracleman. Both will do any metal fine, but I heard some good all clean NB clips and a couple stellar even Allmans/ Skynrd?blues rock tones from the NBs as well.
The Warpig is I actually the hottest and darkest numetal or death or sabb. So you sound like maybe not them.I actually think the VHII bridge sounds good for 80s metal tone and brilliant clean, and almost got one, but I picked a Nailbomb and two Irish tours for an H/s/s strat. They are in the mail, so I haven't played them, but I think the Nailbombs are very versatile, hot and organic. The ITs nail the hot Hendrix ,the clean but hot SRV and Dave Gilmour lead tones. Probably like the EMG SAs but better, of course :P
THe VHIIs would be brighter, and less hot. THe Miraclemans nail the Zakk tone and have the tightest bass. I live in the USA too, and I always convert pounds to dollars by saying, say ,60 pounds X 1.777 equals $106 dollars. America needs to strengthen their dollar, seen!?
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A little encouragement to get on someone's better speakered computer and TRUST the clips. It will get you so much further in your ballpark. Listen to all of Tim's clips, which are usually first on the Players page. Also regarding that organic Nailbomb clip that sold me on moderate gaintone on the first Players page , check out "Vigier Indus Stomp" and for full blown metalness , all of Lepermesah's clips sound great for Nailbomb. Can you tell I like the Nailbomb? :wink:
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which of the pickups is heavier (more metal?) the nailbomb or the miracle man?
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Well......... The Miracle Man was named after Zakk Wylde's Tone, and I just found out that The NB was named after Sepultura's Max Cavelera's other band's tone or something like that. To me upon listening, the Nailbomb seems to have a little more distortion. MMs might get harmonics a littlebetter, but they are so neck and neck in all of the above, it's just a matter of taste.
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would the miracle man be like zakks old tone (ozzy stuff) or like black label society (god i hope not)? also how would the VHII and the holy diver compare in the bridge?
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Dunno about the Holy Diver at all cuz Nobody will post any clips :evil: The VhII has been known to do Iron Maiden type dist. and Dokken Rythm tones. The MM to me sounds like it will do ozzy zakk AND BLS zakk, but maybe more of the former, but don't quote me, and I am with you, I am not keen on that tone enough to drop one in my guitars. THe Main man, Tim Mills is in an ozzy trib band cald Ozzmosis and He nails the song miracleman on page two or three? in the Players forum where it just says "OZZMOSIS", But I hear he even does some songs with the Mule, which is s'posed to do about any style. He might use an OD pedal, though.
Tim? Do ya? Like I said I like my metal, and I almost got the VHII. Since you have three Guitars, I would definitely consider a Hot PAF HB like it or even the Mule. They can be driven to the Metal Zone I have another strat copy I'll put a VHII and Trilogy S/S's in and a Les Paul copy I want Mules in. But I haven't even received my Nailbomb/Irish Tour/Iri! :D sh Tour set yet, and I can't wait to try out some others. Like everyone else on this forum I just want to buy more blank guitars just to put in all the varietys of BKPs in them.
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i think i have a pretty good idea what i want at this point.. its just a matter of what is a heavier pickup between the miracle man and the nailbomb (the heavier one would go in the rhoads and the other would go in the DK1).. I like how a previous post made the VHII sound so i would put that with the miracle man since it apparently doesnt do clean.. how well does a nailbomb in the neck really compliment a nailbomb in the bridge (cuz thats the best suggestion for that i got at this point)? as for my SL1 im not really sure at all. i guess for the bridge it would be a matter of what is more Iron Maiden-like between the Holy Diver and the VHII (unless someone has a better idea) and for the two single slots i would want something along the lines of a Duncan Hot Rail (which would be more like that the trilogy or the irish something or other?) i appreciate all the help i recieved to this point and any more would be awesome
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The Nailbomb neck seems to have a smooth lead tone for solos in the realm of John Petrucci of Dream theatre or even George Lynch, to me. If
you like that for neck solos , then do that. If you want a little more of a classic neck sound, I might try the Mules cause they are touted to not get muddy at all. For the other Singles guitar it really sounds like you should lean toward Trilogies. I have heard some nice clean tones, and singing lead tones in the neck from them.
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Correct me if I'm wrong by Warpig's were not made with Black Sabbath distortion in mind. They have a DC resistance of 22.5K for God's sake! That's searing, bone crushing distortion if you ask me, definitely much hotter than Sabbath's vintage distortion. And in the Guitar magazine review posted on this site, it says that the Warpigs were made to sound like Zakk Wylde's BLS tone, albeit in a passive pickup. I'd get one guitar with two calibrated Warpigs, 4 wire so they can be split (for better cleans). The other guitar I'd get a set of Nailbombs, again with a 4 wire for splitting. Finish the last guitar with two Trilogy single coils and a Holydriver in the bridge. Sorry I know there are a lot of Miracle Man fans here but I find any ceramic magnet pickup to be lacking in overall tone and versatility.
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i think i got about all the help i needed thanx a million.. if there are any other suggestions they are welcome though
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actually there is one question in mind.. when it comes to the single coil spaces is it worth just getting 2 trilogies or should i get 1 trilogy and one of something else (say the irish whatever or whatever else is good)?
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Correct me if I'm wrong by Warpig's were not made with Black Sabbath distortion in mind. They have a DC resistance of 22.5K for God's sake! That's searing, bone crushing distortion if you ask me, definitely much hotter than Sabbath's vintage distortion. And in the Guitar magazine review posted on this site, it says that the Warpigs were made to sound like Zakk Wylde's BLS tone, albeit in a passive pickup.
Yeah, the Warpigs are more like "passive EMG killers". 8) A lot of the BKP names are not indicating so much an exact tone, but more of a vibe or feel. You know that the intro chords to "War Pigs" feels monstrous, even though the pups and amps weren't that extreme by current standards. But we'd all love to play that with a BKP Warpig pup! :twisted:
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whether or not a get two trilogies or a trilogy and something else, what is the difference between vintage staggered and flat profile?? do they look different?
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You make that choice based on your fretboard - a modern flat fretboard needs flat poles while a curved vintage fretboard (or fretboards on new 'vintage' guitars) needs staggered pole pieces. So with Jacksons I reckon its flat poles.
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well yes my guitars are jacksons (2003 for 2 of them and 2005 for the other) so i guess flat is the way to go? also am I going to want 50mm or 52mm spacing?
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does anyone know where i can find pictures of the trilogies?? i didnt see any in the gallery.. those cant be engraved??
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well yes my guitars are jacksons (2003 for 2 of them and 2005 for the other) so i guess flat is the way to go? also am I going to want 50mm or 52mm spacing?
52mm spacing is most common for guitars with trems. You can measure the distance between the strings (or the centre of the pickup poles) to check. Or you can possibly find out from the specs on the Jackson website.
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RR1, DK1 & SL1 all have Floyd trems right? If so, then definitely 52mm
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thanks ill get them in 52mm then.. im still having a problem selecting the two single coils for my soloist.. the common choice seems to be the trilogy, but is it worth putting two of them in or should i put that in say the neck spot and something else in the middle?? also are any of the single coils hum canceling? I have a noise gate so it probably wouldnt be much of a problem anyway i just thought i would ask.. and i guess ill ask again if anyone knows where I can see some pictures of the trilogy (or any single that i might want to put in) the reason I ask is because i dont know if i want to get my humbuckers covered or open and part of my decision would be based on how a covered humbucker looks with the two singles by it (being that I dont think they can be covered or anything like that)
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^ the singles aren't hum cancelling, they're true single coils. I don't have any idea about the rest, but i figured i might as well answer one of your questions.
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Usually, all positions except on the guitars' five-way switch except for 5 and 3 will be hum-cancelling. The single coils don't cancel hum on their own.
I don't have a pic for you, but the single coils should look fine beside a covered humbucker, IMO. You could also email Tim and see if they'll do covered single coils for you.
As for whether you ought to mix your pickups completely in any one guitar, that's really up to you and the sounds you're after. You'll probably notice more of a change when you switch to different pickups.
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i guess my last question before i order would be what color is the engraving? i plan on getting the humbuckers with the black cover and the engraving but i couldnt tell from the picture if the engraving was gold or silver?
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Hi
I would reccomend a nailbomb, good all round pickup which has a lot of edge and clarity to it.
He has three guitars.. nailbombs should only go into one of them probably, unless one is only a backup to another.
I'd mix and vary. Nailbombs in one, cold sweats in another, and miracle mans in the other, or something like that.
In the soloist, a Cold sweat in the bridge and sinners in the middle and neck look apealing.
I would probably put Miracle Mans in the V and use that as your mean-thrash-metal guitar (for the looks, obviously)
And maybe nailbombs in the DK-1.
Just my two cents ;)
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would the miracle man be like zakks old tone (ozzy stuff) or like black label society (god i hope not)? also how would the VHII and the holy diver compare in the bridge?
I don't think this is relevant because I think it's Zakk's effects chain and amp settings that butchered his tone. Most good loud ceramic magnet pickups will generally do very good Zakk Wylde pinch harmonics, but I need a lot of gain on them too. They also have a mean sound with a lot of low end.
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Correct me if I'm wrong by Warpig's were not made with Black Sabbath distortion in mind. They have a DC resistance of 22.5K for God's sake! That's searing, bone crushing distortion if you ask me, definitely much hotter than Sabbath's vintage distortion.
Maybe they're made to make a Marshall sound darker like a Laney? :)
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how do the trilogy suites compare to the Duncan Hot Rails? i got the hot rails in my SL-1 now and im quite happy with them so i was just wondering if it would be worth replacing them i guess