Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Kepu on September 21, 2006, 06:19:53 PM

Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 21, 2006, 06:19:53 PM
Alright, I'd like to know which pickups would produce the creamiest lead tones of them all
almost so creamy that everytime I play I would be like a piper to the neighbourhood cats (well maybe not)

but still, I was thinking about Abraxas as Santana's tone is lovely
what do you think?
Title: Re: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: hunter on September 21, 2006, 06:47:58 PM
Quote from: Kepu
I was thinking about Abraxas as Santana's tone is lovely
what do you think?


+1 would be my guess, but I don't know them personally ...
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: JamesHealey on September 21, 2006, 06:57:40 PM
the VHII neck pickup is gorgeously smooth dunno how it compares to the Abraxas though..
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on September 21, 2006, 06:58:17 PM
That's easy!

Install these, wired as a humbucker!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/twinkie.gif)
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 21, 2006, 07:02:34 PM
^  :oops:
damn they would sound awesome
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: _tom_ on September 21, 2006, 07:25:38 PM
Quote from: TwilightOdyssey
That's easy!

Install these, wired as a humbucker!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/TwilightOdyssey/twinkie.gif)


Where the hell do you buy Twinkies from?! When I was in america I couldnt find any anywhere I looked, I wanted to sample the foreign cuisine  :lol:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Philly Q on September 21, 2006, 08:42:11 PM
I'm sure you could get Twinkies in the UK once, I've had them quite a few times and it can't have only been in America, I haven't been there since 1976.

They have a horrible, "no natural ingredients" kind of taste... but I like 'em.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: CaffeineJunkie on September 21, 2006, 09:56:25 PM
wow, this thread went downhill quick, and without the help of sambo and myself rambling on about sesame street characters


oh, and i would go with the abraxas neck :D
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 07:40:32 AM
I have the Abraxas neck and it is my favorite neck pickup I have ever tried.  Excellent pickup.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: fps_dean on September 22, 2006, 10:34:16 AM
You can install biscuits for all I care as long as they sound good ;)
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Ratrod on September 22, 2006, 11:11:55 AM
Abraxis will get you that Santana tone. Crawlers can be very creamy too. They share the same neck pickup.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: carlaz on September 22, 2006, 02:29:59 PM
Quote from: Ratrod
Abraxis will get you that Santana tone. Crawlers can be very creamy too. They share the same neck pickup.

+1 on these observations; the Abraxas/Crawler neck is to die for!  

Though if you're happier with something lower output, I'd recommend the Stormy Monday, too.  You ought to be able to get a beautiful open, creamy tone out of those with a nice tube amp!
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 03:02:04 PM
naah, the bigger output the better :twisted:

I'll go with the Abraxas neck then!
Thanks all, I promise to make some cream cookies for you all!
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: carlaz on September 22, 2006, 03:16:42 PM
Quote from: Kepu
I'll go with the Abraxas neck then!

You can't go wrong there, I think.  But what for the bridge?  The Abraxas bridge or the Crawler?  The former is a little more like a "hotter PAF", while the latter has a bit more mid-range grunt.  Though I'm a satisfied Crawler owner, I think the calibrated Abraxas set might suit your deal best.

(Hey, how can you get a creamy tone out of Twinkies when they don't even have real cream? No way, dudes! Death to false cream! 8))
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 03:33:00 PM
how would Miracle Man work in bridge with Abraxas in the neck?
cuz I'm interrested to play some metal with it too! :twisted:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: carlaz on September 22, 2006, 03:49:35 PM
Well, I was looking for versatile pups that would give me a) Santana neck tones, and b) vintage feel, but enough heat for metal (though more classically-toned metal than either neoclassical shredding or extreme metal grind).  Tim recommended me the Crawlers, and they were good.  

But, for something more definitively metal, yeah, I don't think the MM would be too much.  I'm only going on the not-very-precise guide of the DC ratings, but the Crawler bridge is like 15k and the MMs like 17.5.  The Holydiver might also be worth consideration -- with a slightly more old school metal tone, perhaps -- but there's no doubt that for metaaaaaaal the MM totally delivers.  :twisted:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 05:18:45 PM
Abraxas can do metal. (And crawler but I haven't played one).   Metal is a broad term though.  What do you mean?  What guitar too!
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: carlaz on September 22, 2006, 05:42:28 PM
Heck, the Mules can do metal! :) Like Tol says, it depends on the vibe one's looking for.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 05:51:39 PM
no idea about the guitar cuz I dont have it yet :D
but probably gonna get some cheaper PRS


and with metal I mean stuff like Metallica, Slayer, In Flames, Amon Amarth and so on...
basically the harder stuff
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 06:17:39 PM
I have played my Abraxas in a couple of tube amps.  Marshall TSL, Mesa Nomad.  I think with these it can do a good metal tone in E, Eb, or Drop D.  

My friend, the other guitarist, is jealous of my chug power and pinch harmonics. :twisted:

For the lower/harder stuff like In Flames(C tuning) and Amon Amarth(B tuning), you might need more gain and a pickup more suited for lower tunings.      

Confused? :P
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: carlaz on September 22, 2006, 06:22:03 PM
Quote from: Tol
I have played my Abraxas in a couple of tube amps.  Marshall TSL, Mesa Nomad.  I think with these it can do a good metal tone in E, Eb, or Drop D.

Likewise with my Crawler (which is not a million miles away from the Abraxas). It has enough of that open, vintage vibe in it to give dropped tunings a really spacious roar. I put it down to C# a few times and it sounded brutal.  I think Ratrod will back up that experience as well.  :twisted:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 06:47:00 PM
Kepu,

Besides, metal and do you want to play with the bridge pickup?
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 07:44:19 PM
hard rock stuff like Van Halen, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith comes to my mind atm
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 08:32:11 PM
Your at the dilemma I always get to.  3 of those you mentioned are BKP pickups! A lot of choices for hard rock pickups here!   Have you tried emailing Tim?  He is the expert!

Carlaz will know how the Crawler will handle those.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 08:57:05 PM
yes, but mostly metal, so I'd like to go with Miracle Man for the Metallica sound
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 09:00:48 PM
I haven't gotten to play one...yet!  Others know more about the MM.  

Good luck deciding.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 09:44:49 PM
yeah, btw I emailed Tim 4 days ago about Holy Divers and he still hasnt answered :(
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on September 22, 2006, 09:56:59 PM
Quote from: Kepu
yeah, btw I emailed Tim 4 days ago about Holy Divers and he still hasnt answered :(

Resend it, silly. :)
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 22, 2006, 10:06:08 PM
but I can't be arsed to rewrite it again :D
so I'll just leave it
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: TwilightOdyssey on September 22, 2006, 10:38:31 PM
Copy/piz-aste!!
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 22, 2006, 10:42:04 PM
Ok don't email, just buy all the pickups!

Maybe he is just swamped with work.  I can only imagine.
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 23, 2006, 10:04:06 AM
I don't have enough guitars to buy all of them :lol:

and I didn't save the email, so there is no place where I could copy it :P
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: deg0ey on September 23, 2006, 10:19:32 AM
I think the Holy Diver might be a viable option for all of those types of sound - I have the bridge version in my strat, and it is great for that 80s thing it's designed for (as you would expect) but it can also get to vintage Metallica (not tried the more modern stuff yet), Thin Lizzy works fine, as does Aerosmith...I'm not a huge AC/DC fan however, so I've not tried to get their sound - but I'm fairly optimistic that it would be able to if you wanted...

If you want only to play metal then the MM would definitely be the way to go, but a high output ceramic pickup is, to my mind, not what you want for the hard rock bands you mentioned.

The reason I picked the HD for my guitar was that I wanted something somewhere in the middle ground - I enjoy playing such a variety of music, I needed a pickup that wasn't too specialised, and I wasn't disappointed :drink: :lol:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 23, 2006, 10:27:01 AM
hmm... so Abraxas neck, Holy Diver bridge?
that actually sounds great, thanks for the note deg0y!
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: deg0ey on September 23, 2006, 10:31:57 AM
What were you asking Tim about the HD, I may be able to help (to an extent) althoguh my answer probably won't be as good as the Master :lol:
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: PhilKing on September 23, 2006, 12:32:00 PM
Coming in late here (because I hate Twinkies!), I think that you could get a lot of what you are after from either the MM calibrated set or an CS bridge and Stormy Monday neck.  

However for the absolute creamiest neck sound look to the P-91 or MQ.  This gives more of the hollow Fender tone but is much more versatile than you think.  For heavy rock I don't think you can beat the Warpig/MQ set (I have it in an Explorer and love the sounds I can get).
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Tol on September 23, 2006, 03:56:10 PM
Quote from: PhilKing
Coming in late here (because I hate Twinkies!), I think that you could get a lot of what you are after from either the MM calibrated set or an CS bridge and Stormy Monday neck.  

However for the absolute creamiest neck sound look to the P-91 or MQ.  This gives more of the hollow Fender tone but is much more versatile than you think.  For heavy rock I don't think you can beat the Warpig/MQ set (I have it in an Explorer and love the sounds I can get).


Hey Phil, how would the Warpig handle the not so heavy stuff, like Thin Lizzy, AC/DC Aerosmith, classic rock?
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: Kepu on September 24, 2006, 12:35:33 PM
Quote from: deg0ey
What were you asking Tim about the HD, I may be able to help (to an extent) althoguh my answer probably won't be as good as the Master :lol:


hmm... now when I think about it, my question was totally self explanatory :oops:

so it's just good that I didn't resend it, but anyways I'll stick to Abraxas/Holy Diver set
I'm not gonna get MQ cuz I'm already going to order one for my semi-hollow
CS bridge would be also great but I'd rather get that 80's tone off a HD and the HD would probably be more versatile than a MM
Don't know about the warpig tho, but I think I've made my choice already
Title: BKPs for this tone?
Post by: PhilKing on September 24, 2006, 01:32:21 PM
Quote from: Tol
Hey Phil, how would the Warpig handle the not so heavy stuff, like Thin Lizzy, AC/DC Aerosmith, classic rock?


I put a series/parallel switch on the tone, and in parallel it is great for the less heavy stuff, but still drives well.  Then you thicken the tone by dropping it into series and it rocks.  If you think about the early Black Sabbath tones, they had lots of clarity (and were P-90's too!), the Warpig/MQ can nail all those tones.