Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Orpheo on October 09, 2006, 11:11:40 PM
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Hello,
I am a newbie on this forum, but I guess I'm as much as a fan of BKP as you guys are! I am in the market for these pickups, but i have NO idea what to choose. Perhaps you can help me out?
My rig is the following:
Les Paul Custom with maple neck
JCM 800 2203
Tubescreamer TS9
That simple :P
I want pickups so that I dont need to change guitars when I'm on stage. In one set I sometimes play rock (the Darkness), metal (zakk wylde, black sabbath), bluesy stuff. Well, you get the drift.
I need a pickup for the bridge which can deliver great pinch harmonics, is loud, screamy, punchy, but not fat or mushy, nor harsh or too trebly. With high gain it shouldn't be a mush, and when i roll my volume on the guitar back, it should clean up nice to a sparkly clean.Something in the likes of dimarzio's air norton.
For the neck I would like to have a pickup which is awesome for solo's; fatty, but not mushy on high gain, but equally good for jazz. I dont use any gain for jazz (which is obvious), and I think that a good pickup for metal solo (i.e.: fatty, not mushy) is good for jazz, because I use no gain at all, and if its not mushy with high gain its (for me) nice and organic for jazz.
Could someone please help me out?
Sorry for the long post though, but I thought, its better to tell the WHOLE story, so people can give me more accurate advice instead of asking me a gazillion questions, and there is still no satisfying answer.
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Welcome,
you are in a cool place.
Don't think I am one to help, just wanted to say hi :)
The pups I have are not what you are really describing and do'nt like to talk about what I have no experience with.
PLENTY on here with LP's etc. though that can and will help ya out :)
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i'd be leaning towards the crawlers myself, or maybe the rebel yells, although i have heard that there are some frenchmen using the warpig for jazz these days
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I've been thinking about the Mule in the neck (I use the tubescreamer as a solobooster by the way) and a rebel yell in the bridge.
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I think to cover all the styles you mention you need a good all round, versatile calibrated set.
Mules.
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I'm thinking a Nailbomb or Rebel Yell set.... Nailbomb if you want more towards the heavier stuff, and the Rebel Yell if you want something brighter.
Rebel Yells sound nice in Les Pauls... I give you my word for that.
You might like the extra output of the Nailbomb better with the JCM 800.
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I've listened to the nailbomb clip, and it sounds just to uhm.. saturated. I prefer pickups which can do vintage stuff great, but also the heavier stuff (i.e.: wont become soggy when I turn the gain up, and deliver pinches on the spot).
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I think to cover all the styles you mention you need a good all round, versatile calibrated set.
Mules.
its definitly going to be a mule in the neck by the way. Just looking for a good bridge pickup.
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I think I read somewhere that Rebel Yells have a kinda vintage yet modern tone somehow.. Never played em but sounds like what you might be after?
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I need a pickup for the bridge which can deliver great pinch harmonics, is loud, screamy, punchy, but not fat or mushy, nor harsh or too trebly. With high gain it shouldn't be a mush, and when i roll my volume on the guitar back, it should clean up nice to a sparkly clean.
That describes the Miracle Man, doesn't it?
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Miracle man bridge is what you might be after, however it's a bit trebly for my liking or shall i say a bit toppy when i play high notes. maybe putting cover will resolve this matter?
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I would say a Rebel Yell will be too trebly for you. Maybe a Black Dog in the bridge?
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Miracle man? from what i've heard, its too harsh, too trebly... Too much zakk wylde. I play mostly stuff like the darkness, thin lizzy, aerosmith, and sometimes a 'field trip' to heavier stuff like iron maiden, black sabbath, BLS, John Sykes, or less distorted stuff (led zeppelin, or even brian setzer/stray cats).
Does that help a bit? ;)
@ twinfan: does the black dog give me pinch harmonics as easy as "see above'?
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Dan Hawkins uses the Cold Sweats, but i haven't played them so it's just suggestion.
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Dan Hawkins uses the Cold Sweats, but i haven't played them so it's just suggestion.
ah thanks! I already wanted to ask that! I friend of mine has them in his The Paul ( you know, that full walnut thing) and that sounds imo a bit too harsh, so i guess in a 'normal'les paul it might sound just right.
thanks for the tip btw. the description on the homepage sounds just right.
Why I forgot that pickup and forgot the description remains i mystery I guess :P
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Just to add my tuppence ha'penny's worth, I'm a big fan of the vintagey tone as well, which why I'd say look into the "hot vintage" pickups like the VHII, the Emerald and the truly fantastic Black Dog sets.
FWIW... ;)
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I would say the Black Dog Set.
Try find the I Believe In a Thing Called Love Cover with these. It nails the tone completely. Truely sounds exactly the same as the real song :wink:
And I think there is a thin lizzy cover done by black dogs as well but I am not sure...
But anyway I say Black Dogs because they can do relatively high gain stuff and the vintage stuff as well :)
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Given the maple neck of your LP Custom, might the RY's be a bit trebly? Depends upon what you want, naturally; the Crawlers sound great in my LP Standard, not quite as "in your face" as the RY's based on my ears, but a little warmer and broader. (Therefore, if you like warm broads....) :wink:
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black dog... hmm... considering dan uses cold sweats in his guitar, and steve stevens uses RY in his les pauls (and listening to the clips he played; thats not really supertrebly!)...
Just a little list of what i've heard so far (for the bridge position: the neck will be covered by a mule)
Black Dog
Emerald
Mule
Miracle Man
Cold sweat
From what I've read so far (including the fact that my hero uses cold sweats (and i TOTALLY dig his sound, live AND on album), I'm leaning towards those. In my les paul standard I will put a set of Mules for the led zeppelin-like vintagy vibe. In my other custom will go a set of those Mississippiqueen Pickups, in my studio I will put a pair of nailbombs, but now my main axe! :D
Hmm, to see it on 'paper' makes it a lot more clear than in my head by the way! :D
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Don't forget Dan used bog stock Gibbo pickups (498Ts?) through a THD Univalve for the first Darkness album...
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Don't forget Dan used bog stock Gibbo pickups (498Ts?) through a THD Univalve for the first Darkness album...
The first Part: i agree. but I thought he used marshalls, and marshalls alone?
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Nope - I believe in the studio a THD Univalve was used for all guitar parts. Live he uses Marshalls mainly, but I think he has the odd Orange amp?
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at least for dan, the thd. Justin uses only rectifiers.
but I think I made up my mind.... My custom will recieve a calibrated set cold sweat OR a set black dogs. Now i have to find out which set is more versitile!
I wont put a mule in this guitar, since a set of mules will go in my (upcoming) standard.
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I reckon the Black Dogs will be the most versatile. I'm hoping to get a set for my LP Standard at some stage. I think the Cold Sweats will be a bit too thick sounding for me.
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Thick sounding is no problem at all :P as long as they wont mush out, and have enough mids to cut through. The other guitarplayer in the band has lespauls and marshalls aswell. NO my name is NOT justin hawkins! ;)
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I think I read somewhere that Rebel Yells have a kinda vintage yet modern tone somehow.. Never played em but sounds like what you might be after?
Good way of describing it.... I probably mentioned many times before, but when I saw Steve Stevens had a sig pickup, I had to get it.... for a while, I've wanted to know what he used for a pickup.... it has a very vintage PAF-like tone to it, only a bit hotter.
I said Nailbomb because of the Zakk Wylde like pinch harmonics yet everything else is more toward the Rebel Yell, or maybe Cold Sweat or Painkillers when they come out... Miracle Man does not sound like the right pickup aside from the Zakk Wylde pinch harmonic bit...
It's like you ask for the god pickup here.... but yeah, I think definitely one of those three, mostly Rebel Yells or Cold Sweats... of course I should note that I am very biased towards Rebel Yells since receiving mine. But I must say that for stuff I thought they would have too much treble and be a little "too nice" for a lot of that I play, but that has not been the case at all.
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I made up my mind: i'm going thin lizzy style!in other words: emerald and cold sweat! Nice way for me to memorise what pickups i was gonna use! :D
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Based on the initial description, I would have said Nailbomb bridge, Crawler/Abraxas neck ....
But if you weren't into the Nailbomb clips and want a Mule neck, then I'd plunk my money on the Emerald bridge, or maybe the Black Dog bridge, to go with it.
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Based on the initial description, I would have said Nailbomb bridge, Crawler/Abraxas neck ....
But if you weren't into the Nailbomb clips and want a Mule neck, then I'd plunk my money on the Emerald bridge, or maybe the Black Dog bridge, to go with it.
the nailbombclip sounded cool and great, but I'm afraid thats the only thing that pickup can do (like EMG"s). or is it equally good on a VERY low gain amp for bluesy stuff?
ofcourse it is. It's bareknuckle, not emg :P
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ALLRIGHT!!!!!
I JUST ordered the pickups online: a calibrated set mississippi queens, a Nailbomb bridge and an Emerald neck. The queens gold, the others burned chrome. Oh boy i just can't wait!!!
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Nailbomb bridge and an Emerald neck. The queens gold, the others burned chrome. Oh boy i just can't wait!!!
Way to change your mind at the last minute :lol:
I'm sure you'll love them :drink:
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Nailbomb bridge and an Emerald neck. The queens gold, the others burned chrome. Oh boy i just can't wait!!!
Way to change your mind at the last minute :lol:
I'm sure you'll love them :drink:
the queens... well. i had to have them! I have 2 3 pickup les paul customs, and one of them i wanna turn in a sort-off les paulocaster. The other one had to be very versatile, and what you guys said, well, i just followed, and if the pickup isn't what I want it to be, i am sure there's something I can arrange with Tim, I'm sure of that, but I'm not afraid it's gonna be a bad pickup in my les paul!
And if those pickups are what I want them to be, I'll save up for 4 more pickups! (set of mules and set of black dogs). yeah people, i've got too many les pauls :(
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Based on the initial description, I would have said Nailbomb bridge, Crawler/Abraxas neck ....
But if you weren't into the Nailbomb clips and want a Mule neck, then I'd plunk my money on the Emerald bridge, or maybe the Black Dog bridge, to go with it.
the nailbombclip sounded cool and great, but I'm afraid thats the only thing that pickup can do (like EMG"s). or is it equally good on a VERY low gain amp for bluesy stuff?
ofcourse it is. It's bareknuckle, not emg :P
If they were that monotoned, I wouldn't be putting one into my ESP when I get the money... or at least I'd have to think it over long and hard.
Search the Players forum for Nailbomb. There are some clean clips as well... we even got someone playing Jazz on a Nailbomb and it sounds pretty damn good too!
They're have a slightly more vintage voicing than one might think, and if you really want cleans just go get a Vox AC30! Any pickup other than EMGs sound great clean through those amps, and I'm sure even EMGs would sound great clean too if you could get a clean tone from them through one (and I should note, I am not a fan at all of EMGs).
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Emerald?
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this is joly good fun...
I just got my 4 BKP. 2 mississipi queens, calibrated, an emerald neck and nailbomb bridge. at least. that was my order. the MP's are fine. but the emerald is for the bridge now and the nailbomb for the neck...
this aint fun at all, since this is NOT what I ordered, and frankly, doubt will sound right. any thoughts on this?
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Are you absolutely convinced that it's an Emerald bridge & Nailbomb neck?
What does the warranty card for each pickup list the DC Resistance values?
IMO the thing to do would be to mail Tim rather than complain on the forum - I'm sure a genuine mistake could be put right...
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I agree -- BKP have excellent customer service, and any trouble can be quickly cleared up! :)
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Are you absolutely convinced that it's an Emerald bridge & Nailbomb neck?
What does the warranty card for each pickup list the DC Resistance values?
IMO the thing to do would be to mail Tim rather than complain on the forum - I'm sure a genuine mistake could be put right...
oh i wasn't complaining, eventhough it seemed that way (after reading it over :P ) it was more like an uhm... remark.
I measured the DC R values, and they're consistant with the values on the warrantycard. no problem, cause I decided to keep them anyway, and buy an emerald neck and nailbomb bridge for another guitar i have. actually, i will make 2 sets out of it :P so no problem.
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I measured the DC R values, and they're consistant with the values on the warrantycard.
But what were the values on the card?
The point I was trying to make was that when I ordered the pickups for my Les Paul (Nailbomb bridge & VHII neck), both pickups had "neck" ticked on the box, but the NB was clearly a bridge pickup as it was 16k - the NB neck is something like 8.3k IIRC - the product page doesn't really make it clear that the neck pickups are totally different spec & voiced specifically to work with the corresponding bridge pickup.
I was just curious whether you thought it was a neck pickup because someone ticked the wrong box on the packaging - i.e. simple misunderstanding or genuine mistake.
If it was me & the mistake wasn't due to me entering the order wrongly (check your email confirmation), I'd contact Tim & ask to put it right. Not because I'm a troublemaker (well, OK, I am :)) but because I'd always be wondering whether it would have been better to have what I actually wanted in the first place...
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I thought if you were a big darkness fan you would have got a black dog set :?
I mean listen to the sound sample on this post:
http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4804
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I measured the DC R values, and they're consistant with the values on the warrantycard.
But what were the values on the card?
The point I was trying to make was that when I ordered the pickups for my Les Paul (Nailbomb bridge & VHII neck), both pickups had "neck" ticked on the box, but the NB was clearly a bridge pickup as it was 16k - the NB neck is something like 8.3k IIRC - the product page doesn't really make it clear that the neck pickups are totally different spec & voiced specifically to work with the corresponding bridge pickup.
I was just curious whether you thought it was a neck pickup because someone ticked the wrong box on the packaging - i.e. simple misunderstanding or genuine mistake.
If it was me & the mistake wasn't due to me entering the order wrongly (check your email confirmation), I'd contact Tim & ask to put it right. Not because I'm a troublemaker (well, OK, I am :)) but because I'd always be wondering whether it would have been better to have what I actually wanted in the first place...
for the emerald: approx. 13 kOhms. for the nailbomb: approx. 10 kOhms. thats what the cards said, and what I measured.
but uhm...
I just had them installed, and just played on them.....
:twisted: :lol:
the sound is, despite being the 'wrong' pickups', exactly what i wanted! damn this sounds GOOD. don't wanna change a thing now. well, just ONE thing i guess. The nailbomb is a bit on the bassy side, but i have to 'work' around that. I know thats fine, but i have to get used to AND being bassy AND having low output. but on my JCM800 and CMW amplifiers, the pickups simply rock. on the JCM i get a nice john sykes like tone, or zakk wylde, or anything 'hardrock' to metal.
on my CMW its a whole diffirent ballpark. Its much more vintage, more like thin lizzy, the darkness, diamond head, with good harmonics and nice FATTY solo's (with a TS9 in front of it).
overall, i am VERY pleased, despite the mixup.
I will get a set of black dogs, for my les paul standard, but not any time soon, 'cause i have to save up for a LOT of other stuff (school, home, car, etc etc).
what can i say exept 'i'm a happy man now!'
oh, for the guys who arent familiar with CMW amps, its a dutch (literally) homebrewed amplifier, and my version took the guts out of a marshall studio15, and a preamp of a vox (as far as I remember it correctly) and it sounds like a cranked up plexi, with a LOT less watts.
well uhm. so far my 'review'. lets get rocked!