Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: smudger123 on September 17, 2007, 01:31:07 PM
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Having spoken to Tim this morning I have just ordered a set of blackguard pickups for my new AM Series Tele (alder body / rosewood fret board). I was thinking of yardbirds but having spoken to Tim he suggested the 50's Blackguards with the flat poles and as I've never been disappointed with his recommendations before I went with this.
He said he should be able to get them out today so I'll give an update soon on what they're like. Oh and I asked for the neck to be 3 conductor wiring for 4 way switching.
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Post clips! Not enough tele clips on this forum.
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Congratulations smudger123. Something wicked, to break new ground. I will be trying them pretty soon too. :)
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Congrats!!!
Telecasters RAWK!
:twisted:
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Excellent, I am looking forward to hearing these pickups.
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Not massivley impressed with the neck P/U..
Bridge is great but a little too hot for my tastes.
I wish I's gone with my gut which was for a set of Yardbirds as I've loved every Alnico IV set I've had from Tim. Anyone know if they still do the thing were they'll swap 'em if your not 100% happy. I've not cut the hook up wires and just touch soldered them in...
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Sorry to hear about that, by the way which pots do you have in your tele?. Thanks
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Sorry to hear about that, by the way which pots do you have in your tele?. Thanks
It's an AM Series so 250k in the vol and a 250k no load in the tone....
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Sorry you didn't like the sound. A lot of people bought the Black Guard at LGS. We had the staggered pole in a tele on the stand. I have the black guard flat pole in my 57 tele and love the sound. The neck is more 'Stratish' than a standard tele, but I like that. The Yardbirds is more like my 62 Tele, which does have a nice neck tone, but I don't think has quite as much bite as the black guard.
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Well I guess I'm just being a bit of an @rse. :o :o After many hours of adjustment I'm now getting a great tone out of the Blackguards. I had been trying them exclusively with my new Fender 600 Champ, but I have now tried them with my trusty Tech 21 Trademark 10 and they sound amazing, somehow with the Fender champ the neck gets all mushy. Don’t like the amp anyway to get a good sound you have to crank it and it then starts to fart. I guess it will go back to the shop now.
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Well I think the need for the champ 600 needing a better speaker to stop it from sounding more than a little farty (when pushed) is becoming a universal truth.
However just as some guitars sound better with cerain pickups, I firmly believe that the same thing is true of amps (especially those with under specced speakers).
Testing a rickenbacker with a AC30 is joyful, with a marshall less fun and with an ashdown downright depressing
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The Champ 600 is not a serious amp, it is also built to be clean - without modification its cant be pushed to OD. You can't make it do what it wasn't designed to do is somewhat unfair, even if you don't like it (in many ways its the opposite of the Epi VJ - bright and clean). I'm glad that the blackguards sound good through another amp- although I would have thought the Champ 600 would give you ultimate telecaster sounds
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The Champ 600 is not a serious amp, it is also built to be clean - without modification its cant be pushed to OD. You can't make it do what it wasn't designed to do is somewhat unfair, even if you don't like it (in many ways its the opposite of the Epi VJ - bright and clean). I'm glad that the blackguards sound good through another amp- although I would have thought the Champ 600 would give you ultimate telecaster sounds
What do you mean by "not a serious amp"? I don't know anything about the Champ 600, but a BF Fender Twin is a serious amp and it doesn't really OD or distort much.
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it is also built to be clean - without modification its cant be pushed to OD.
This is also absolute bollucks - fender have modified the preamp from the original design to break up more, earlier.
The only real problem with the amp is the appalling tiny speaker, but otherwise it's a cracker!
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I am angry enough to reply to this as I am being misrepresented:
I mean it is not serious in the sense that it costs the same a Ibanez TS808 reissue (£120) and it has only one volume control, no tone control, and its main parts (i.e. the tubes, the 6" speaker and the components inside) are made in China for peanuts. It is not to be treated in the same category as a serious amp as often discussed on these boards: Certainly not a Twin Reverb.
Indy - its not bollocks, whatever the Fender marketing team say - I got one of the first of these in the UK - I have spent hours with it, I have changed the valves, the speaker and put switches in the circuit board - I know how this amp works. I like it very much, but I won't say what it aint.
This is what it is not:
A mini Fender Twin - although surf guitar is divine through it.
A mini Marshall stack - 6" of speaker and a Blackface/Silverface tone stack will not get you there - but a wearing in the speaker will allow a low powered OD like a Ibanez TS808 or a TS7 or a Bad Monkey to give a great OD sound.
However,- it has a tiny footprint and no weight at all, it has pure valve tone : and it sounds like, well like a Champ 600 - it is modelled on the 1949 Champ, which was a tiny, low powered, all valve student model - and that is what this is.
As to Fender's claim - well that's true, compared to a 1949 Champ 600 it has a hot pre-amp (i.e. its called a 12AX7 tube as opposed to the now unobtainable 6SJ7) so it breaks up earlier - but even through my Jensen C12N cab or a Eminence Texas Heat it doesn't break up like a Pro Junior or a Vox Ac15 - all I am saying is IT WILL NOT DO MARSHALL TONES AT BEDROOM VOLUME and that seems to be what people are snubbing it for.
I agree its a cracker - a 6" Jensen Mod spealer makes it more so and once the speaker breaks in (2-3 weeks of heavy playing) it can take OD wellish- but it is a Fender champ - and sounds like one (I love it).
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a 6" Jensen Mod spealer makes it more so and once the speaker breaks in (2-3 weeks of heavy playing) it can take OD wellish- but it is a Fender champ - and sounds like one (I love it).
Which Jensen Speaker are you refering to and where did you purchase it?
Also I have checked out the valves and the 6V6 is an Electro Harmonix Gold Valve which I thought was quite good but the 12AX7 is a generic Chinese valve, I guess this is relevant as this is the pre-amp vlave as I understand it. What would you recommend changing this for, a EHX GOld also or something else? Cheers.
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The EH 6v6 is a good valve - but that chinese 12Ax7 is a shocker - any good brand will do as a change, but it has to be changed as it is the lowest quality valve I have ever seen/heard.
The Jensen Mod 6 is available from Tube Depot.com - it costs about £20 including shipping -
By the way - have you tried engaging the G12T button on your Session JD10 - I find it compresses the 600 speaker tone so that distortion sounds more real - I also find that with pedals distortion is more crunchy with the volume between 6-7 not flat out. Also putting the amp on the floor in the corner gives it a better bass response. I'll put a new clip in the players section :D
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The EH 6v6 is a good valve - but that chinese 12Ax7 is a shocker - any good brand will do as a change, but it has to be changed as it is the lowest quality valve I have ever seen/heard.
The Jensen Mod 6 is available from Tube Depot.com - it costs about £20 including shipping -
By the way - have you tried engaging the G12T button on your Session JD10 - I find it compresses the 600 speaker tone so that distortion sounds more real - I also find that with pedals distortion is more crunchy with the volume between 6-7 not flat out. Also putting the amp on the floor in the corner gives it a better bass response. :D
Cheers! :D
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I am angry enough to reply to this as I am being misrepresented:
I mean it is not serious in the sense that it costs the same a Ibanez TS808 reissue (£120) and it has only one volume control, no tone control, and its main parts (i.e. the tubes, the 6" speaker and the components inside) are made in China for peanuts. It is not to be treated in the same category as a serious amp as often discussed on these boards: Certainly not a Twin Reverb.
No need to get angry, I wasn't slamming you. I just don't know what makes a "serious" amp. IIRC, Dr Z made amps with a single volume control and no tone, and those cost serious money. Same can be said for some early Fenders. And weren't the Jensens found in early Fenders a relatively "cheap" speaker?