Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Morgray on October 14, 2007, 12:58:31 AM
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Ive decided that I think the EMG-HZ stock pickups in my LTD sound better than the Warpig in my Ibanez RG....the EMG sounds heavier, brighter, louder, crunchier, has fuller palm mutes, and pinches WAY easier than the Warpig...Is there something wrong with my Warpig that a cheap pickup like a passive EMG sounds heavier and louder than it? or is it just that the basswood in my RG sucks compared the the mahogany in my LTD? I dont know but the Warpig is REALLY not living up to my expectations...was I supposed to shorten the leads on the warpigs wires before soldering it?
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Well, guitars vary....
That said, the other guitarist in my band has an EMG HZ equiped all-mahogany ESP and my pigged basswood.maple jackson crushes it underfoot. My-c-pigged legra completely rips it a new one.
Pickup heights similar?
Setups optimised to get finest tone?
What do the two instruments sound like acoustically?
And dont forget, if you increase the height of the allen poles on the coil nearest the nek you can increase the bass response, and vice versa with the bridge-wards coils.
But of course it all boils down to taste in the end. Statistically it makes you very strange :P but not wrong....per se ;)
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possible problems:
1. you've chosen the wrong pickup
2. you've chosen the wrong guitar
solutions:
1. put the warpig on the ltd and the hz on the ibanez
2. sell the ibanez and buy one in mahogany
if you still like the emg hz better:
1. buy a miracle man
2. buy a painkiller
my friend bought a warpig and liked his 500t better and found his stock ibanez pickups hotter and punchier, so he bought a painkiller and now he's happy :lol:
the truth is he likes ceramic pickups and compares everything to his 500t (in terms of tightness and output)
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my friend bought a warpig and liked his 500t better and found his stock ibanez pickups hotter and punchier, so he bought a painkiller and now he's happy :lol:
Weird: I have a painkiller set too, and I find the WP to be hotter and punchier.
The hot-punch king is the ceramic pig. Perhaps Tim could stick a ceramic magnet in it for (quite a lot less) than a new pickup? If the wind isnt changed (C-Pigs are wound a shade cooler than A5 pigs because of ceramic 8 being more a powerfull magnet) then it will be pretty much as powerfull as its gonna get (on a par with my 23k miracle man: as far as I know the most powerfull BK sold to date :twisted: ). That level of power puts active EMGs in their place (I know this from A/B comparison!)
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Am I crazy
Yes.
Next question...
:twisted:
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my friend bought a warpig and liked his 500t better and found his stock ibanez pickups hotter and punchier, so he bought a painkiller and now he's happy :lol:
Weird: I have a painkiller set too, and I find the WP to be hotter and punchier.
The hot-punch king is the ceramic pig. Perhaps Tim could stick a ceramic magnet in it for (quite a lot less) than a new pickup? If the wind isnt changed (C-Pigs are wound a shade cooler than A5 pigs because of ceramic 8 being more a powerfull magnet) then it will be pretty much as powerfull as its gonna get (on a par with my 23k miracle man: as far as I know the most powerfull BK sold to date :twisted: ). That level of power puts active EMGs in their place (I know this from A/B comparison!)
his warpig is the regular alnico without cover
it sounded very fat, like a hotter version of holy diver with more midrange grind, but it didn't sound tight and aggressive like the painkiller
i wouldn't swap it, as he said he wanted nevermore and arch enemy tones (they only use alnico pickups), but the truth is that he was searching for a pickup with ceramic edge, cause he's been using ceramics for 10+ years
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I'd definately play around with my setup. BK's do seem to be sensitive to setup, there have been quite a few posts where people have said 'it's not what I expected' and then changed their pup height or something and suddenly the pup comes to life.
I'd certainly fire off an email to Tim and ask his advice, maybe post some picks of your setup so people can offer adivce?
Have you compared your sound to the sound clips posted here? If you are way off maybe there is something wrong?
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Well, I wouldn't say you're crazy, but I had an ESP M302 with EMG HZs in it, which I replaced with Warpigs, and the difference was very noticeable - the tone from the Warpigs was far better.
Is there any possiblity the Warpigs aren't wired in correctly? I only ask because this is exactly what I did - ballsed it up completely if I'm honest, and they didn't sound right. Once they were sorted out, they sounded great.
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I have tried adjusting pickup hieght, but thats about all Ive tried. I really think the warpig must be installed wrong or has no defect, ill post sound clips of the HZ and the Warpig sometime to show you. And acoustically the LTD is very loud and reverby and basswood RG is quiet and sounds dead....maybe Basswood just sucks and thats the end of it
Oh and Simon, the LTD is an M302 :P
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Acoustic tone is ususally quite a good indicator of how good a guitar is going to sound when amplified, at least in my experience. When I bought my Strat I tried four or five until I found one which sung unplugged.
If the acoustic soud of the RG is quite dead, that can often carry across and affect the amplified sound, no matter how good the pickups.
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Yeah its probably the guitar thats cr@p then. I had the same thing with my basswood Charvel - couldnt get a bridge humbucker tone I was happy with, it always seemed too fizzy and scooped. I ended up selling it and I havent regretted it since :D
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maybe Basswood just sucks and thats the end of it
Thats pretty much it!!
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I have tried adjusting pickup hieght, but thats about all Ive tried. I really think the warpig must be installed wrong or has no defect, ill post sound clips of the HZ and the Warpig sometime to show you. And acoustically the LTD is very loud and reverby and basswood RG is quiet and sounds dead....maybe Basswood just sucks and thats the end of it
Oh and Simon, the LTD is an M302 :P
I have 2 basswood guitars, and they both have plenty of spank.
It depends on the quality of that particular bit of wood, and the SETUP.
Very important.
Action and neck relief have certain 'sweet spots', different for every guitar, that allow the guitar to resonate more. As a general rule, higher action and flatter necks does it, but vibrational modes of a complex system like a guitar can be a black art and there are other points that can work really well.
Try changing that and see of you can wake your guitar up. It'll do it good no matter what pickups in it PDT_003
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my friend bought a warpig and liked his 500t better and found his stock ibanez pickups hotter and punchier, so he bought a painkiller and now he's happy :lol:
Weird: I have a painkiller set too, and I find the WP to be hotter and punchier.
The hot-punch king is the ceramic pig. Perhaps Tim could stick a ceramic magnet in it for (quite a lot less) than a new pickup? If the wind isnt changed (C-Pigs are wound a shade cooler than A5 pigs because of ceramic 8 being more a powerfull magnet) then it will be pretty much as powerfull as its gonna get (on a par with my 23k miracle man: as far as I know the most powerfull BK sold to date :twisted: ). That level of power puts active EMGs in their place (I know this from A/B comparison!)
do you think its possible tim would wind my pickup hotter if i sent it to him? i don't know how pickups work so i don't know if thats still a possibility...
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my friend bought a warpig and liked his 500t better and found his stock ibanez pickups hotter and punchier, so he bought a painkiller and now he's happy :lol:
Weird: I have a painkiller set too, and I find the WP to be hotter and punchier.
The hot-punch king is the ceramic pig. Perhaps Tim could stick a ceramic magnet in it for (quite a lot less) than a new pickup? If the wind isnt changed (C-Pigs are wound a shade cooler than A5 pigs because of ceramic 8 being more a powerfull magnet) then it will be pretty much as powerfull as its gonna get (on a par with my 23k miracle man: as far as I know the most powerfull BK sold to date :twisted: ). That level of power puts active EMGs in their place (I know this from A/B comparison!)
do you think its possible tim would wind my pickup hotter if i sent it to him? i don't know how pickups work so i don't know if thats still a possibility...
Yes, he will. Thats how I got mine done: rewind
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Yes, he will. Thats how I got mine done: rewind
how much did it cost, and was it worth it? is the feedback a lot worse?
sorry for going off topic, but i think this could also be good info for morgray
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I dont recall exactly. I think it was 40 or 50 quid.
The pickup is very quiet. Only thing is it got quite a bit treblier, but it was double screw pole, so I just raised the neckwards poles a little. Now very, very aggressive, very heavy and has that fat tight MM low end, fat low mid and sweet, sweet high end. But at flamethrower levels. A true 81-killer :twisted:
Yes it was worth it.
But I really dont recommend overwinding a warpig. They already have plenty of power. It sounds like the guitar is the problem: a pickup cant pickup tone that isnt in the guitar!!!
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I dont recall exactly. I think it was 40 or 50 quid.
The pickup is very quiet. Only thing is it got quite a bit treblier, but it was double screw pole, so I just raised the neckwards poles a little. Now very, very aggressive, very heavy and has that fat tight MM low end, fat low mid and sweet, sweet high end. But at flamethrower levels. A true 81-killer :twisted:
Yes it was worth it.
But I really dont recommend overwinding a warpig. They already have plenty of power. It sounds like the guitar is the problem: a pickup cant pickup tone that isnt in the guitar!!!
1. what is a quid? any clue how much that'd equal in US dollars?
2. i quite like the tone i'm getting. its a gibson v, as seen in my avatar. i'm just thinking my pinches aren't ringing out as much as they could with more hotness. they scream when i throw an extra od pedal in front of the amp, but i'm more into not using effects.
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1. what is a quid? any clue how much that'd equal in US dollars?
Quid = pound. Don't ask me why, just a common slang phrase.
Exchange rate is around 2 dollars to the pound at the moment.
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i quite like the tone i'm getting. its a gibson v, as seen in my avatar. i'm just thinking my pinches aren't ringing out as much as they could with more hotness. they scream when i throw an extra od pedal in front of the amp, but i'm more into not using effects.
did you take off the pickup cover?
if you like your tone boosted, what's the problem in keeping it boosted?
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pickup hotness is a bit of a weird thing. i actually think i get more drive from my mules or riff raffs (if i hammer them) than my miracle man. and i find it the easiest to get pinches with the lower output pups.
the MM has more compression, doesn't really matter too much if i just play medium hard or give it everything.
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pickup hotness is a bit of a weird thing. i actually think i get more drive from my mules or riff raffs (if i hammer them) than my miracle man. and i find it the easiest to get pinches with the lower output pups.
the MM has more compression, doesn't really matter too much if i just play medium hard or give it everything.
+1
I also find my MM sounds better when you're careful with how much gain you use. I find if you pile on the gain it doesn't really get hotter, it just handles it well. There is a sweet spot for the pinch harmonics though and they are pretty much effortless, but good technique helps.
To get them sounding good I find I need a boosted sound, my TS on clean boost does the trick as would any TS type OD pedal. Just limit the drive/gain and make the amp do the work.
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if you like your tone boosted, what's the problem in keeping it boosted?
+1. I dont really like using boosters, but I find that it doesnt matter how hot my pickups are, it'll never sound like a boosted signal from an overdrive does, which to me sounds tighter and has more harmonics.
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pickup hotness is a bit of a weird thing. i actually think i get more drive from my mules or riff raffs (if i hammer them) than my miracle man. and i find it the easiest to get pinches with the lower output pups.
the MM has more compression, doesn't really matter too much if i just play medium hard or give it everything.
That responsiveness is a valuable thing, but most metal nutters need to get a punchy, aggressive sound with clean and really quite non-aggressive playing.
Its hard to beat the living shit out of stings at >200bpm for an hour and keep it all clean and precise :(
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1. not using pickup covers.
2. it seems to me like i lose a lot of chunk and bass when putting an od pedal through. i do however use it for most solos.
3. i've got the guitars controls on 10, and the gain on 10, and i still don't quite get the pinch harmonics i'm looking for. i guess i didn't quite explain right. its that they're not sustaining long enough, not that they're not coming out.
4. i want my tone to overall have a bit more distortion, and i'd rather not have to have it boosted all the time.
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It's not wired in parallel, is it?
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1. not using pickup covers.
2. it seems to me like i lose a lot of chunk and bass when putting an od pedal through. i do however use it for most solos.
3. i've got the guitars controls on 10, and the gain on 10, and i still don't quite get the pinch harmonics i'm looking for. i guess i didn't quite explain right. its that they're not sustaining long enough, not that they're not coming out.
4. i want my tone to overall have a bit more distortion, and i'd rather not have to have it boosted all the time.
overwind your pickup won't do it for you
what pedal and settings are you using?
what's your amp?
usually tube screamer type of od pedals tend to make your tone sound thinner and focused
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It's not wired in parallel, is it?
i did find out my guitar isn't wired how it came from the factory, but i haven't a clue what parallel means in this case.
overwind your pickup won't do it for you
what pedal and settings are you using?
what's your amp?
usually tube screamer type of od pedals tend to make your tone sound thinner and focused
its a Zakk Wylde overdrive. i bought it before i got a real amp. i don't really like it, but i figure it was fairly expensive and to get something better it'd be a good deal more. my amp's a marshall 3203 artist.
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overwind your pickup won't do it for you
what pedal and settings are you using?
what's your amp?
usually tube screamer type of od pedals tend to make your tone sound thinner and focused
its a Zakk Wylde overdrive. i bought it before i got a real amp. i don't really like it, but i figure it was fairly expensive and to get something better it'd be a good deal more. my amp's a marshall 3203 artist.
i use this pedal with my peavey rockmaster and my leadvox leadmaster preamp (basically a soldano SLO preamp with an extra gain stage and less gain cut)
it makes my holy diver sound tighter and the bass sounds fatter, not thinner
i use the level on 10, tone on 6, drive on 0
with my ex-guitar with miracle man i was using the level on 7.5
i like it better than tube screamers
it's a lot more effective as a booster and make tube distortion sound heavier instead of thin it out
maybe you're trying to add the drive of the pedal? :?:
it makes the distortion sound artificial and noisy
i don't know this Marshall 3203, but i think it has a solid state preamp and it's not so gainy
you definitely won't get a full tone without a boost
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overwind your pickup won't do it for you
what pedal and settings are you using?
what's your amp?
usually tube screamer type of od pedals tend to make your tone sound thinner and focused
its a Zakk Wylde overdrive. i bought it before i got a real amp. i don't really like it, but i figure it was fairly expensive and to get something better it'd be a good deal more. my amp's a marshall 3203 artist.
i use this pedal with my peavey rockmaster and my leadvox leadmaster preamp (basically a soldano SLO preamp with an extra gain stage and less gain cut)
it makes my holy diver sound tighter and the bass sounds fatter, not thinner
i use the level on 10, tone on 6, drive on 0
with my ex-guitar with miracle man i was using the level on 7.5
i like it better than tube screamers
it's a lot more effective as a booster and make tube distortion sound heavier instead of thin it out
maybe you're trying to add the drive of the pedal? :?:
it makes the distortion sound artificial and noisy
i don't know this Marshall 3203, but i think it has a solid state preamp and it's not so gainy
you definitely won't get a full tone without a boost
yeah i actually have the level on like 6, tone on 6, and gain on like 8. I know adding to the gain makes it sound worse, but i wanted the extra sustain. anyway, i guess i'll try putting the level on ten and take out the drive. little randy rhoads clean boost?
as for the amp, yeah its some type of hybrid. i'm not really knowledgeable about whats tube and whats not, but originally when i was looking at reviews most people said the distortion channel is just as good as any marshal out there, and i love it. clean channel sucks ball though...
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yeah i actually have the level on like 6, tone on 6, and gain on like 8. I know adding to the gain makes it sound worse, but i wanted the extra sustain. anyway, i guess i'll try putting the level on ten and take out the drive. little randy rhoads clean boost?
as for the amp, yeah its some type of hybrid. i'm not really knowledgeable about whats tube and whats not, but originally when i was looking at reviews most people said the distortion channel is just as good as any marshal out there, and i love it. clean channel sucks ball though...
hmmm
low down the gain on the pedal
with the gain on 0 the pedal works as a pickup booster and you won't lose the extra sustain
your tone will sound a lot quieter and clearer
on my last band rehearsal i was getting a lot of noise, feedback and artficial tone
then when i checked the pedal, the gain was on 10
i think i pulled the knob with the cable :lol:
so i lowered it to 0 and my tone ot a lot better without losing any gain, punch or sustain
just the mud went away
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It's not wired in parallel, is it?
sorry to bring this up again, but what exactly does this mean, and is it a possibility? I've looked at diagrams, and my wiring does not match the traditional wiring. Does it sound like this is my problem?
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In a standard humbucker the coils are connected in series, which means that from the live the signal goes through one coil and then through the other (in the opposite direction). When the wiring is parallel, the signal goes through both coils at the same time. This gives a much thinner scooped sound as the resistance is dropped massively (think about resistors to understand this, if you have 2 100k ohm resistors in series the resistance is 200k ohm, but in parallel it is only 50K ohm).
On BK's to wire in series the signal goes from red to green for coil 1, the green the connects to the white and flows to the black. Any other wiring will not give the full output of the pickup with hum cancelling. In parallel the red and white are live and green and black are ground. Split will either take the red/green or white/black as the only connections. Anything else is wrong, and will give you strange results.
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its two conductor wiring, and i forget how its wired... i'd have to take a pic or something when i get a chance.
also, the ZW OD definitely sounded much better with gain on zero and output on 10! still not quite what i'm looking for, but it gave me all that sustain and pinch harmonics with no insane feedback, none at all actually.
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its two conductor wiring, and i forget how its wired... i'd have to take a pic or something when i get a chance.
also, the ZW OD definitely sounded much better with gain on zero and output on 10! still not quite what i'm looking for, but it gave me all that sustain and pinch harmonics with no insane feedback, none at all actually.
Thats how I use it.