Less gain with BKPs on same amp settings as Dimarzios?

[Guitar4tw]

Just something I noticed today. I have an alnico warpig in my agile 7, and it's absolutely awesome. But I noticed that I have to crank the gain up a bit on the amp to get the same ammount of distortion that I would get through a Dimarzio D-sonic on a much lower level. I might have to turn the amp up to 8 with the warpig to get the same distortion the D-sonic would get at 5.

So I started thinking. Is this normal? Or bad wiring?

The sound quality is absolutely superb, though. It beats the Dimarzio easily... But I was just wondering why this pickup which is super high output doesn't "overdrive" the amp quicker?

[ericsabbath]

Is this normal?

But I was just wondering why this pickup which is super high output doesn't "overdrive" the amp quicker?

yes.
cause it's cleaner and not "super high output".

 :D

[Guitar4tw]

Is this normal?

But I was just wondering why this pickup which is super high output doesn't "overdrive" the amp quicker?

yes.
cause it's cleaner.

 :D

What do you mean? Could you elaborate? :)

[Keven]

quite normal. i was skeptical as well when i first got BKP's but i realized (like DnL said in the thread i'll refer you to) that you don't get as much drive to the amp as with other pickups, but the notes are clear and articulate and really jump out. and then you're free to add more gain and it'll still be clear.

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17565.0

same question back when i was a BKP newbie

[gwEm]

depends a bit on the pickup too. i'm convinced mules give me more drive than miracle men if i dig in - though this might be an illusion.

[Keven]

you're not alone, i feel my mule neck can give alot of dirt when hit and driven hard with bluesy attitude... alot more than my BD bridge...

[HTH AMPS]

weird, when I had a Warpig in my Les Paul it would overdrive anything in sight.  I literally couldn't get a clean tone.  I then got a Miracle Man which was better for cleans, but not as good for OD.

over the years I've tried pretty much all of the BKP humbuckers and like the Abraxas set the best.

[Fikealox]

+1, Abraxas are awesome - especially if you have a floyd. I've never used a Dsonic, so I'm not much help in this discussion. I always expected more gain from Nailbombs, though, which I guess is relevant.

[MDV]

Odd. Maybe its the lesser fizz and static of the pickups or how the voicing of the pickups works with the voicing of the amps. EQ and the character and smoothness/lack thereof, and compression of a pickup and amp can all affect how hot we percieve any given combination to be. Its really not a cut and dried thing - pyschoacoustics play a part. Even experienced ears can be tricked by it.

That said I havent tried that dimarzio and you may well be 100% right.

Try this though - on the clean channel, EQ all to 5, raise the gain until you hear clipping with each one; thats probably the best guestimate of the magnitude of the output signal youre gonna get.