Hi guys

[pure-krypton]

:D First poster here. Read so many good things about Bare Knuckles so I'm going to take the plunge and buy me a kick ass set. I'm doing a full overhaul of my basswood RG1570 after my current evo 2 went microphonic on me. Plans so far are brass tremolo sustain block, new pickups and different colour knobs & switch. Can't wait!!!

Anyway, I shot an email at Tim and He suggested a ceramic nailbomb. I did like the evo 2 and I was happy every time I played it but it was a little to nasal and I felt it could've been more organic? It did have a great lead tone though...
I'm playing through an Engl 530 preamp with a OD808 in front then into the effects loop of a JCM 900. Also like to play the JCM without the preamp. Have two quite different tone options with this set up :D
I've also been looking at a Holy Diver calibrated set too so I'm prepared to compromise and deviate from what Tim suggested...

Something tells me that I'm just going to like the sweet sweet alnico 5 lead much more than the ceramic. This is a shame because I think like the tightness of a ceramic lower end :S
The tones I'm likely to be chasing are anything from slayer to symphony x to van halen to arch enemy to opeth. Quite a variety.


How are the pickups different once they've been calibrated? Say if I were to buy a Holydiver bridge, Black Dog neck, and Irish Tour middle would they be all out of whack with each other since they're not "calibrated?"
How would a setup like this compare to a regular Holydiver calibrated set?

[darkbluemurder]

Hi and welcome to the Forum!

Going by the bands listed the ceramic Nailbomb seems to me the more appropriate pickup than the Holydiver even though I am a big fan of the Holydiver. Don't worry about the ceramic magnet - I have also a Miracle Man and a Cold Sweat (both bridge pickups) and they do not sound harsh in the least.

As regards a calibrated set - it depends on how they are calibrated as you can calibrate for different things. E.g. I like to have a hotter bridge pickup and a brighter neck pickup. Other people like a sharper contrast between the two, i.e. a bright bridge pickup and a dark neck pickup. Again other people play a lot in the middle position with two humbuckers and want a set that does that well. Since combining two full humbuckers is a thing I almost never do I don't really care how a set sounds combined. Since the bridge pickup is more important to me, I first choose the bridge pickup and then select a match for the neck and don't worry about the middle position, unless I use a PRS-type of wiring or a 4-way/3-pole toggle to auto-split in the middle position - then I want pickups that split well. I have used a Holydiver with a Cold Sweat neck, a Miracle Man with a Cold Sweat neck and an A-Bomb with a VH II neck. None of them designed to be calibrated but they work very well together for me.

It is very easy to get tricked by the "option trap" and end up with a gazillion pickup combinations of which are maybe only 3 useful. I would go about like this:

1) Which pickup do I use mainly?
2) What other combinations do I use?

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

Hi, welcome here. Sounds like a calibrated alnico Nailbomb-set and an IT. I you want something more vintagesounding but still capable of metal-tones I would look at the VHII-neck too, which is regarded as one of the best neckpickups.

[Slartibartfarst42]

God, it's like reading one of my posts! I wanted a tight bottom end but with sweet leads to go with it that were warm, organic, fat and fluid. Tim also suggested a C-Bomb to me on the grounds that it had a super tight bottom end but the wind allowed to to retain an organic feel. However, as the A-Bomb is a super tight wind anyway but had the sweet alnico leads you mentioned, I decided to go with the A-Bomb. Sadly they've not arrived yet but they have been despatched and they will be installed on Monday so I should be able to give you better feedback then.

[Kiichi]

As darkbluemurder said it is important  how you use the PUs. Which position for which and which how much.
I for example use my neck nearly exclusivly for solos and melodies so that I also need sweet. The bridge in the meanwhile is the contrast as I use it for riffing. If I now was in you position I might get a C-bomb bridge with a A-bomb neck.

It depends on your usage of the PUs.

[ericsabbath]

a properly boosted holy diver gets about as tight as a boosted ceramic BKP, you shouldn't worry about that
tonewise, ceramics have a different midrange grain, and that's what you should find out if you like it or not
your amps are already quite tight sounding as well
I'd probably pick the alnico nailbomb for that guitar and amp setup

[pure-krypton]

As regards a calibrated set - it depends on how they are calibrated as you can calibrate for different things.

1) Which pickup do I use mainly?
2) What other combinations do I use?

So the calibrated option is there if I wanted to change certain things about the pickups. I can specify this where? Are the samples on the pickup pages just the standard sets? They sound fine to my ears.

1) bridge pickup will definitely get used more, especially in the band situation. It's the first pickup I go to when I plug in. We haven't worked any other tones into the mix yet.
2) At home it's a little different. I also like versatility; clean tones and something that resembles blues. Some days I'm likely to spend no time at all on the bridge pickup and just play around with overdriven neck tones. I'm interested to see how I can incorporate the middle single into this as I currently have mine dropped way into the body because of the damn sock Ibanez pole pieces getting in my way. It's pretty much useless as it is now.

I decided to go with the A-Bomb. Sadly they've not arrived yet but they have been despatched and they will be installed on Monday so I should be able to give you better feedback then.

What's the waiting time like? Keen to see what you think of the a-bomb.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The service is incredibly fast. I ordered my pickups on Tuesday and they arrived on Friday. What's more, it's not like they just pick them up from stock as they really are made to order. I asked for mine to have allen head screws instead of the normal screws (still the one row) and sure enough, that's how they came. When you go through the order page, one of the things you MUST fill in is details of which guitar the pickups will be going into, just in case you've had a touch of brain fade and ordered something that just won't work. Special requests like mine can be put there. The pickups will be installed on Monday afternoon so I'll make sure I post some preliminary comments on Monday evening. Mine will be going into a maple neck-thru Jackson SL3 with OFR. I imagine mine is more middy than yours, which is why I didn't get the Holydiver but from the little I've heard of the effects of a brass block, it may make your guitar fuller in the mids anyway. The stock bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan JB so I dare say I'll be making a number of comparisons with that pickup.