Black dog vs. Mule on orville by Gibson LP

[yannroman]

Hi! I'm new to this forum but a long time afficionado of BKP with 1 Irish tour set, 1 trilogy set, and 1 Black dog bridge pu on an Orville by Gibson black beauty (great guitar, btw).
The BD has really been an upgrade on the 57 classic that came stock, but on the paper my "favourite" BKP bridge humbucker is the A4 Mule. I only heard it on my friend's 61 musicmaster and was much impressed, never tried it on a les paul, though.
What, in your opinion, would a Mule add/change on this particular guitar? (mahogany body and neck, maple top, rosewood board, more of a standard but still a black beauty lookwise)
I've been reading a lot on this forum before posting and collected much valuable information, thank you all for that! My goal here is to get head to head comparisons of these 2 pups, more than individual information which this forum is full of!

Congrats to Tim and his crew for such great products! BKP has started out a buzz here in Paris :guitar4:

[CaffeineJunkie]

what do you mean by 'what would this change' ????

are you planning on replacing the BD with the mule or changing the neck/middle pickup to a mule????

[yannroman]

replacing the BD bridge with a Mule

[CaffeineJunkie]

well, the black dog bridge is basically an alnico 5 version of the mule bridge, with a bit more grunt behind it

personally i would replace the neck pickup with a mule and keep the bridge black dog, as it's my favourite bridge pickup, but thas just me :D

[yannroman]

Thanks for the input, I like the black dog just fine and a mule neck would sure be a great combo. This scatterwinding thing adds so much life in the sound, I'm not concerned with the pup's specs as I used to be with other brands, and I'm also really used to A5 pickups so I'm just wondering what I will discover if swapping out the black dog for a mule...

[CaffeineJunkie]

well, i've not played a mule, but from what i've heard, it'll probably be smoother, less bite

you'd probably have to wait for _tom_ to reply (if he does) or ask Tim as that's about the limit of my knowledge



and i now really should be working

have fun

[yannroman]

Well, thanks anyway  :)  Wondering also the effects on the bridge+neck position ('57 classic neck), more/less compression? How are these 2 pups eq'd(BD and Mule)? Which frequencies emphasis for each of them?Who is still awake?     :roll:

[PhilKing]

You don't say what style of music you are playing, but I can give you a comparison of the Black Dog vs Mule plus the combo, as I have a BD calibrated set and an Emerald/Mule combination (both in Les Pauls).  

The BD is the perfect Jimmy Page sound, all the blues/rock phrases sing with the added mid that he used, turn it down a bit and you can get the cleaner tones.  A Mule has less mid range push and with the Alnico IV has a sweeter tone.  Think a little more American blues/rock rather than British.  I think I prefer the Stormy Monday to the Mule if the truth is known.  It is less output, but has a great old PAF tone.

In combination the Alnico V and IV give almost that Peter Green 'out of phase' tone, where the mids are a cut a little more.  You can play with the volumes on each pickup to find new tones that you can't get from other pickups.

[yannroman]

Thank you Philking, great info here and that Peter Green in-between tones are sure something I'd like to experience...
I play various styles of music, since this has been my daytime job for 15 years. I use the Les Paul a lot because I think it can be really polyvalent (pickups permitting) and I must add that the BD is shining in many situations, not only suited for crunch sounds (which I use a lot, anyway...).
I really like the harmonics jumping out fo it for lead sounds (must be the result of this high mid emphasis) and wonder if the Mule will offer such a juicy sound...
On the other hand will the Mule give me a fuller (bassier?)sound for rythm crunch sounds ala Malcolm Young? This is what I'm really after for a bridge pickup, plus the ability to get nice and sparkling out of phase clean tones blending the neck pup. Best of both worlds, to put it simple!

[Twinfan]

For Malcolm Young tone, you want vintage low output with good trebles.  For a good biting lead you want something with a bit more kick and a decent midrange in my opinion.  A slight problem to get both out of one pickup...

How about a Mule neck and Black Dog bridge?  I think that would suit your versatility perfectly.  Blending the two with the treble volume rolled back would be a good clean-ish tone.

[Fourth Feline]

The Mule bridge would be sweeter, more rounded  and less biting than the Black dog.

 :D

[yannroman]

Thanks to all, I like the idea of a mule neck I think I'll give this combo a shot before trying a mule bridge, after all I like my BD, it really is a keeper on any Les Paul. As I own several LP I might end up installing it on another one just for the pleasure to get a mule ;)

[JJretroTONEGOD]

Thanks to all, I like the idea of a mule neck I think I'll give this combo a shot before trying a mule bridge, after all I like my BD, it really is a keeper on any Les Paul. As I own several LP I might end up installing it on another one just for the pleasure to get a mule ;)

If you're not sure about what you want, before buying anything I'd ask Tim, he'll give you all the advice you need! I told him the sound I wanted and I know I no longer dream about it, it's always there! Tim's the man. Without going through things with Tim I would have wasted a lot of money and it definitley wouldnt have sounded right. I've got a BKP90 in the neck and a mule in the Bridge.

[Skybone]

As another Black Dog fan, I'd keep the Dog in the bridge position and use the Mule as a neck pickup, if you're wanting to get a Mule.

Personally, I put a set of Black Dog's in my Tokai Love Rock, and never looked back... ;)