Author Topic: Just tried my Crawler and Irish Tours........... (Read 7698 times)

Brow · « **on:** September 20, 2005, 12:40:10 PM »

Hey guys.

By the time I re-strung my guitar after fitting the pickups last night, it was too late for me to drag an amp out and give them a go

So I had to wait until today..............

I tried the guitar through my Marshall JTM60 1x12 combo and was totally blown away with these pickups!

The crawler in the bridge is relatively bright (no tone control) but not overly so. It it very full sounding and very clear aswell. It has the potential of being a very powerful sounding pickup if you wind up the gain and dig in hard, but back off the gain and it clears up very well and never gets muddy.

When split, the Crawler (imo) sounds very much like a traditional bridge single coil and is the best 'split humbucker' tone I've ever heard. Extremely useful :D

The Irish Tours in the middle and neck are hands down the best single coil pickups I've ever used. They're very open and clear sounding but have a kind of dirty sound to them, which I think is great :)

This Strat is now my most versatile guitar, and if I had to do a gig with only 1 guitar (it won't happen, but lets pretend

) I'd more than likely chosoe this Strat because it can cover all the bases :)

There is 1 BIG problem with these pickups though..................

They absolutely kill the Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups I plan on putting back on my other Strat! In-order for me to even consider using my other Strat again, I'd have to replace the Duncans with BKs. Which would be a little hard on the wallet at the moment :lol:

Rest assured, when I have a stable amount of work coming in, I'm definitely replacing the Duncans with something from BKs range (likely Apaches or Slowhands unless Tim suggests different :D)

Hopefully I've not bored you all to tears with this post :D

Craig

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2005, 12:44:42 PM »

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... huh?! wazzat?! You said something?! ;)

Glad you like the pups, Brow!

Brow · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2005, 12:48:18 PM »

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... huh?! wazzat?! You said something?! ;)

Shut it you! :twisted:

I'm glad I like the pickups too :D My dad happened to see the invoice yesterday and went mental at me for 'spending that much money on a bit of guitar cr@p' so I'm now staying out of his way until he's calmed down a bit 8)

I plan on recording either today or next week, so I'll be sure to post some badly played clips when I get them done :D

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2005, 05:21:12 PM »

Your Strat sounds like it is a top instrument! I've still not tried the lower gain pickups, even though the Crawler is still a wailer. I just went for the MM, Warpigs and TS!

Brow · « **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2005, 05:35:56 PM »

Quote from: Johnny Mac

Your Strat sounds like it is a top instrument! I've still not tried the lower gain pickups, even though the Crawler is still a wailer. I just went for the MM, Warpigs and TS!

Thanx for your post :)

The Crawler is higher output than I go for usually, but Tim talked me into it :D

I'm THAT impressed wtih these pickups that I'm already planning my next 2 sets of pickups! :D

Tim · « **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2005, 06:09:34 PM »

Hey Brow, glad your first impressions are good.
I only recommend what I can back up, and having played Geoff's Strat with a similar set I know how versatile these can be.Geoff did the whole of the Procul Scandonavian tour using his!!

Brow · « **Reply #6 on:** September 20, 2005, 06:19:37 PM »

Quote from: Tim

Hey Brow, glad your first impressions are good.
I only recommend what I can back up, and having played Geoff's Strat with a similar set I know how versatile these can be.Geoff did the whole of the Procul Scandonavian tour using his!!

Hi Tim, thanx for your reply :)

This Strat is definitely my 'go to' guitar when I want something that can cover all the bases :)

I'm still yet to try these with a band setup, but I think they'll be great :D

Check your PM' Tim, I've sent youa PM as regards Bare Knuckle Picks :D

Craig

38thBeatle · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2005, 08:24:50 PM »

I thought that you had some strange pattern in your carpet for a minute until I realised that it was the date.

Nice plank btw

Ratrod · « **Reply #8 on:** September 20, 2005, 08:30:54 PM »

Glad you like the pickups. I'm falling in love with my Crawlers more and more as I discover their tonal palet.

Peterku · « **Reply #9 on:** September 20, 2005, 09:27:40 PM »

Cool... just when I thought I couldn't get any more GAS at the SD Forum, I came here to read posts like yours!!!!!! :x :lol:

BTW, in what ways did you find the Irish Tours better than the Antiquities?

Steve-Mr Pig 2U · « **Reply #10 on:** September 20, 2005, 09:48:42 PM »

The IT's aren't really in the same area as antiquities. For true vintage single coils try out the Apaches

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #11 on:** September 20, 2005, 11:24:28 PM »

Brow, I think the bobbins are reversed on your guitar! LOL

Brow · « **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2005, 12:01:07 AM »

Thanx for the replies guys :)

Quote from: Peterku

Cool... just when I thought I couldn't get any more GAS at the SD Forum, I came here to read posts like yours!!!!!! :x :lol:

BTW, in what ways did you find the Irish Tours better than the Antiquities?

The Antiquitiy Middle and Neck pickups read out at around 6.4K and the bridge single coil reads out at 10.14K, which is pretty hot for something that's considered a 'vintage' pickup if I'm not mistaken?

I always loved the tone of the Antiquities, they were, in my mind, what a traditional Strat should sound like.

When I 1st tried the middle and neck Irish Tours I noticed how much clearer sounding they are than the Antiquities. The IT's seem to have a smoother tone and are very open sounding to my ears. They have kind of a 'dirty' sound to them, but I really like it myself :)

I plan on a set of Apaches for my other Strat aswell :)

Steve-Mr Pig 2U · « **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2005, 12:37:01 AM »

That is very hot for a vintage single. Fender used to wind all 3 coils exactly the same so I don’t know where they got that kind of DC from!
You must have their hot antiquity bridge... They don’t tell you the spec on the site but I can assure you that is not wound with Heavy formvar wire! The Highest DC you can get with that is about 6.6k

You would love the Apache's if you like the Antiquities, they would blow them away!

Brow · « **Reply #14 on:** September 21, 2005, 10:11:28 AM »

Quote from: Steve-Mr Pig 2U

That is very hot for a vintage single. Fender used to wind all 3 coils exactly the same so I don’t know where they got that kind of DC from!
You must have their hot antiquity bridge... They don’t tell you the spec on the site but I can assure you that is not wound with Heavy formvar wire! The Highest DC you can get with that is about 6.6k

You would love the Apache's if you like the Antiquities, they would blow them away!

You're correct, I have the 'Antiquity Texas Hot pickups with Custom bridge pickup' :)

Like I say, they to me, were what a single coil pickup should sound like. Until I tried my BKs :D

I'm mostly a Classic Rock and Blues kinda player ,so looking at the specs I was almost certain an Apache set would suit me just fine in my other Strat :)