Need A nice one...

[Nilo]

Hi!

My first post here...

I need a little help. I have a very stratsounding Charvel superstrat that i need a bridge pickup for...

It comprises of an Alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, locking trem and a HSS setup.

the problem is this: the guitar tends to be a bit on the bright side and most pickups i've tried in it has sounded harsh and almost cut your ears of... But then i tried it with a super distortion from DiMarzio and the highs where sweet enough, but now the bottom end is to mushy  :?

It seems because of the locking trem it looses some warmth that i need a pretty warm pickup to compensate for, but it must have a very tight low end to not get mushy...

I've tried these pickups in this guitar:
DiMarzio Super distortion - good highs, but mushy lows.
DiMarzio Super 2 - Too Bright, even with a 250K pot.
Seymour Duncan JB - very, very bright and not at all what i like.
Seymour Duncan Invader - to much output, made my amp cr@p itself...
GuitarForce erupter - sweet sounding pickup, but also to bright.

what I'm looking for is this: medium output, tight low end, singing highs and nice sweet mids...
What does Bare Knuckle have to offer me?

[Antag]

Hello & welcome :)

My first thought was Holy Diver - that's what I'd choose for that guitar & it sounds absolutely wonderful in alder bodied guitars.  Fat midrange, great punch & dynamics, very versatile, brings out the best in this conbination of woods.

Then I read this bit:

what I'm looking for is this: medium output, tight low end, singing highs and nice sweet mids...

Depends what you define as "medium".  The Holy Diver is pretty hot, probably a shade hotter than a JB - it's certainly a "contempory" pickup in power-terms.

Crawler would be good - not as powerful as the HD, but really sweet warm mids, rounded top end.  Never tried one in a strat, but it was designed with a Strat in mind so it would be a good choice.

My other thought was Black Dog.  I have only limited experience of this (& not in a strat), but it has been used by metal players on 7-strings so its low end must be pretty tight.  I found it a really warm vintage sounding pickup & wonder if it might be the answer here.  Perhaps some BD owners might like to comment?

[Nilo]

If it's hotter than the JB, then it's really not what i'd call a Medium output humbucker  :lol:

all of the pickups I've tried in this guitar accept the Erupter are high output humbuckers...

a medium output would be for me something like the DiMarzio Norton or Breed or even PAF pro... If we'd go Duncan I'd say Screaming Demon or Maybe Pearly Gates...

So, i'm after a Tight Hot Vintage kind of sound...

[Twinfan]

If your guitar is bright, then a lot of BKPs will be too bright for you.

Holy Diver would get my vote.

[Antag]

If it's any help, this is what I posted when I replaced a JB with a Holy Diver in my trusty Jackson RR1T (which is a bright guitar).

However, after your explanation of the level of power you want, I'd say Crawler would be great.

[Keven]

My Black Dog works well in my ash bodied and maple necked-fretboarded guitar. it's dark enough to be able to do snappy clean runs on the bridge or even some smooth chording, but bright enough to really rip your ears off when you dig in playing all out metal. very responsive to attack, the more you attack, the harder it drives the high mids.

holds the low end really well too, given it's a seven string.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Crawler or Emerald
the Emerald is beefy and will definitely smooth out a super bright guitar & output is between a vintage PAF type and a hotter pickup like the Crawler.

The other thing that may make a huge difference is - if you have a tone control in the guitar swap the capacitor to an orange drop or even better (IMO) a Vitamin Q oil and paper cap - 0.022uF value is great

[BigB]

Hi!

My first post here...

I need a little help. I have a very stratsounding Charvel superstrat that i need a bridge pickup for...

It comprises of an Alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, locking trem and a HSS setup.

the problem is this: the guitar tends to be a bit on the bright side and most pickups i've tried in it has sounded harsh and almost cut your ears of... But then i tried it with a super distortion from DiMarzio and the highs where sweet enough, but now the bottom end is to mushy  :?

It seems because of the locking trem it looses some warmth that i need a pretty warm pickup to compensate for, but it must have a very tight low end to not get mushy...
(snip)
what I'm looking for is this: medium output, tight low end, singing highs and nice sweet mids...
What does Bare Knuckle have to offer me?

I'd say a Crawler. I have a set on a going-thru neck all-maple Vox Custom 24, and it seems to be a really good fit for bright guitars (FWIW, it has been designed to work well on superstrats-like). 

Output-wise, it's a bit more than "medium", at least on my scale - "vintage hot" would be a good description I think. Tight lows indeed - at least on the Vox -, sweet and warm yet still cutting mids, and singing ringing highs is what I get. Sounds great clean - lot of chime, comes close to a Rickenbacker - and just plain marvellous from slight bluesy crunch to heavy distortion. Very articulate too - even under heavy disto, you can play jazzy chords and still hear each single note, it's really amazing. 

As a side note - I can only second Felineguitar when it comes to caps: use a paper in oil (PIO) one (you can find russian ones for a reasonable price) - and if possible try a couple different values. On my Vox, I ended up using a 0.033uF cap on the bridge (to tame down the guitar's extrem brightness) and a 0.015uF one on the neck (to let out a bit more of the guitar's "bite").

[BigB]

Crawler would be good - not as powerful as the HD, but really sweet warm mids, rounded top end. 

On my Vox the top-end is surely singing and ringing and not harsh in any way, but still not what I'd call "rounded" - "cutting" or "biting" would be more appropriate IMHO :mrgreen:

[hunter]

I find the Emerald nice, thick and crunchy. Although it has lots of treble/upper mids it stays thick on higher notes, really special. You might find it bright though.

I was thinking Holy Diver too, but might be hotter than what you want.

I agree with the Black Dog recommendation, I think that one'd suit you rather well.  Or a safe bet would be Mule.