VH2 vs. REBEL YELL ... details!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Where does the time go? Hard to believe it was 2 days ago that I was at rehearsal! And there were treats galore!

1st treat was the newly-assembled TOC-3. In it's former life, the TOC-3 was a 1979 Strat. Now it sports a VHII in the bridge and a Gajic Custom neck: maple neck, flame maple fingerboard, bone nut. That's another story, tho. (See, more waiting, 38th Beatle!!! ;)  )

2nd treat  was Phil King's bringing round the new Rebel Yell set in his POS guitar ... er, PRS, I mean.  PDT_008

Okay, so comparisons ...

Both are terrific pickups. Of course, Phil's guitar was wired out the wazoo for all sorts of fancy tricks, where as my lowly guitar doesn't even have a volume control or switch; the pickup is wired straight to the output jack.

The Rebel Yell is damn impressive, let me tell you. It's very thick, very warm, and very harmonically rich. The low freqs are warmer than the VHII. Comparatively, the VHII is tighter in the bass department. Sustain on both pups is great.

The midrange on the two pups is where you really start to see a difference. The VHII's midrange is open, raw, and dynamic. If there's any peaking on the midrange in my guitar, it's somewhere in the upper 4kHz range. This gives the tone a really nice, Van Halenesque bite, as well as allowing me to dial in some killer NWOBHM type tones. The Rebel Yell has a richer midrange. Phil will have to give you his impression, which was across the room and out of the blast radius of the amp (Diezel VH-4 half stack), I really didn't notice any one freq standing out. The entire midrange, tho, from 200Hz or so up to about 2.5k had about a 2dB rise. This worked really well in terms of the VH-4's tone, but I was still getting a bit lost in the mix using the RY.

As for the upper freqs, as you would suspect, the VHII has a much more pronounced scream factor. However, the VHII's guitar is much much brighter. In identical guitars, I would no be suprised to find that the Rebel Yell is very close in high frequency extension.

So, which pickup do I prefer? For classic rock, stadium rock, or gain-drenched blues like Gov't Mule, The Rebel Yell. For metal, the VHII.

Phil can now give you his impressions.

[indysmith]

Thanks man - that was really interesting!
(I know it sounds like i'm being sarcastic but I'm not! - i have a bad habit of sounding that way on forums)

[jt]

:D Tim what are the specks on the RY ?

Thanks Ben for the info i`ve definatley gotta try the RY out !!!

& yer indysmith your right LOL  [ joke ]
 :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:


 :D  8)

[Bird]

Sounds like the RY might be similar to the Crawler. Would that be accurate?

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

The Rebel Yell Isn't finished yet, the one Phil has is the latest wind we have done for Steve so we cant give you any definate details.

[Pierre]

VHII GAS now :D  Why does every single BKP attract me?  :?  Thanks for the review TO!

[PhilKing]

I've had the pickups for about three weeks now, but wasn't sure about saying anything, since I knew Tim was still finalising them.  I asked him this week if it was OK to mention them, since Ben was going to be trying them, and he said no problems.  Mine are 14.7 bridge and 8.3 neck with alnico V.  These are really great pickups and the PRS 5 way gives really nice clean sounds in the split and parallel settings.

Don't let Ben put you off on the high frequencies. He was getting just as many pich harmonics from the RY as the VHII, but they scream out more on the heavyweight strat!  When I compared the VHII and RY in my PRS's, the RY can do all the screaming harmonics of the VHII (the RY's are in a all mahogany PRS standard (24 frets, tremelo), the VHII's are in an Artist II (22 frets, stop tailpiece, maple cap).  The RY really jumps out at you when you switch between the 2, and it wants to feedback so much!  I mean real harmonic feedback not squeal.

As things stand at the moment, these are my favourite BK's, but I really need to get all of them together and have Ben and Igor around and put all of them through their paces.  Also, I haven't got the Black Dogs yet, so I haven't heard all the humbuckers!

I suppose to do it right we would need one guitar, but that would be such a PIA to do.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Don't let Ben put you off on the high frequencies. He was getting just as many pich harmonics from the RY as the VHII, but they scream out more on the heavyweight strat!  

Agreed (Actually, I did say that the HF extension is excellent on the RY, as well as acknowledging that my guitar is brighter than yours. Okay, Defensive Mode off.)

What do you think of my impresssions of the midrange, Phil?

[Davey]

As things stand at the moment, these are my favourite BK's, but I really need to get all of them together and have Ben and Igor around and put all of them through their paces.

oh, i'd love to be around to do that :D

LOL


and then, in the words of Ali G:
Can i nick it?

[PhilKing]

I know where you are coming form when you said you felt a little lost in the mix on the midrange, but I think that some of it was not knowing the guitar and also just how you normally have things set.  You get a lot of midrange from your setup with the guitars you have.  

The mid/high frequency range through the PRS would be a bit down because of the mahogany neck I think.  The maple necks give a lot more in these frequencies.

Having said all that, I thought you were getting a good clean sound and some killer harmonics on Black Flag the second time, but I think the seetings on the Diezel need tweaking to suit the PRS.

How is the Splawn.... you must have played throuhg it by now :twisted:

[lulusg]

I have been asking these same questions about the RY on different  wood  types, just this week Tim gave his thoughts on the subject, which I find very similar to the excellent reviews done by Ben and Phil. The wood type plays an important role that can not be left out. I was wondering on which guitar would Steve Stevens be using this pick ups on?. The Godin, the Les Pauls, a guitar with a Floyd rose tremolo could send this pickups into hyperspace. They are suppose to be versatil and for a very technical player. Which I am not of course but just a thought.  Happy Holydays :D

[TwilightOdyssey]

How is the Splawn.... you must have played throuhg it by now :twisted:

Would you believe ... it's still in the bubblewrap!

I just got home a few minutes ago. I will be turning it on when Randi wakes from her nap.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

The Rebel Yell has quite alot of mid range to it, that was one of Steves requirements.

[Tim]

Steve is currently playing this version of the RY in LPs, he's also got Mules, VH IIs, Warpigs and another prototype set loaded in other LPs.
Obviously Steve has to access ALOT of different tones and needs different p/ups to do this............one model will never do everything in ever guitar, however the aim of the RY is for a medium hot humbucker with attitude, plenty of clarity and weight in the lower mids.
The version Phil has is the same one Steve is playing in his main white LP, the one he's now using for the majority of the show however nothing is set in stone yet..............having said that, this model is top of the pile for him.........he said he feels like a kid in a sweet shop and is totally into all the BKPs he has.Just ask his tech Tim Kennedy.........everyday he's swapping pickups around for Steve as he's constantly experimenting with different p/up/guitar/timber combinations.So as you can see, the RY is something Steve is taking very seriously and he's also really enjoyed the development of the pickup too.
Hopefully we'll offically launch inside the New Year with the possiblity of Steve being at the London Guitar Show with us too 8) !

[Muso]

wow if Steve is in London I am most definately coming down! I wonder if he could play the top gun anthem hehe