Pickups getting closer - advice needed

[Slartibartfarst42]

Yep, I'm going to go with the A-Bomb and Trilogy Suites. Now I have two simple questions before I place the order:

1) Will putting a cover on the A-Bomb smooth it out a bit and edge it a bit towards the Holydiver while still leaving it with more edge than the HD?

2) If I do fit a cover, which do you think would be best? All the black hardware would suggest black and that would look cool as the single coils will need to be black but I recall reading a thread where a guy was complaining about the black peeling off the cover and I don't want that. Black Battleworn may look nice but would that have the same problem? Finally, I wondered about Burnt Chrome? Below should hopefully be some pictures if I work out how to load them properly  :?

[Zaned]

Cover would warm it up a tad, but it's certainly not a night and day difference. About tightness, the bottom end of maple is already tight (as is the high end too), so most probably no worries there.

Open-poled would be the most obvious choise for that guitar, but burnt chrome would give a lot of visual personality :)

-Zaned

[Telerocker]

A cover is good idea to tame the highs just a tad. You could opt for battleworn black.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Well, I've just pulled the trigger on my new pickups  :D

Despite Tim suggesting a covered C-Bomb, I decided to go with the A-Bomb instead as I think it will be better for the warm, fat and fluid leads I'm after, though I did decide to leave it open poled to keep it as tight as possible in the bass. I hope to God this is the right choice after all this  :? The single coils I've ordered are Trilogy Suites on Tim's suggestion.

I'll post a review when they're installed and I've had a chance to play with them.

[Slartibartfarst42]

OK, got my A-Bomb and Trilogy Suites installed today and so far I can't say I'm impressed. I'm certainly pleased I didn't go with the C-Bomb that Tim suggested as the A-Bomb is already incredibly tight. The A-Bomb is VERY tight and articulate in a way that I normally associate with ceramics, with maybe a touch more fatness to it. There's no doubting the pickup's quality but it's just not what I wanted. I don't find it warm, fat or fluid in the way I wanted. Bringing the pickups closer to the strings has certainly helped but it's still not right. The bottom line for me is that I relegated the Seymour Duncan JB into a Yamaha Pacifica and that guitar is now MUCH closer to what I was after in the Jackson. The JB has really come to life in the Pacifica and sounds fantastic. If a Bareknuckle could do that in my Jackson, with a bit more articulation at the bottom end I'd be very happy but now I have a real problem. Taking the pickup out again and a different one installed adds time and expense I can't afford and when I phoned Ben at BKP he said they may well charge me 15% for the privelage of returning them 'free of charge' for an exchange. I actually felt like I was being put under a lot of pressure not to change them, though I accept that may not have been his intention. He also suggested that if I returned the Nailbomb for a Holydiver, the Trilogy Suites wouldn't work as well with it so I may have to change them too!

Could someone please clarify exactly what the exchange policy is and if it is genuinely free of charge? I really am thoroughly depressed this evening. I was genuinely torn between the A-Bomb and Holydiver but went with the A-Bomb because it was closest to what Tim suggested and I felt that if I could exchange it free of charge I'd be OK. Any help and/or suggestions would be very gratefully received.

[darkbluemurder]

Sorry to hear that.

From your description I take that it is mainly the A-Bomb you are not happy with but you do like the TS, right? In that case I do not see a real reason not to try a Holydiver instead. Did Ben elaborate in which way the HD would not work as well with the TS as the A-Bomb - powerwise or tonewise? Or especially the splitHB-Middle combination?

I am sure that there is a solution for that but I agree that the 15% restocking fee is a strong push against the change.

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

I just noticed that the suggested HSS sets pair both the NB and the HD with Irish Tours. From that I would guess that both humbuckers would work similarily well with the Trilogy Suites.

HSS has always been a compromise for me. Either you select a powerful humbucker that splits well - then chances are that it will overpower the single coils in the full humbucker mode. If you choose a humbucker to balance with the single coils it may sound wimpy when split. If you don't split it you may lose some of the quack in the bridge+middle combination.

Hopefully the issue can be solved.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

Ask BKP if they take this one back and exchange it for a HD.

[Slartibartfarst42]

THanks for the input. The Trilogy Suites were going to be a compromise anyway as I naturally prefer a humbucker tone but I didn't want to move away from Bareknuckle so decided to go true single coil. The Trilogy Suites are fine and I'll get used to them but I'm quite happy to change them if something else works better with the bridge pickup but I need ideas fast as whatever is going back is going back tomorrow morning.

I think the problem has been my description. I've used the word 'tight' because I don't want the horrible mush that afflicts many pickups. I now realise that no BKP turns to mush so that part of my description is academic. So what do I want? Let's start with the JB that is now in the Pacifica. That is now an awesome sounding guitar. It's thick, fluid and warm for leads while having a beautifully smooth distortion on chords that isn't mushy at the bottom end. The brighter woods in the Pacifica have taken away the mush and what I'm left with is a classic Rock/Metal tone that spans the late 70s and 80s. THAT is what I want.

My first thought is the Holydiver as it seems to be situated in that era and I notice people talk of it in relation to Doug Aldrich who seems to use that tone I describe. Ben now tells me that the Trilogy Suites will work with that even though the HD is apparently more powerful than an A-Bomb. Another option might be to change the Trilogy Suites for Sinners if I go with the Holydiver.

Other options that leap to mind as possible bridge pickups might be Crawler or Abraxas but I have no idea if they'd work for Rock/Metal or not so I'm looking for urgent advice/opinions and failing that I'll go with Holydivers.

THanks