BKP, bad sounding?

[Olivier]

Is it true that I spended 240€ for nothing?

The situation is that I bought BKP aftermath for the bridge and a Cold sweat for the neck. And they're at the moment installed in my LTD H-1001(mahogny body). Which means that I replaced my EMG 81/85.

At the very first day I got my guitar back from my local musicshop I tryed my guitar.
I was fairly impressed how define and dynamic they were compared to EMG. The tightness was alright.

It was okey until now. My band is recording our first promotionalbum, But I cant use my guitar because it wont cut through the other guitar with EMG 81/85... My guitar is lacking gain and mid, its blurry compared to the EMG.

The wiring is right (at least what sevenstring.org said)
Could this problem be directed to the pickup/pole height?

[Twinfan]

It depends on your type of music and amp, versus the other guitarist?

[Olivier]

It depends on your type of music and amp, versus the other guitarist?

We are playing progressive deathcore, and that reminds me of that my pickups cant handle "chuggs" like breakdown chuggs. Doesnt get that right chuggy sound.

We're running through an peavey valveking head and a peavey cabinet.

[schantist]

You have to fiddle with your amp's EQ settings when you switch from EMGs to the Aftermath...
and a decent amp/cab would definitely help too, honestly

[Philly Q]

I hesitate to ask...... but since it's replacing EMGs did they definitely replace the 25k pots with 500k ones?

[Zaned]

Hi,

you did state that the wiring is OK, but just to make sure: did you also replace the pots?

Fiddle with the pickup height, BKPs are very sensitive to that.

EDIT: Phil beat me to it.

-Zaned

[Emperoff]

Dude, the 5 pages of your same thread at ss.org should have clarified your questions, but I'll summarize the responses just for the rest of the people, so they don't waste their time.


- There's nothing wrong with the pickups/wiring

- Play with the pickup height.

- Buy a new amp

- If the EMGs work better for tracking to you, USE the EMGs.

- Acquire a better taste in tone.

[Olivier]

They did clarified and help me alot. But still, it was 5 pages with complaints on the tone (which was a test tone, to compare the guitars/pups against eachother), and people started to focuse more on the tone instead of my problem.

I should have turned to the BKP forum first, better and more polite answers.

Anyway, the pots are changed to 500k.

Are there any standars for the pickup height to start with? And ive been thinking of changing the pole height, if that is necessary?

I have used the EMGs to record with, but now we're on the solo guitars. And I want to use my cold sweat.

I'm 17 years old and money is a problem. Been saving up for a Axe FX or a ENGL fireball/powerball for some time now, think I can aquire it in november.

[Transcend]

You have to understand going from EMGS to passives of any kind.

You WILL have to increase your gain to get the same levels.

your mids should not be an issue though as the AM is way middier than any of the emgs.

if you read the sheet that came with the BKPs it recommends pickup height etc

[Twinfan]

A height of 2-3mm, when the string is pressed at the last fret, is a good starting point.  Do the top E and bottom E to get an overall height, and then adjust a little if required.

I'd leave the polepieces for now, it's a more subtle difference you can look into once you've got the overall height right.

[Olivier]

Thanks for all the great replies.

Is it possible that the Peavey Valveking is not enough? I mean, we're running on the same amp. So what seems enough gain for the other guitarist (Think its like 6/10 or something) is not enough for me?

But... We did notice that the gain knob didn't change so much. I don't know about that.

I'm changing my strings now, going to change string height and pickup height. It should be a big difference on the sound. Going from 0.72-0.13 to 0.62 I think.

[Transcend]

closer to the strings you will get a bit more oomph but too close and things will get a bit rough sounding.

I think your situation is simply the EMGs your other gutiarist is using are pushing the amp harder.

are you running the VK with an overdrive?

If not i highly recommend it. It will make things a heck of a lot tighter and get you that extra output you seem to need

[Olivier]

Explain your oomph and rough please!

No, just amp->cabinet.
I'm getting an maxon od 808 later on, but ENGL fireball/Axe FX first.

[Kiichi]

Try different things with the height, both extremes really. It has so much influence on the tone. I noticed it heavily in the bass side of my bridge Rebell Yell. Within one screw turn it felt like the bass response went from pop punk over classic rock to heavy metal, tone and feel wise.

You may get more power when you are close to the strings, but maybe you like the tone of the farther away setting better. So toy with that and maybe get a nice overdrive pedal (they can be fairly cheap), cause I recon that your problems are, as stated here before, are more related to the fact that you are now using a passive PU. I am absolutly certain that once you made that transition work, you will love the BKPs.

You just switched from a Toyota Corolla to a Ferrari. Totally different feel, but after a few near crashes youŽll adjust and rock that shite and everyones gonna be like: HOLY shite, that is amazing.

[Zaned]

I take the liberty of posting your BKP test clip here.

http://soundcloud.com/oliviergus/bkp-test

I don't own the Aftermath, but it sounds healthy. But the CS, did you get that one sorted out? Because in the clip, the neck pickup sounds weird..

-Zaned