BKP, bad sounding?

[kahawe]

I just cant get the chugg sound out of the peavey valveking..

ummmmm... since so far a lot points towards the pups being alright, you know, your problem might just be at that end of the chain. Not to beat on the valveking but I doubt you will get the same roar a 6505 head or rectum-fryer or the ground-shaking oomph a vh4 can deliver at about a tenth of the price.

I would try your amp through a much better quality 2x12 or oversized 2x12 (for saving money and portability) or 4x12 (if affordable and feasible for you) first; then slam an OD808 in front of it but this will give you more mids and might just not work with a ValveKing. It works so well with the 6505 and rectum-fryer because they already have insane amounts of low-end boom. Ultimately try a different amp and see how that works.

All this, of course, considering your pups and installation are actually OK and you could not fix it with proper EQ adjustment.

Another idea: how long are your cable runs from guitar through FX into the amp, all together on total? Are you above 15, 20, 30 feet? Active pickups will practically make cable length non-relevant; when switching to passive pups, 30+ feet will kill a LOT of tone, no matter what voodoo was applied to the cable. A quality buffer or much shorter cable runs will remedy this.

Also, what amp is the other guitarist playing?

[Jofipe]

Having played various different BKP's that i absolutely LOVED and found to be head and shoulder above any EMG, I wanted to take a chance on a pair of they very high output "warpig alnico".
As apposed to every other BKP I was dissapointed... it lacked clarity and mids, and in a way didnt cut through.. like you experienced.
My theory is that the extremy output is too much and the tone suffers.
'Im sure if you put in a set og Nailbombs or Painkillers you will be more than satisfied.

I play Doom metal...  with a very metal'ish tone..  no rock here. So for me the Warpigs might have seemed ideal..  they absolutely werent. They pushed too much bass, it would mess up the tone. I think you might have the same problem.

EMG's absolutely sucks compared to the right pair of BKP's in the right guitar.

[Loomer]

Having played various different BKP's that i absolutely LOVED and found to be head and shoulder above any EMG, I wanted to take a chance on a pair of they very high output "warpig alnico".
As apposed to every other BKP I was dissapointed... it lacked clarity and mids, and in a way didnt cut through.. like you experienced.
My theory is that the extremy output is too much and the tone suffers.
'Im sure if you put in a set og Nailbombs or Painkillers you will be more than satisfied.

I play Doom metal...  with a very metal'ish tone..  no rock here. So for me the Warpigs might have seemed ideal..  they absolutely werent. They pushed too much bass, it would mess up the tone. I think you might have the same problem.

EMG's absolutely sucks compared to the right pair of BKP's in the right guitar.

That just goes to prove that everyone's hands are screwed on differently :lol:
The Pig is my no. 1 favorite pickup, and it just works for me. Moral is; Get what works for you, no matter what that may be. Something that others say is good may not be good for you.

[Shag101]

I wanted to take a chance on a pair of they very high output "warpig alnico".
As apposed to every other BKP I was dissapointed... it lacked clarity and mids, and in a way didnt cut through.. like you experienced.

They pushed too much bass, it would mess up the tone. I think you might have the same problem.

My A-Pig sounded a little lake luster in my SG, but blows sh*t up in my charvel.

I learned you cant just throw any pickup in any guitar.  You need to do some homework on each component you have and see what you can do to find "your sound".

Actives are a little more forgiving as compared to passives.  Passives work with the material/construction of your guitar, whereas actives can be put in a baseball bat and sound almost the same. 

[MDV]

A boost would do you more good at this point.

Even something cheap like a digitech bad monkey that will cost about £20 will make the world of difference to your tone and help you get that chug

Plan

Also raise the screw poles near the bridge and get them ~3mm from the strings. That will brighten the pickup and increase the high mid cut and punch and make it *more similar* to (NOT the same as) an 81.

Or, you just dont like it

Its not a crime. I love my Aftermaths, I love my 81s, but if youre expecting one to sound just like the other, it aint happening. The AM is a thicker, throatier, growlier, looser, lower output, but smoother, more dynamic and fuller sounding pickup than the 81. It also responds more strongly to the guitar its in (81s do as well, rather a lot, contrary to popular belief, but the aftermath does far more so: the guitar-pickup match up with BKs is more important than the pickup itself, in my experience, maybe its not right for that guitar).

[Olivier]

Gosh, so many answers. I'm trying to answer the most of them. The posts here have been very helpful tho, so thank you for that.

Its true that I got recommended the aftermath, both by peeps on forum. AND by Tim.
And of course I did some research, trying to watch videos with these pickups, looking for clips that people have done,
and I liked it.

Its just my guitar->cable 6m->valveking. BTW, we did found out that one valve was broken in the valveking, the first one. So we switched out the last valve, with the first valve. Then it sounded quite better, but still not that aggressive chugging. Could one broken valve be the problem?

And alot of people here is saying that I should get a OD/booster pedal, and yes I want one. But my priority is a new amp at the moment. Think that is more important. And since i'm 17 years old, money is a problem. Can't just go and buy a ENGL fireball+maxon od 808.

[Madsakre]

a boss overdrive is also awesome as hell. and its not that expensive. and nothings wrong with ibanez tubescreamers either

[BigB]

Its just my guitar->cable 6m->valveking. BTW, we did found out that one valve was broken in the valveking, the first one. So we switched out the last valve, with the first valve. Then it sounded quite better, but still not that aggressive chugging. Could one broken valve be the problem?

It might not be "THE" problem, but a broken V1 preamp valve certainly doesn't help, whatever the guitare / pup / amp / tone / playing style... Hey, it's your amp's first gain stage...

And alot of people here is saying that I should get a OD/booster pedal, and yes I want one. But my priority is a new amp at the moment. Think that is more important. And since i'm 17 years old, money is a problem. Can't just go and buy a ENGL fireball+maxon od 808.

You can get a very decent OD for about 30 to 50€ (these are very simple circuits and the more expensive components are the box, switch and jacks), and I can confirm that pushing your amp's front harder with a cranked (volume, not drive) OD is more otfen than not the not-so-secret receipe for great tones - you just have to make sure the OD and amp play well together.

Now as someone else here already mentionned, it might just be that this pickup doesn't match your guitar, fingers and tastes. Just make sure you try it with the right gear (a *working* amp and a decent OD) AND settings (took me a few days to find the right settings on my amp / ODs when I swapped my SG's bridge for a ABomb).

[MDV]

The valveking I tried was a mushy mess. Try it through other amps and see what happens.

[Olivier]

I appreciate you telling about some decent ODs, but i'm sticking to my theory. Buy things that you know is good for you, so you won't have to spend like 40€ first, then try to sell it to buy a new one for 100€. Buy the real deal first, especially when talking about sound.
Thats my experience about that.

I got the same impression of the valveking... A muddy thing

[BigB]

I appreciate you telling about some decent ODs, but i'm sticking to my theory. Buy things that you know is good for you, so you won't have to spend like 40€ first, then try to sell it to buy a new one for 100€. Buy the real deal first, especially when talking about sound.
Thats my experience about that.

Yeps, but the point here is that a 100€ OD isn't necessarily any better than a 40€ one. Specially a 100€ new vs a 40€ second hand ;)

[Crunch]

I appreciate you telling about some decent ODs, but i'm sticking to my theory. Buy things that you know is good for you, so you won't have to spend like 40€ first, then try to sell it to buy a new one for 100€. Buy the real deal first, especially when talking about sound.
Thats my experience about that.

I got the same impression of the valveking... A muddy thing

Maybe you have a mate that's willing to lend you a pedal or amp head for a few hours so you can see how well it works?

I've had similar opinions about gear, and, I feel a lot better surrounded by boxes of shitety pedals and a beat-up, second hand heads than I do with the shiny thing I've been drooling after for so long (it's always disappointing).
Then again, I'm into stoner doom and think anything will sound good with an EHX Bass Big Muff strapped to it, so this last opinion may not sit well with you.

[Lilarcor]

I don't understand why everybody is discussing new gear if two pieces of his gear are obviously broken.

1. If a tube is broken switch it out. Your amp will never sound the way it should with a broken tube.

2. The neck pickup sounds out-of-phase. No matter how professional the guy is who installed your pickups, something is wrong with either the wiring or the pickup itself. Get this fixed, as well. You could start by telling how it is wired right now. It should be black to ground (soldered to pot-casing), green and white soldered together and red to the switch or input of a pot. (standard wiring without coil-tapping, parallel etc)
That's why I learned how to wire my guitars myself. If something goes wrong, I won't have spent any money on a faulty job. ;)

Re-evaluate your sound after you got all this fixed. Then play with the setup of your pickups. If you're still having a problem with your sound then you can start thinking about switching back to EMGs, getting an OD and so on.
Btw: If you end up liking your EMGs better stick with them. Sound is a matter of taste and so are pickups. Nothing wrong with that.

[Loomer]

Btw: If you end up liking your EMGs better stick with them. Sound is a matter of taste and so are pickups. Nothing wrong with that.

Yeah yeah, but Bare Knuckle Pickups are believe it or not, fashionable in some circles. You can't argue with that!  :lol:

[Lilarcor]

YAY! The EMG-Duncan-Dimarzio-oligarchy shall fall!   :shock:

:lol: