Bare Knuckle the most helpful team ever! Dimarzio are just ignorant!

[she.cries.wolf]

I just thought I'd post this as I think most, if not all of you will agree.

Before I switched to BKP, I was a Dimarzio user and I sent their Tech Department a few of emails, and they was SOOOOOOO unhelpful. Gods honest truth, they replied with one sentence emails. There was no "Hi Michael" or "Kindest Regards" it was just things like "Yes that's fine". And when I said I've gone for a different wood choice on another email I just got a response saying 'Wood won't matter. Pickup will work fine"

Once I decided on my pickups, I bought them but they wasn't to my liking. I wanted something 'middier' and my email response was "Try using your amps EQ". Yh like I haven't tried that! And when I emailed back explaining this (I was actually very polite) I got a response saying exactly this "Try another Amp. The original pickup should work fine"

Well that put me off them. I had the sense that they was getting impatient and I only sent 4-5 emails over the space of 3 months.

Well...after going to BKP, Tim & Ben have been absolutely helpful, and always give you the impression that they care about their customers. It feels like even if you feel their selection might not suit you, and you explain this; they are more than happy to explain to you why it would work, or actually ask more in depth questions into the exact tone you want.

AND...they always say "Hi (Insert Name)" and "Kindest Regards"

Hats off to BKP :)

[Sancho]

BKP's customer service is indeed second to none.
To put things in perspective, I think Dimarzio receives a lot more mails than BKP. But that doesn't matter when you have a question. You want a good answer.
Suggesting someone to buy a new amp that will work with their pickups is bordering on the absurd.

[darkbluemurder]

Gods honest truth, they replied with one sentence emails. There was no "Hi Michael" or "Kindest Regards" it was just things like "Yes that's fine".

As Sancho said I can imagine they are swamped with emails so I wouldn't consider brief answers per se unfriendly or unhelpful.

And when I said I've gone for a different wood choice on another email I just got a response saying 'Wood won't matter. Pickup will work fine"

This is very simplistic at best and ignorant at worst. I think it is common opinion that even though electric guitars are not meant to resonate in the sense of acoustic guitars, wood, construction and hardware affect how the strings vibrate and what the pickups can sense and turn into the tiny signal that makes the way to the amp.

Once I decided on my pickups, I bought them but they wasn't to my liking. I wanted something 'middier' and my email response was "Try using your amps EQ". Yh like I haven't tried that!

You may be surprised how many guitar players never use the tone controls on their amps and blaming something else for bad tone. Up to that point I would not have written them off - as you did not either.

And when I emailed back explaining this (I was actually very polite) I got a response saying exactly this "Try another Amp. The original pickup should work fine"

That of course is complete and utter BS and totally unacceptable.

Well...after going to BKP, Tim & Ben have been absolutely helpful, and always give you the impression that they care about their customers. It feels like even if you feel their selection might not suit you, and you explain this; they are more than happy to explain to you why it would work, or actually ask more in depth questions into the exact tone you want.
AND...they always say "Hi (Insert Name)" and "Kindest Regards"

Hats off to BKP :)

Seems you made the right move. I have had the same experience with the BKP team.

Cheers Stephan

[she.cries.wolf]

BKP's customer service is indeed second to none.
To put things in perspective, I think Dimarzio receives a lot more mails than BKP. But that doesn't matter when you have a question. You want a good answer.
Suggesting someone to buy a new amp that will work with their pickups is bordering on the absurd.

I know! I actually asked them ages ago when buying the Crunch Lab pickup about how it would respond as it's obviously not handwired to suit my guitar and how it would act Basswood as it's suited to JPs current guitar and the reply I received was (this is copied and pasted):

"All pickups are the same no matter if they are ordered personally or supplied for the guitarist. The Crunch Lab was designed for John Petrucci in his original guitar which was indeed made of basswood so there should be no problem"

Now this was kinda more helpful as it was a longer email, but still absent of a Hi or Kindest regards.

Problem was, the Crunch Lab was wound for his Mahogany/Alder guitars. When he had Basswood right before his new wood choice, it was a Steve's Special. This led me to realise this guy had no idea what he was talking about. I know Petrucci now has it installed in all his guitars, but the fact this guy at the time thought it was designed for his Basswood guitars, kinda made me think that he was full of c**p.

At least Tim knows what works with what

[she.cries.wolf]

Which actually leads to want to actually upgrade my Crunch Lab/Liquifire now. They're great pickups, but I'm an obsessive pickup changer haha.

[HTH AMPS]

I agree with one of the above comments about the amp - DiMarzio are not to know whether you're a clueless n00b or a top session guy.  I've had guys bring amps to me saying they needed modded, but they just had them EQ'd all wrong and with too much gain (typically).  I've lost count of the number of guys who've sat in my workshop playing their own amps with me showing them how to set them up properly; boils my piss.

[bucketshred]

So HTH, what would your recommendation be for settings for a huge rock sound with a JCM800? I'm almost there but not quite!

Paddy

[Muttley]

So HTH, what would your recommendation be for settings for a huge rock sound with a JCM800? I'm almost there but not quite!

Paddy

More volume, less gain, more mids!  :)

I'ver seen so many bands where the guitarist seems to want to actually be the bass player.  ;)

[Roobubba]

So HTH, what would your recommendation be for settings for a huge rock sound with a JCM800? I'm almost there but not quite!

Paddy

More volume, less gain, more mids!  :)

I'ver seen so many bands where the guitarist seems to want to actually be the bass player.  ;)

You sir should be given a megaphone in front of almost every band I've heard soundchecking in the last 4 years.

Wisest words you will read on the interwebs, dear friends.

Roo

[Sancho]

More volume, less gain, more mids!  :)

Wisest words you will read on the interwebs, dear friends.

Until the sound guy starts shouting to turn the amp down... ;)

[darkbluemurder]

Agree on the less gain, more mids. The guitar is a midrange instrument and as such would have a comfortable space in almost any band mix, yet many guitarists are more than willing to trade this place by scooping the mids and therefore getting in the way of the bass guitar at the low end and the cymbals and vocals on the high end and needing more stage volume to hear themselves. The end result is an embarrassing unintellegible sound chaos.

Listen to Michael Schenker or Robben Ford. They use lots of mids and virtually no bass. Same with Randy Rhoads or Jake E. Lee (I am sure there are many more but they just came to mind). The guitar tones sit perfectly in the mix, not getting in the way with anything.

Not so sure about the more volume, though. That is definitely not what sound engineers want.

Cheers Stephan

[HTH AMPS]

So HTH, what would your recommendation be for settings for a huge rock sound with a JCM800? I'm almost there but not quite!

Paddy

Almost universally most amps in the vein of a JCM800 will sound great with these settings...

bass 6/7
middle 8/10
treble 5/6
presence 5/6
gain 8/9

With 800s, they do need a fair amount of volume to get any real grunt in their stock form.  I mod all of mine (and every else I know with 800s) to get round this.  Its a few circuit changes and a depth mod, but it makes SO much difference it should be illegal  8)

[darkbluemurder]

With 800s, they do need a fair amount of volume to get any real grunt in their stock form.  I mod all of mine (and every else I know with 800s) to get round this.  Its a few circuit changes and a depth mod, but it makes SO much difference it should be illegal  8)

I fully agree. This is exactly my experience with the stock configuration but as you said that can be cured with a few minor mods.

Rock on,

Stephan

[Madsakre]

Almost universally most amps in the vein of a JCM800 will sound great with these settings...

bass 6/7
middle 8/10
treble 5/6
presence 5/6
gain 8/9

I use the same.. i just usually have the presence on 8-10

[Sancho]

For Marshall style amps, I just start off with all controls except master at the halfway point.
Other than the gain, they usually don't stray too far from there.