BKP Rebel Yells installed finally!

[ZeroFiveFour]

(Updated at end of thread with my assesment and appreciation for the new pickups!
Thanks Tim!)

They are here and installed!





Hi,

New member here.  

After some research on this forum,  listening to sound clips, reading reviews, searching the net, followed by a few emails to Tim, some extensive discussion with the owner of the local guitar shop and hearing the MULE in a guitar at the shop I decided on the Rebel Yells.  

I was still undecided and torn between the MULE and the RY when I went to the shop to order them today, but ultimately chose the RY. I am so Looking forward to getting the p-ups in a few weeks.

I am going to put them into a newly obtained PRS SE singlecut.  

Any way just wanted to introduce myself and share my excitement!

Cheers,

Tom

[richard]

Welcome to the forum. I have a set of RYs in a Firebird Studio. I wasn't happy with them when they were first installed but, on the advice of other forum members, I took a long time playing with height adjustments. Now they sound great. Very fat and raunchy. They have a reputation as being very sensitive to height so be prepared to experiment until you get them sounding their best.

Let us know how you get on. What amp are you using by the way ?

[ZeroFiveFour]

Richard,

Thanks for the information regarding string height.  What height did you eventually settle with.  (Was it closer or farther away to your strings than your previous pickups.)

I use 2 amps primarily. One is an early 90's rackmount Dual Rectifier Head, the other is a Fender HRD. I run both with Vintage 30's.  I also have a pedal board with a Keeley modded DS-1, Tonefactor modded DS-1 and Fulltone Plimsoul and Catalyst. Looking forward to trying all of it with the new p/ups.

Thanks again for the feedback on your experience with the RY, it is appreciated.

Tom

[Telerocker]

Good you have fun with the RY's. Btw, you can't compare the RY with the Mule, they're different birds.

[ZeroFiveFour]

Good you have fun with the RY's. Btw, you can't compare the RY with the Mule, they're different birds.

Telerocker,

Good point indeed!

I should clarify that the reason I was torn between the two is precisely because they are different and offer different tones.  However, the Mule is the only BKP I had the pleasure of hearing in person and the quality of the Mule is what convinced me to look further into the BKP line. I was and still am a fan of the Mule, so much so that I may get a Mule in the future to put into another guitar.

Cheers,

Tom

[richard]

Zero,

My pickups are pretty low. I didn't install them myself and the guy that did the work set them very close to the strings. After a lot of messing around I set them almost flush with the pickup rings and raised them a little until they started getting closer to the sound I was after. The process took weeks because I would take the guitar to band rehearsals, have a good listen to how they were sitting in the mix and then tweak a little more at home.

If I were to do this again I would go to my rehearsal room by myself for a couple of hours, crank my amp and fiddle to my heart's content.

If you haven't had BKs before you may be surprised by the treble content which as largely to do with the scatter winding process. The RYs are know to be particularly bright. However, it's not like BK have engineered in more top end but more like it's been released as machine wound pups tend to choke the high end response. My main guitar for years was an SG with a JB in the bridge which could sometimes be very piercing. No such complaints with the RYs.

I've had a lot of people at gigs say 'Your amp sounds great'. I always tell them that BK pickups have a great deal to with the sound.

What guitar and pups have you been using before getting the PRS ? Whatever they were be prepared to do a lot of amp tweaking as well.

[Telerocker]

Good you have fun with the RY's. Btw, you can't compare the RY with the Mule, they're different birds.

Telerocker,

Good point indeed!

I should clarify that the reason I was torn between the two is precisely because they are different and offer different tones.  However, the Mule is the only BKP I had the pleasure of hearing in person and the quality of the Mule is what convinced me to look further into the BKP line. I was and still am a fan of the Mule, so much so that I may get a Mule in the future to put into another guitar.

Cheers,

Tom

I have Mules in a mahogany bolt-on Saint Blues (sort of Les Paul-tele hybrid) and they are full, sweet and crisp at the same. Genuine late fifties PAF-tones with depth. They handle gain (as every BKP) very well, but most of them I like the clean and crunchy qualities of them. I use the neckpickup for jazzy stuff too.

[ZeroFiveFour]

Zero,

My pickups are pretty low. I didn't install them myself and the guy that did the work set them very close to the strings. After a lot of messing around I set them almost flush with the pickup rings and raised them a little until they started getting closer to the sound I was after. The process took weeks because I would take the guitar to band rehearsals, have a good listen to how they were sitting in the mix and then tweak a little more at home.

If I were to do this again I would go to my rehearsal room by myself for a couple of hours, crank my amp and fiddle to my heart's content.

If you haven't had BKs before you may be surprised by the treble content which as largely to do with the scatter winding process. The RYs are know to be particularly bright. However, it's not like BK have engineered in more top end but more like it's been released as machine wound pups tend to choke the high end response. My main guitar for years was an SG with a JB in the bridge which could sometimes be very piercing. No such complaints with the RYs.

I've had a lot of people at gigs say 'Your amp sounds great'. I always tell them that BK pickups have a great deal to with the sound.

What guitar and pups have you been using before getting the PRS ? Whatever they were be prepared to do a lot of amp tweaking as well.

Thanks for the detailed info. The RY's will be my first experience owning BKP pickups so I appreciate the details.  Seems like the bright qualities may work well with my Mesa Dual Recto due to its "dark" voicing, might shine on my fender HRD with dirt stomp boxes too. 

My main guitar is an Ernie Ball Music Man Axis with the stock proprietary Dimarzio pickups.  I bought the PRS because I always wanted a singlecut style guitar and after trying a few out at the store this one in particular felt very comfortable and played very well. This was my first time experiencing the 25 scale length and it proved very comfortable as well.

Thanks again.

Cheers,

Tom

[darkbluemurder]

Rebel Yells are great - I love mine in my LPC. They do Sykes and Rhoads as well as both Micks (Jones and Ronson) very well.

Cheers Stephan

[ZeroFiveFour]

Rebel Yells are great - I love mine in my LPC. They do Sykes and Rhoads as well as both Micks (Jones and Ronson) very well.

Cheers Stephan

Stephan,

I absolutely love the tone of all the players you listed. Makes the wait for the pickups even harder now. Huge Sykes and Rhoads fan, love The Spiders from Mars and foreigner tones as well.  btw, I assume you meant Mick jones of Foreigner and not The Clash. (Love The Clash also, but seemed a bit of an odd tone to put in that mix)  :D

Cheers,

Tom

[monkey8911]

+1 on RY, great pups.
Donīt dig the A4 sound though, thus I newer went with the mule...

[darkbluemurder]

btw, I assume you meant Mick jones of Foreigner and not The Clash. (

Hi Tom,

Yes, Mick Jones of Foreigner - don't know the other guy. Foreigner's guitar licks sound deceptively simple but they really aren't - Mick plays such an awkward style and mean bends but it's simply great.

Cheers Stephan

[ZeroFiveFour]

btw, I assume you meant Mick jones of Foreigner and not The Clash. (

Hi Tom,

Yes, Mick Jones of Foreigner - don't know the other guy. Foreigner's guitar licks sound deceptively simple but they really aren't - Mick plays such an awkward style and mean bends but it's simply great.

Cheers Stephan

I agree completely.  I always loved foreigner's riffs, songwriting, guitar licks and tones. Great band all around imho. 

Cheers,

Tom

[ZeroFiveFour]

Welcome to the forum. I have a set of RYs in a Firebird Studio. I wasn't happy with them when they were first installed but, on the advice of other forum members, I took a long time playing with height adjustments. Now they sound great. Very fat and raunchy. They have a reputation as being very sensitive to height so be prepared to experiment until you get them sounding their best.

Let us know how you get on. What amp are you using by the way ?

Finally after more than a month they arrived! (not BKP's fault btw...)  I ended up going with uncovered pickups after much deliberation.  The guys at my local guitar store are fantastic. They installed them as I waited, that is great service! Great shop, the owner and crew are all top notch.  Cheers to Dan and the crew!

I have only been able to play at very moderate volumes as I am in the house unfortunately. But with that said I could tell the difference between the stockers immediately.  They sound very articulate. The clarity is most definitely improved. More raunch, more bite, more growl, and definitely more organic sounding.  Simply more musical!

I am going to be able to fire them up a bit more in the beginning of the upcomming week and hopefully rock them on full bore next week. I can't wait to try them out at rehearsal levels.

Thanks and cheers goes out to Tim and the crew at BKP!  :D

Really nice pickups. I am very pleased!  :D

Tom

[AngstRiddenDreams]

Sweet man! I love Rebel Yells. Such a versatile pickup. :)