Black dog fans help

[JohnZAH]

Hey guys. I'm building a hardtail strat. Likely alder with a HSS configuration.

Will a black dog sound great in the bridge or is it too mid heavy? I don't want this guitar to sound thin but I don't want a contemporary pickup either.

Also, what strat singles should I be looking at playing nice clean stuff all the way through hard rock.  Thanks!

[Kiichi]

Canīt comment on the BD, but SC whise I would think the Irish Tour would be the ticket. It is like a beefier version of a classic SC giving you the clean stuff but making it easier to go into hard rock. I got one in the middle position of one of my axes and it can definetly do what you need.

[JohnZAH]

great! thanks for the input. I was initially thinking of those or the slow hands

[Telerocker]

BD's have quite some centermids. These kind of pickups work well though in strats, however the BD is usually not the first choice for a strat. I have Crawler/Irish Tours in a swampashstrat and although beefy and growly, the Crawler has enough topend, don't worry about that. Besides that the Crawler splits great with the middle-IT where the BD in splitmode could be a bit overpowered by the middle-IT. Another advantage the Crawler has is that solotones above the 12 freth keep their weight. If you want a bit less output (I would not say the Crawler is very hot) have a look at the Abraxas. That one sits between a Mule and a Crawler. A bit less mids and a bit more chimey topend then the Crawler.

[Mr. Air]

+1 to Telerockers advice. The Crawler/Irish Tour combo should be right up your alley.

[Kiichi]

great! thanks for the input. I was initially thinking of those or the slow hands

I got a SH middle too in another guitar. I love it too, I think I just have a thing for fat singlecoils. But one must note that this really is thick. For me it fits since I got it in with a Crawler set (if I only had the bridge I would have gone IT, but to have it fit better with the neck I got the SH) and let me tell you, all positions are fat and dark (most of them real smooth too), while still having great clarity and brightness.
When one is not used to these fat SCs the SH is quite the thing to jump in with, cause especially when you use gain it can get very saturated. I personally use my SH with low to medium gain only, while I feel the IT can go higher too.

Basecally what I am trying to say am failing to do: I would get the IT cause it delivers more classic SC sound while also going into that other area and it is a PU that when you want a SC which just has "more" you canīt really go wrong with. The SH on the other hand can be too much easily. If you get ITs and find yourself thinking that they should be fatter and hotter, which most people will not say, you can still get SHs.

[JohnZAH]

phew... I'm glad you guys are here, because I think the crawler/ irish tour set will be great for me and I never would've got there on my own.

I did get an email back from Tim though and he suggested the Emerald. how would that compare to the crawler with the irish tours?

[Telerocker]

I don't want to question Tim's recommendation, I don't know the Emerald that well. I read it's quite bright, sometimes even in mahogany. I don't think of the Emerald as a stratbridgepickup. It does Thin Lizzy well in a LP. In an alder bolt-on guitar I personally prefer something more beefy and with rounder topend. But, that's my taste.
Btw, the Crawler looks hot, but is mediumoutput to my ears. It's not much hotter then the VHII in my other strat.

[Laars]

I've got Black Dogs in my Les Pauls. My amps are Voodoo V-plex amps. Best combo I've ever heard. Then again though, I'm after a AC/DC meets VH II type of sound and feel.

[Kiichi]

Well I do not really argue with Tim, the man knows his stuff. So if he says Emerald you should at least strongly concider it.

About the Crawler bridge PU. This one is a great one, but I would only ever put it in very bright guitars. I put it in one that acousticly has a single coil vibe compared to my other which all sound like humbuckers if you know what I mean. It is probably the loosest of all the BKPs and it is generally very dark and smooth. It actually is a lot like hot chocolate fudge sundae. Dark in character, really smooth and round in taste and but not in a boring way, as it has a distinctive mids to lower mids growl and a rounded high end that is present enough to have it not sound dull and give it some sparkles on top.
With my Orange Tiny Terror I feel most comfortable with it in low to medium gain as anything more saturates the sound too much for my taste. If you stay at medium gain especially (that crunch area and a little over it) it delivers really fat and rounded rock tones with a lot of attitude and character.

I have two rock workhorse guitars, one with a set of crawlers and an slowhand middle and one with RY bridge, IT middle and mule neck, both wired with split postions. With those two I can cover nearly any classic rock to metal sound (not talking really extreme modern stuff though). Plus I get great cleans.
One brighter axe which can go more modern (the RY one) and one darker for the more classic tones. They work perfect with each other!

[JohnZAH]

I don't want to question Tim's recommendation, I don't know the Emerald that well. I read it's quite bright, sometimes even in mahogany. I don't think of the Emerald as a stratbridgepickup. It does Thin Lizzy well in a LP. In an alder bolt-on guitar I personally prefer something more beefy and with rounder topend. But, that's my taste.
Btw, the Crawler looks hot, but is mediumoutput to my ears. It's not much hotter then the VHII in my other strat.

yeah, I'm leaning toward the crawler but Tim really does know his stuff.

Well I do not really argue with Tim, the man knows his stuff. So if he says Emerald you should at least strongly concider it.

About the Crawler bridge PU. This one is a great one, but I would only ever put it in very bright guitars. I put it in one that acousticly has a single coil vibe compared to my other which all sound like humbuckers if you know what I mean. It is probably the loosest of all the BKPs and it is generally very dark and smooth. It actually is a lot like hot chocolate fudge sundae. Dark in character, really smooth and round in taste and but not in a boring way, as it has a distinctive mids to lower mids growl and a rounded high end that is present enough to have it not sound dull and give it some sparkles on top.
With my Orange Tiny Terror I feel most comfortable with it in low to medium gain as anything more saturates the sound too much for my taste. If you stay at medium gain especially (that crunch area and a little over it) it delivers really fat and rounded rock tones with a lot of attitude and character.

I have two rock workhorse guitars, one with a set of crawlers and an slowhand middle and one with RY bridge, IT middle and mule neck, both wired with split postions. With those two I can cover nearly any classic rock to metal sound (not talking really extreme modern stuff though). Plus I get great cleans.
One brighter axe which can go more modern (the RY one) and one darker for the more classic tones. They work perfect with each other!

The crawler sounds like a great compliment to my guitar collection because I have an A-bomb in a couple other guitars . Plus it will be my first strat.

[Kiichi]

I must again stress that I would only put a Crawler in a guitar that is extrodinarily bright. Is that the case with your guitar?
If you say like: "It bright alright" then I would advice to get another PU. If you say: "This sh*t is piercing" or something like that, then the Crawler might be an option.

You really gotta listen to how the guitar sound acoustily compared to other guitars.

[JohnZAH]

I must again stress that I would only put a Crawler in a guitar that is extrodinarily bright. Is that the case with your guitar?
If you say like: "It bright alright" then I would advice to get another PU. If you say: "This sh*t is piercing" or something like that, then the Crawler might be an option.

You really gotta listen to how the guitar sound acoustily compared to other guitars.

I haven't started building it quite yet so I'll have to wait until I can get a feel for it. I have heard that strats are bright but my am. standard tele is alder with a maple neck and I wouldn't say it's bright.

[Kiichi]

Yeah strats tend to be on the brighter side of the spectrum, but they can vary a lot still.

Before you make any decisions PU whise wait till you know how the guitar sounds. If it is medium to dark (for a strat) I would say go with Tims recommendation and get the Emerald. If it turns out on the really bright side then you can concider the Crawler.
Just wait before making choices. I have heard axes with mahagony body that are brighter than 90% of the maple bodies I heard.

[Telerocker]

Ok, let's do the Crawler in strats some justice. On my Rockerverb 50 head/cab I keep the treble on 10.00 o'clock and then it's perfect. Alle frequencies shine trough, of course with beef in the mids, that's how it is voiced. I like a bit of mids in a strat-bridge anyway. The Crawler may not be the tightest in the BKP-range, but as all BKP's it's clear and tight, and it's really tight enough for a lot styles. What I like about the Crawler too is that it doesn't make my wah sound whimpy. An of course the growl when pushed, is fantastic.
So what I'm saying is that is not only suited for overly bright bolt-on strats, cause my swampashstrat is not. It's natural voice is quite balanced, from top till bottom.