Neck pickup advice needed

[Philly Q]

Rebel Yell sounds good but he said it was thin? VHII he said was fat and a bit more vintage. Also suggested Holydiver. I think I need to learn more about these 3

From what I've read, the HD neck is relatively low output and - can't remember the exact descriptions - not bright perhaps, but clear, not fat or bassy.  It never appealed to me much, based on those descriptions, but maybe it would suit your guitar.

[fhn_lopes]

Ben thinks I'm missing the cut of a modern pickup. While the Emerald is AIV, it is still quite midern. I think he's right so it needs to be AV. Something sweet like the Emerald and with more modern cut. Rebel Yell sounds good but he said it was thin? VHII he said was fat and a bit more vintage. Also suggested Holydiver. I think I need to learn more about these 3

I think the Cold Sweat is just as sweet and has that modern aproach you're after... Riff RAff is A5 but I don't think it's that modern... VHII is a true overwound PAF, vintage voiced.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Mmmmm, the VHII is perhaps too vintage then. I've had a Cold Sweat before and liked it. I prefer the Emerald but the Cold Sweat is certainly good. What about the Rebel Yell neck? How does that compare to the Emerald and Cold Sweat?

[fhn_lopes]

Can't tell you how they compare, but I dunno, I hear the Crawler as a more vintage voiced pup than modern... It has that looser low and and growl... I'm not sure if what you're missing is really a modern cut in the neck position...

I liked what I heard of the RY neck, very clear and focused. Seems like it doesn't get flabby like the emerald, but maybe with a more modern voice, but not sure, never had a RY to tell . SS clips sound AMAZING.

As you're afraid of a dark pup, I'd go with the Riff Raff (as you already own an Emerald) or Abraxas... I think they pair more in overall voicing with the Crawler than the Cold Sweat or another modern pup... just my 0.02 cents.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'm not sure if what you're missing is really a modern cut in the neck position

The reasoning is basically this:

It seems that both Tim and Ben were surprised when I said the Crawler neck was too dark as they see it as brighter than the Emerald, which is a pickup I see as brighter than the Crawler. Odd! Then I mentioned that at times the Crawler neck sounded a bit dull and too rounded and it was at that point that Ben mentioned cut. He argued that although the Emerald neck uses an AIV magnet, it is unique in the BKP range because it uses a modern wire with that vintage magnet and that's why it's both hotter and more cutting. This seems reasonable to me and suggests that I don't want anything that is overly vintage; certainly not more vintage than the Emerald anyway (or not by much). This must be why I also liked the Cold Sweat neck when I had one. I'm also guessing this is why he wasn't as enthusiastic on me getting a VHII neck as although it has the AV magnet, it uses a more vintage wire. I'm just not very good at choosing  :?

Emerald? I'd have two guitars with exactly the same neck pickup which seems daft but if it's that good, why not?

Rebel Yell? I don't want anything that's brighter than an Emerald or Cold Sweat neck and from what I can gather, a Rebel Yell is.

VHII? This one has me stumped. I think that Ben may have thought I had a problem with 'fat' and 'vintage' but I don't think that's the case. I like the Holydiver and Crawler bridge models and they're both 'fat' and the Crawler certainly has a vintage vibe even in the bridge. I really do think that the real question is does the VHII 'cut'. I like my pickups to have a certain degree of 'cut', 'bite' and 'tightness' (call it what you will) in the low end so that notes stay well defined but that doesn't mean it has to be 'thin' and 'bright'. I was reading darkbluemurder's comments on the VHII neck and he does make it sound like a good match for a Crawler bridge.

Cold Sweat? I already know I like it but as it's more modern I'd probably have to use it in my main guitar with the Holydiver and move the Emerald in with the Crawler.

[Toe-Knee]

Have you thought about the mississippi queen? It's my favourite BKP neck and is neither too bright or too dark and is extremely versatile with very sweet lead & clean tones

[lamp]

A very short thread on the RY vs. CS neck. 
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6467.0
 

[Philly Q]

A very short thread on the RY vs. CS neck. 
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6467.0

That is a very old thread!  :lol:

But I think the last comment in that thread is in line with most of what I've read subsequently.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I hadn't thought of a P90 actually and it does sound like a good idea, though not sure how it would look with a zebra bridge. Chrome would be best I guess to go with the bridge.

THat reference to the Rebel Yell being like a VHII and Cold Sweat combined does make it seem attractive. Kinda like a more modernised VHII or a slightly more vintage Cold Sweat. Leaving aside the P90 for a moment to simply look at the Cold Sweat, Rebel Yell, Emerald and VHII; how would you rank them in terms of:

1) Cut
2) Brightness
3) Sweetness

I think I'm after something with the sweetness of an Emerald and cut of the Emerald/Cold Sweat without being brighter than either or thinner. Ideally that would be either the VHII or Rebel Yell, otherwise I'm going to either duplicate or repeat myself.

[Cam_H]

Have you thought about the Nailbomb neck? It's meant to have a nice woody sound, and the output is similar to your Emerald. I came across a clip of the Nailbombs in a 7 string S playing (yes I know it's cheesy) You Raise Me Up. Here's the clip:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=7821880&q=hi&newref=1

[BigB]

Have you thought about the Nailbomb neck? It's meant to have a nice woody sound, and the output is similar to your Emerald.

DC resistance != output level.

[Cam_H]

Have you thought about the Nailbomb neck? It's meant to have a nice woody sound, and the output is similar to your Emerald.

DC resistance != output level.

I'll rephrase that as I know DC resistance doesn't mean output  :shock: I ment they're similar DC wise. But whether or not they're similar output, I couldn't tell you that. I just heard a clip and really liked the sound of it :)

[Philly Q]

Here's a quote from Eric Hellstyle - a man whose opinions I trust -

"....didn't try the rebel yell, but compared to the neck cold sweat, the neck nailbomb is hotter, louder, brighter and very scooped"

[Slartibartfarst42]

Well, I've been up since the early hours listening to loads of clips from the forum and listening to the clips on the website and I've been fairly surprised by my conclusions.

VHII - Difficult one this. Lovely tone that I REALLY liked but I found it to be quite rounded for my tastes. Not as bad as the Crawler neck but the 'rounded' qualities are still there so I'd better give it a miss as that's what I wasn't keen on with the Crawler.

Rebel Yell - Actually found this one rather darker than I had anticipated and very full. I can certainly see it as somewhere between the Cold Sweat and VHII.

Nailbomb - Given that I really wasn't struck on the Nailbomb bridge, I was surprised to find that I really liked this one. It sounds like a very different proposition to the bridge.

Holydiver - I nearly didn't bother listening to this one as it never seems very well represented on the forum and I've often heard it described as 'thin', which didn't appeal. However, all of the clips I listened to were really good. Bright, clear and sweet with some lovely harmonics in there and seemed to take bucket loads of gain perfectly happily.

Conclusions? I don't have to do anything until Monday so I can still churn this over in my mind over the weekend but I find myself sorely tempted to put a Holydiver neck in with the Holydiver bridge and move the Emerald over to join the Crawler.

[Philly Q]

Conclusions? I don't have to do anything until Monday so I can still churn this over in my mind over the weekend but I find myself sorely tempted to put a Holydiver neck in with the Holydiver bridge and move the Emerald over to join the Crawler.

Sounds a good plan.  Even if it doesn't work out, I think it will have been a valuable exercise to try the Holydivers as a matched set! :)

This is all interesting for me, because I like the "rounded" neck pickup sounds you're trying to get away from.  Thinking about re-visiting the Crawlers and I'd also like to try the VHII neck.