Rebel Yell bridge review

[Kiichi]

Ahhh.. lucky man, not many bands like that come to Australia...

Yeah, since they are german and I am still in Germany (moving to sweden in a few weeks to study) I am in a good position there. Plus Wacken Open Air is just around the corner for me, you get a lot of great stuff there (Avantasia for a third time next year).

Dunno about the amp you have, but if it can deliver the right pressure in the bottom end that is most of the battle here I feel.

[fhn_lopes]

Interesting gear Kiichi! Cool to hear that the rebell yell is punchy in the low end the way you described, coming from a 15w watt amp with el84 tubes. Imagina what it can do in EL34 or 6L6 50w amp ina 4x12!! That's why I asked for the gear, it counts a lot.

BTW, how is your TT dealing with od pedals? A friend had one in the past, awesome tones, but it didn't handled od pedals well, and the best boost he found was a MXR 6 band EQ. I like the TT tones and the G12H30, perfect match for the amp. I beleave you can get some tones that are very close to Steve Steven's BKP clips (with a rocca 18), don't you? I dig'em a lot.

Actually I'm kinda undecised (who isn't?) about what bridge PU for a LP classic.... I fell for the RY once but was tempted by the emerald, because I'm going for an emerald neck... Wondering how that combo would work in my gear... I'm afraid the Emerald gets too bright... I want it to be my hard rocker, but I need an moderate to high output pickup as I'm using a stock plexi circuit with an EQ boost only.

The way you described the mids helped me a bit... I use an old BOSS GE-10 with a midboost, and it works PERFECTLY for my VHII, and I want something that can work fine too for my lespaul, so I don't have to tweak the settings all the time (or get another boost). I'm afraid that a pickup that is too middy could be WAY too middy with that kind of boost... What do you think?

Cheers

[Kiichi]

Interesting gear Kiichi! Cool to hear that the rebell yell is punchy in the low end the way you described, coming from a 15w watt amp with el84 tubes. Imagina what it can do in EL34 or 6L6 50w amp ina 4x12!! That's why I asked for the gear, it counts a lot.

BTW, how is your TT dealing with od pedals? A friend had one in the past, awesome tones, but it didn't handled od pedals well, and the best boost he found was a MXR 6 band EQ. I like the TT tones and the G12H30, perfect match for the amp. I beleave you can get some tones that are very close to Steve Steven's BKP clips (with a rocca 18), don't you? I dig'em a lot.

The way you described the mids helped me a bit... I use an old BOSS GE-10 with a midboost, and it works PERFECTLY for my VHII, and I want something that can work fine too for my lespaul, so I don't have to tweak the settings all the time (or get another boost). I'm afraid that a pickup that is too middy could be WAY too middy with that kind of boost... What do you think?

For one the EL84s I have in there are not quite the classic type, they carry a bit of a different flavour in them too, some describe it as a bit 6L6 like. Gave a bit more top and bottom end and just supercharged the amp a bit in feel, pumped it up.
Sides that yeah, the TT with those speakers in that cab is amazing. Tried every cab I could find and this one just won flatout.

Gotta try to see how SS like I can get sometime, could be that I can get into the realm.

Personally I think in general the TT likes OD pedals, though I dunno anymore how much the tube changes played into that. It is a bit picky yes, but not more than other amps I feel. With the RY my Tubescreamer type makes everything a bit too middy, same can happen with my Crunchlab (which will go as soon as I have the money, although I swore for a long time I loved it xD). For neck PUs it is better and it works nicely with my Stockholm bridge I feel.
The Klon(e) however can be used always with anything. Glorious pedal. When I set it right, which is not hard to do, when in doubt more setting works everytime, it just wakes the amp up. More punch, more harmonics, etc. just more of all the good stuff. The whole thing comes alive!
The transparent quality of the the Klon(e) really helps here.
Never run a distorted sound without it, just feels boring without it now xD

A boost is great, a treble boost is better, a treble boost with some nice distortion added in fed into the amp? WIN!

Your fear of it becomming too middy might hold true I think, hard to tell how exactly your amp and cab work with this. Also I donīt quite know how the VHII and RY compare. I believe the VHII has more bottom end, but sides that I am at a loss.
I would like to say get a RY and a clone of a Zvex Super Hard on, which are super easy and cheap to build (heck I have one in the controll cavity of one of my axes taped to the side of a push pull pot xD) but if you donīt want to get another boost maybe the Emerald is saver here. Both PUs love LPs.

[Telerocker]

Good review Kiichi.
Good point to mention amps, cabs and pedals. I get very different results using either a Rockerverb 50/2x12-cab or a The Valve 2/50-combo. Voicing, gainreserves, speakers and configuration have so much influence. By example, my Crawler-loaded swampash strat fits the Orange perfect, but has nearly too much midrange on the The Valve 2/50, bec that amp has a darker character with the emphasis on the lower mids. Besides that it's a thick sounding amp that in my opinion benefits from brighter bridge-pickups like the Mule, the RifRaff, the Emerald or the Rebel Yell. Even a tele sounds thick on the drivechannel. The Rockerverb has big lows, but the accent on the uppermids, which are more agressive in comparison. The Crawler smoothes out things, where the Mule needs to tailored with the treblecontrol. Ergo, pickups are just a part of the chain.

[johnny_rock_it]

Great review! This post pretty much push me over the edge and I ordered a pair of calibrated RY's after going back and forth between the Abraxas.

I can't wait to put this into my PRS.

Thanks Kiichi!

[Kiichi]

Well, get ready to rock and tweak the height of the bridge. Hope you enjoy it and look forward to your thoughts once you have them. =)


And as kind of a general update here: That Ibby S series spoken of here sports a Crawler bridge and MQ neck these days, plus a slowhand middle (which will go back to IT though). The RY bridge got a calibrated neck to play with and sits in an ESP-ish LP where it sounds way fatter and punchier. Really quick gut punch. An upfront machine that goes straight through the mix. Lovely.
Made the change cause the Ibby is just such a small and light body that I wanted a bit more low end warmth and fullness which the Crawler now does. Though I often miss the sound the RY gave me in it. If I could, Iīd get a second Ibby just for that.