Pickup for an RR1

[Somberlain]

Hey everybody, new member looking for ideas for a pickup swap. I just picked up a 1987 RR1 with a single bridge pickup. It has an EMG 81 wired for 27 volts (a bit surprised by that) right now which sounds pretty good but I've been curious about BKP's for a few years now. So I am here to see what you experienced users of BKP's would recommend for my needs.

Being an RR1, it's a maple, alder, ebony build so obviously very bright. I tune down to C# and run threw a JCM800KK and a Vader 4x12. The style I play I would describe as blackened doom. Probably 70% of what I play is fairly slow with the other 30% being tremolo picking with the odd gallop riff here and there. What I'm looking for is something that can deliver a total nut stomp when playing slow Electric Wizard or Candlemass-esque riffs, but can also articulate those big, full arpeggiated barre or open chords if that makes sense (see Desolate Funeral Chant by Inquisition for what I mean by the arpeggiated chords if you can stand the vocals). That's probably asking a lot, but hopefully I'm wrong.

The C-pig has interested me for a while, but I'm not sure if the amount of power it has would make the articulation I'm looking for achievable. But I'm open to any suggestion really. Thanks for any help and here's a pic of the RR1 as thanks for reading all that.

[Mr. Air]

I think you should have a look at the alnico Warpig as it'll be good for the doom type stuff in an alder/maple guitar like yours. Maybe a Pig90 in humbucker casing could be great as well.

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I would definitely say an A-Pig as well, especially for the doom stuff.

[Somberlain]

So is the A-pig also good with the type of articulation I'm looking for? Also would it be adequate with cleans? Boviously with my current setup that's not happening anyway, but should I find a jc120 for cheap would it be adequate for short clean passages live?

[GuitarIv]

The A-Pig should give you that huge sound for Doom stuff (at least it's the most suited pickup from the BKP range for this I can think of, especially considering your guitars wood combination) more so than the Ceramic version (found it to sound more aggressive and a bit harsher in the highs comparing it to the Alnico one) and as far as articulation goes, every BKP gives you lots of response and dynamics corresponding to your pick attack. For cleans Alnico is going to work most times better than Ceramic and for the worst case you might wire in a push pull or push push knob to split it. As far as I know Warpigs are used for Jazz applications as well :)

[Dave Sloven]

The ability of the A-pig to do cleans depends a lot of the ability of the amp to deliver cleans.  If the latter is very good, then you will get decent (but not stellar) cleans from the A-Pig. I think this might also be the case with the C-Pig as to me it seems like a function of the high output.  Apparently the Miracle Man is not the best clean pickup either.  I get some good cleans from my A-bomb, but that is lower output.  The problem really is that you only have the one pickup slot.  I have two pickups on both my guitars, and it is only on my SG that I am really bothered with cleans.   Still I am considering adding a coil split to my neck Warpig in the quest for better cleans.  I think perhaps of the high output bridge pickups a coil split A-pig might do the trick in terms of cleans for you, but I would ask Tim or Ben from BKP.  They might suggest something completely different.

I'm not sure on the chords.  I've played the A-pig a total of five times since I installed it a week or less ago, and I tend to be a much more straight-forward punk, thrash, and grindcore rhythm player.  I'm sure others could give some good advice here.  I've seen some good videos of the A-Pig on you tube but I can't remember what they were playing with each pickup.  All of them seem to have a neck pickup as well.

I don't know how a Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pickup ring might help you but maybe look into that.  It will allow coil split and series/parallel on the one pickup. Here's a video of someone using these switches on a humbucker (a SD Jazz)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifUhqd-Frh4

[GuitarIv]

I've always been interested in the abilities of the SD Triple Shot rings, considering you have only one pickup this is a good suggestion by Agent Orange here :)

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I'd say get the uncovered A-Pig with black allen bolts and install the flat black SD Triple Shot mounting ring and you will have a winning combination.  You have all those bolts you can move up and down and you can move the whole pickup up and down with the usual screws, so you should be able to dial in the sound you want.  It will also look killer in your guitar!  With the alnico magnet you will get that Electric Wizard nut stomp you are looking for.  With the Floyd you will need to F spacing, not sure about the leg length, but you should talk to BKP about all of that.

You can see what the uncovered A-pigs with black bolts look like in my guitar here.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30213.15

I think these would look great in you guitar, understated but very purposeful.

[Somberlain]

Thanks for the help. The triple shot is interesting but I'd rather keep everything as simple as possible with this guitar. Probably won't be able to order the A-pig for a while but I'm leaning towards a black battleworn cover.

[GuitarIv]

Get back to us with results! That is a freakin gorgeous Jackson you have there btw :)

[Dave Sloven]

Good luck with it all, and remember the Triple Shot is something that's easily added later.

The one thing I would recommend before installing the pickups is to shield the cavities with the conductive shielding paint and/or foil.  I'm wishing I did that to my SG before I installed the BKPs.  I'm lucky that the guitar I put the Warpigs into was shielded by a previous owner when he installed other high-output pickups. It's not that expensive or difficult (though you will need a multimeter with a connectivity tester in it to check that the shielding is complete) but it's something you would need to do before installing the pickups and pots.

[fhn_lopes]

..... satan laughs and spread his wings... oh lord yeah! :lol: :lol:


Tell us the results... I think the battleworn would be sick in your black RR1... etched if possible  8)

[Dave Sloven]

I've seen on BKP's FB page people complaining that the finish wears off the black pickup covers.  I don't know if this applies to the battleworn - I guess it might just look like battlewear there?

[Kiichi]

I've seen on BKP's FB page people complaining that the finish wears off the black pickup covers.  I don't know if this applies to the battleworn - I guess it might just look like battlewear there?

Donīt have mine long enough (or used them hard enough) to really say anything about it but so far nothing. I actually would really not mind it as I feel they are tame in the way they are worn. If you look at the photos on the forum here of the very old version of the battleworns...my lord I want that bad!
That old style really works better with me than the new one.

You can see them side by side here: https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1574.0
And if you really wanne go worn look at the old Pig90 https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=589.0
I love it =)

The Gallery really has a few interresting thins, like the Mule as a miniHB. Things that once were.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I tried a set of black battleworns a while back and they really weren't for me. The picture on the website made them look like a distinct design of scars but the reality is different. The scars are there but the covers also have loads of chips out of them as well so for me, the result was that they just looked like a pair of knackered and very worn pickups; not special at all - just knackered. Needless to say, they went back. The plain black ones I got instead caused no problems but I've really come top the conclusion that while I like the look of some covers, I much prefer the tone of open pickups. They just seem far more articulate to me.