Piledriver bridge review

[littleredguitars2]

after the very slow shipping times over christmas season i finally got my new bridge pickup for my telecaster. i never felt like i needed to get the neck piledriver because i hardly use the neck pickups in guitars for one, and two, because the neck seemed adequate for what i'd use it for anyway. but the bridge definitely needed an upgrade. the tone wasnt bad, but obviously i wasnt meant for heavier styles without the help of a boost pedal or something of the sorts. even through my mesa boogie rectifier it severely lacked output and punch.

so it was obvious that the piledriver was the way to go for me. i play heavy stuff from fast punk to heavy rock. but i planned to use this as my main guitar with my band. we have sort of a Bayside esque style i'd say. anyway, i love the overall character of the telecaster vibe and i was really glad that the piledriver didnt take away from that at all. it still sounds 100% like a telecaster. just with a set of balls. compared to the pickups i've used in the line, i'd say it reminds me of the mule for its character and the rebel yell for overall output and crunch factor. some may say thats weird, but i took a comparison video (which i will be posting soon) and it really reminded me of those the most. big chords sound AMAZING with this pickup and overall i dont think its super overpowering like i was expecting but i AM curious how it will sound through my peavey 5150 head that i use with the band. i imagine it will fit very well.

i havent really messed with the pickup height too much since i was having some trouble with it. pretty sure the pickup wire kept getting caught underneath the pickup when i screwed it in causing it to bottom out. that being said, i'm not sure how sensitive this pickup is to pickup height, but if its like any of the other BKP's i'm sure it will have a considerable difference.

here is the video i posted earlier of the before and after for the piledriver, and i will be posting a BK comparison video between the mule, piledriver, rebel yell, and stockholm soon.

skip to 9:03 for the piledriver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQWdkVLI7R0

hope i was in depth enough. if you have any questions i can try to help. thanks!

edit: i managed to fix my height problem. it WAS sitting on top of the other wires and bottoming out. so i put it a little closer to the strings and it definitely pushed the pickup a lot more. practically in the ballpark of my stockholm.

[littleredguitars2]

only thing that would make this better is a better set of pots. since its such a hot pickup would it be best to go up to 550k? or stay at the 250k? the pots on this thing barely do anything until i have it turned to almost halfway. the volume pot that is.

[darrenw5094]

So is the Piledriver got any Single coil sound or is bad ass bucker tone?

Strange about the volume pot btw

[littleredguitars2]

sounds like best of both worlds to be honest

[Dave Sloven]

I've read before that you should increase the volume pot to 500K for Piledrivers

[littleredguitars2]

Hmm.  I'll send the guys an email

[Brow]

I have a cheapie 'toploader' Tele that I put a Piledriver in a while ago. Strangely enough that came stock with 500k pots so I've left them in and they work fine. I spoke to Tim about it at the time and he said that 500k pots would work well as a 250k pot might take too much treble off.

[metale]

Hmm.  I'll send the guys an email

I'm also interested in their feedback about the pots.

Glad you sorted the fiting problem.

[Dave Sloven]

The 5150 will bring the br00tz no matter what!  :D

Would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Rebel Yells, Stockholm, and Piledriver through the 5150 just to see how different they sound.  Granted they are in very different guitars but I think it's still useful.  Give us a bit of the palm-mute br00tz riffing if you can.  I would be interesting to hear the full spectrum.

I'm also interested to hear a good recording of the Rebel Yell neck.

I also wonder how you EQ your 5150.  My 6534+ doesn't seem to be happy until the presence is on 9 or more.

[littleredguitars2]

The 5150 will bring the br00tz no matter what!  :D

Would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Rebel Yells, Stockholm, and Piledriver through the 5150 just to see how different they sound.  Granted they are in very different guitars but I think it's still useful.  Give us a bit of the palm-mute br00tz riffing if you can.  I would be interesting to hear the full spectrum.

I'm also interested to hear a good recording of the Rebel Yell neck.

I also wonder how you EQ your 5150.  My 6534+ doesn't seem to be happy until the presence is on 9 or more.

yeah the 5150 is a very special beast. my presense is usually around 7 or 8. i'll see what i can do for ya

[littleredguitars2]

heres the reply from ben

Hi Jon,

We normally recommend our custom design BKP 280k pots for volume and tone, for Piledrivers.

You can order them here:

www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/shop

We also recommend the BKP Jensen 0.022 capacitor if you want to upgrade that too.

Kind Regards,

Ben

[Kiichi]

Wooohoo, thanks for the review, added it to the big board! A follow up write up would be cool once you played around more and have used it with the Peavy.

[littleredguitars2]

Wooohoo, thanks for the review, added it to the big board! A follow up write up would be cool once you played around more and have used it with the Peavy.

Will do.  Thanks man

[littleredguitars2]

just remembered i had 2 spare 280k pots and a .022 cap from when i sold off my trilogy suites! can't wait to put them in my tele

[Telerocker]

Thanks for the demo man! Piledriver sounds like the ultimate rockpickup for a tele. I would be interesting to hear it through some vintagestyle amps like a Fender Deluxe and a plexi Marshall.