Abraxas Bridge - "Rama's Epic" [Indian Metal!!]

[fdesalvo]

Just having a bit of fun -

https://soundcloud.com/frankdesalvo/ramas-epic

[Lucas]

I must say really interesting. Brave approach!

Is it all Abraxas bridge? Even those short solos?

[fdesalvo]

Thank you! This song was the result of an Indian friend's challenge lol.  It makes me hungry for Tandoori chicken whenever I play it.

All the guitar tracks were recorded with the Abraxus - I have found it to be an unbelievably well-rounded and heavily underrated pickup.  It doesn't just do many things well, it does them all to a very high level, I have found. 

All the best!

frank

[Lucas]

but was it only bridge pickup? Or you were using neck as well?

[fdesalvo]

My apologies for the hasty response.  For this track, the only pickup used was the Abraxas bridge in full humbucking mode.  My main studio guitar is a custom warmoth tele with the aforementioned Abraxas bridge and Veneer neck.  They play so well together.

You can hear the Abraxas split on this track - the solo at the end is the Veneer: https://soundcloud.com/frankdesalvo/the-april-narrative

Heavier examples of the Abraxas are also on my other tracks, as well. 

Thanks for the response.

f

 

[JacksonRR]

Sounds good man! Made me thinnk of one of my favorite NES games. :D

[fdesalvo]

Dude!!!  I totally forgot about that game!  I miss my NES!

Sounds good man! Made me thinnk of one of my favorite NES games. :D

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Reminds me of Vai. Great lead tone. PLease tell me the solo was the Abraxas bridge?

EDIT: noticed it was. What pots are you using? And is it the 63 veneer board you have in the same guitar? I love this lead tone. Think I've decided for my MM Silhouette

[fdesalvo]

Thank you, man.  It's all Abraxas in humbucking mode.   I really love this pickup.  Sounds so good split, as well.  I am still working on trying to create a unique lead tone, but inevitably, you add mids and you sound like the 80's pioneers; you add wah/filter, and you are playing in Brian May's sandbox; you add phasing and you are battling Maiden!  I will eventually find my sound lol.  It's all in the combination of gear and the hands.

I miss my MM Silhouette (HSS) - This mated with the Apache or 63 would be phenominal.  I use only a single 500K volume pot that for everything.  In order for the single coils to see 250K Ohms, I create a voltage divider using a resistor at the switch itself.

Bare in mind the lead tone is heavily shaped - I mean heavily (2 EQs, FX Pedals, etc to really get the mids and voicing right for my ears).  The best iteration of this tone is on my other track "The Road to Eridu", which you can find on my soundcloud page.  The rest of the tracks feature variations of this tone with subtle tweaking as I try to perfect it.  There was just something special about the way the solo on that other track laid down. The Rhythm tracks are mostly straight up. 

Thank you for your feedback!

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Well I think that's the case with everyone. People always tone chase artists, and they buy the duncans/dimarzios thinking they will sound like them. And they go to BKP expecting a quick fix. But all I needed to know was that tone is possible using that pickup. I use an AXE FX myself, so I can pretty much shape my tone in unlimited ways. But after hearing that, I'm going for the Abraxas. Sounds awesome :)

[fdesalvo]

You have good judgement and your rig will get you wherever you need to be.  The Abraxas is a really great tone tool.  I haven't even been curious about other pickups since installing it - and for me, that's a huge thing.  I may have lied bc I'm curious how the neck version sounds haha.  Def post up a pic of your Silhouette. 

Well I think that's the case with everyone. People always tone chase artists, and they buy the duncans/dimarzios thinking they will sound like them. And they go to BKP expecting a quick fix. But all I needed to know was that tone is possible using that pickup. I use an AXE FX myself, so I can pretty much shape my tone in unlimited ways. But after hearing that, I'm going for the Abraxas. Sounds awesome :)

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Well I have the Mule neck which is meant to be similar, and it's warm on gained solos, but woody if you pick the right clean setting. I wouldn't say it has snap though. But the bottom strings stay clear on solos. I think that's more of an inwards feeling though, as to an outwards feeling. Yngwie for example is one of the cleanest players (check out some early syuff and you'll see he uses barely any gain, with low output pickups), but you can't hear him shred on the lower strings as it sometimes gets muddy. It's sort of like a cat running on claws on the same spot, before they take off. Kind of like an F1 car. But when it takes off you can really hear it go. With BKP you can hear that initial starting point, but without all the revs intefering. Bad analogy, I know haha.

The silhouette I've got btw is the HSS Sapphire Black, but it has the Ebony fingerboard and 16" Radius. I just hate the mirror pickguard. So changing that for a Black pearloid when I get BKPs for it. Did you find yours not to be that bright btw? I find mine to sound spongy on the bottom, and warm on the highs when played acoustically. This is comparing to my ESP Eclipses

[fdesalvo]

Ha, great analogy and way to risk stepping away from the typical food metaphors (crunchy, chewy, etc lol)!  I wonder if some of the lack of definition on the lower strings could be attributed to Yngwie's amp/pedal choice.  Those old Marshalls can be pretty spongy on the low end.

That's a sweet guitar!  I ended up trading my Silhouettes bc the string spacing was too tight (1 5/8") at the nut.  They had 2 DiMarzio Blue Velvet Singles and a PAF Pro - it was really fat sounding on the bridge and the single coils were actually pretty decent.  I had one in Candy Apple Red and one in Tobacco Burst (beautiful!).

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I'm guessing they were the traditional 10" scale? And I like the 42mm 5/8" nuts. My hands are small so it's cool for me. I believe the new Silos are 43mm now though.

And you could be right with the marshalls. But I still think BKP could make that clearer, still. AGain, Yngwie always said after he switched to duncan that he played with "half" a pickup hense the the name Half Strat (HS) if I'm correct? But come to think of it, his riffs were actually clear, but shredding wasn't. Maybe it's the way the pickup keeps up with you. In which case I find the BKPs are ahead of you in that state.

I'll admit though, if I was a beginner, I'd hate BKPs. I was always looking for excuses. But now I'm finding excuses why my playing isn't sounding as it should. BKPs changed that. If not playing hard rock (used to play metalcore), I play a lot of Neal Schon style music, and I prefer a good set of pickups that can show off that kind of dynamic. It lets you control the note, rather than let the note guide you. Again another bad analogy haha

[fdesalvo]

Yah, they had 10" radius fretboards.

This Abraxas has sounded great in every guitar I've had it in, which is crazy.  It's really dynamic and let's you control the weight of the notes by how you choose to attack the string.  Gotta love that!  It's not a powerful pickup, but it doesn't sound weak, if that makes sense.  It's powerful enough to really make good use of a cranked amp and push a preamp along, but not at the expense of all this compression that just blurs the dynamics.  I had some pretty hot pickups before and regardless of your touch or even the amp's settings, the sound would be the same.  Got old quickly!  You won't feel a compromise in horsepower with these, but you will have tons of dynamic range to play with.

It seems like your ear is maturing and you are appreciating what your personal touch brings to the table.  This pickup is perfect for low to medium gain situations (and great for high gain), where you can really make use of a touch sensitive rig.  Gotta love it!  This thing splits really, well, too.  It does the tele bridge thing very well, in fact, and is substantially quieter in split mode than either of the single coils in the neck in middle are naturally.