Chapman ML-3 replacement

[Slackjaw90]

Hiya!

Just looking to replace the standard pickups in my Chapman ML-3 Modern. Already have a set of Irish Tours in my Strat and love them so figured i'd go BKP again.

Big Muse fan, so very tempted by the Supermassive HSP90, but measuring the pole spacing on the current pickups reveals the bridge is actually 53mm spaced.. Already had contact with Ben about it, probably shouldn't be a problem using a standard sized HSP90 in the bridge. Just looking for some more opinions.

Other option is a Supermassive in the neck, Rebel Yell/Nailbomb in the bridge.. but my OCD kind of tells me i want a calibrated set ;)

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Dave Sloven]

Have you considered a Nailbomb set (alnico option)?

I think the Supermassive set would work well though

[Kiichi]

One thing to note is that it also depends on your equipment. Bellamy does not play the Supermassive or the Stockholm. They are however modelled after the sounds he got from other BKP pubs. He playes the Mississipi Queen a lot, and sometimes also uses a Nailbomb bridge (plus a custom in his signature guitar which I believe is very close to these). He can do that cause he has all these effects.

The Supermassive compensates for a mortals pedal board and amp setup a bit and gets you in the ballpark. Great sounding stuff.

[Slackjaw90]

Thanks for your input guys! :)

Nailbomb set was actually my first plan, but looking around and comparing some friends' experiences with P90 equipped guitars and hearing them, I'm fairly certain I'd really want to give P90s a try. I'm not really trying to exactly recreate that "Matt Bellamy"-sound, music taste and playing style is a bit too varied for that. ;) What I do look for is a pickup that can provide me with snarling gain, good bottom end and mids, and is really responsive to right hand technique. Full and smooth cleans is a plus, too. It's going to run through a Fender Blues Junior III, with an OCD and Zvex Fuzz Factory on the pedal board. The guitar they're going in doesn't have to be amazingly versatile, it's going to be mainly used for gain-y stuff, from light crunch to full distortion, with the occasional clean.

I'm now kind of thinking Stockholm bridge, Supermassive/MQ in the neck. The neck pickup is probably about the only one I'd use for cleans, any comments on how the SM cleans stack up? 

[Kiichi]

Alrighty. If you have a fuzz factory youŽll want P90s. P90s do better with fuzz than anything else. A Certain magic happens there.

SM neck has good cleans, but they are decidedly modern in character. Not my thing personally as I want my cleans on the classic side, but depends on preference. To me, the MQ cleans are much nicer. They can also do it all from bright strumming up to that warm and round. All within small turns of volume and tone pot. Beautiful really.

The Stockholm really is pretty bold and out there. Aggressive like a mofo. For light crunch it is not my first choice. The SM should fare better there. With your amp and perhaps the want for some modern sounding gain tones with a twist it should deliver. Ticks the boxes you put forth.
Though with the bottom end the Zvex can deliver and all the MQ does so too. MQ is a bit more at home in the crunch area, but can be pushed to god knows where, while the SM is a bit happier starting at mid gain and can be pushed faaaar beyond, but has a harder time going down to crunch (still doing it nicely when you take the volume down a tad).

So IŽd say SM bridge and, depending on how you like your cleans, the MQ or SM neck.

[Slackjaw90]

Thanks for the great answer, lots of good insight! Think i'll go MQ/SM, as it certainly seems the most versatile, and i do play some Foo Fighters/AC-DC style stuff as well, SM might be too modern/hot for it. Thanks for all the support so far!

You guys don't believe 53mm spacing at the bridge will pose any problems?

[Kiichi]

Should not be an issue at all. The difference is minute anyhow.

I can also highly recommend a series / parallel switch if you have a push pull poti. Using that to change the middle position adds another possibility of tone as you can kind of put the two together to form an uber humbucker. Liked that a lot for my SH/SM combo.

[Slackjaw90]

Thanks! Series/parallel switch was actually suggested before, think it's a great idea :)

Been trying to find more youtube demos today, but there's so many variables, hard to actually hear what tone comes out of the amp/guitar. Would you guys say this is a representative demo of the Supermassive?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0deikFo68ro

Also, am i right in thinking a Nantucket P90 is very similar to an MQ, but higher output? Guy here has two in his SG, really like the tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-Pj4M2DfQ

Sorry for being a bit of a PITA, just very on the fence on the neck pickup :)

[Chargrilled]

Hey man what do you think of the Chapman guitars really thinking of picking one up

[Slackjaw90]

Hi dude!

Love it! Amazing build quality, thin neck, very high radius fretboard and the ebony feels great. What you do need to keep in mind is that the philosophy behind the standard series is that you'll buy a great quality base to then add your own high-end parts to (think bridges, electronics, pickups), all the base stuff is there. That is not to say the product you'll get from the shelf is mediocre, not at all. You're buying a great guitar, that you yourself are supposed to upgrade to amazing.

The signature models are different though. They're basically standard series then outfitted to the (high-end) specs of the artist in question.

I myself have the standard series ML-3 Modern. Great playability and versatility, pretty heavy (weight-wise, hah), and i love the neck. Which one you thinking of getting?

[Slackjaw90]

Sorry for double posting, just a quick headsup that i went with a Supermassive set, order in process since yesterday :) thank you all for the help!

Review and such coming soon!

[Chargrilled]

Hey I bought the Rabea sig model the other day, it's getting set up now - not sure what PU's to stick in there though

[Kiichi]

Hey I bought the Rabea sig model the other day, it's getting set up now - not sure what PU's to stick in there though

Give us infos, wait for the review, and weŽll figure it out.

IŽve been playing my MQ neck and Manhattan neck through a bass amp the last few days and that alone was amazingly revealing. Wish I had a guitar to put my SM neck in too and do a three way comparison clip video.