Perceivable output

[Dave Sloven]

I am curious about experiences of board members regarding the output of the various BKP models.

Generally the neck pickup is lower output than the bridge pickup so I am just talking about the bridge pickups really.  Output - in terms of the drive that goes into your amp - is, as the Black Hawks have demonstrated, not the same thing as DC resistance. I am wondering how people rank the various pickups they have tried in terms of how hard they drive an amp.

I would definitely rank the A-Bomb pretty high.  I found that the A-Pig could interchange with it very well in terms of output, and although the A-Pig has more bass I have it in a less bassy guitar so from that perspective I can switch from one to the other easily, although the A-Pig guitar is brighter just because the SG is brighter than the Explorer.

The Miracle Man is definitely higher output than the Cold Sweat and possibly the A-Bomb.  I've had all three in the same guitar and the Cold Sweat is definitely lower output than the other two.  The Cold Sweat bridge is definitely the lowest output BKP out of the contemporary range that I have tried.  The output is more than an Emerald but not by much.  To me though the A-Pig seems only marginally hotter than the Miracle Man, despite the difference in resistance rating.

The Stockholm P-90 is definitely as hot as the A-Bomb

From reports I have read I am guessing that the A-Hawk I have ordered will be the hottest, despite the rating.

I would rank the ones I have tried as follows:

[A-Hawk??]
A-Pig
Miracle Man
A-Bomb = Stockholm
Cold Sweat
Emerald

[stratguy23]

This is a very interesting topic for discussion. I think if a lot of members come together, we can maybe piece together a pretty comprehensive list. Unfortunately, I haven’t played any of the same Bare Knuckles as you, but I’ll add in my thoughts. I’ve played four different bridge humbuckers: Holy Diver, Crawler, Abraxas, and Juggernaut. The Abraxas and Juggernaut belonged to friends. I did the work upgrading a guitar with the Abraxas (posted a review on it recently too). I have played the Abraxas, Crawler, and Holy Diver through my rig, but I only tried the Juggernaut through my friend’s rig (different friend than the one with the Abraxas). Because the voicing is so different, and I never used it through my rig, I can’t accurately compare the Juggernaut to the others (also played it for much less time).

I’d rank the other three HD the hottest by far, then the Crawler, and the Abraxas the lowest output. Despite similar DC resistances, the Abraxas didn’t seem as hot as the Crawler. I wouldn’t have guessed it was 14k based on my experience with it would have guessed lower maybe between 10-12k.

[one]

C-pig
C-bomb
Juggernaut
Cold Sweat (neck)