Pickups for a Jim Root Tele

[corydull]

Hey everyone,
I've never tried BKPs before, but i am willing to give them a shot. I try to be versatile in my playing so i need something that can kind of do it all but lean toward a killer rhythm sound. I've been an EMG guy for as long as i can remember. I have been thinking of going either with a Duncan Custom bridge/59 in the neck lately, but i'm curious to see if ceramic BH pups would be a good fit or impulses as well? I can already say that i'm not into the half c--ked wah sound of juggs, so those aren't even a consideration of mine. I mainly play in drop C#, but a couple tracks i have are in drop C. I think i'm going for drop C# from here out though, but i may go as low as drop C still.

Any input is much appreciated.

Here are a few unfinished tracks i've written to kind of show the style i'm going for.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vhmape5jhnuygk7/Andy%20New%20Track%20MixRack%2001.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/51ppft0s44p3f4u/New%20Project%20-%20New%20Idea%201.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8uge8i3ab2t785a/Nightmare%20Final%201.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/eq8kqg3frpmsoku/Yes%20Sir%2C%20The%20Check%20is%20in%20the%20Mail%20%282%29.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrxalbtwdl3vtd2/Super%20mario%20Master.wav?dl=0

[Dave Sloven]

I listened to the first track, Black Hawks definitely seem to be in the right ballpark.  Sounds like you want something with a bit more grind than the Impulse.

I personally went for the alnico version as I like the mid-range purr that it has and I didn't want too much top end.  It turned out perfect for my guitar, which is a mahogany Schecter with a bolt-on maple neck tuned to C standard and has a Gotoh GE1996T hardened steel tremolo with a brass block.  It just depends on your guitar and your playing requirements as to which one suits you best, but I think the choice here is probably between the two versions of Black Hawk.

[Yellowjacket]

Ragnaroks?

[corydull]

I listened to the first track, Black Hawks definitely seem to be in the right ballpark.  Sounds like you want something with a bit more grind than the Impulse.

I personally went for the alnico version as I like the mid-range purr that it has and I didn't want too much top end.  It turned out perfect for my guitar, which is a mahogany Schecter with a bolt-on maple neck tuned to C standard and has a Gotoh GE1996T hardened steel tremolo with a brass block.  It just depends on your guitar and your playing requirements as to which one suits you best, but I think the choice here is probably between the two versions of Black Hawk.

Cool! I'm wondering if i shouldn't go with ceramic BH if i go with them. The JR is pretty dark sounding.

Anyone have an opinion on Aftermath? Curious on those pickups too.

Ragnaroks?

I've thought i have read that Rags have the same vocal half c--ked wah sound as the Juggs. If they don't i might be willing to give them a try. Would they be better than the BHs for the type of music i'm making?

[darkandrew]

I'd normally say Nailbombs for rhythm but Aaron Aedy, rhythm guitarist of Paradise Lost, has recently gone for a set of Black Hawks in his 7 string ESP Eclipse for a similar sort of tone to what I think you're after:

https://www.espguitars.com/articles/1997800-esp-artist-interview-aaron-aedy

[corydull]

I'd normally say Nailbombs for rhythm but Aaron Aedy, rhythm guitarist of Paradise Lost, has recently gone for a set of Night Hawks in his 7 string ESP Eclipse for a similar sort of tone to what I think you're after:

https://www.espguitars.com/articles/1997800-esp-artist-interview-aaron-aedy

Sweet! Another vote for BH.

So i'm kinda dumb to the Alnico/Ceramic magnet part of pickups.

Can someone tell me the what the main difference would be between the two with the Black Hawk? Will the tone be that different?

[Dave Sloven]

Nolly has made an official BKP video demonstrating the differences between the C-Hawk and A-Hawk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qacdnnbe2k

He also did soundcloud comparison:

https://soundcloud.com/nolly/sets/black-hawk-7-alnico-vs-ceramic

[Nolly]

Hey and welcome!
If you are used to EMGs, you won't find any of the BKP range (or probably any passive pickup) to have a more prominent "c--ked-wah" mid voicing than you are used to, and in most cases much much less.

-The Ragnarok has the closest similarity to the active sound in its voicing, with that audible vowel-like "c--ked-wah" mids (though less than an EMG 81 or similar), plus a really tight low end and smooth top but with the signature ceramic cut. These drive really hard so you get a compressed and "fun" feel, though if you are used to picking really hard you might find they're a bit on the gainy side (however, they are much less compressed than an EMG).
-Black Hawks are altogether more wide-range sounding with quite a flat midrange, and extended highs and lows. Ceramic will give you tighter tracking bass, so you get less resonant low end frequencies on palm mutes, and the overall response is faster reacting to the picking hand, and sharper in its attack. The Alnico option is slightly squishier feeling to play, and less bright in the top end.

That said, my main picks would be either:

-Miracle Man, for a really chunky but tight pickup with a great lead tone, and less compressed feel than the Ragnarok.
-Black Dog, which gives loads of mid growl, smooth top end, but the percussive and tight low end of a lower output pickup. Really versatile if you need to cover lots of ground, and has a killer high-gain rhythm sound too.

[corydull]

Hey and welcome!
If you are used to EMGs, you won't find any of the BKP range (or probably any passive pickup) to have a more prominent "c--ked-wah" mid voicing than you are used to, and in most cases much much less.

-The Ragnarok has the closest similarity to the active sound in its voicing, with that audible vowel-like "c--ked-wah" mids (though less than an EMG 81 or similar), plus a really tight low end and smooth top but with the signature ceramic cut. These drive really hard so you get a compressed and "fun" feel, though if you are used to picking really hard you might find they're a bit on the gainy side (however, they are much less compressed than an EMG).
-Black Hawks are altogether more wide-range sounding with quite a flat midrange, and extended highs and lows. Ceramic will give you tighter tracking bass, so you get less resonant low end frequencies on palm mutes, and the overall response is faster reacting to the picking hand, and sharper in its attack. The Alnico option is slightly squishier feeling to play, and less bright in the top end.

That said, my main picks would be either:

-Miracle Man, for a really chunky but tight pickup with a great lead tone, and less compressed feel than the Ragnarok.
-Black Dog, which gives loads of mid growl, smooth top end, but the percussive and tight low end of a lower output pickup. Really versatile if you need to cover lots of ground, and has a killer high-gain rhythm sound too.

Awesome! Thank for the reply Nolly! I really appreciate the detailed response.

I've been watching tons of videos and reading tons of reviews on all he pickups mentioned. All that in mind i believe i still feel like i would like to try out the Black Hawks. Some people say they are ugly....I THINK THEY LOOK SICK!

I know usually i would need an F spaced pickup. Is this available when ordering or is it just one spacing that is available?

[Nolly]

No worries! The blade pickups don't have spacing options since it is not necessary (there aren't individual pole-pieces to line up with the strings).
One consideration for your pickup swap is that with only one pot on your guitar, you might want to consider using a 250K pot (or 280K if you buy from BKP), to give the equivalent loading of two 500K pots as is standard for humbuckers. A single 500K pot would be equivalent to using a 1meg volume and tone setup, which makes results in a much peakier resonance in the pickups' high mids when the volume is on full, and a pronounced dulling of the tone as you roll it back. Some players have a preference for this more metallic sound, but nowadays I'm recommending using a 250K pot or 500 with a 500k resistor between live and ground (same loading as a 250K pot when wide open) if you're not specifically after that character.

[Dave Sloven]

No need for spacing on the blade pickups.  Because they are blades they cover the whole area under the strings.

They also don't have a choice of leg length.

Not sure if you can get a two conductor version but everyone would want the 4 conductor wiring on these.  Splits and series/parallel switching work really well on both bridge and neck.  Get yourself the nice CRL 3-way switch and the BKP Jensen 0.022uf capacitor.  My Schecter is wired up like a Telecaster with one volume, one tone, a CRL 3-way blade switch (volume and tone are 550K BKP/CTS pots), with a Switchcraft output jack and separate ON/ON mini switches (from Allparts) for the two pickups to enable coil splits.  If it has active pickups you will need to do a full rewire when changing to passives. I actually rotated the neck pickup so that the slug coil is next to the fretboard so that when I engage the splits the active coils are the two closest to the fretboard for a thicker tone. I also have a treble bleed circuit.

My review of the Black Hawks in my guitar is here: https://forum.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/index.php?topic=35391

Here are a couple of photos so that you can see the harness layout clearly.

[Dave Sloven]

Ah, looking at a Jim Root model they only have the one volume and a blade switch.

So no tone circuit, so have a closer look at what Nolly said about a resistor.  I run a resistor on the neck volume of my Explorer without a tone circuit as it was too bright otherwise.

[darkandrew]

No need for spacing on the blade pickups.  Because they are blades they cover the whole area under the strings.

They also don't have a choice of leg length.

Not sure if you can get a two conductor version but everyone would want the 4 conductor wiring on these.  Splits and series/parallel switching work really well on both bridge and neck.  Get yourself the nice CRL 3-way switch and the BKP Jensen 0.022uf capacitor.  My Schecter is wired up like a Telecaster with one volume, one tone, a CRL 3-way blade switch (volume and tone are 550K BKP/CTS pots), with a Switchcraft output jack and separate ON/ON mini switches (from Allparts) for the two pickups to enable coil splits.  If it has active pickups you will need to do a full rewire when changing to passives. I actually rotated the neck pickup so that the slug coil is next to the fretboard so that when I engage the splits the active coils are the two closest to the fretboard for a thicker tone. I also have a treble bleed circuit.

My review of the Black Hawks in my guitar is here: https://forum.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/index.php?topic=35391

Here are a couple of photos so that you can see the harness layout clearly.

Check the pickups, if it's a Squier Jim Root I think it comes with EMG Hz passive pickups which will mean that it already has the right value pots but if they are EMG actives (ie. Just says EMG on the pickup cover and not EMG HZ) then you will need to change all your pots and caps, but bear in mind that EMG pots are smaller than most other quality pots meaning you will either need to ream the holes in your guitar or use different pots.

[Dave Sloven]

My Schecter came with the EMG HZ passives, but I ditched the whole assembly and had a brand new pickguard made with new components.

Either way I would recommend picking up a new pot, switch, and jack (and a treble bleed kit) and rewiring it.  The EMG HZ pickups come with a harness very much like the active EMG one in terms of connectors etc and it is probably easiest just to start from scratch and use a soldering iron.  Here are some photos of my EMG-HZ wired pickguard.  Of course with the Jim Root model you will have to ream out the body slightly to fit the CTS pot but I have done that with my Epiphone Explorer using a tapered reamer.  Hell I even reamed out one of the pot holes big enough to take a switchcraft 3-way toggle, no dramas.



And, yes, everything on that Schecter has been replaced besides the neck, frets, string tree, rear tremolo cavity cover, and body.  Right down to the screws.

[Yellowjacket]

Hey and welcome!
If you are used to EMGs, you won't find any of the BKP range (or probably any passive pickup) to have a more prominent "c--ked-wah" mid voicing than you are used to, and in most cases much much less.

-The Ragnarok has the closest similarity to the active sound in its voicing, with that audible vowel-like "c--ked-wah" mids (though less than an EMG 81 or similar), plus a really tight low end and smooth top but with the signature ceramic cut. These drive really hard so you get a compressed and "fun" feel, though if you are used to picking really hard you might find they're a bit on the gainy side (however, they are much less compressed than an EMG).
-Black Hawks are altogether more wide-range sounding with quite a flat midrange, and extended highs and lows. Ceramic will give you tighter tracking bass, so you get less resonant low end frequencies on palm mutes, and the overall response is faster reacting to the picking hand, and sharper in its attack. The Alnico option is slightly squishier feeling to play, and less bright in the top end.

That said, my main picks would be either:

-Miracle Man, for a really chunky but tight pickup with a great lead tone, and less compressed feel than the Ragnarok.
-Black Dog, which gives loads of mid growl, smooth top end, but the percussive and tight low end of a lower output pickup. Really versatile if you need to cover lots of ground, and has a killer high-gain rhythm sound too.

How much of this 'c--ked-wah' sound is because of amp settings, and boost pedals with the tone knob maxed out?  (LOLing at how on a british forum, 'c--k' is censored hahahahahaha) I have two guitars with Juggernauts in them.  My Ibanez RG7421 sounds like an ibanez.  Typical focused and bright metal tones.  It is a little bit zingy and stringy on low open strings but overall, I don't hear it as having a narrow and overly focused frequency band.  To me, it just sounds like a REALLY good Ibanez.  The Godin Redline III has a more distinct tone but the guitar is distinct to begin with.

Hardware Modifications:
The Redline III was warm, phat, and dark with a hollow character to the mids.  Kind of the opposite of a c--ked wah.  When my LFR broke, I replaced it wish a Schaller and an after market 5/8 brass block. from Killer Guitar Components  The Schaller with the stock block had tight lows and a huge upper mid emphasis but with the 5/8 brass block, it became more balanced sounding.  Still brighter and more focused than the LFR, with fantastic sustain.

With the RG7421, the stock bridge caused it to be somewhat boomy and low mid focused.  Switching the nut to a TUSQ nut and swapping the bridge for a Hipshot FP steel replacement tightened up the lows and really emphasized the high mids and harmonics. 

I am quite shocked at how much a bridge can shape tone.  Personally, I'd say the Juggernaut does have a distinctive mid character but the pickup has a lot of its weight in the low mids.  They're pretty huge.  It has a purring top end with a nice bight, and the lows and sub lows roll off nicely to retain tightness. 

All that said, Nolly's recommendations are probably great.  The juggs are balanced, versatile, and awesome, but either you like the modern voicing or you don't.  It's a pretty divisive pickup haha.