BK forum and pup help

[geetardude]

I don't believe that I was being out of line, if I was I apologize but I don't think that my previous thread should have been shut down.

I've lurked this forum for a while and read some great advice. It was because of this forum that I bought the VHII sight unseen (I bought it directly from Tim). But to call BS and then blame me for a sluggish economy does nothing to help, in fact it's rude and childish.

So here I am with a pup that doesn't live up to the clips I've heard online. Is this an exclusive club where if someone like me gets bummed out and asks how to get this thing to work, they are automatically BS or out of the club? Am I cutting into profits or commissions?

Help is all that I asked for guys. I know enough about wiring and using a meter to know if a pup is defective or not. I went as far as asking a second set of eyes to check things out and openly admitted that he said that my Strat may not benefit from the VHII and to put it into something else.

I am asking for help again, hopefully someone can clue me in to something that I might be overlooking. Somebody mentioned height, so I'm going to mess around with it some more tonight. In the meantime, and before I spend more money on wiring kits for something I might not use, is there anything else that I could try?


Be easy, cause I'm really bumming out over this.  

[Transcend]

hey dont worry dude when i first put my miracleman in my old ibanez rocket roll II i thoguth the ibanez stock pup sounded better
till i messed about with the eq and changed the pickup height drastically

i found to get a decent sound i have to have it really close to the strings.

[geetardude]

Thanks h_g. My setup is the Strat going straight into the Plexi, so no EQ to play with. Sometimes I might use the chorus or rat, but most of the time I play straight through.

The main reason I wanted the VHII is because it had balls and cleans up. The clips that I've heard were awesome. Maybe if someone who rigs the same way that I do can chime in, they can offer suggestions?

Hey in the other thread someone said that they dime the amp. I hope not indoors lol, I can't push mine past 4 or my ears will bleed!

[Kilby]

I think the problem is that some folks find it hard to believe that a VH II sounds the same as a MIM standard strat pickup.

Having owned a MIM strat, and tried a strat fitted with a VH II I also find it strange, and the following thoughts occur

1: Faulty instalation
2: Faulty Pickup
3: Pickup height (perhaps)
4: Other

Unfortunitely it even to me (and my 5 minute play with the VH) it was beginning to look like option 4 was occuring.

Suggestions (choose your perferred order) :

Wire your VH2 directly to the jack (removed all wiring doubt)
Check your wiring again (everybody has overlooked errors more than once)
Mail Tim
Check the resistance of the pickup
Check your switch & pots ain't doing something wierd

Rob...

[FELINEGUITARS]

EDIT- looks like some of the other guys got in there while I was writing this lengthy piece- my answers still hold true though.

Ok - I'll step in and see if I can offer some unbiased advice

First things first - if you are having a problem , have you contacted Tim and spoken to him about it ?
I would always call up point of purchase first if I was having a problem.

But the forum is a helpful place to try - I know some of the guys can be somewhat vociferous in their opinions and appreciation of BKPs

Now the VH2 is considered a Hot Vintage pickup and has an output somewhere above a standard PAF type pickup (Mule or Duncan 59).
It is wound with a 42 gauge wire like a PAF , but over-wound which beefs up the midrange.

It also has a bigger bottom end and a bit more top to balance with the fat midrange you get from over-winding a pickup by virtue of the scatter winding and a slight winding offset between the two coils.

Now if you are not noticing a difference between the Fender single and the VH2, then either there is a fault with the pickup or it is wired in wrong.

Do you have a multimeter or know someone with one so you could check the DC resistance to see if the pickup is ok?

If the pickup is ok , then the wiring has to be wrongly wired in some way
Ensure that the green and white are SOLDERED together
In position 1 on the switch you should have a fat tone

The only other thing I can think of is that the auto coil tap wiring as shown on the Duncan diagram has either been done wrong or that the switch you have has it's tags layed out in a different order to the original USA one, and that somehow the VH2 is being coil tapped in all switch positions rather than just in position 2 where you want it to be split to give that much loved strat sound (the quack/out of phase sound).
Then you might be hear a single coil when you don't want to

As far as quality of product goes:
I am a stockist for both Seymour Duncan and BKP pickups (we do EMG etc too as it goes) and have been using Duncans for 20+ years. In the last few years BKPs have been a revelation for me. They have also outsold Duncan 3:1 in my workshop. partly due to the excitement about the newer brand but also based on the great results obtained using the product.

BKPs are superbly well made - just like the handwound pickups coming out of Duncan's Custom Shop.
But they have only been going a few years, whereas Duncan have been going for over  30 years and had a chance to get well established when there werent a million different options available, so hence Duncan have a larger market share at the moment.

[38thBeatle]

I have come at this fairly late and read the original post and was surprised but not offended. Jonathan as always is logical and practical. Clearly a humbucker pup should not be sounding like a single and so there is something wrong and leaving emotional ramblings aside, this chap needs help and we should echo the legendary standards that Tim sets by offering sensible advice. Having said all that, the tech stuff is not my forte but I just wanted to say, lets those with the knowledge try and help.

[_tom_]

I have come at this fairly late and read the original post and was surprised but not offended. Jonathan as always is logical and practical. Clearly a humbucker pup should not be sounding like a single and so there is something wrong and leaving emotional ramblings aside, this chap needs help and we should echo the legendary standards that Tim sets by offering sensible advice. Having said all that, the tech stuff is not my forte but I just wanted to say, lets those with the knowledge try and help.

+1  :)

[TwilightOdyssey]

First things first - if you are having a problem , have you contacted Tim and spoken to him about it ?

This is not the first time someone has suggested this.

Having a technical issue with your pickup is one thing, but BK does not pay for unlimited bandwidth on this forum for people to slag off their product and say another manufacturer's XYZ sounds better. Please don't argue this point, or this thread will be deleted.

In light of the previous thread: CONTACT BKP DIRECTLY for technical support. We have given you all the advice we can up to this point.