BKP's are based on what models?

[The Silverwulf]

I'm trying to figure out which BKP's would be good for me to try, but the descriptions seem to all start sounding similar after reading them enough... :lol:

Can anyone give me a break down of what the modern BKP humbuckers are based on? For example, I keep seeing the Cold Sweat referred to as being similar to the Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup.

To give you an example of what I'm looking for, I play mostly metal music. I play in a band that plays in the style of old Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc. The sound that I typically enjoy is a very tight and articulate sound ala Metallica's "Master of Puppets" or possibly even a little different as in "The Black Album". I've also been a huge fan of Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth's rhythm tone, especially on albums like "Alive in Athens". That tight, articulate, yet punchy and defined sound. I understand he's now been using BKP's recently. Any clue what he's using for his primary rhythm tone?

In addition to that, I also like to have a nice clean sound.  We do have some songs that feature lengthy clean passages. It doesn't have to be an amazing clean tone, but still somewhat nice. I can afford to sacrifice some in the clean dept if the heavy tone will be that much better.

The pickups will be going in Gibson and Epiphone Les Paul's, possibly a Gibson Flying V. I'll be playing through either a (2 channel) Mesa Dual Recto or Splawn Quickrod head unit into a Mesa 4X12 with V30's.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

[JamesHealey]

Try some Greenbacks instead of the V30s with your Splawn world of difference.

[Twinfan]

The Miracle Man would probably be the obvious choice - nice and tight for metal and is supposedly very good for that Metallica scooped tone.  However, with it having a ceramic magnet you would sacrifice the cleans a little.  The Painkiller would also be a good choice I think?

For better cleans you'd need something with an Alnico magnet, possibly the Nailbomb?

I'm no metal expert so these opinions are based on what I know from the forum.  Hopefully one of the metal guys will help you out soon  :D

[bucketshred]

Miracle Man - all the way.

Stick it in front of a Marshall and a decent boost - it's old school 'tallica

Stick it in front of a high gain fire breathing beast like and Mesa or Engl - it's Black era 'tallica!

andy!

[Philly Q]

Can anyone give me a break down of what the modern BKP humbuckers are based on? For example, I keep seeing the Cold Sweat referred to as being similar to the Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup.

They're not exactly "based on" specific pickups (although some models like the Stormy Monday, Mule and Riff Raff are recreations of vintage-spec PAFs and Patent No. pickups).

As you'll have seen, the pickup names are mostly taken from well-known songs which should give an idea of the type of tone they're capable of producing, but they're not reproductions of those artists' pickups.  The designs are all unique to BKP.

[Transcend]

i can say miracle man all the way.

i can even post a clip up that shows that the cleans can be quite nice with a tad of chorus....

[The Silverwulf]

Thanks! Seems to be a lot of voting for the Miracle Man around here. So you guys think the Miracle Man would work out better than the (Alnico V) Nailbomb?

Also, what are you guys recommending for the neck position? I don't use the neck as often for the cleans. It gets mostly used for leads. I'm coming over from a set of EMG 81/85's that are in my guitars at the moment.

[Twinfan]

The Cold Sweat neck is very popular with the metal guys...

[bucketshred]

None of the BKP models are based on other brands, just the sound, feeling and tone other bands create.

Miracle Man - Zakk Wylde
WarPig - Black Sabbath
Nailbomb - Sepultura/Soulfly/Max Cavalera
Trilogy - Wingnut Malmstein
Painkiller - Judas Priest
Cold Sweat - John Sykes/Thin Lizzy
Emerald - Thin Lizzy
Riff Raff - AC/DC
Mule - Warren Haynes?
VHII - EVH
Apaches - Hank Marvin
Irish Tour - Rory Gallagher
Sultans - Dire Straits
Mother's Milk - RHCP

and the list goes on!

[The Silverwulf]

Nailbomb based on Sepultura? That's interesting.

I've always loved the John Sykes sound when it comes to leads, so if the Cold Sweat is anywhere based on his type of sound, it may be perfect for the neck position for me. Odd as it may be, I've actually always loved his lead sound on Whitesnake's "Is This Love".

The Painkiller sounds interesting, but that type of Priest tone may be a but mid-pushed for me. How about the Holy Diver? Obviously I'm familiar with DIO and the song/album, but how does the Holy Diver differ from say the Miracle Man? I've always lumped Zakk and his 80's type tone in with the 80's metal crowd, so I'm curious as to how those two would differentiate from each other.

[Philly Q]

I believe the HD is lower output than the MM, with lots more fat midrange.

It's supposed to be similar to the original Duncan JB from 20-odd years ago (not the modern JB we all know and, er, love...  :roll: ).

[Deadstar]

Well if your after Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth's rhythm tone, then try PM'ing Tim he is in Iced Earth after all.

Holy Diver uses Alnico V  whilst the Miracle Man is ceramic. So the MM should be a touch brighter and more biased towards 80's metal whilst HD has more in the midrange for a high gain heavy rock tone.

Maybe you could try mixing MM bridge with the HD neck???

[samoth2]

Well if your after Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth's rhythm tone, then try PM'ing Tim he is in Iced Earth after all.

Holy Diver uses Alnico V  whilst the Miracle Man is ceramic. So the MM should be a touch brighter and more biased towards 80's metal whilst HD has more in the midrange for a high gain heavy rock tone.

Maybe you could try mixing MM bridge with the HD neck???

I don't think he is a member of the band anymore.

[The Silverwulf]

Well if your after Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth's rhythm tone, then try PM'ing Tim he is in Iced Earth after all.

I may do that. I don't think Tim is in Iced Earth anymore. I think I recall an article from Jon prior saying something to the effect that Tim simply didn't have the time for the band at the moment. Don't quote me on that...just going from memory! I know Jon used Gibson's basically loaded with stock pickups previously, which seemed to be a combo of stock Les Paul Standard (498T bridge) and some Gothic models (500T) later on...based on what he's said in articles in the past. I think the newest IE album being made will be the first to feature BKP's, but I would be curious to see which ones he's using these days.

Holy Diver uses Alnico V  whilst the Miracle Man is ceramic. So the MM should be a touch brighter and more biased towards 80's metal whilst HD has more in the midrange for a high gain heavy rock tone.

I'm curious about the brightness too. I saw someone give this review overall of BKP's:

"From each amp I found that when I used the guitar fitted with Cold Sweat pickup's that the top end was way over the limit for my style - remember I use the wah for the tapping. The result was that no matter what volume I played at (except nearly no volume) I had unwanted feedback through the amp - and changing my sound this much was simply not for me. This is NOT particularly a criticism of the Cold Sweat Pickup's - they do exactly as described. But if you think you like top end - my own view is that when you try these they may well be more top than you bargained for. The quality of these pickups has never been in doubt - Tim and his team's manufacturing standards are as good as any company in the world."

Anyone else experience a lot of unwanted feedback or "too" much top end?

[Philly Q]

Is that Cold Sweat review from somebody's website (Tony McKenzie???)?  There was a discussion about his comments somewhere here on the forum - might be hard to find, but the consensus (I think) was that he was talking out of his ar...  sorry, that nobody agreed with him.