Bare Knuckle Pick-Ups

[The Rhone]

Message for Andy and the whole crowd

Any views on Bare Knuckle Pups in particularly the Miracle Man and Nailbomb??

Tones setups and recording thoughts

 

[JeffTD]

I just returned a Nailbomb7 because I thought it was way overrated.

It was a good pickup, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't $175 good. In the UK, it might make sense, cause the US pickup manufacturers charge more than here... but for the price of three DiMarzio/Duncans? Not worth it.

 

[colonel kurtz]

for $175, it better be the best fucking pickup ever made

 

[JeffTD]

I actually prefer the JB I just put in my Schecter to the Nailbomb I had in my Ibanez.

 

[Metaltastic]

Well the differences in wood between the two guitars (even if they're both Mahogany/Maple/Rosewood, something as organic as wood is never that consistent) could account for the discrepancy, but either way, I tend to regard pickups as the least important factor in tone compared with body/neck/fingerboard wood and amp choice.

Speaking of the JB, though, I remember listening to the tone samples on the Duncan website, and not being impressed with it; my two faves were the Screamin' Demon and the Full Shred. Does anybody have any experience with these two, cuz despite all the hype the JB has, it sounded muddier than those two to my ears.

 

[JeffTD]

Duncans clips are really a joke - they all sound the same, just different levels of gain.

I know they're different axes and this will sound entirely different, but that still doesn't change the fact that the BKP didn't perform like a $175 pickup, and I can't imagine it magically behaving three times it's price in a different wood, you know? Not to mention 175 on any pickup is nuts, unless it blows you.

 

[colonel kurtz]

those clips on the duncan website really are a joke - who wants to hear a generic blues lick when checking out something like a blackout?

and you want to know what the JB's sound like? listen to a tool record...adam jones uses(or at least used a few years ago) the JB/jazz combo

 

[Metaltastic]

Haha, funny you mention that, cuz I've never liked Jones' tone; on Lateralus, I guess it works for the band, but it's too weak for my tastes, and on Aenima, I think it's just atrocious in general. But I will trust Mr. Mike Amott for coaxing a killer tone out of a JB; Andy may dictate the amp choice with all of his reamping mania, but I have to assume that Mike chooses the guitar.

@DSS3, I totally hear ya, $175 for a pup (especially if it's passive, I don't know much about these BNP's) really is ridonkulous.

 

[imaginarybooks]

My ceramic warpig is atrociously bad, worst £125 pounds ive ever spent.

 

[cobrahead1030]

I just returned a Nailbomb7 because I thought it was way overrated.

It was a good pickup, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't $175 good. In the UK, it might make sense, cause the US pickup manufacturers charge more than here... but for the price of three DiMarzio/Duncans? Not worth it.

i just got a holy diver and feel pretty much the same way...tho i bought mine used ($90 shipped)

it's a really good sounding pickup, and has a nice thick/clear tone...but i don't know if it's really better than most pickups i can get for half that price used all day

 

[ericwylde]

i have a bridge holy diver, a neck cold sweat in one les paul copy (a japanese Hurricane) and a miracle man set in another les paul copy (brazilian, custom made)

the miracle man is powerful and incredibly tight
it's good for loose amps, like my ex-rectifier
it has a very unic sound
spikey highs, a motorcyle roar in the low mids
when you play really fast it sounds like a smoother EMG 81
it's different from any pickup i've heard, except on fast shredding
the neck pickup reminds me of a dimarzio "zone" with less mids
fat, dark and long sustaining

the holy diver is closer to a duncan jb, but has a lot more chunk and clarity
it's less overbright, very balanced on center mids and tigher on bass
it's the best and most all rounded bridge pickup i've played
the cleans are awesome, and the solo tones are better than the miracle man too
in tighter or brighter amps (like Peaveys and Marshalls), it sounds better than the miracle man

the cold sweat neck has similar specs of a dimarzio air classic
lot of sustain, absolutely perfect clean tone, and a PAF kind of mid scoop, with modern balls for shredding (that's what Chris Broderick uses)

 

[cobrahead1030]

maybe something is up with my holy diver then?

a lot of guys compared it to a jb and that's why i got it, it sounds more like a '59 to me tho...actually it's nearly identical sounding

 

[ericwylde]

i really can't understand this kind of arguing about BK prices
no one here is living under a bridge
come on
i'm brazilian, i don't even have a job, and if a had, i was going to get $200-300 per month

i had a lot of duncan, gibson, emg, bill lawrence and other branded pickups and the BKPs sound a lot better than all of these

i can't understand how do you guys spend thousands of dollars in guitars and really expensive amps, and when we talk about one of the major part of the final tone you can't pay more than $70

jb and nailbomb have different voicings and were installed in different guitars, so you can't make a direct comparison
my friend bought a warpig and preferred his other guitar with a gibson 500t, but the truth is that he prefers the other guitar and he never had an alnico pickup in 10 years
he asked me about a pickup with nevermore kind of tone and a i recommended the warpig, but the truth is that he was looking for the sharp edged high mid tone he already had and not for jeff loomis tones

i was reluctant to pay $150-170 for a BK too
in 8 months i tried EVERYTHING, so then i surrended and bought these fuckin expensive pickups and i couldn't be happier

 

[ericwylde]

maybe something is up with my holy diver then?

a lot of guys compared it to a jb and that's why i got it, it sounds more like a '59 to me tho...actually it's nearly identical sounding

59???? uke:
59 has absolutely NO mids and NO brightness
maybe you bought the neck version(?)

did you measure the D.C.?

 

[The Rhone]

Had a Full Shred in a Ferandes Vertigo, it was great, but I changed it for Dimarzio X2N and I want to switch back..Great tone quite toppy and very loud

 

[colonel kurtz]

i can't understand how do you guys spend thousands of dollars in guitars and really expensive amps, and when we talk about one of the major part of the final tone you can't pay more than $70

for the record, i'm a poor bastard, who buys gear for cheap

each of my guitars were obtained for around $100, from people who didn't know better

my amp was obtained for $150...from a pawn shop who thought it was broken

my marshall cab came from a kid who hocked one of my $100 guitars for drugs...so i made him give me the cab as retribution

 

[cobrahead1030]

59???? uke:
59 has absolutely NO mids and NO brightness
maybe you bought the neck version(?)

did you measure the D.C.?

no i haven't

i don't have the tools (or workspace) for any of that stuff, i bought it used from a guy and had a local guitar shop install it

but yeah...it's not nearly as high output as a jb, it's not scooped but doesn't have the midrange growl, it's really thick sounding which is cool, and it doesn't have the jb brightness tho it's still pretty clear

i mean honestly it sounds good for early yngwie or puppets era metallica kinda smooth big lead tones, and i don't mind that at all...but it's not what i'd hoped for, and i definitely wouldn't pay $165 or whatever it is for a new one

i was looking for a jb with slightly more bottom and less fizz, that's not what it sounds like...FWIW if this pickup delivered what i was after, i'd have no problem buying 4 of them to replace the JB's i use currently; but for the tone i like the JB is still the closest thing i've found to perfect (i'd say it's 90% there)

 

[JeffTD]

i really can't understand this kind of arguing about BK prices
no one here is living under a bridge

It's not the prices that are the problem, it's the prices relative to other pickups.

While I'm not about to go skimp on one of the most vital pieces of my tone chain, I'm not about to go spend 3x the amount I would normally spend, unless it sounds 3x better.

I personally think EMGs sound better than BKPs, and they happen to be cheaper. Oh well - horses for courses.

 

[ericwylde]

EMGs can't be compared to passive pickups
it's comparing a vox ac30 to an engl invader

bkps aren't 3x better, but a diezel isn't 4x better than a triple xxx and a gibson custom shop isn't 8x better than an epiphone

 

[ericwylde]

but yeah...it's not nearly as high output as a jb, it's not scooped but doesn't have the midrange growl, it's really thick sounding which is cool, and it doesn't have the jb brightness tho it's still pretty clear

i mean honestly it sounds good for early yngwie or puppets era metallica kinda smooth big lead tones, and i don't mind that at all...but it's not what i'd hoped for, and i definitely wouldn't pay $165 or whatever it is for a new one

i was looking for a jb with slightly more bottom and less fizz, that's not what it sounds like...FWIW if this pickup delivered what i was after, i'd have no problem buying 4 of them to replace the JB's i use currently; but for the tone i like the JB is still the closest thing i've found to perfect (i'd say it's 90% there)

mine is as powerful as my old duncan custom with alnico 8 magnet (which is a bit higher output than a jb)
it doesn't have all the JB brightness, but about 80% of it, and has the bottom of the custom 8 without the harness of the low mids
it's not an improved JB, just in the same ballpark
maybe you wanted a model with sharper treble edge, like the nailbomb
did you replace a jb in the same guitar?