The Children Of Bodom Gear Thread

[<Arcane>]

Anyone know the timeline for alexi with Seymour Duncan?

I bought mine when it was released, so around 2008 when Blooddrunk was released. He used it only for a short time in combination with the Kerry King Amp. Should be only 1, maximum 2 years.

It wasn't very long. Like 06 or 07 to maybe 2010 at the latest.

Also, what's the difference between the J50B and the J50BC? Is it literally just that one is ceramic? I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes, but I was debating on getting another one of these recently since I lost my old one somewhere along the line while moving.

Both are designed for the bridge position. The "C" denotes a ceramic magnet, which usually gives crisper/hotter output at the expense of warmth/depth. The originals were uncovered and usually resembled Duncans except that all the poles were black. Some of them were covered from the mid to late 80's with the large, oversized cover and bezel. By 1990 they were covered nearly identical to the EMG with a normal sized plastic cover. The "C" designation was also used on the J-80, J-90, and a few other variants.

Also: You idiot

 

[SIND]

It's also worth noting that the USA made Jackson pickups sounded significantly better than the import ones that tended to be in the model series Charvels and 90's era USA Jackson guitars, so definitely keep an eye out. Easiest way to distinguish them aside from the obvious "Made in USA" sticker on the bottom are the black pole piece screws coming out of the bottom of the baseplate and the pickup cover should have the raised Jackson logo, not the silk screened logo.

 

[<Arcane>]

It also depends a little on the guitar...

And without an additional gain boost or a lot of gain from the amp, you can actually forget about these things. I'm not quite sure anymore, but I once had a J-80 BC that sounded significantly better.

The best sounding pickup I've ever had was a DiMarzio DP100BK super distortion (I think Gilbert and the lead guitarist from Symphony X use them), but unfortunately this was not an f-spaced pickup, so I had to sell it again. The DP 100 is like a J-50BC but with more output, clearer mids and more aggressive highs.

 

[Works0fheart]

Honestly, I've gone through a lot of pickups in the last 10 years or so and I've finally settled on one I've liked after all of that time, with the pickup being the SD Nazgul.

Before that though I'd had a Bareknuckle Painkiller in my RR24 that sounded pretty good for a bit but couldn't completely keep the tightness together in the low end. From there I had the J50BC for a bit but never did get a proper gainboost so it seemed pointless as you mentioned. I've had some pretty good Dimarzio's here and there and I still consider them pretty decent. The EMG HZ's have never never sounded great to me personally.

Recently these Fishman pickups became the craze for a bit but they just don't sound like they have any personality/they're too even or something. The Lace pickups (the alumitone) when they were briefly popular sounded way too thin.

I have a strandberg that I got last year and it has some Sur pickups in it. People seem to love them, but I'm ready to pull them out. They sound pretty good for cleans, but overall they're kind of muddy and don't articulate well enough.

Surprisingly enough, I've actually started to think that even just standard EMG 81's sound pretty good now days. They're very much a 1-trick pony, but they're still a workhorse and as it would turn out, a lot of my favorite albums have ended up being them. I discovered that around the time I was sifting through amps only to find out the 5150/6505 is my favorite amp tone and most usually it was paired with some EMG's.

/Rant over.

Here are some great pickup shootouts that I've liked from the last few years.

 

[Lowberg]

I'm with you on that, Fishman Fluence are super overhyped. I could see the extended range 7/8 string players liking them because they are super flat sounding, but for 6 string they just have no balls. I bought a pickup winder last year so I've been having fun experimenting with my own designs. Learned a lot in the process and exited to build more

 

[Johnny_victor]

I use PAF type pickups in my guitars, but I get a lot of distortion from my pedal, and also I use an overdrive as a boost, so I find no need for those high output pickups. I used to have EMG 81/85 set for a long time, then Duncan Distortion and stock pickup in the neck, then I switched to EMG ALX set, but I didn't like it at all. this was all when I used to plug the guitar directly in the amp. In the end I started using pedals, and went with PAF's and that was it.

 

[Inceptionist]

Same. I have a dimarzio paf pro with a clone JE-1000. I had an emg-81 before. The emg was not muddy, but the paf definitely makes it seem so. Really tight low end with the paf pro, not nearly as much punch though. In general more “trebly” tone in my opinion.

Can’t find J50BCs anymore unfortunately. I think it was Rune who suggested paf pickups as a substitute, but if anyone has any other recommendations I’m all ears.

 

[Whiteknuckle Deathgrip]

I use PAF type pickups in my guitars, but I get a lot of distortion from my pedal, and also I use an overdrive as a boost, so I find no need for those high output pickups. I used to have EMG 81/85 set for a long time, then Duncan Distortion and stock pickup in the neck, then I switched to EMG ALX set, but I didn't like it at all. this was all when I used to plug the guitar directly in the amp. In the end I started using pedals, and went with PAF's and that was it.

Neat!
What kind of pedals are you into? And what kind of amp are you putting them through?
I'm at that point right now where I've become a little tired with my pedals and bored with my boards.
Does using tube amps with distortion pedals even make sense?

Still waiting on thomann to send the ALX set I've ordered.

 

[Whiteknuckle Deathgrip]

I had a fun chat with a guy named 'Ari'.

He's supposedly the guy who did all of COB's sets, like lighting, cars and pyrotechnics(!).
He'd been gifted with some of Alexis old guitars, as payment for some carpentry work Alexi needed done in his house.
He has the white USA model (still Japan custom) and the original Sawtooth. Yep. The one he played on Stockholm Knockout Live among others.

Am i a tad envious? Yes.

Edit: he also has Alexis old Ibanez 220, but Alexi broke the neck around 2005 in a bender

 

[Johnny_victor]

Neat!
What kind of pedals are you into? And what kind of amp are you putting them through?
I'm at that point right now where I've become a little tired with my pedals and bored with my boards.
Does using tube amps with distortion pedals even make sense?

Still waiting on thomann to send the ALX set I've ordered.

Well I always liked Roope's guitar tone, much more than Alexi's. If you remember that backstage interview in 2013, I am the one asking Roope what is the best amp he used, and he said VHT. Few years later there were some massive discounts for their amps worldwide, I think the company itself suggested it. So I bought the VHT Lead 40 for half the price. Of course Roope used their power amp, as he used an ENGL preamp, it isn't the same, but all VHT amps have similar tonal qualities to them, I would describe the tone as very midrange orientated, really creamy and juicy sounding, perfect for someone who plays a lot of legato.

That being said, 40 wats is a lot and I can't really crank it up at home, as I live in a flat. So that is why I use distortion pedal, as you can get a good metal tone from an amp that is relatively quiet. If I can crank the amp on a gig, I use only overdrive pedal. But if I am at home or at a really small venue, I set up the amp on half of it's master volume and use distortion pedal. There is no better tone than an amp cranked up on gain channel paired with a tubescreamer. But if you can't do it, some distortion pedal on a clean channel will work well too. I am using Blackstar LT Dual as tubescreamer type of overdrive, and just a cheap Rowin Plexion pedal as distortion. Somehow they really work well together as well, and this chinese Rowin pedal is amazing even though it is cheap as hell! It doesn't sound like Plexi at all haha, but it has a lot of gain and sounds more like a cranked JCM 2000 or something like that.

I must say I didn't like the ALX on my guitar, I find it as a dark sounding pickup, and my guitar has a lot of bass and low mids, so it kind of never worked. I put it then in some cheap Explorer type guitar and it sounded much better (that guitar is way more bright). On one rehearsal I was able to plug it into some old Marshall, can't remember if it was JCM 800 or 900, and that sounded incredibly well! I think this pickup really likes bright amps because of it's darker qualities, so no wonder Alexi used Marshalls as well!

 

[-AnzzA-]

Roope also used metal picks. I've noticed it makes the sound a bit more tight and brighter, depending a bit on the metal used. I bought some Jazz III XL shaped metal picks of various thickness and materials like stainless steel, iron, brass, spring steel, titanium and aluminium. I think the brass one is a bit too heavy for my liking but the one made of spring steel is pretty nice. I still mainly use the regular black Jazz III XL.

I had a fun chat with a guy named 'Ari'.

He's supposedly the guy who did all of COB's sets, like lighting, cars and pyrotechnics(!).
He'd been gifted with some of Alexis old guitars, as payment for some carpentry work Alexi needed done in his house.
He has the white USA model (still Japan custom) and the original Sawtooth. Yep. The one he played on Stockholm Knockout Live among others.

Am i a tad envious? Yes.

Edit: he also has Alexis old Ibanez 220, but Alexi broke the neck around 2005 in a bender

That's really cool man. It's nice to know where some of his old guitars ended up.

 

[Johnny_victor]

Indeed, he used metal picks, however I never liked them, as they tend to slip out of my hand I use Dunlop Max Grip picks, really liked them, I also like Jazz XL, as regular ones are to small for me (I have big hands).

I didn't know he gave his original sawtooth also that Ibanez looks like it is a 50 year old guitar ahaha, horrible condition

 

[Whiteknuckle Deathgrip]

Regarding putting the JE-1000 clone in an external enclosure/pedal : It does work and is not very noisy to my ears but I need to do some more testing with it. Unfortunately I'm not very knowledgeable about electronics, but it's very possible to remove and bypass the JE-1000 volume pot (Although that may change the sound slightly as well). l'll record some test clips tonight so you guys can check it out.

I bought a Jackson J50B (alnico 5) for dirt cheap with the intent on doing some magnet swapping and throwing a ceramic in there, so maybe I'll do that tonight as well.

I completely forgot to reply, I'm sorry.
Thanks man! It'll probably be worth my while to stick a JE-1000 clone from ebay in an enclosure. If the buffering going on in the loop of my Boss NS-2 murder or alter that resonant frequency too much I'll have to place the boost before the gate, or just install it in a guitar.

Will check in when/if i get around to doing it

 

[Shovel KO]

I had a fun chat with a guy named 'Ari'.

He's supposedly the guy who did all of COB's sets, like lighting, cars and pyrotechnics(!).
He'd been gifted with some of Alexis old guitars, as payment for some carpentry work Alexi needed done in his house.
He has the white USA model (still Japan custom) and the original Sawtooth. Yep. The one he played on Stockholm Knockout Live among others.

Am i a tad envious? Yes.

Edit: he also has Alexis old Ibanez 220, but Alexi broke the neck around 2005 in a bender

I wonder how much $ those guitars would go for if auctioned

 

[Whiteknuckle Deathgrip]

I wonder how much $ those guitars would go for if auctioned

Probably alot!
A member of BAM group just reported that the quote they asked an ESP dealer on a brand new Alexi Customshop was 6800$USD.

They're beat to shit, but there have never been a thing I desire as much as that Sawtooth. I saw it at WOA back in 2006, and then again on Stockholm Knockout Live. This guitar has seen some shit.

 

[DevilsDingDong]

I wanted that fucking gutar so bad when it came out. Hell i still want one!

 

[NewHewkas]

He'd been gifted with some of Alexis old guitars, as payment for some carpentry work Alexi needed done in his house.

It was probably gifted to him by Alexi himself as a payment for his job, I think (or maybe he still owed him when he died, so the relatives gave him the two guitars to cover him -as a pawn-, as Alexis accounts are frozen right now, I don't know, I don't think so). So it's totally up to him whether he would sell it at some point or not. Maybe not, because COB-666 shared a Facebook post here a few weeks ago, where a guitar shop posted pics of the USA model with the description "not for sale". We don't know.

However it would be nice if they make a museum around his guitars and his life just like the Dime House, where we would be able to see all of his guitars close up etc.

 

[Whiteknuckle Deathgrip]

It was probably gifted to him by Alexi himself as a payment for his job, I think (or maybe he still owed him when he died, so the relatives gave him the two guitars to cover him -as a pawn-, as Alexis accounts are frozen right now, I don't know, I don't think so). So it's totally up to him whether he would sell it at some point or not. Maybe not, because COB-666 shared a Facebook post here a few weeks ago, where a guitar shop posted pics of the USA model with the description "not for sale". We don't know.

However it would be nice if they make a museum around his guitars and his life just like the Dime House, where we would be able to see all of his guitars close up etc.

Guy told me he got them years and years ago, and they've just been in their cases in his specialfx warehouse. Hes doesn't play them. I don't ont think he plays guitar.
He's working with Sabaton now, and their guitar player Chris Rörland would like to try the white one. He said he would like to try and film it.

 

[Works0fheart]

I thought I heard Alexi say in an interview that he completely destroyed the white one throwing it across stage or something? I'll see if I can find it.

Found it. Much easier than I thought lol

 

[NewHewkas]

I think he refers to the first Scythe guitar here with the "you touch you die" sticker you can see on Tuska 2003 because later on he played a Scythe with his signature on the headstock but the one he plays on Tuska doesn't have any signs just the logo. I was always wondered why he used a signature model instead of his own but this little story could explain it. Also Scythe was his first ESP.