Bare Knuckle - Miracle Man

[ners]

Anyone ever tried these?

I'm thinking of replacing the Arcane Powerdozers in my Jackson Dinky and these caught my ear since I heard somewhere they're like passive EMGs. Mostly going to use them for Drop C stuff like Killswitch Engage or Zakk Wylde.

 

[creep66]

I have tried em two different times and never liked em. Very bassy tone I could t get along with

 

[angelspade]

I have heard of several pickups that claim to be a passive that sounds like an active. I have played actives that have some of the characteristics of a passive...But I've never known a passive that had the character of an active. I think only actives sound and feel like actives.

 

[ChurchHill]

Tried them in several guitars and couldn't find anything that they paired with. Just a scooped-out, muddy, harsh mess. Didn't sound anything like the EMG 81 that it's supposed to be based on. There are a few BKP that I really like, but this isn't one of them.

 

[ners]

Tried them in several guitars and couldn't find anything that they paired with. Just a scooped-out, muddy, harsh mess. Didn't sound anything like the EMG 81 that it's supposed to be based on. There are a few BKP that I really like, but this isn't one of them.

What others did you like?

I've got BKP in my Tele and Strat, so safe to say I'm a fan, but haven't tried any humbuckers from them.

 

[ChurchHill]

I've tried over half their humbuckers, although nothing that came out in the last 10 years or so. If you're wanting something that gets closer to Zakk or KSE, I might recommend the C-Bomb. I can get great Sykes tone with them, which isn't too far from Zakk's tone.

My favorites are:

• The Mule - one of the best PAF-types I've tried from anyone. Just the right amount of bite and mids.
• Crawler - better in brighter guitars, smooth leads with enough bite to work well for rhythm, too
• Rebel Yell - perfect hot rod, great bite, not overly modern sounding, very versatile
• Nailbomb - both variants, more modern than Rebel Yell. Alnico has more mids, ceramic has more bite, both are full but tight on the low end.

I like their Nantucket P90 and Flat '50s Tele. Not quite there with Strats, I like the Apache neck and mid, and the Slow Hand is great in the bridge, but not quite happy with any combination I've tried. What are you using in your Strat and Tele?

 

[Music&Chaos]

I swapped out my BKP Silo set with a set from Planet Tone.

 

[ners]

I've tried over half their humbuckers, although nothing that came out in the last 10 years or so. If you're wanting something that gets closer to Zakk or KSE, I might recommend the C-Bomb. I can get great Sykes tone with them, which isn't too far from Zakk's tone.

My favorites are:

• The Mule - one of the best PAF-types I've tried from anyone. Just the right amount of bite and mids.
• Crawler - better in brighter guitars, smooth leads with enough bite to work well for rhythm, too
• Rebel Yell - perfect hot rod, great bite, not overly modern sounding, very versatile
• Nailbomb - both variants, more modern than Rebel Yell. Alnico has more mids, ceramic has more bite, both are full but tight on the low end.

I like their Nantucket P90 and Flat '50s Tele. Not quite there with Strats, I like the Apache neck and mid, and the Slow Hand is great in the bridge, but not quite happy with any combination I've tried. What are you using in your Strat and Tele?

Tele I've got the Piledriver, while it definitely strays from a traditional sound, I like that it removes some ice pick-iness with medium/high gain and I can play heavy Led Zeppelin with some great clarity in the grind for heavier stuff. I'd never recommend it for like country tele stuff but I think it's amazing for rock and roll tele as it's basically the output of a humbucker but keeps some twang.

What level gain you use with that Flat 50? That seems to be the second highest output tele single coil they make so I'm a little tempted to try it but worries it's just a slightly under wound Piledriver. Based on their clips I think it's just slightly less thick in the low mids but doesn't seem all that different.

Strat is more traditional. I've got the '59 Slab in the bridge for Dick Dale stuff and that seems to work and match what he had (I like that it's a tiny bit beefier than the Apache). The neck and middle is the Mothers Milk, I think they're pretty good for Jimi stuff but I'm currently Plexi-less so haven't really put them through their paces yet (only had them like a month).

 

[ChurchHill]

With the Flat '50s, pretty much everything except thrash. It's a great rock pickup. Still has the clarity and bite that makes it sound like a Tele but enough drive to push the amp. It just fits the sound in my head when I think of a Tele, which is probably closer to a Broadcaster. I've haven't tried the Piledriver, but from the clips, the Flat '50s sound a little more vintage, not quite as mid-forward, and a little less compressed.

Honestly, I don't think most of BKP's clips do their pickups justice. They've all sounded different in person, sometimes drastically different although not necessarily in a bad way. For instance, the Holy Diver is a great pickup but didn't sound anything like what I was expecting from the clips. The Abraxas sounds more like the Crawler clip than the Crawler does and vice versa, and those two are much more different in person than the clips would have one believe.