Bare knuckles and Motor City pickups

[smdb]

Has anyone tried the Vh2 (bare knuckles) or the Detroiter (motor city) pickups from these company's? I am looking to replace a paf pro on my old "Jem" and would like to stay with a lower putput pickup.. I like the paf pro's but want just a little more output.
Anyone?
Thanks

 

[moltenmetalburn]

if your looking for low output i think the consensus around here has been the 2nd degree black belt pickup from motor city. search the forum there has been talk about many of the motor cities. I LOVE my hell babies!

 

[Gino]

I've got a matched set of Detroiters in my LP and I dig 'em. The other guitar player in my band has one in the bridge position of his Strat. I had Burstbucker Pros in there before and these have less output but are a huge tone improvement. I'm not very wise in the ways of different pickups so please excuse me if I can't give more insight. Honestly, I'd like more output out of the neck position but that's just me. Whenever my band does any of the classic rock type of stuff in our set (Mississippi Queen, All Right Now, Sweet Emotion, Lemon Song, Helter Skelter, Should I Stay or Should I Go?, etc.) they sound fantastic.

 

[Bad Brad]

Shoot Wade an e-mail he will tell you the differences.

motorcitypickups@yahoo.com

 

[luxxtone]

Detroiter is my personal favorite Motor City. Low output, but still slightly hotter than the 2nd Degree Blackbelts. It drives your amp more than you would think. More snarly than the 2nd Degrees and a little more mids, very pissed off sounding. The 2nd Degrees push a little less and are a little thicker and not as angry sounding, more string separation. Both totally rock.

The VHII is brighter than both MC pickups. Even though it's wound a little hotter than the other two, it doesn't sound that way. Not a bad thing at all, it just doesn't have as much drive as the other two. It's got great cut, and very tight and open. But if your guitar is bright at all, you might want to look at the others. If you have a darker guitar, this would be a great choice. The Motor Citys are thicker.

 

[smdb]

I will be putting these in a 1988 Ibanez Jem.. I would think that would be considered a bright guitar.. Would you agree?
Do you know the output of the Detroiter?

Thanks guys

 

[northern1]

I just put a BK VHII in my Anderson Classic Alder body and it sounds great! Nice bottom end nice mids and highs very well balanced with a nice aggressive hot PAF vibe.

 

[Variable]

The VHII is brighter than both MC pickups. Even though it's wound a little hotter than the other two, it doesn't sound that way. Not a bad thing at all, it just doesn't have as much drive as the other two. It's got great cut, and very tight and open. But if your guitar is bright at all, you might want to look at the others. If you have a darker guitar, this would be a great choice. The Motor Citys are thicker.

+100000

The VH2 is fantastic, but you have to be very careful about the guitar/amp combination. It could easily be thin and overly trebly in a bright guitar, especially through a brighter Marshall style amp. I have a set in my all-mahogany G&L, which USED to be a dark guitar... and now it's the brightest guitar I've ever played. Still very open with enough fatness for me. It's an extremely articulate pickup, and the neck + middle position with this set is pure Jimmy Page But it works out for me because my amp is on the dark side and very fat.

After all the great press for MCP, though, I am considering a Detroiter or 2DBB for the G&L, just to see what I'm missing

 

[luxxtone]

I will be putting these in a 1988 Ibanez Jem.. I would think that would be considered a bright guitar.. Would you agree?
Do you know the output of the Detroiter?

Thanks guys

The Detroiter is around 9.2k. Can't say if the Jem is bright or not....every guitar is different, even the same models and same years sound different. Best way to go about it is this: how do you want to change the sound of the guitar from the way it sounds now? Does it sound dark with the PAF Pro, or bright? What do you want more or less of?

 

[James Lugo]

Detroiter is my personal favorite Motor City. Low output, but still slightly hotter than the 2nd Degree Blackbelts. It drives your amp more than you would think. More snarly than the 2nd Degrees and a little more mids, very pissed off sounding. The 2nd Degrees push a little less and are a little thicker and not as angry sounding, more string separation. Both totally rock.

I agree with Jerry. The Detroiter has more saturation and gives more amp tone, the 2nd degree is very stringy sounding, to articulate for my taste. The 2nd Degree really accentuates the sound of the strings and you can hear them all ring very separated within a chord at high gain, the Detroiter smears more and sounds more rock-n-roll and pleasing to my ear. Jerry has a Detroiter in one of his axes and it just rules!

JL

p.s. Hey Jerry I'm back from Europe Sunday we gotta hang, I have to see Jet and I also have some guitar work!

p.p.s. Amsterdam and Paris were amazing, leaving for Rome today.

 

[sswanson]

The VHII is fairly bright but is still a great sounding pickup, it has a Hot PAF sound for sure, along with the Rebel Yells they are my favorite BKP humbuckers. I can't comment on the Motor City pickups, I haven't bought a set yet but I plan to.

 

[smdb]

Detroiter is my personal favorite Motor City. Low output, but still slightly hotter than the 2nd Degree Blackbelts. It drives your amp more than you would think. More snarly than the 2nd Degrees and a little more mids, very pissed off sounding. The 2nd Degrees push a little less and are a little thicker and not as angry sounding, more string separation. Both totally rock.

I agree with Jerry. The Detroiter has more saturation and gives more amp tone, the 2nd degree is very stringy sounding, to articulate for my taste. The 2nd Degree really accentuates the sound of the strings and you can hear them all ring very separated within a chord at high gain, the Detroiter smears more and sounds more rock-n-roll and pleasing to my ear. Jerry has a Detroiter in one of his axes and it just rules!

JL

p.s. Hey Jerry I'm back from Europe Sunday we gotta hang, I have to see Jet and I also have some guitar work!

p.p.s. Amsterdam and Paris were amazing, leaving for Rome today.

I play thru a Vh4 so I dont need much more articulation. I think I wil go with the Detrioter.
Thanks for the advice guys
Steve

 

[keano]

agree with Jerry. The Detroiter has more saturation and gives more amp tone, the 2nd degree is very stringy sounding, to articulate for my taste. The 2nd Degree really accentuates the sound of the strings and you can hear them all ring very separated within a chord at high gain, the Detroiter smears more and sounds more rock-n-roll and pleasing to my ear. Jerry has a Detroiter in one of his axes and it just rules!

Is there a pickup comparison between these two somewhere? I have a 5153, Axe-Fx. I have a JMP 77' that I was going to add the Friedman kitchen sink to but adding $700 for that is too much so going to sell JMP and get a DSL and use extra cash for pickups.

Other guitars LP's with EMGs, and Suhr Aldrich. Last LP is Duncan SH-14 which I want to replace with either:
BB 2nd degree
Detroiter
Godwood

First and foremost I want something that can clean up well. Complete opposite of what I presently have. Good for solos, open tone.

 

[MichaelG]

agree with Jerry. The Detroiter has more saturation and gives more amp tone, the 2nd degree is very stringy sounding, to articulate for my taste. The 2nd Degree really accentuates the sound of the strings and you can hear them all ring very separated within a chord at high gain, the Detroiter smears more and sounds more rock-n-roll and pleasing to my ear. Jerry has a Detroiter in one of his axes and it just rules!

Is there a pickup comparison between these two somewhere? I have a 5153, Axe-Fx. I have a JMP 77' that I was going to add the Friedman kitchen sink to but adding $700 for that is too much so going to sell JMP and get a DSL and use extra cash for pickups.

Other guitars LP's with EMGs, and Suhr Aldrich. Last LP is Duncan SH-14 which I want to replace with either:
BB 2nd degree
Detroiter
Godwood

First and foremost I want something that can clean up well. Complete opposite of what I presently have. Good for solos, open tone.

The BB 2nd degree cleans up amazingly well. I don't have the other pickups (yet!) but from what I have read they clean up very well also. You cannot go wrong with any of the 3 pickups in your list.

 

[luxxtone]

Is there a pickup comparison between these two somewhere? I have a 5153, Axe-Fx. I have a JMP 77' that I was going to add the Friedman kitchen sink to but adding $700 for that is too much so going to sell JMP and get a DSL and use extra cash for pickups.

Other guitars LP's with EMGs, and Suhr Aldrich. Last LP is Duncan SH-14 which I want to replace with either:
BB 2nd degree
Detroiter
Godwood

First and foremost I want something that can clean up well. Complete opposite of what I presently have. Good for solos, open tone.

Those are all great pickups! They all clean up really well, with the Motor Citys probably cleaning up slightly more than the WCR just because the WCR is the hottest of the three. Here's my take on the three:

2nd Degree Blackbelt -most open of the three, most note separation and clarity, giant sounding with a big but natural low end, also drives the amp more than you would think for the lower output reading.

Detroiter -hotter than the 2nd Degree, still very open and clear, slightly more nasty in the mids like a P-90, a tiny bit more compression than the 2nd Degrees and meaner sounding with a tny bit less bottom but just as tight.

Godwood -hottest output, around 13k or so, very open and clear but will drive your amp much more than the other two. Very even voicing and super thick and chewy while still retaining great note clarity. Massive sounding. Best of the 3 for solos due to a little more compression from being hotter.

It's funny that you mentioned these three because I personally use 2 of them in my own guitars! I have a Gibson LP with a Godwood set, a Charvel So Cal and DiPinto Mach IV with Detroiters and a 1980 LP Custom with a standard set of BlackBelts (not 2nd Degree, but close to it). Can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[keano]

Lol you have me caught on the giant sounding BB2 and the massive sounding Godwood.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Lol you have me caught on the giant sounding BB2 and the massive sounding Godwood.

let the amount of compression you want decide for you. more comp the godwood less the bb2.

 

[keano]

What would acdc FTATR/BIB tone be considered for these pups? Using a 5153. Did Angus really go for high powered Gibson pickups?

 

[luxxtone]

What would acdc FTATR/BIB tone be considered for these pups? Using a 5153. Did Angus really go for high powered Gibson pickups?

If your looking for an ac/dc tone with a high gain amp like the 5153, I'd probably go for the 2nd Degree Blackbelts....lower output and more open.

The reason guys like Angus used higher output pickups back in the day is because the amps were lower gain...like old plexis. So they tried to get as much gain and grit out of it as they could...so higher output pickups would push the front end of the amp more for more gain. But nowadays, amps have shit-tons of gain and you don't have to have a high output pickup to push the amp...it's already there. So lower output pickups sound more clear and bigger through high-gain amps. Unless you want even more compression, then you can go higher output. It's more about thickness and compression, as opposed to looking for more distortion back in the day.

 

[keano]

Ok BB2 degree it is.