BK Pickups - I'm a believer!

[Ventura]

I swapped out a set of JB and 59s in one of my guitars for a calibrated set of Riff Raffs. End of story. YMMV, maple cap on a mahog body.

 

[steve_k]

Good thing with the AFII. Dial up any sort of input I want from a pick up....

 

[Ventura]

nerd

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I swapped out a set of JB and 59s in one of my guitars for a calibrated set of Riff Raffs. End of story. YMMV, maple cap on a mahog body.

My SG is maple cap on a mahog body
Tim at BK suggested Riff Raffs 1st and Cold sweat as a more modern 2nd choice... can Riff Raffs do the angry detuned hi gain stuff just as well as some of the more modern BK choices? Probably no lower than dropC. I imagine yes, just would like to hear some 1st hand accounts. I am sure the traditional rock stuff is handled.

 

[Ventura]

I swapped out a set of JB and 59s in one of my guitars for a calibrated set of Riff Raffs. End of story. YMMV, maple cap on a mahog body.

My SG is maple cap on a mahog body
Tim at BK suggested Riff Raffs 1st and Cold sweat as a more modern 2nd choice... can Riff Raffs do the angry detuned hi gain stuff just as well as some of the more modern BK choices? Probably no lower than dropC. I imagine yes, just would like to hear some 1st hand accounts. I am sure the traditional rock stuff is handled.

Riff Raffs have got a HUGE breadth of application. I also find that unlike some pups that pride themselves on mega huge output, the BKPs really tackle a massive range of musicality with their design in some of the lower output pups. Maybe it's also my amps - but I do run a variety of amps, so.... But ya, I've got a lot of BKPs, and I lean towards heavier styles of music for sure - but interestingly enough? The highest output pups I have are the Miracle Mans, and I like them the least.

That said, pinch harmonics are ludicrous with the MMs.

 

[ericsabbath]

the riff raff and mule are the finest pickups I ever played for a gibson or a prs guitar
they have this organic and musical brightness in the top end that I can't hear in anything else
with the proper amp and pedals, you can go from cleanest blues to the most brutal metal if it want that
I remember when I first installed the riff raff in a prs mccarty, my first impulse was playing lots of pantera riffs and solos

 

[Frolid]

Any BK players know if putting a ceramic nailbomb in a SE CU24 is a good idea for drop C? Or if I should keep looking around?

 

[Jofipe]

Bare knuckle guys, Question...If your "go to" bridge for mahogany guitars is a Duncan JB, what BK model should I be looking at?

Cold Sweat!

I got them suggested for my Custom Flying V... it's PERFECT for a mahogany guitar. I felt the PU gave the guitar punch and an awesome top end. The neck pickup is awesome also... totally creamy and fluent.

 

[ericsabbath]

Bare knuckle guys, Question...If your "go to" bridge for mahogany guitars is a Duncan JB, what BK model should I be looking at?

Cold Sweat!

I got them suggested for my Custom Flying V... it's PERFECT for a mahogany guitar. I felt the PU gave the guitar punch and an awesome top end. The neck pickup is awesome also... totally creamy and fluent.

the holy diver is based on the jb, but doesn't work well with SGs, for example
I does sound great in most other mahogany models, though

the cold sweat is a very different pup
brighter, sharper, more focused slightly midscooped and has a punchier low end, with tighter and bigger bass response (although the diver is fatter sounding, as it has a lot more low and center mids)

the neck cold sweat is medium low output and maybe the most articulate pup I've heard
it has some PAF DNA, but it's middier and modern voiced, like a PAF pro

 

[ericsabbath]

Any BK players know if putting a ceramic nailbomb in a SE CU24 is a good idea for drop C? Or if I should keep looking around?

of course it is
I had an SE Cu22, and my first thought was putting a nailbomb if I didn't have to sell it

here's an amazing ceramic nailbomb/cold sweat set demo:

 

[Frolid]

Any BK players know if putting a ceramic nailbomb in a SE CU24 is a good idea for drop C? Or if I should keep looking around?

of course it is
I had an SE Cu22, and my first thought was putting a nailbomb if I didn't have to sell it

here's an amazing ceramic nailbomb/cold sweat set demo:

Sounds damn good
really clear, yet thick! Does having it chrome covered make a difference in sound?

 

[Khoi]

the ceramic nailbomb is essentially an overwound Cold Sweat

I love my BKPs, it's hard to pick anything else now. The Cold Sweats has been my favorite so far, but I have a custom guitar that'll be loaded with a Holy Diver/VHII combo coming

Sounds damn good
really clear, yet thick! Does having it chrome covered make a difference in sound?

Very slightly, but BKP always calibrate their covered pickups to sound the same vs. uncovered

 

[rockify]

BK VHII's in my Cu24 &
Rebel Yell's in my Singlecut w rosewood neck

Love their stuff, killer pups!

 

[ericsabbath]

the ceramic nailbomb is essentially an overwound Cold Sweat

I love my BKPs, it's hard to pick anything else now. The Cold Sweats has been my favorite so far, but I have a custom guitar that'll be loaded with a Holy Diver/VHII combo coming

Sounds damn good
really clear, yet thick! Does having it chrome covered make a difference in sound?

Very slightly, but BKP always calibrate their covered pickups to sound the same vs. uncovered

true about the cold sweat
but overwinding changes the tone a lot, and that's they refuse making overwound custom versions for customers these days
most of their models are slightly tweaked versions of other models, and that changes the whole character
if you check the specs, the bridge black dog is an overwound neck cold sweat, which is pretty much an overwound neck holy diver, and they all sound very different from each other
the vhII is like a nailbomb with PAF style thicker gauge enameled wire
they're both heavily offset and heavily overwound, same magnet type and length, same wire insulation...
they do have something in common in the top and the low end, but they feel and sound quite different

now about the covered x uncovered thing
I do believe it also has a lot to do to how the screws are set
the screw heads on covered pickups are usually set pretty much out of pickup coils to fit the covers, so they will sound different from uncovered pickups even if you remove the covers without lowering the screws back down
there's also the pickup distance from strings
that extra 1-2mm to keep the bulky cover further from strings can make a huge difference, specially in lower output pickups, so covered pups might even feel less hot if you don't compensate the height (cause they look closer than they actually are)
I use my low output covered bkps VERY close to strings
that wasn't a concern with the alnico nailbombs I had, for example, as those pups are hot as fuck

they have a video showing the difference between covered and uncovered

 

[Ventura]

Awesome post.

I wish in the vid they'd have done back to back in each position, cover on/cover off; rather than running the gamut THEN changing the covers to off, and running the gamut again. Can't really notice too much difference due to the comparo being so distant IMHO.

 

[ericsabbath]

I wish in the vid they'd have done back to back in each position, cover on/cover off; rather than running the gamut THEN changing the covers to off, and running the gamut again. Can't really notice too much difference due to the comparo being so distant IMHO.

yeah... specially considering new youtube bullshit on loading the video again and again everytime you go back to some previous point
I guess youtube intended to avoid full video loading, but they didn't think about this

 

[billboogie]

Great post.........

Thinking of trying a bridge PU in a maple neck-through guitar.....Currently has a Pearly Gates which is nice but I want to improve overall clarity which seems to be a characteristic commonly mentioned with any of the BKs.
Staying with the PAF vibe (love the org. T-Top in my 79LP cus.) what BK do you think would work best?????

Bill

 

[Mr. Willy]

Great post.........

Thinking of trying a bridge PU in a maple neck-through guitar.....Currently has a Pearly Gates which is nice but I want to improve overall clarity which seems to be a characteristic commonly mentioned with any of the BKs.
Staying with the PAF vibe (love the org. T-Top in my 79LP cus.) what BK do you think would work best?????

Bill

Look at something in the Vintage Hot line. The PG is a bright pickup, so the VHII or Emerald might be right down your alley. They are both hot PAF types. I think you'd really like the VHII if you're coming from a PG.

Edit - just saw you've got a maple neck-through. You might wanna check out the Abraxas. It's got a rounded tip end that might really smooth out the brightness of the maple. You can email them and them now what you're playing through and what tone you're after, and they'll be able to uggest something for you. You gotta try one, man. Seriously. Seymour Duncan aren't even in the same league. You'll love them!

 

[splatter]

I love the rebel yell for bridge pups . Have them in both my lesters . Don't like the RY neck pup though it sounds muddy to me . I put the WCR darkburst in my Lesters in the neck position .

 

[billboogie]

Great post.........

Thinking of trying a bridge PU in a maple neck-through guitar.....Currently has a Pearly Gates which is nice but I want to improve overall clarity which seems to be a characteristic commonly mentioned with any of the BKs.
Staying with the PAF vibe (love the org. T-Top in my 79LP cus.) what BK do you think would work best?????

Bill

Look at something in the Vintage Hot line. The PG is a bright pickup, so the VHII or Emerald might be right down your alley. They are both hot PAF types. I think you'd really like the VHII if you're coming from a PG.

Edit - just saw you've got a maple neck-through. You might wanna check out the Abraxas. It's got a rounded tip end that might really smooth out the brightness of the maple. You can email them and them now what you're playing through and what tone you're after, and they'll be able to suggest something for you. You gotta try one, man. Seriously. Seymour Duncan aren't even in the same league. You'll love them!

Yes the Pearly is bright......I paired it with a Gibby 300k vol.pot and that really helped but it came with a cost o
f some clarity.........I was checking out the VH11s and I do like those, I'm now thinking of putting that in a 79 Dean ML...

I will go back and search out the Abraxas a bit, thanks for that suggestion I didn't consider that one.....

Bill