Jim Wagner WCR IceBucker Set incoming!

[firejack]

Just snagged a shiny nickel WCR IceBucker Set off Reverb. So stoked to get these.

Does anybody have any info on the IceBucker neck model? Is it simply another of Jim's neck models (Darkburst? Godwood?) or is it an original design to match the IceBucker bridge?

 

[firejack]

I heard back from Jim Wagner that the Icebucker neck is fatter than the Godwood neck whilst still retaining the same articulation. Sweet!

 

[Hey_bert_whtcha_doin_bert]

Icebuckers fucking rip!

 

[CEG85]

No info on the icebucker, but every comment ive read about Jim Wagner pickups are positive.

 

[braintheory]

Have they arrived yet? Very curious to hear your thoughts and how they compare to the Iron Man and Godwoods

 

[firejack]

Icebuckers fucking rip!

That's great to hear.

No info on the icebucker, but every comment ive read about Jim Wagner pickups are positive.

Yeah I can attest to that. My faves are the Darkburst bridge, IronMan bridge, and the Godwood neck.

Have they arrived yet? Very curious to hear your thoughts and how they compare to the Iron Man and Godwoods

Man I really dig the IronMan bridge. For fat aggressive tones that don't compromise on tightness and clarity, nothing comes close. Really excited about installing my spare IronMan set in the Ormsby Ash/Maple/Wenge guitar when it finally gets here.
I have the IceBucker set currently being installed in my Edwards Sykes LP. Should be ready to rock by the weekend. Will keep you posted.

 

[chunktone]

You're going to love them! I have a set and they are great! Very clear with tons of overtones.

 

[firejack]

You're going to love them! I have a set and they are great! Very clear with tons of overtones.

Sweet! If the bridge IceBucker has anywhere near the overtones of the Darkburst bridge I'll be happy. My Darkburst bridge is crazy. It's borderline out of control, but in a good way.

 

[braintheory]

I talked to Jim today on the phone and ordered a Iron Man/Dark Burst set and Murkat bridge for my HSS style guitar. For what it’s worth, he told me the icebucker neck is like a middle ground of the crossroads and darkburst, fatter than the crossroads but not as much as the darkburst or Godwood. He said the Godwood and darkburst necks are almost identical, the Godwood is just .2k hotter.

He also said that the Murkat is the same thing as the Fillmore just F-Spaced for Floyd rose type guitars and 2 rows of adjustable pole pieces. I decided to go with the Murkat since it’s only $15 more

 

[firejack]

I talked to Jim today on the phone and ordered a Iron Man/Dark Burst set and Murkat bridge for my HSS style guitar. For what it’s worth, he told me the icebucker neck is like a middle ground of the crossroads and darkburst, fatter than the crossroads but not as much as the darkburst or Godwood. He said the Godwood and darkburst necks are almost identical, the Godwood is just .2k hotter.

He also said that the Murkat is the same thing as the Fillmore just F-Spaced for Floyd rose type guitars and 2 rows of adjustable pole pieces. I decided to go with the Murkat since it’s only $15 more

Thanks for the info mate.
Let us know what you think of the Murkat. I have a Murkat that started out as a standard A5 Murkat, and now has the A5 swapped out for a ceramic magnet (same ceramic magnet that Jim uses in the IronMan bridge pickup). The ceramic magnet gives the Murkat a firmer bass response with added growl in the low-mids. But it does change the highs just a little. Still sweet though.

 

[braintheory]

I talked to Jim today on the phone and ordered a Iron Man/Dark Burst set and Murkat bridge for my HSS style guitar. For what it’s worth, he told me the icebucker neck is like a middle ground of the crossroads and darkburst, fatter than the crossroads but not as much as the darkburst or Godwood. He said the Godwood and darkburst necks are almost identical, the Godwood is just .2k hotter.

He also said that the Murkat is the same thing as the Fillmore just F-Spaced for Floyd rose type guitars and 2 rows of adjustable pole pieces. I decided to go with the Murkat since it’s only $15 more

Thanks for the info mate.
Let us know what you think of the Murkat. I have a Murkat that started out as a standard A5 Murkat, and now has the A5 swapped out for a ceramic magnet (same ceramic magnet that Jim uses in the IronMan bridge pickup). The ceramic magnet gives the Murkat a firmer bass response with added growl in the low-mids. But it does change the highs just a little. Still sweet though.

Will do! And I’m still waiting to hear how you’ll like the Ice Bucker’s in comparison

 

[firejack]

I talked to Jim today on the phone and ordered a Iron Man/Dark Burst set and Murkat bridge for my HSS style guitar. For what it’s worth, he told me the icebucker neck is like a middle ground of the crossroads and darkburst, fatter than the crossroads but not as much as the darkburst or Godwood. He said the Godwood and darkburst necks are almost identical, the Godwood is just .2k hotter.

He also said that the Murkat is the same thing as the Fillmore just F-Spaced for Floyd rose type guitars and 2 rows of adjustable pole pieces. I decided to go with the Murkat since it’s only $15 more

Thanks for the info mate.
Let us know what you think of the Murkat. I have a Murkat that started out as a standard A5 Murkat, and now has the A5 swapped out for a ceramic magnet (same ceramic magnet that Jim uses in the IronMan bridge pickup). The ceramic magnet gives the Murkat a firmer bass response with added growl in the low-mids. But it does change the highs just a little. Still sweet though.

Will do! And I’m still waiting to hear how you’ll like the Ice Buckers in comparison

I'm picking the guitars up tonight. My mate reports that the IceBuckers are the best combination he's heard in my Sykes LP. Usually he just says that the guitars sound good, so I'm extra-excited to hear it.

 

[firejack]

Will do! And I’m still waiting to hear how you’ll like the Ice Bucker’s in comparison

Mate! The IceBuckers are killer. A little different from my other WCR/Wagner pickups.
The bridge IceBucker is the most raw of the lot. It's very edgy and abrasive. Has a lot of that Wagner unpredictability and character, even more than my Darkburst bridge. You hear every little clang, scrape and squawk from your pick & fingers with the IceBucker bridge. It's really fun listening to what comes out of your speakers when playing single notes.
It's got a very percussive attack without being overbearing. Just on the limit for my tastes. And it has a very sweet grind. For all it's raw edginess, it still sounds fat and juicy when you strum hard chords. Although that might just be my Sykes Les Paul. But then I've had many pickups in my Sykes LP and nothing has sounded anything like the Ice Buckers.
Such a brilliant pickup. It's definitely my fave bridge pickup I've had in my Sykes LP. Not sure if I'd put one in one of my bright sounding Superstrats. Might be too much in that case. But in a warm to balanced sounding guitar, it's a pretty safe bet.

In terms of the neck IceBucker, I think I marginally prefer the Godwood neck. The IceBucker neck is a touch brighter and stringier. It's still excellent, very juicy and sweet sounding. But the Godwood neck has a bit more compression and fatness to it, just the right amount to satisfy my needs. So the Godwood neck is still my fave. But I'll be keeping the IceBucker neck in the Sykes LP for a different tonal flavor.

 

[braintheory]

Will do! And I’m still waiting to hear how you’ll like the Ice Bucker’s in comparison

Mate! The IceBuckers are killer. A little different from my other WCR/Wagner pickups.
The bridge IceBucker is the most raw of the lot. It's very edgy and abrasive. Has a lot of that Wagner unpredictability and character, even more than my Darkburst bridge. You hear every little clang, scrape and squawk from your pick & fingers with the IceBucker bridge. It's really fun listening to what comes out of your speakers when playing single notes.
It's got a very percussive attack without being overbearing. Just on the limit for my tastes. And it has a very sweet grind. For all it's raw edginess, it still sounds fat and juicy when you strum hard chords. Although that might just be my Sykes Les Paul. But then I've had many pickups in my Sykes LP and nothing has sounded anything like the Ice Buckers.
Such a brilliant pickup. It's definitely my fave bridge pickup I've had in my Sykes LP. Not sure if I'd put one in one of my bright sounding Superstrats. Might be too much in that case. But in a warm to balanced sounding guitar, it's a pretty safe bet.

In terms of the neck IceBucker, I think I marginally prefer the Godwood neck. The IceBucker neck is a touch brighter and stringier. It's still excellent, very juicy and sweet sounding. But the Godwood neck has a bit more compression and fatness to it, just the right amount to satisfy my needs. So the Godwood neck is still my fave. But I'll be keeping the IceBucker neck in the Sykes LP for a different tonal flavor.

The Ice Bucker sounds like it would be up my alley. How’s it compare to the Iron Man or Murkat in tightness? Is the Iron Man still the tightest one? Jim said it would be

How’s it compare to the Iron Man and Murkat for growl?

 

[chris lykins]

Does Jim only make vintage or G spaced pickups? If so does it make that much difference? I have a Godwood in my LP and love it. Need to change a pup in my Thorn Rune with a rosewood neck as it could use a little fattening.

 

[thegame]

Does Jim only make vintage or G spaced pickups? If so does it make that much difference? I have a Godwood in my LP and love it. Need to change a pup in my Thorn Rune with a rosewood neck as it could use a little fattening.

He didn't used to but all models available in F spaced, upon request. No extra charge.

 

[ChurchHill]

Now *that* is good to know. I've been interested in WCR for quite some time, but I've used F-spaced pickups in all my guitars for quite some time, too. Jim's got several models that I'm interested in, and knowing that I can get them F-spaced makes them much more interesting.

FWIW, I think F-spaced pickups line up better in my Gibsons than normal spaced pickups do, or at least not any worse. And, at least in my own mind, it's easier to swap pickups between my guitars, which are a pretty even mix of fixed bridge and trem, if all of my pickups are the same spacing. No technical reasons here, just psycho-logical...

 

[firejack]

The Ice Bucker sounds like it would be up my alley. How’s it compare to the Iron Man or Murkat in tightness? Is the Iron Man still the tightest one? Jim said it would be

How’s it compare to the Iron Man and Murkat for growl?

From my experiences with them they both have a very similar percussive knock and fast attack, they just have a very different character thereafter. The Iron Man with Ceramic mag has a huge bloom after the attack. Whereas the IceBucker has a leaner, less saturated sound after the initial attack.

I tried the Murkat with A5 magnet in a guitar that wasn't a very good match for it. My guitar was lacking attack and percussive response. The A5 Murkat is a bit too warm in the low register to work with a guitar like mine. It worked much better after I had the magnet swapped to ceramic. I'd like to try the A5 Murkat again in one of my tighter guitars, but I'm happy with all my pickup/guitar combos right now, so no need for the time being.

For what it's worth, the Iron Man bridge and the Darkburst bridge are my fave Wagner models.
And for the neck position, nothing compares to the Godwood for me.

 

[braintheory]

Hey guys, so I finally spent some time with my Iron Man bridge/Dark Burst neck set and Murkat bridge and compard them to my other favorite humbuckers Virgil Arlo’s, Tone Specific’s and Fishman Fluence Killswitch. The WCR’s fill that perfect middle ground niche for me because as amazing as the Virgil Arlo and Tone Specific’s are, they’re not tight/focused or modern enough for my metal needs, while the Fluence’s are the tightest pickups ever but too processed, compressed, not nuanced and more extreme than what I want most of the time

The Murkat so far suits me better than the Iron Man. I like that it’s more open, articulate, nuanced, brighter and I much prefer it for leads and single note stuff. It sounds more vocal for leads and the individual notes stand out more. The Iron Man is much more compressed, darker, and has a little bit of a cocked wah nasal sound in the low mids. The Murkat is not nasally at all. I wonder though if that’s just because of the guitar’s acoustic tone or something in the wiring because the dark burst neck it’s paired with is also a little nasally in the same way, but they still both sound great overall, I just don’t like nasal sounds. The Dark Burst neck is awesome like everyone here was saying.

What I prefer about the Iron Man over the Murkat is that it’s tighter, more chunky on palm mutes and more rich, growly on powerchords (especially in the low mids). It’s a beefier, thicker pickup than the Murkat. The Murkat has really nice upper mids though and Jim said it’s the same pickup as the Fillmore, but F-Spaced and 2 rows of adjustable screws. They’re both though great for metal and plenty hot. If the Murkat had the tighter, chunkier palm mutes and rich growl of the Iron Man it would be perfect.

Compared to the Virgil Arlo’s and Tone Specific (low output paf style pickups) they don’t clean up or do low gain nearly as well and they’re not as warm, but are much tighter/focused and more aggressive for high gain applications. And they’re also not as tight or modern as the Fluence’s, but still tight enough and will be used by me way more often. I’ll only use the Fluence’s if I want the tightest sound I can get or something super modern. The Murkat seems to be the best match for my style

I’m curious now to try the Ice Buckers and maybe the Shredder or Herc model. I heard those would be somewhere in between the Iron Man and Murkat/Fillmore, which might be perfect for me. I’ve also tried Godwoods in the past and they were also great. One thing all these WCR’s seem to have in common is that they’re very saturated and juicy while also being very focused and cutting and they feel great to play. I much prefer them to the other high output pickups I’ve had by Bare Knuckle, Motor City, Arcane, Lundgren, Wolfetone, etc. The only other one that may be able to give them a run for its money would be the Dunable Big Foot. I’ll have to put it in one of my guitars to compare. Should be interesting

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Hey guys, so I finally spent some time with my Iron Man bridge/Dark Burst neck set and Murkat bridge and compard them to my other favorite humbuckers Virgil Arlo’s, Tone Specific’s and Fishman Fluence Killswitch. The WCR’s fill that perfect middle ground niche for me because as amazing as the Virgil Arlo and Tone Specific’s are, they’re not tight/focused or modern enough for my metal needs, while the Fluence’s are the tightest pickups ever but too processed, compressed, not nuanced and more extreme than what I want most of the time

The Murkat so far suits me better than the Iron Man. I like that it’s more open, articulate, nuanced, brighter and I much prefer it for leads and single note stuff. It sounds more vocal for leads and the individual notes stand out more. The Iron Man is much more compressed, darker, and has a little bit of a cocked wah nasal sound in the low mids. The Murkat is not nasally at all. I wonder though if that’s just because of the guitar’s acoustic tone or something in the wiring because the dark burst neck it’s paired with is also a little nasally in the same way, but they still both sound great overall, I just don’t like nasal sounds. The Dark Burst neck is awesome like everyone here was saying.

What I prefer about the Iron Man over the Murkat is that it’s tighter, more chunky on palm mutes and more rich, growly on powerchords (especially in the low mids). It’s a beefier, thicker pickup than the Murkat. The Murkat has really nice upper mids though and Jim said it’s the same pickup as the Fillmore, but F-Spaced and 2 rows of adjustable screws. They’re both though great for metal and plenty hot. If the Murkat had the tighter, chunkier palm mutes and rich growl of the Iron Man it would be perfect.

Compared to the Virgil Arlo’s and Tone Specific (low output paf style pickups) they don’t clean up or do low gain nearly as well and they’re not as warm, but are much tighter/focused and more aggressive for high gain applications. And they’re also not as tight or modern as the Fluence’s, but still tight enough and will be used by me way more often. I’ll only use the Fluence’s if I want the tightest sound I can get or something super modern. The Murkat seems to be the best match for my style

I’m curious now to try the Ice Buckers and maybe the Shredder or Herc model. I heard those would be somewhere in between the Iron Man and Murkat/Fillmore, which might be perfect for me. I’ve also tried Godwoods in the past and they were also great. One thing all these WCR’s seem to have in common is that they’re very saturated and juicy while also being very focused and cutting and they feel great to play. I much prefer them to the other high output pickups I’ve had by Bare Knuckle, Motor City, Arcane, Lundgren, Wolfetone, etc. The only other one that may be able to give them a run for its money would be the Dunable Big Foot. I’ll have to put it in one of my guitars to compare. Should be interesting

Great review man, thanks for the detailed info I've been considering the Iron Man, so this is valuable info. This part really speaks to me: "One thing all these WCR’s seem to have in common is that they’re very saturated and juicy while also being very focused and cutting and they feel great to play." I've been bouncing between BKP and Duncan, and I like the articulation and tightness of the BKP I've played, but they can be a bit unforgiving and dry. I like the Duncans for a bit more saturation and "juice". Maybe the Wagner pups would be a nice blend of the things I like from BKP and Duncan.