Pickups-Bare Knuckle, Lindy Fralin, Suhr

[Cornfordcrunch]

Im a long time Duncan JB user. Ive been pretty happy with it in most of my guitars, but it seems as I get a little older I want a less compressed more "open" sound...which Ive really noticed a lot more since starting to use my live rig(Cornford Mk 50 II/ 50 Watt plexi) for demo recording instead of my POD.

Ive always liked Steve Stevens dirty tone....it's gainy without being overly saturated.

Im curious how many former Duncan users have tried some other brands that they've come to like a lot more.

 

[thenine]

Ive only tried one bare knuckle, installed a Holy Diver in one of my CHarvels and I love it. Very hot and I wish I had more of them.

 

[skoora]

Honestly I really dig '57 classics (not the classic + though) from Gibson. I also used to be a JB user for many years. I kind of dig the burst Bucker 3 I have in my Flying V right now. I wouldn't mind trying a bareknuckle Black Dog or Riff Raff though.

I once played a Mike Lull hum Strat that had a Van Zandt Hum in it and it sounded like an early 80's wet dream through Marshalls and Recto's.

 

[Mudder]

I had a set of Bareknuckle Crawlers in a SZ720, the Stevens set, and they are killer. Great tones, sort thick but great clarity too. Pretty balanced eq, they didn't seem super hot to me, but plenty of giddyup. I got my set used or I probably wouldn't have spent the money for new, but if you can justify the $$ they're really really good.

 

[Cornfordcrunch]

Ive kind of been leaning toward the Bare Knuckle stuff. Thanks for the info guys.

 

[hunter]

I have

Cold Sweat set
Black Dog set
VHII set
Rebel Yell set
BKP-91/92 combo
RiffRaff/MississippiQueen combo
MiracleMan bridge
Apache set

They are really great, very pure and ... mature?
May say I am a bit of an addict.

 

[felineguitars]

I use Bare Knuckles all the time
To be fair I am a dealer for them and have been since their early days

I put them in my custom built guitars and they are just brilliant
They have quite a Range of pickups from vintage to very hot and they all have a wonderful organic nature to them as well as a more open top end

The Holy Diver is in the same power range as a Duncan JB, whilst the Rebel Yell (Steve Stevens signature) is slightly less hot but still very pokey!

The Rebel Yell has a distinctive pronounced midrange push to help it get heard in a band that has a busy keyboard player eating up the frequency range

The guitars in my avatar have Mules and Emeralds respectively
The Mule being similar to a Duncan 59 and the Emerald being based on a mid 70s Les Paul Custom pickup which were significantly hotter than a standard PAF (think Brian Robertson : Thin Lizzy)

Here is the Emerald guitar loaded with Emerald pickups:

 

[Bad Brad]

Honestly I really dig '57 classics (not the classic + though) from Gibson. I also used to be a JB user for many years. I kind of dig the burst Bucker 3 I have in my Flying V right now. I wouldn't mind trying a bareknuckle Black Dog or Riff Raff though.

I once played a Mike Lull hum Strat that had a Van Zandt Hum in it and it sounded like an early 80's wet dream through Marshalls and Recto's.

I feel the same way about the 57+ don't care for it. I love the 57 in the neck position though.