Bare Knuckle Demos

[surfnorthwest]

I am a pretty big fan of their stuff, going to put some Mules in my new guitar today. Below are some demos of their pickups. Dodn't see a demo for the War Pigs which I really like. The new Crawlers are also sweet.

Website: http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk

Bare Knuckle Pickups 'Rebel Yell'
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Bare Knuckle Pickups VHII
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Bare Knuckle Pickups : Mothers Milk Strat Set
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Bare Knuckle Pickups 'Nailbomb'
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Bare Knuckle Pickups: The Mule
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Bare Knuckle Pickups : Miracle Man
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Bare Knuckle Pickups : Cold Sweat
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Bare Knuckle Pickups : Geoff Whitehorn 'Crawler'
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STORMY MONDAY

Stormy Mondays are just that classic tone - you'll get gorgeous jangly clean tones to sweet vintage rock. These pickups are based on the original Gibson PAF unpatented pickups. They really sound sweet and can go from smooth to crunchy. They get a great Cream Crossroads sound when you have the gain turned up. Players who use the un-potted versions generally do not have feedback problems. If you really want to focus on clean tones, the Stormy Monday is for you as it is a bit lower output and a bit more balanced and warm. This is an excellent pickup for the neck position. It produces a mild or light overdrive. If you wanted a sonic upgrade to a Gibson Classic '57s then Stormy Mondays would be first choice.

PG BLUES


This is the Peter Green PAF

THE MULE

A good all round vintage style humbucker is the Mule. Choose the Mule if you want to use more than a light overdrive. IF you want to upgrade a Gibson 57 Classic Plus ( i.e., like 57 Classic but with more output) the Mule would be your first choice. It’s a standard PAF type pickup.
RIFF RAFF

Classic PAF sound with a little bit of extra strident edge.


If you want an AC/DC aggressive cut this is the perfect choice.

BLACK DOGS
BKP Black Dogs are based on the original PAF humbuckers that have been overwound. A straight up Bare Knuckle PAF is called the Mule. The black dogs are a more muscular take on this design. It's a hotter PAF pickup. I really do think of the Mules as being equivalents to the Gibson PAFs (unaged of course). I mean they are duplicates in every way and they are scatterwound by someone who knows how to wind very well. A PAF pickup like the Mule can be every bit is versatile as the original pickups in vintage Les Pauls. The Black Dogs are based on this pickup but they are hotter and their eq curve or frequency spectrum is voiced different. The Black dogs are full bodied and strong with classic mid range detail. You can also think of the Black Dog as a PAF specially wound to achieve the classic tones of Led Zepplin (ie the sound of Jimmy Pages guitar on the song Black Dog).

VINTAGE HOT SERIES

VHII

The VHIIs will give you a more hi end sparkle in our clean tone, a less flubby neck tone,. There is a lot more drive when you kick in the overdrive as compared to the Stormy Monday. Very WARM pickup. Powerful in the lows but very articulate. You can really dig in and hear the percussive nature of a guitar. The sustain is surprising--really well suited for a Floyd axe. Clean powerful sustain that Ed Has--legato style sounds good with it because as your fingures hammer on, you hear the plunkiness/percussiveness.
The VHIIs are GREAT pickups.  I use them in one of my Heritage 140s along with a Mule in the Neck.  This is my most versatile guitar.  The VHII is very warm and dynamic.  If your pots are good you can roll back the vol and go from PAF pure blues up to EVH and joe satriani  .  The VHII is widely overlooked because mostly only EVH fans pay attention to it.  But its truly a great pickup.  I really like the Mules and the Black Dogs, the more traditional PAFs, but when it comes time for something with more kick I like the VHII.  The Rebel Yell is also cool and in the same ballpark. The VHII is more of an old school sound though and the Rebel Yell is more modern sounding; but its still very much a PAF sounding pickup.  The Nailbombs are also PAF based but with these pickups (Miracle Man, Painkiller, etc) the EQ curves and voicings are  changed to suite the styles.  I like the more traditional PAF voicings and I think the VHII is in that category and the Rebel Yell Rides the line. The Warpig is for brutal hardcore distortion when you just can't get enough gain.  This pickup can go head to head with any active pickup including the new Black series.  The Warpig is so warm and organic however that it makes these other hi gain pickups sound like transistor radios.  The Warpig also cleans up very well and is more versitile and has more tones in it that ANY other high gain pickup.    So, in a Nutshell, the above is a good description of what the BKP humbucker series is like.  I am leaving out a lot though.  Just ask me any questions you need.

ABRAXAS

The Abraxas is a fair bit hotter. Similar in output to the Gibson 498T pickup fitted to Les Paul Studios and older Standards. They have clarity and tone that is missing a bit from stock pickups. They can go from early Santana (Samba Pa Ti, Black Magic Woman) to newer stuff like Smooth. In between those tones are all the rock sounds you could want.

CONTEMPORY SERIES

HOLYDIVER

Great dynamics, sorta like Van Halens first album or the Vivian Campbell tones which is where this pickip gets its name. Classic Early British Metal.
Some players relate the sound of this pickup to the original Super Distortion however the Holy Diver is not plauged by the problems that the Super Distortion has. Its a much better pickup so I'm careful about downgrading BKPs by comparing them to pickups that aren't anywhere near as tonefull. In short, if your looking for the Super Distortion vibe check out the Holy Diver.

COLD SWEAT

Cold Sweat if you want a little more of that traditional Gibson warmth to the tone. If your amp has the least bit of snarl in the clean channel (like most Marshall's), the Cold Sweat will push the front-end into overdrive if the guitar's volume is full up. It has plenty bite and handles loads of distortion with good pinched harmonics but it is warmer and more organic sounding than the Miracle Man. The Cold Sweat is great for a mahogany guitar.

MIRACLE MAN

The Miracle Man is the way to go if you want something hot and edgy like active EMG's but retain the warmth of a real analogue pickup. These are not active pickups but they can produce Zack Wylde's over the top tone, harmonics and all.

NAILBOMB

Aggressive, high output with natural organic qualities.Nailbombs do pinch harmonics very well. Good mid definition, clear highs and a healthy output. Great 'pup for fast staccato alternate picking runs because it has very good articulation with a very tight bottom end. Great pickup for thrash metal.
Metal players start with the Nailbombs. If you want something fuller, go for the Painkillers, and fuller still, the Warpig.
Tim says the Nailbomb is perfect for copping the tones of Joe Satriani and another pickup for doing the Satch tone would be the VHII.

 WARPIG
"Brutal" is too simplistic a word for the dirty tones produced by the Warpig. It's like calling an exquisite, complex ale "tasty." With a distortion signal engaged, the Warpigs have shown themselves capable of gorgeously wailing lead tones and hammerstriking chord voicing, with lengthy and singing sustain. Good for detuning. With a simple scale-back on the volume knob, kate 70's/early 80's true Heavy Metal territory, evoking shades of Schenker and early Vivian Campbell, but with more harmonic character than those guys or most of their contemporaries were ever able to achieve back in the day.
On a clean channel, with a Les Paul pickup selector switch in the middle and both volumes at about 8 o'clock, very organic clean tones, like a deep bell being chimed softly in a canyon.
"Recently, I wrote a comparison article pitting my Charvel/Warpig combination against a friends Gibson Les Paul Custom with Seymour Duncan Blackouts; one of the hottest active pickups around. The Duncans shook the ground a little more, but mine maintained much greater clarity and individual note definition. It shakes the ground, too; just not quite as much as the Blackouts. At the end of the test, I liked the Warpig better and my friend liked his Blackouts. So we both won! [Ed. from Harmony Central User Review]".

PAINKILLER

The Painkiller is tighter and more aggressive. Very full sounding. Great pickup for detuning.

SIGNATURE SERIES

REBEL YELL, Steve Stevens Signature

They have a tonal resemblance to PAFs in many ways but are a bit hotter and thus more versatile. Beefy and aggressive. Rebel Yells produce controlled feedback quite easily and clean up very well. Sweet warm tone with definition and punch. You will love the way they sound when lowering the volume of the guitar; a nice thick warm tone. Players who like the original Burstbuckers say they sound a bit harsh compared to the Rebel Yell's. The Rebel Yell’s are far more versatile because they sound great with any volume setting on the guitar. Rebels Yell’s can well do any kind of rock. These pickups are dynamic and respond very well to your pick attack. Thus, bringing out the subtleties of your playing. Awesome mids, and highs with presence.

CRAWLER, Geoff Whitehorn
You can really make your amp roar with CRAWLERS, though the vintage characteristic is still present. Very versatile and effective. They've got a bottom which is pretty much what you would expect from a hot PAF, though more mid-range than a real hot PAF (like an Abraxas) would have.

SINGLE COIL PICKUPS

VINTAGE SERIES SINGLE COILS
Apache
Bare Knuckle Apache single coils are based on the original Fender Stratocaster single coils (1954 -1959). Hank Marvin being a fine point of sonic reference. These pickups are true to the orignals in everyway. Construction materials are as close as possible to the orignals. If the orignal componets could not be sourced them BKP made it themselves. No retrofit pickup manufacture comes this close. That's a fact. For instance the cloth covered wire comes from the same vendor and is of the same spec as Fender used in the 50's.Using Alnico III magnets with a 1956-style polepiece stagger,these are truly authentic 'pups get better sustain, less string pull and less colouration. Expressive and dynamic, with a set of transparent tones that sing sweetly when played clean and dirty up magically. Words don’t quite manage, to describe this excellent set of pickups.

Mother's Milk
Bare Knuckle Mother's Milk single coils are based on the single coils in John Frusciante 1962 Fender Stratocaster. These pickups give the ultimate classic sixty's strat vintage tone. Mother's Milk are probably the best all around choice for your strat. These pickups will go beyond your expectations. No gimmicks, just pure tone. You can cover a lot of sonic ground with a set of Mother's Milk pickups. The sweet clean tones of Hendrix, the growl of SRV, or the crystal sophistication of Knopler. Afer putting these pickups in your strat you will understand why your guitar has a 5-way switch. Each position will come alive and is sonicly distinct from the next.

VINTAGE HOT SERIES SINGLE COILS
Irish Tours
Bare Knuckle Irish Tour single coils are based on the legendary tone of Rory Gallagher's battered Fender Stratocaster as heard on the infamous Irish Tour CD. These pickups give the ultimate overwound strat tone. These are the pickups for achieving the hot Texas Blues sound. A lot of players going for the SRV tone use Irish Tours. Dig in with these and rip somebody's head off!

Irish Tours sound good. They are overwound examples of the classic 60's pre CBS fender pickup sound (think Mother Milk). Not the late 50's springy sound, sound the higher output sound of the late 60's and seventies but the warm and woody classic sound of the early 60's (1960-1962) Fender single coil pickups (e.g. Mothers Milk). Thus this is the neck pickup that will demonstrate the real bell tones that made the Fender Strat famous. The IT bridge perfecly nails Rory's classic bridge sound heard on so many of his studio and live recordings. The accuracy of the reproduction o this tone is just stunning. With the bit of overwinding added to the Irish Tour you get the hotter Rory Gallagher and SRV sounds in a bottle. SRV used pickups from this era as well as earlier pickups. His tone came from large strings and big hands, brute force, and lots of amp power. I think this was his secrete more than a special overwound pickup but it is accurate to say that it is a lot easier to get those tones with Irish Tours and you can do it without Stevie's Fingers and a while keeping your .10's on. Shame on American strat players who are not familiar with Rory Gallagher, his amazing heritage of authentic blues playing, and his tone. Fender Released a really nice set of pickups only available in the Rory Gallagher Custom Shop strat and I have first hand seen Irish tours not only out perform these pickups but also better capture the essence of Rory's strat sound (he used the same strat throughout his 30+ year career.) He was the real thing and so are the Irish Tour pickups that Tim at BK perfected in his honer. Now go download Rory's classic live Irish Tour CD and decide for yourself . These pickups also easily get the SRV tones as well. SRV in a bottle I call it. These overwinds are not as effected by the muddiness of most lower end over wound pickups. Actually, they are not that overwound based on their measured output but they are a bit hotter than the Mother Milk BKPs. They will get the job done and they retain the sweetness of lower output singles that most overwounds loose looking for all that artificial eq changing and extra bite. No, these are the real thing. Just good pickups that will let you coax or hammer your own tones from them. We have sold many Irish Tour sets and customers love them.

CONTEMPORARY SERIES SINGLE COILS
Sinner (Bridge)
The Sinner is a very special pickup to say the least. Do you love the sound of your stratocaster but you find the bridge position/pickup to be to thin and weak? Ultimately a bridge single coil falls short to providing the gain structure needed for hard rock under many circumstances. You can use a humbucker type pickup in this position but then you lose the single coil clarity. Overwound single coils intended to beef up the bridge also suffer from a drop in clarity and the frequency response is not as wide. The solution: The Bare Knuckle Sinner.
This single coil pickup can bury most humbuckers when it comes to tone and distortion. Yet, it still sounds like a single coil! It retains all the clarity and warmth of single coils, but provides tons of output and sonic character without putting an ice pick in your ears. This pickup is truly amazing. The Sinner cleans up very well. It can go from clean, to classic rock, or brutal. Do not think of this as a modern sounding pickup verses a vintage sounding pickup. This Sinner coil can do either amazingly well depending on the rest of your gear. That, my friend, is a cardinal feature of a great pickup. Think of the Sinner as a high output single coil that does not compromise on clarity and definition.
The only way this pickup could be any better would be to make a P90

[Kyle]

Most of the Demos are pretty grind/metal oriented unfortunately. The US dealer matched me with a set of Rebel Yells, he is supposed to be sending me an invoice soon (well told me he would last night but I am waiting atm, probably busy with the metal heads and the release of the new aftermath). I will be making a before and after demo of C22Bs, to Rebel Yells. Then I will make another demo when I gut the guitar and wire it like I told you about, to see if that makes any difference. I am waiting oh so very IMpatiently for these . Probably take a good 3-4 weeks to get them made sent to him, sent to me.

-- Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:34 pm --

Still waiting on these badboys I orderred on new model release day, and it was not for the new model, so I feel I got shelved with all the ones I saw coming in on another forum.