BareKnuckle new line?

[Alex79]

Can't wait for the new Bulb Signature House of Colour paints!


To be fair I stopped listening to him on tone when he talked about active pickups "batteries don't be long in guitars" But he'll happily run straight in to a Protone/Horizon stomp box in to an AXE FX....

I stopped listening to him already around the whole ProTone pedals fiasco.

 

[Alex79]

To be honest, I wouldn't mind Steve Stevens coming to the board from time to time to talk about his stuff!
He's got tone, and his signature amp doesn't look like something that belongs in a hospital.

 

[Sogradde]

Mark hasn't had any problems selling holcomb se's.
Jake though. oof. Get that man a twitter and a youtube channel.

Jake is the most humble guy in Periphery I feel (not that I know an awful lot about them). Supporting him by buying his signature PUs made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

[oneblackened]

So, I tried the new BKP line at NAMM and asked Nick at AP about them. They're competing pricewise with Duncan and Dimarzio (apparently they're looking to be ~$200 a set if not a little less), and they're honestly pretty good pickups.

 

[Frostbite]

So, I tried the new BKP line at NAMM and asked Nick at AP about them. They're competing pricewise with Duncan and Dimarzio (apparently they're looking to be ~$200 a set if not a little less), and they're honestly pretty good pickups.

That is certainly awesome to hear. I liked how Rabea's demo of the brute force sounded. I'll have to try them at Axe Palace once they load a guitar with them

 

[USMarine75]

What's wrong with Ed Sheeran?

 

[Alex79]

What's wrong with Ed Sheeran?

Nothing, except that his sig looks like it was made for toddlers.

 

[USMarine75]

Nothing, except that his sig looks like it was made for toddlers.

Oh ok then... hate approved. lol

 

[fps]

I respect Misha for setting aside the time to condescend to an exploitable fan base that froths for him while they wait to be told what to buy. He’d be insane to not take the necessary steps to supply that demand; and gearwhoring with Jackson after claiming he’d never played one before, or launching a signature amp with Peavey after claiming his Axe FX has made amps obsolete (not to mention pitching high-price stompboxes essentially reverse-engineered from the generic ones in his freely-available Axe FX patches) is just the path gear-endorsers are limited to taking in the 21st century.

A marketed artist who doesn’t at least dip their toes in bullshit is just called an artist, and an artist is just below the lines of poverty and obscurity. An industry has been built on this premise that all that separates Misha from every other millennial with a bedroom rig is a bedroom rig costing a few thousand more dollars - But the truth is it’s effort beyond the bedroom that makes a Misha.

I first interacted with the guy when he was sharing POD patches and posting mixing guides for cheap gear. The ??? between that step and the “Profit” step comes down to the earned reputation of always having conducted himself with class - The image presented was easy for others to visualize as being easy to work with. He understood that what moved listeners wasn’t going to be the bedroom SoundCloud opus of a 10th generation Steve Vai, or a YouTube channel that “demos” all kinds of individual gear through a 100%-wet, 30-component signal chain with cascading stereo delays, multiple camera angles, and a mastering plugin. The single most valuable asset to Misha’s career has been the ability to deliver a polished product. He gets stuff to be sold done. End of story.

I bust his balls on this site because he paints a target on his back knowing full-well that the sales lost overexposing his name as a selling point are negligible within the timeframe of the fifteen minutes he has. If you read between the lines of his weighing in on artists such as Tosin and Ola launching their own guitar brands, you infer that he’s cautioning them to not overestimate their own staying power in a fickle market. Endorsing products with much higher profit margins (it costs a few dollars to wind a pickup or mod a Tubescreamer PCB kit, no matter where on the planet you do it) is way less of a blow to the branding if the product flops in the free market, and I’m sure the details of his higher risk-contracts reflect that (Jackson having trouble moving Juggernauts? That’s Jackson’s logo on the headstock; and not “Bulb GuitarWorks” - Let Jackson worry about the numbers) - At the very least, the rhetoric about “just putting a versatile and perfect guitar out there for the PEOPLE, man!” downplays the obvious need for corporate sales-expectations to be met. The aesthetic variation in color and finish introduced to coincide with the first fiscal quarter of the year can only be to reinvigorate stagnating sales numbers; and admitting anything close to that would be counterproductive.

As I said, I respect the guy for stepping on the marketing department’s toes to claim to the end-buyers that the satin finish will make you sound three grand better, even if you already own the gloss model - But putting oneself out there draws more than just praise. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he understands any discussion of his brand he inspires in that marketing capacity is effective marketing. Again: He’s the Billy Mays of djent, and Billy Mays knew exactly what he was.

Superb post.

 

[Alex79]

Oh ok then... hate approved. lol

I really do like the Taylor GS mini though. ... ☺

 

[Andromalia]

Funny thread. I know I'm likely the minority here but nobody's going to sell me gear by playing Dj.... with it. Even Rabea. Periphery isn't my thing. Saw them opening for devin townsend, very good musicians but the music is so boring apart from a few good songs.

Only high end "boutique" pickup I own is a Lundgren and I'm still purchasing EMGs after 25 years of playing.

 

[McBrain]

I installed a True Grit set in my Explorer Pro yesterday and they sound great! My first impression was not that good and it took a lot of adjustments to get them where I like them. They sound very different from the pickups I normally use (high output), so I had to spend some time getting to know them and tweak the height and amp settings.

I'm awful at describing sound, so please take this with a grain of salt. Also I don't really have experience with other "medium output" pickups, but here goes: The bridge is grainy/growly but in a good way and not at all harsh in the trebles. The neck is definitely a lot fatter than what I'm used to, but have a very open sound. They do feel a little mismatched though, so it's a bit hard to adjust my amp where they both sound great, but this is not nearly as bad as with my Gibson 57 classics in my ES-339 where the bridge and neck are just way too far apart in terms of treble/bass. I don't think I will be using the TG's for metal, but they sound amazing for blues and hard rock.

Yeah, I guess that really didn't give give a very clear picture of how they sound Hopefully BKP will soon have some sound clips on their page. I did however measure the True Grits with my multimeter, and this is what I got:

Bridge: 13.0 kΩ
Neck: 9.2 kΩ

 

[Tisca]

I installed a True Grit set in my Explorer Pro...

Do you play any stoner/doom/sludge type? What other pickups do you have at the moment to compare to?

 

[McBrain]

Do you play any stoner/doom/sludge type? What other pickups do you have at the moment to compare to?

No sorry. Mostly plays blues, hard rock and thrash/classic metal.

Right now I have Titans, Rebel Yells, 57 Classics, JB/Jazz and the True Grits have a more vintage sound to them - definately more of a high powered PAF vibe. They feel closer to my 57 classics than any of my other pickups, but with tighter lows and more power.

 

[McBrain]

I have to backtrack on not using them for metal. I spent some time with my OwnHammer 'Heavy Hitters Collection' IR library tonight, and they are just insanely tight when paired up with the right amp and cab.

 

[Avedas]

I installed a True Grit set in my Explorer Pro yesterday

So what made you go with a True Grit and not one of the already established models? Isn't the price difference negligible?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

So what made you go with a True Grit and not one of the already established models? Isn't the price difference negligible?

yeah axepalace has the new lineup priced at pretty much on par with their other pickups. blackhawk set =250$, brute force set=240$

 

[McBrain]

So what made you go with a True Grit and not one of the already established models? Isn't the price difference negligible?

Before NAMM my original plan was to get another set of Rebel Yells for the Explorer, since I'm really happy with the set I already have in a different guitar, but I wanted them to be in zebra, so I would probably have to order them directly from BKP, which would cost me £245.00 + £10.83 in postage = £255.83 (357,80$)

A set of True Grits from Thomann (huge European webshop), cost me 198€ + 8€ in postage = 206€ (253,36$)

But even if the prices were closer, I would have no problem getting the Boot Camp series. Sure it was risky since they are new and nobody tried them yet, but buying pickups is always a bit of a gamble. Also the Boot Camp models should have the exact same build quality and materials as the regular models - they can just make them cheaper because they mass produce them, so in my mind it’s just another BKP model with the added bonus of being cheaper and available where I usually buy my gear.

So even if the price difference here in Europe was only 10$ I would still consider them.

 

[McBrain]

I initially ordered a 50mm bridge pickup since the guitar is a Gibson with a TOM, but it seems that my luthier widened the string spacing a bit after refretting and removing the nibs (he also installed a new bridge with unslotted saddles), so that the b and e strings were a bit too far away from the pole pieces on the bridge pickup, so I returned the the 50mm and ordered a 53mm version instead. I also measured this one before installing it and was surprised to see that it was 14.0 kΩ instead of 13.0 kΩ. Does 50mm and 53mm normally differ in DC Resistance? I guess it must be similar to the differences between 6-string and 7-string pickups but less extreme.

Also, I had less trouble finding the sweet spot with the 53mm version. It just sounded great from the beginning. This is quickly becoming my favorite bridge pickup and I'm considering getting another set for my Schecter C1+. It's just so clear and tight with the perfect amount of bite, but not too dry or trebly and the mids are present but not overpowering. I'm so happy this worked out since the last set of BKP's I bought were alnico Nailbombs, and I really really hated those - the mids just pierced by brain in the most uncomfortable way and there was no way to dial it out on my amp.

Can't wait to read other peoples opinions on these.

 

[Shoeless_jose]

your explorer is awesome.