Do you still favor your BKPs?

[jsnleo]

I lived in the UK for three years and really liked BKP at the time. I bought VHII bridge, Cold Sweat neck and Nailbomb bridge, and a Painkiller set. But maybe because of the amps I was using, I couldn't really gel with them. Yes great string separation, no muddy frequencies, and you could hear every note even with lots of gain. But they sounded... hmm, too clean. It almost felt like there were a separate DI signal... And the Painkiller sounded a little bit too compressed to my liking. That was about 10+ years ago btw so my memory might be blurry. Anyways, I ordered a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop 78 and liked it more. Since the Polymath was released, I've been wanting to order a set, and a few other sets actually. But I don't know if all BKPs sounds like the ones I've owned more or less, or those ones just aren't my thing.

Do you share similar experiences? And what replaced your BKPs?

 

[lost_horizon]

I love BKP's and hug and kiss them everyday.

7 string:
Rags

6 string:
Mule
Sinner
Aftermath
SS Severn Trembuck
Rags
Jugs
Black Dog

I love the sounds never met a bad one.

Do they sound like other pickups? Not really, very unique sounding. I love that sound and the string separation.

When I hear records a lot of the time they were using the same pickups, EMG 81s etc so they don't sound EXACTLY like other pickups.

For example if I loved an album version and wanted to sound exactly the same I would use SD Distortion, Custom etc or Dimarzio Titan, SuperD, EVO etc.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

My overall favorite 7 string pickups are the ceramic Warpig bridge and VH-II neck

I've also had a number of other models over the last 10+ years and connected with certain models more than others, same as with any other brand. I'd like to try more at some point, but I feel they've become prohibitively expensive in the U.S. market

 

[Alberto7]

Eh, I have a Holy Diver in my Edwards E-Scythe that I adore.

I also have another HD in a set with an Emerald set that I have tried in both my Ibanez AZ and RGA121, and I did not love them. I put the original Hyperions back in the AZ and the RGA121 currently has a D Activator in the bridge that is fantastic. The Emerald is still in the neck but I kinda don't like it for that guitar. It'll eventually be replaced and be shelved along with the HD. I may either sell them later on or wait until I get something different that may benefit from there.

The ones I've tried so far have been good pickups, just nothing I haven't been able to get from more affordable brands like DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan.

 

[owlexifry]

nope. took it out and sold the 7 string it was sitting inside. it's living in it's original box in a drawer (painkiller 7).

meanwhile, im all about the seymour duncans at the moment

 

[BabUShka]

I share your thoughts on the Painkiller set.

There are the ones I've owned:
- VHII
- Black Dog
- Rebel Yell (several times)
- Painkiller
- Riff Raff
- Mule (several times)
- Emerald (still play it in a LP Classic)
- Miracle Man (still play it in a Flying V)
- Ceramic Nailbomb (still play it in a EBMM JP6)

Its actually less than I thought. But I really like them. They all have this clarity that I like, and they all have their unique touch to it.
For me, as long as I buy them second hand I would always prefer dem over SD and Dimarzio and willing to pay more, even though I have all 3 brands installed and enjoy all of them.

I have yet to try the ceramic Warpig and Aftermaths. But so far I am leaning towards yet another Nailbomb in bridge and Mule in neck for one of my guitars. Nailbomb is my all time favourite pickup for high gain stuff.

 

[penguin_316]

The painkillers and the blackhawks are probably the worst sounding BKPs I’ve tried. I can recommend the Mules, the Rebel Yells, and the Ragnaroks though for sure. I find Nailbombs to be extremely meh, never understood the hype on those…

Generally, you aren’t going to like BKPs at all if you are a sloppy player. Add in a tight amp and it can be even worse. I find they make you play better though and the feel is still unmatched.

 

[gclef]

I love BKP's and hug and kiss them everyday.

7 string:
Rags

6 string:
Mule
Sinner
Aftermath
SS Severn Trembuck
Rags
Jugs
Black Dog

I love the sounds never met a bad one.

Do they sound like other pickups? Not really, very unique sounding. I love that sound and the string separation.

When I hear records a lot of the time they were using the same pickups, EMG 81s etc so they don't sound EXACTLY like other pickups.

For example if I loved an album version and wanted to sound exactly the same I would use SD Distortion, Custom etc or Dimarzio Titan, SuperD, EVO etc.

I've also had a number of other models over the last 10+ years and connected with certain models more than others, same as with any other brand. I'd like to try more at some point, but I feel they've become prohibitively expensive in the U.S. market

I share your thoughts on the Painkiller set.

There are the ones I've owned:
- VHII
- Black Dog
- Rebel Yell (several times)
- Painkiller
- Riff Raff
- Mule (several times)
- Emerald (still play it in a LP Classic)
- Miracle Man (still play it in a Flying V)
- Ceramic Nailbomb (still play it in a EBMM JP6)

Its actually less than I thought. But I really like them. They all have this clarity that I like, and they all have their unique touch to it.
For me, as long as I buy them second hand I would always prefer dem over SD and Dimarzio and willing to pay more, even though I have all 3 brands installed and enjoy all of them.

I have yet to try the ceramic Warpig and Aftermaths. But so far I am leaning towards yet another Nailbomb in bridge and Mule in neck for one of my guitars. Nailbomb is my all time favourite pickup for high gain stuff.

I'm this way with dimarzios. I haven't met one that I didn't like yet.

BKP? I don't own any. Why? I will not pay 150 bucks a pickup, when I can get 2 new ones that I know will work for me.

 

[Taikatatti]

yes

 

[Crungy]

I love BKP's and hug and kiss them everyday.

Aww!

I only have hands on with what is supposedly an Aftermath in the bridge of my 7620. The guitar also had a TBX which is my first time using one of those.

Kind of an interesting pairing with the TBX. Having it turned down all the way is too bassy and cranked up all the way it gets a little too thin and reduces the outpit slightly. It helps for clarity but it carves out more low end than I'd care for. I usually leave it in the middle so it has plenty of clarity and low end.

Based on my experience with this pickup and playing a PRS with Rebel Yells, I like BKP's but would only buy them if I got a really good deal. Otherwise I'll likely stick with EMG/Dimarzio/Seymour Duncan's. I would also try Elysian.

 

[Baelzebeard]

I absolutely love the VHII neck pickup. It is just that perfect liquid lead tone. Nice cleans too. (LTD viper 7)

I also have a Nailbomb neck, and like but don't love it. Kind of brittle/scratchy sounding. (Ibanez ARZ)

I also tried the Black Dog bridge, and couldn't get it out fast enough. In that guitar it was unbearable ice picks, and no low end. The stock D-Activator went back in. (Ibanez S)

 

[jsnleo]

The painkillers and the blackhawks are probably the worst sounding BKPs I’ve tried. I can recommend the Mules, the Rebel Yells, and the Ragnaroks though for sure. I find Nailbombs to be extremely meh, never understood the hype on those…

Generally, you aren’t going to like BKPs at all if you are a sloppy player. Add in a tight amp and it can be even worse. I find they make you play better though and the feel is still unmatched.

I was mainly using Kemper at that time and a few hot rodded Marshall style amps, Friedman BE100, Bogner Helios, I also had my Engl Savage at that time but I can't remember if I tried BKPs with it or not.

It's not BKPs made me a sloppy player, I've been playing guitar for 20 years and worked so hard practicing shreds. What really bothered me was how they sounded with high gain. Before I got my BKPs, I mainly used my Ibz PGM100RE (Dmz PAF Pros) and played a few others, and the dimarzios were a bit too muddy and everyone talked about how good BKPs were, great clarity, great string separation. It did sound better than the dimarzios, but, to me, all those good qualities went a little bit too much if you know what I'm saying. It's like, yes they have great string separation, but I missed how strings or notes were "intertwined", or how frequencies were "swirled" when using other pups. Sorry, I'm probably making no sense here.

Then I used Suhrs for a few years, didn't like those pups. Kinda reminded me of the Painkiller set. I also had a Collings CL Deluxe with Lollars, to me they were probably the worst pickups I've ever played. It sounded very much like BKPs, but even worse. Really clean, really sterile. Anyways, I've been using TAGs for a few years now and their pups are pretty good, and all my Duncan custom shops are great. To me, dimarzios are too muddy, bkps are too clean, Duncan custom shops are in the middle.

Not trolling here, really really wanna order Rebel Yell, Polymath and Juggernaut, just a bit worried that BKPs just aren't my thing.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Painkillers were the absolute worst pickups I've tried from BKP, and I've tried a lot of them:
aftermath set
impulses set
black hawk set
warpig (ceramic) bridge
nailbomb(alnico) bridge (also pretty terrible imo)
holy diver bridge
black dog set
silo set
juggernaut set
ragnarok set
emerald neck
vhii bridge
stockholm hp90
cold sweat set

The only context I think the painkillers excel at is brightening up a dark guitar, or if you want a super bright and tight icepicky sound.


For me I found the silo and black dog sets to be awesome at basically everything. Holy Diver and vhii bridge was also very versatile.

The other sets are more specialized but are still pretty good ime.
I would say with current new prices BKPs are absolutely not worth it though. Duncan and Dimarzio make so many good options for less money that it's hard to recommend BKP stuff anymore.

 

[MDSKR]

A few years ago, I installed a set of Juggernauts in my 8 string ibanez S8 to replace D activators. I tuned the lowest to string to C# and it was a bit of a flubby mess, but the 7th string up was fantastic. So I replaced the bridge pickup with a lundgren M8 and kept the juggernaut neck. Very happy with that change, but I intend to get a juggernaut in a 7 string at some point.

 

[Edika]

I've only played 7 string versions of BKP's and haven't been a fan. I've tried the Ceramic Blackhawk, the Coldsweat and the Aftermath. The Aftermath was the best sounding but I preferred almost any other of the 7 strings I have in terms of sound. Even the Schecter Supercharger Mach 7 gave me a better sound than the pickups BKP's I tried.

 

[penguin_316]

Honestly. just sounds like you're using too much gain with pickups in general. Different strokes for different folks though...

 

[Neon_Knight_]

And the Painkiller sounded a little bit too compressed to my liking.

I share your thoughts on the Painkiller set.

The painkillers and the blackhawks are probably the worst sounding BKPs I’ve tried.

The Painkiller is named after a song that was recorded with EMG 81, so its no surprise that it's fairly compressed and bright. I'm guessing none of you like the EMG 81 either.

I haven't tried the Painkiller, but it's actually pretty high up on my wish list of pickups to try. I'm also intrigued by the ceramic Warpig, but I fear it would be too bassy for my taste. I've only tried Alnico Nailbmombs from BKP so far and like them, but need more time to work out just how much (bought an Ibanez S6UC with stock Nailbombs a few months ago and haven't had much time to play it yet).

I'm a big fan of D Activators, which you may feel simlarly about to the Painkiller...

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

It's all about personal preference and taste. Some people love that extra 'clarity' of BKP's and some people don't---sometimes its depends on the guitar or the particular sound you're going for on a particular project.

That said, I would rather get BKP's over a Duncan, Dimarzio, etc. My favourite pickup set I've ever played was a 7-string Riff Raff bridge and The Mule neck. Stupidly, I let the guitar go that they were in. Hopefully one day i'll be able to grab another Riff Raff & Mule combo again.

I currently have a set of Juggernauts and True Grits. Both really great sets, but each offer very different tones/voices.

 

[BabUShka]

The Painkiller is named after a song that was recorded with EMG 81, so its no surprise that it's fairly compressed and bright. I'm guessing none of you like the EMG 81 either.

I haven't tried the Painkiller, but it's actually pretty high up on my wish list of pickups to try. I'm also intrigued by the ceramic Warpig, but I fear it would be too bassy for my taste. I've only tried Alnico Nailbmombs from BKP so far and like them, but need more time to work out just how much (bought an Ibanez S6UC with stock Nailbombs a few months ago and haven't had much time to play it yet).

I'm a big fan of D Activators, which you may feel simlarly about to the Painkiller...

I like the EMG 81 and love the D Activators.

The Painkillers has their qualities. I think if I would play heavily detuned guitars with thick gauge and lots of gain, they would probably do the job perfectly. For me its just that I had super high expectation for them as they are really expensive.

 

[TheBolivianSniper]

Bare Knuckle bridge pickups are where it's at. The liquifire neck is a little boring imo but it's good at what it does, I don't love it.

I'm in the market for another ceramic warpig bc it's one of the coolest pickups I've ever played. Yeah it's expensive, but it's like a lundgren. You won't find anything that does that sound better. The nailbomb in my stealth is cool and does a lot of sounds well, but you have to be into THAT sound to like it and have a good right hand.

Not sure what kind of amps you guys are using but even trying guitars with aftermaths they sounded pretty aggressive and chunky if you dialed them in right. I tried a few of the Ibanez models that come with them stock at a store through a 6L6 5153 and it sounded great. If you're going through something like a VHT or Mark V like a lot of people like here though they're just not gonna do it.