Do you still favor your BKPs?

[ThePhilosopher]

I'm a fan of the few that I've tried (Emerald 8, Ceramic/Alnico Nailbomb 6, Ragnarok 6, and Polymath 7 sets). The only set I knew wasn't for me was the Juggernaut 8 set, replaced them with some Elysians and now all is right. I have a set of BKP Nantucket's for a build, but haven't gotten to use them yet.

 

[jsnleo]

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

Actually I’ve been playing plexi style amps for more than a few years, Metropoulos Metro-Plex, Bogner Helios and Friedman BE at that time. Sold all three and got Friedman Small Box, Suhr SL68 and PT100, and been using them for five years at least. I don’t use any boosts, ODs. Man I don’t know, maybe it just wasn’t the pickups I was looking for.

 

[jsnleo]

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 had an ESP Eclipse with EMG 81/85, I actually liked it. Not my desert island guitar but I enjoyed it. What BKPs really bothered me was that clarity, it sounded less together and less harmonically rich because of that clarity. It’s like they try so hard to make it sound clear, they depress overtones and all you could hear are just the fundamentals. I don’t know, really hard to describe. My TAGs all sound great, they have good string separation, but not too extreme. Really, BKPs had that another DI signal or less gained OD signal kinda feel, at least that was my experiences with those pups I tried.

 

[jsnleo]

I'm a fan of the few that I've tried (Emerald 8, Ceramic/Alnico Nailbomb 6, Ragnarok 6, and Polymath 7 sets). The only set I knew wasn't for me was the Juggernaut 8 set, replaced them with some Elysians and now all is right. I have a set of BKP Nantucket's for a build, but haven't gotten to use them yet.

Polymath really intrigues me. I thought I was done with BKPs but got itches for all those BKPs again because of Polymath.

 

[Albake21]

Very much so. I know many say pickups are all the same and that they're all just made from the same material, but theirs no doubt, in my experience, that BKP has an extra oomph and clarity that no other pickup has been able to achieve.

I've played a shitload of pickups, but nothing can achieve the same tone BKP Black Hawks can achieve. I'd be over the moon to find an alternative because I just simply can't afford/won't pay over $400 for the real deal. But until that day comes, I'll just keep swapping the two pairs I have between guitars

 

[ManOnTheEdge]

Still a big advocate of BKPs & Have used:

Miracle Man set (in LP)
Painkiller/cold Sweat (in LP)
Crawler/Irish Tour x2 (Strat)
AlNiCo Nailbomb Set (RG7)
Cold Sweat Set (Flying V)
Holydiver/VHII set (RG550)

I’ve had a lot more luck with finding sets that fit me with BKP than other manufacturers and the ABombs “work” best for what I want tonally (Tim at BKP said that the NBs do “Metal to blues” whilst the Crawlers do “Blues to Metal”)

That being said, really love the PAF Air classic In the bridge of a Strat and the SD Hotrail as a neck pup as well and wouldn’t have changed them at all.

Nothing is a guaranteed panacea for tone but, as a link in the chain, BKPs have been a solid success for me

 

[chipchappy]

I have bareknuckles in every guitar i own. wont even consider using a diff pickup. They're perfection

 

[kmanick]

I love my BKs
I've got an Alnico nailbomb in the bridge of my Jackson XL pro soloist and it kills for rock /hard rock. I coil tap it too and split with my middle single it sounds great.
I've got a set of Holydivers in my 752AHM, so far so good, really bright guitar, but way better than the PAF's that were in it.
I've used Holy divers
Nailbombs
Miracle man (on a 7620 through a recto is "Dead heart" tone out of the box)
Mules -- meh
Rebel yell - ok
Coldsweat neck (great)
Juggernauts 7's . didn't care for those
Actually if anyone wants the Juggernauts I am going to sell them pretty dirt cheap so IM me, if interested.
I'm generally a Duncan guy but if I can find BKs on the cheap I'll go for them, particularly the HD and Alnico nailbomb

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Not really. I tried getting into them. I installed 5 different sets and they seem to have this notched mid character that BKP always pushes in their modern pickups that annoyed me. BUT...the Ceramic Warpigs don't have this problem. Proper massive sounding pickup with clarity without that "excited" mids of the others. I feel like it has as much gain, low end, and heft as the Duncan Invader, but it manages better with more definition.

 

[teqnick]

I'm a huge fan of BKP, and have tried at least a dozen sets since they were introduced. Like a few others have stated , they all have their unique characteristics, while the commonality is clarity.

The sets that I did not like, were not because a certain pickup sounded bad , but because it was either;

Poorly suited for the guitar it was in

Didn't have the "feel" I was looking for at the time.

The few that stood out were :

Vandermeij Magistra, mahogany body and maple bolt-on with alnico Nailbombs. These sounded phenomenal in this guitar. It was a 6 string equipped with an evertune, and it just produced a wall of sound. Nice bloom on each note, and on chugs. Open, defined, not too warm either.

Aristides 060 with VH2 bridge/neck . Very bright, but not ice-picky , nor did it have an upper-mid bark. Glassy cleans, and sounded amazing with medium gain for proggy instrumentals.

Custom 24 Korina with BKP Mules. Very punchy and lower gain. Felt like a warmer, less aggressive VH2.

Vandermeij Magistra 7 with BKP Silos. Aggressive mid focus, but dialed back treble. Really big sounding pickups that adapted really nicely to picking weight.

I currently have a Juggernaut 7 set in my Vandermeij Magistra and they're beginning to grow on me. I didn't like them in a Regius 6 that I owned. The 7-string set reminds me of the Silo, but with less of a snarl.

They're worth a shot if you can find a used set you like. I would only buy new if it were for a custom build and I needed some crazy aesthetic to match.

 

[Marked Man]

Yep, still got 'em in my Charvel USA - Nailbomb (C) and Cold Sweat with coil-splitting. Sound amazing through my Marks. Best split clean sound also (middle position, inner coils of both) of any HH guitar I have.

 

[penguin_316]

Actually I’ve been playing plexi style amps for more than a few years, Metropoulos Metro-Plex, Bogner Helios and Friedman BE at that time. Sold all three and got Friedman Small Box, Suhr SL68 and PT100, and been using them for five years at least. I don’t use any boosts, ODs. Man I don’t know, maybe it just wasn’t the pickups I was looking for.

Yes but all of these amps while not insanely high output still have a lot of gain. More importantly they all have a lot of upper mids which BKPs also tend to have. It’s fine to just not like them, everyone has their preferences.

 

[technomancer]

Depends which ones. I've always hated the Painkiller, but really like the Rebel Yell set I have in my all mahogany super strat and the Polymath I have in the Bridge of my Horizon-I. I also like the alnico Warpig set I have in my PRS SCT, but only with certain amps.

IIRC I also liked the Holy Diver but didn't really love the Aftermath or Nailbomb.

 

[USMarine75]

I have a BKP Aftermath ceramic bridge and Dimarzio Illuminator neck in my Kiesel SCB7 I bought off an SSO user. It sounds killer for modern metal stuff.




I have a set of BKP Juggernauts in my Mayones Regius 6. I disliked them at first but they grew on me. I think the big thing was dialing the rig in specifically to this guitar rather than using the same old settings I had for other guitars.




I also have a set of BKP Impulse pickups in a Regius 7 I bought from Axe Palace. They sound perfect in lower tunings through both my tube amps (5150 and 5153) and Kemper.

 

[kamello]

Still love em', first tried a Painkiller around 2013 and to this day is my favourite pickup. It's not a "must have" thing on all my guitars, but if I can get my hand on some BKP's at a reasonable price I always go for it

Depends which ones. I've always hated the Painkiller

I hope the turkey from your xmas dinner is bone dry

 

[Crungy]

I have a BKP Aftermath ceramic bridge and Dimarzio Illuminator neck in my Kiesel SCB7 I bought off an SSO user. It sounds killer for modern metal stuff.

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I have a set of BKP Juggernauts in my Mayones Regius 6. I disliked them at first but they grew on me. I think the big thing was dialing the rig in specifically to this guitar rather than using the same old settings I had for other guitars.

View attachment 135232


I also have a set of BKP Impulse pickups in a Regius 7 I bought from Axe Palace. They sound perfect in lower tunings through both my tube amps (5150 and 5153) and Kemper.

View attachment 135231View attachment 135230

That Kiesel is insane, holy shit!

 

[kmanick]

That Kiesel is insane, holy shit!

yes it is !!! I've never seen that one before , with a floyd even
that's a beauty

 

[ockis23]

I originally had a set of BKP Aftermaths and never really gelled with them. After listening to a bunch of sound clips from various brands, I went and gave Guitarmory's Minuteman set a try and loved them. They had so much more character and noted clarity than my Aftermaths.

 

[TedintheShed]

I have a Warpig Alnico set in my PRS that will never leave it. Been in it since 2019.

 

[4Eyes]

I have PK(b) in one of my guitars for over a decade, I didn't have a need to replace it. It takes some time to set pickup height properly, there is very small sweet spot where it doesn't have too much bass or it doesn't sound too thin. When set right it's <3 I have VHII neck in that guitar and I think it's one of the best clean sound, lead pickup.

I also have Brute Force HB set in my RG Prestige which came with them from factory..again, it took me a while to play with heights of the pickups, but after that I have nothing to complain about