Help me decide on a BKP Bridge?

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Looking to upgrade the bridge humbucker pickup on my Suhr Modern T Satin to a BKP.

What would you recommend? The body is african mahogany and tone wise I am aiming for something close to Jerry Cantrell in Alice in Chains, but something that is different enough for to have some uniqueness about it. I also play jazzier and cleaner stuff on top of Grunge, Thrash and Hard rock but that is usually on the Neck humbucker.

Two people have recommended the Holy Diver but I'm not sure. Reasons for your choices would be really great too thanks! 
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  • All sorts of factors can come into play here, tuning, amp, any pedals, string gauge etc. Obviously the wood on the guitar is reactive to whatever pickup it is.

    I play more modern metal type stuff, but I have the Nailbomb in my Les Paul's. Its a very hairy aggressive pickup with a lot of power. There are two different magnets, alnico and ceramic and I have one of each. My main band guitar is a LP and its made of mahogany. It works nicely with Nailbombs but that's just my opinion. Might work for thrash and hard rock.
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  • I'd personally look at mojopickups and tell him exactly what you are after.
    You could try oil city pickups too

    If you want off the shelf I'd rather go Seymour Duncan
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    If you email them they'll get back with a recommendation fairly quickly.

    Tell them what you want to be different from the pickup in there already.
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  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4159
    If you want a focussed and aggressive pickup, go and fit a BK Rebel Yell
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  • sgosdensgosden Frets: 1993
    Either a rebel yell or holy diver. 
    Favourite I've tried, very beefy in my custom 24. Is hot without getting into the harsh crazy aggressive nature of stuff like the war pig. 
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    Is it an SSH+ in the bridge?

    Just a thought but have you considered staying with Suhr and trying an Aldrich? Seems it'll give you the oomph you require. It might be a better pairing and might be worth looking into.


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  • mudslide73mudslide73 Frets: 3049
    I'm a big fan of the Crawler... very versatile.
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • Kebabkid said:
    Is it an SSH+ in the bridge?

    Just a thought but have you considered staying with Suhr and trying an Aldrich? Seems it'll give you the oomph you require. It might be a better pairing and might be worth looking into.


    Hi, yeah you are correct, it is indeed a SSH+. Haven't looked into any other Suhr pickups, been mainly looking into BKP as they seem to live up to the hype from what I've seen
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  • All sorts of factors can come into play here, tuning, amp, any pedals, string gauge etc. Obviously the wood on the guitar is reactive to whatever pickup it is.

    I play more modern metal type stuff, but I have the Nailbomb in my Les Paul's. Its a very hairy aggressive pickup with a lot of power. There are two different magnets, alnico and ceramic and I have one of each. My main band guitar is a LP and its made of mahogany. It works nicely with Nailbombs but that's just my opinion. Might work for thrash and hard rock.
    True. Tuning is mainly Eb, I haven't got it yet but will be getting a Friedman PT-20 soonish, and I play 9's, if any of that helps.

    It's a shame there isn't a shop that stocks like 30 of the same guitars but each with different pickup combinations, so you can really hear the difference.
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  • sgosden said:
    Either a rebel yell or holy diver. 
    Favourite I've tried, very beefy in my custom 24. Is hot without getting into the harsh crazy aggressive nature of stuff like the war pig. 
    Which is your favourite? The holy diver or rebel yell?
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    Actually, there's a few comments on the BK site and the Aldrich comes up in posts and people there think the Holy Diver is similar in raunch but much clearer, less muddy and generally, better.
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  • Kebabkid said:
    Actually, there's a few comments on the BK site and the Aldrich comes up in posts and people there think the Holy Diver is similar in raunch but much clearer, less muddy and generally, better.
    So from what you have read, the general consensus is that the holy diver is a better version of the aldrich?
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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    Bare knuckle must have a lot of hype cause I've never played one but very much want them and plan on buying a set soon (without playing it as there's no way to really)
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  • sgosdensgosden Frets: 1993
    Wilson94 said:i
    sgosden said:
    Either a rebel yell or holy diver. 
    Favourite I've tried, very beefy in my custom 24. Is hot without getting into the harsh crazy aggressive nature of stuff like the war pig. 
    Which is your favourite? The holy diver or rebel yell?
    Holy diver * 

    Through Marshally amps. It's just got grunt without being abrasive. 
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  • sgosden said:
    Wilson94 said:i
    sgosden said:
    Either a rebel yell or holy diver. 
    Favourite I've tried, very beefy in my custom 24. Is hot without getting into the harsh crazy aggressive nature of stuff like the war pig. 
    Which is your favourite? The holy diver or rebel yell?
    Holy diver * 

    Through Marshally amps. It's just got grunt without being abrasive. 
    I guess you could argue a Friedman PT-20 is marshally right? May go for a HD bridge
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  • Over the years I've owned a lot of Bare Knuckles and written loads of detailed reviews on their website. the Holydiver is the closest they do to the Aldrich pickup. It's marketed as 80's Metal tone but has a slightly more modern flavour. It is essentially a smooth sounding distortion. A very close relative, which nobody expects, is the Miracle Man. It has all the smoothness of a Holydiver and a hell of a lot more tone that anyone should expect from a ceramic pickup. Think of it as a Holydiver that has a bigger bottom end thanks to slightly more low mids than the Holydiver and more highs while everything is that little bit tighter. A third option might be a Black Dog. Think of this like a Holydiver but taken down a step towards Classic Rock. Hard Rock/ Metal. It's an extremely versatile option that shares a lot of DNA with the Holydiver but is less compressed. All three of these should work fine in your guitar.

    Personally, I no longer use BKP. They're very good but too expensive for what they are and what I need. Look at a Classic '83 from The Creamery as it's significantly better than a Holydiver and a fraction of the price. Alternatively, their Double Six is better than the BKP Miracle Man for far less money.
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  • Over the years I've owned a lot of Bare Knuckles and written loads of detailed reviews on their website. the Holydiver is the closest they do to the Aldrich pickup. It's marketed as 80's Metal tone but has a slightly more modern flavour. It is essentially a smooth sounding distortion. A very close relative, which nobody expects, is the Miracle Man. It has all the smoothness of a Holydiver and a hell of a lot more tone that anyone should expect from a ceramic pickup. Think of it as a Holydiver that has a bigger bottom end thanks to slightly more low mids than the Holydiver and more highs while everything is that little bit tighter. A third option might be a Black Dog. Think of this like a Holydiver but taken down a step towards Classic Rock. Hard Rock/ Metal. It's an extremely versatile option that shares a lot of DNA with the Holydiver but is less compressed. All three of these should work fine in your guitar.

    Personally, I no longer use BKP. They're very good but too expensive for what they are and what I need. Look at a Classic '83 from The Creamery as it's significantly better than a Holydiver and a fraction of the price. Alternatively, their Double Six is better than the BKP Miracle Man for far less money.


    When you say it is 'better', how so? What makes it actually better
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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    Over the years I've owned a lot of Bare Knuckles and written loads of detailed reviews on their website. the Holydiver is the closest they do to the Aldrich pickup. It's marketed as 80's Metal tone but has a slightly more modern flavour. It is essentially a smooth sounding distortion. A very close relative, which nobody expects, is the Miracle Man. It has all the smoothness of a Holydiver and a hell of a lot more tone that anyone should expect from a ceramic pickup. Think of it as a Holydiver that has a bigger bottom end thanks to slightly more low mids than the Holydiver and more highs while everything is that little bit tighter. A third option might be a Black Dog. Think of this like a Holydiver but taken down a step towards Classic Rock. Hard Rock/ Metal. It's an extremely versatile option that shares a lot of DNA with the Holydiver but is less compressed. All three of these should work fine in your guitar.

    Personally, I no longer use BKP. They're very good but too expensive for what they are and what I need. Look at a Classic '83 from The Creamery as it's significantly better than a Holydiver and a fraction of the price. Alternatively, their Double Six is better than the BKP Miracle Man for far less money.
    Did you play any of their paf style ones?
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  • markjmarkj Frets: 910
    I’ve had numerous pickups from bare knuckle but stopped using them when I discovered oil city pickups. Speak to Ash the maker/owner and tell him what you want. 
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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    edited January 2018
    There's various posts on Aldrich and BKs and even comparing them to others but here's one and just do a search. That's what I did for your post and have no personal experience of either. Miracle Mans are also coming up as something good if you wish to go with BKs.

    Speak to Tim at BK or Jonathan @FelineGuitars as he stocks BKs. He knows his stuff and might be able to guide you.

    https://forum.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/index.php?topic=20284.0


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