Yes, I’ve been buying pickups again!

Bareknuckle pickups have become quite the household name in the guitar industry of late. Their reputation has gone global in just a couple of years and they’re often spoken about as if they were legend!

There is a reason for this – they are simply amazing. They’re handmade in the UK by a man named Tim Mills and his crew, all of which are guitarists from all walks of life, so you know you’re getting the best testing. Every pickup they invent has been tried and tested onstage, in the studio, in all sorts of guitars and by all sorts of players. Nothing gets passed these guys unless it’s the best of the best.

Buying from small independent companies like this can be daunting. Because they’re so specialized they are made with no expense spared, so the price never fails to shock. This makes it a bit scary to hand over hundreds of pounds to someone you’ve never really heard of before. I mean, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and John Petrucci to name a few all play Dimarzio, who have been around for decades now, and are a very trustworthy name indeed. But Dimarzio don’t hand-make their pickups with the finest materials and rigorous testing.

I highly recommend you take the plunge and grab whichever pickup suits your style. You will never be disappointed, I can guarantee that. If in doubt, you can email Tim and ask for his advice on what will suit your guitar/style.

The Sound

The Painkiller is advertised on Bareknuckle’s website as the ‘metal god in a pickup’. They’re not wrong.

I bought a calibrated set of the 7-string model to replace the Dimarzio New 7s that come as stock in the Ibanez RG7620. The Dimarzios are by no means bad pickups, and are a large step above and beyond any stocks you’ll find in lower-end Ibanez or ESP guitars, but I felt like they weren’t quite supplying my demand for aggression.

Bridge

The Painkiller, however, was exactly what I was looking for. There isn’t a word capable of describing this pickups’ aggression. It has this mid growl with a cold-blooded top end attack that takes your face off, whilst retaining this warm punch to the stomach in the low end. As for tightness – there is no tighter without getting active circuitry. These things are ridiculously tight, to the point where you’d hardly notice if you switched your noise-gate off.

Neck

One word I can think of to describe the neck pickup – Filthy. This thing is low down, dirty, nasty and aggressive as all hell. It never ever at any point sounds woolly, though, and much like it’s bridge counterpart it retains clarity no matter what. The tones are absolute heavenly and sustain for days.

If you are ever in need to give your rig a kick in the pants, don’t go buying pedals and effects, just get some Bareknuckle Painkillers! ‘Fatness’ is the most appropriate word I can use to describe the over-all feel. Not muddiness, as they retain absolute clarity across the board, but fatness as in ‘chunk’ and hugeness! When multitracked they make your mix sound massive in comparison to other brands, and have the most pinpointed definition I’ve ever heard!

Installation

A word of warning – Bareknuckle pole-pieces are mighty long! That said, the RG7620 does have inherently shallow pickup cavities. I had to drill some holes in the pickup cavities for the pole-pieces to sit in so the pickup would sit at the right height. Also, and this was my fault, the pickup tabs were too square for the triangular ears on the cavities on the RG7620, meaning I had to cut/file them to shape. This could easily have been avoided, however, had I noticed on the order form that they can make the pickups with triangular tabs to fit such a cavity. Nevermind!

As for wiring, it’s pretty standard, and you have the option to have 4 conductor wiring for coil splitting, or 2 braided wires for simpler 3-way switches. I chose the 4-way, seeing as it’s an Ibanez I installed them on, so I could utilize the coil splitting method to get some great clean tones.

SOUNDCLIP

Here is a sound clip I recorded with the pickups in a multitracked format so you can get a grasp for their power. Unfortunately I didn’t record an example of the neck pickup but I will do soon!

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Generally speaking I find it quite off-putting when I see a piece of gear that’s synonymous with a big-name player. I don’t know if it’s fear for my individuality, or more the fact that I know what they sound like, and I may or may not want that tone. The DiMarzio D-Sonic was no exception, until I tried it.

You see, you shouldn’t really go by the player that made it famous, because they have it their way, with their settings, in their guitar, with their gear, played in their style. Go at it with a neutral attitude and completely ignore the player in question. I love John Petrucci’s playing to absolute death, but personally his rhythm tone would never work in a million years for my music. It’s too smooth, not very focused, and quite woolly in places, so with that in mind I was unnecessarily apprehensive about trying the D-Sonic, but it was in my price range and was highly recommended.

The D-Sonic has a neat little feature that’s utilized to great effect by a lot of players (Petrucci included), where they switch the pickup upside-down on installation, so the bar faces the neck. As DiMarzio states, this is supposed to add a warmer, and slightly louder sound better suited for standard tunings and lead playing. I tried it this way at first, and instantly took my strings off to turn it around! I didn’t like it at all. It was honky, bulbous, undefined, and muddy. Basically, it sounded like a neck pickup in the bridge position. That’s not to say you wouldn’t like it, but I most certainly didn’t.

I was quite disappointed, and resigned my thoughts to how they were before I installed the pickup, which were that of apprehension. On turning the bar to the bridge however I was absolutely delighted. Luckily, DiMarzio were right, and there is a significant difference in sound when the pickup is turned around. It had definition, masses of tightness and clarity, chunk, and plenty of output.

The D-Sonic is an extremely clean pickup, with absolute clarity even when massively overdriven. In fact, the more you crank it, the cleaner and tighter it gets! I tried it both with my Peavey Banditt 112, and my PODxt, and it withheld the same qualities through both units. Even when the guitar was detuned to Drop C it was still just as clear as it was in E, despite the huge boost in string gauge.

This pickup has a fiercely tight bottom end with plenty of chunk and swing, the mids are clear and defined without honk, and the highs are exceptional, despite them being rolled back a touch in comparison to the bass and mid on this particular model of pickup.

I was quite let down by the output at first, because it didn’t appear to be much hotter than the pickup that it replaced. I mean, it was hotter, but not as much as I thought it was going to be. However, this thing is extremely variable depending on your attack, and I’d underestimated its output due to its unbelievable clarity.

It has amazing response, and even when your amp’s very low in gain, as soon as you crank out a pinched harmonic it will squeal for days on end. I was seriously surprised with its output capabilities, especially on lead runs. It’s probably the cleanest and most responsive pickup I’ve ever tried for leads, which is obviously how Petrucci gets that sick pick attack sound when shredding. It never slurs.

I highly recommend this pickup for anyone who loves their metal with crisp tightness, a huge bottom end and articulation. That said, it’s versatile enough to do some hot blues, and even the clean tones aren’t harsh for such a hot pickup.

Share This

Price new: £340

Neck type: Bolt-on Maple

Body: Basswood with Flame Maple Veneer

Hardware: Chrome

Bridge: Floyd Rose licensed double-locking trem

Frets: 22 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 Duncan Designed humbuckers. HB-103B (bridge), HB-103N (neck)

Price second hand: £170 - £250

Review
It’s a privilege to be able to say that this was my first big brand guitar. Not so much for its playability or sound, but for its iconicity and status in the metal world. Despite it being a low-end model of the Randy Rhoads series it was a model of his non-the-less, and for a 16-year-old avid Ozzy fan that was enough for me!

Playability
One of the flattest Jackson necks I’ve ever felt. It feels right the moment you put finger to wood. Major effortlessness, fast action, and great fret access, which is marginally due to the shape of the body. Speaking of which, this is not a guitar for sitting down! In fact it’s a total pain. The only way I managed to comfortably jam whilst sitting in a chair was to perch myself right on the edge, put one ‘spike’ of the V-shaped body either side of my right thigh so it’s sort of pivoted, and have the neck across my body as though I were standing up. Needless to say this is a performing guitar, you only have to look at the shape and the man behind the design to know that, but I can imagine it being a thorn in your side in a recording studio.

On the contrary it feels extremely well balanced when playing standing up. The sheer length of the body evens the weight out very well, and if you leave it to hang freely around your neck without laying hands on it, it finds the perfect medium.

Sound
If I’m honest, this has to be one of the guitar’s only flaws. That’s not to say it lacks tone, but a bit more oomph wouldn’t have gone a miss, as it does tend to die a bit early on sustained notes – a problem that does tend to be across the board with a lot of Duncan Designed pickups. Swap them out for some actual Seymour Duncans though and you’re laughing! Besides the lack of bite there is definitely a nice amount of crunchiness about the sound that’s perfect for all hard rock styles. Keeping it simple, Jackson has only mounted a volume pot, no tone, and a 3-way selector switch.

Over all
Ultimately this is one of the most metal guitars. With an iconic shape, shark fin inlays, amazing metallic finishes and a Floyd Rose trem, you can’t go wrong if you wanted to lay down some speed metal. If only the pickups delivered to the standard of the rest of the machine. Still, there are always the £1500+ models!

Rating

Sound: 7

Looks: 9.5

Playability: 8

Value for money: 7

Overall: 8

Share This

Specs

Price new: £299

Neck type: Bolt-on 3pc Wizard II

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Edge III double locking

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: INF3 neck humbucker, INFS3 single coil middle, INF4 bridge humbucker

Price second hand: Probably not much less than rrp, because they’re still very much in production. £180 - £210

Review
Out of all the 6 string solid body electrics I’ve ever played and/or owned this is most probably the best so far, especially for the price. As soon as I picked It up it just felt right, looked right, played right, and most importantly it sounded right. It was my first Ibanez, and it was this guitar that made me an avid Ibanez player, and I’ve never ventured into other brands since. I wasn’t even intending on buying a guitar that day, I just happened to wander over to the music shop in my lunch break to annoy the staff by requesting to play guitars I couldn’t afford!

Playability
9 times out of 10 when I play a guitar that looks like this it always turns out to be quite disappointing. You’ve probably done it yourself; you see a guitar in a magazine or onstage, you think it looks amazing, then when you get to playing it it’s as dull as shopping with your Nan. Especially when you consider how badly they have the amps set up in music shops. But no, not this time, I plugged it in and it practically played itself. It was effortless, and even on low gain settings I could squeal it like a little piggy. Then when I got it home and adjusted it to my preference it was even more amazing. It had low action, amazing fret access, and a quick smooth tremolo, just awesome.

Sound
I’ve always said Ibanez have the best stock pickups on their guitars I’ve ever heard, and this one is no exception. Second only to the ones on my RG7620, the INF pups have such a bright, mid-crunch tone with a massive output, perfect for heavy metal and shredding. Even when you tune down they retain their brightness, which is a rarity in passive pickups. Usually you sacrifice clarity in the mid ranges when you drop a few pitches, making a sludge, but I’ve had this right down at drop B without having to drastically alter my amp settings at all.

Over all
For its price you cannot fault this guitar what so ever. It looks amazing, very Steve Vai (if you like that sort of thing) with the pearl-effect scratch plate, white paintjob, black hardware and white shark tooth inlays, this axe is a sexual beast and will look the mutts nuts onstage! It’s most certainly giggable, with tight crisp pickups that don’t feedback, and a durable smooth whammy that you can dive all day long, it would definitely be an instrument of longevity for home use, studio, or on the road.

Rating

Sound: 9

Looks: 10

Playability: 8.5

Value for money: 9

Overall: 9

Share This

Specs

Price new: £899 (no longer in production)

Neck type: Bolt-on

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Floyd Rose double locking

Frets: 24XJ

Pickups: 2 Duncan Designed Humbuckers

Price second hand: £250-£400

Review

When I’d played ESPs in the past they didn’t click with me, but when a friend offered his 7 string up for grabs I couldn’t put it down. It felt great, weighty, chunky, everything you’d want from a metal axe.

You see, manufacturers like Ibanez offer craftsmanship and beauty, masterfully created for elegance and virtuosity. The thing I felt with ESP is that they are designed for beating the utter crap out of!! From the moment you wrap your fingers round the baseball bat of a neck you just want to hammer the shit out of it and play as hard as hell.

Playability

As I said, it’s chunky. The neck is not for me personally, it’s a little rounded and a tad wide, but that may not be a problem for you as it’s all down to preference. ESP have always modelled themselves on the fact that their necks are flat, fast, and built for speed, but I found that my playing was a little clumsy and void of any flare, even after giving it a setup. Don’t get me wrong, it was most definitely playable, but it felt like there was something missing.

That being said I cannot find a single fault with the rhythm playing on this beast. It’s ferociously tight and responsive, with a nice chuggy low-end that’ll make the ground shake. This guitar is certainly a performer, so long as you’re only playing up to the G string.

Sound

It’s a very “full” sound in my opinion, rich and full of tone, but the Duncan designed pickups leave a lot to be desired with the treble frequencies. The sustain on harmonics aren’t amazing for instance, not to say that the tone is dull, but it’s just not quite as bright as I like it, but this is easily fixed by swapping out the pups for something a bit edgier. With the right amplification and a few tweaks you can achieve some very useful sounds.

Over all

An interesting guitar to say the least, it looks tough, and it means business. However if you’re more inclined to shred then I’d recommend a lot of adjustment and most probably a change of pickups. With arrow inlays, reverse headstock, Floyd rose trem, and a variety of tough looking finishes, I’d say this axe has the full metal arsenal you need to throw down something heavy.

Rating

Sound: 7

Looks: 9.5

Playability: 7

Value for money: 7

Overall: 6.5

Share This

Believe the hype children, Divine Heresy will be huge.

It’s been a long time since a band has come along that has this level of raw brutality, technical virtuosity and heaviness, yet the same mass-appeal melodics that landed bands such as Killswitch Engage as modern legends.

Ex Fear Factory axeman Dino Cazares is the founder, and seems to be much more at home in this behemoth of melodic death metal. I’m glad to say that he is still a major player in the world of 7 stringers, and has even used the new Ibanez prestige 8 string on this album. That’s right, 8 string! Tuned (low to high) F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E, and believe me when I say; that low F# will make your bowels shift involuntarily.

To be quite honest I was never a huge fan of Fear Factory, although I was quite fond of Dino’s signature ‘machine gun’ riffing style that was forged in the early years of his career. Taken from the latter day thrash giants such as Pantera and Machine Head, this technique is created by locking the guitarist’s picking hand in time with the drummer’s bass pedal (i.e. whenever a note is played with the guitar pick, the bass drum is kicked), which is something Dino has developed with great effect and sickening speed.

This is extremely abundant in Divine Heresy, probably because Cazares has teamed up with Tim Yeung, renowned death metal drummer and winner of the fastest drummer in the world award. Tim’s blast-beats are ridiculous, not to mention his double bass pedal skills, he is comfortable playing stupid speeds often sitting at the 250bpm mark. However, it’s not just the speed, but the technical and intricate rhythms that him and Dino create that give the music it’s edge.

DH are incredibly versatile vocally, thanks to skilled vocalist Tommy Vext. Quite reminiscent of Mark Hunter or Phil Anselmo, Tommy can scream with the best of them. But it’s when the songs take a melodic turn that you really hear the band shine, with the ability to create beautiful vocal harmonies over epic crescendos - a hook that I believe will make them a big deal in the coming months. I know, I know, it’s been done, and it does seem to be very typical of modern metal, but they seem to do it in a fashion that’s much more honest and extreme. Add to the mix death metal virtuoso bassist Joe Payne and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Watch this space people…

To see more of the band click here

Music Video for “Failed Creation”

Share This

Jackson JS30DK

Specs

Price new: £199 - £269 ($450 - $550 in the US)

Neck type: Bolt-on Maple

Body: Alder with flame maple veneer

Hardware: Chrome

Bridge: Floyd Rose licensed double locking tremolo

Frets: 22 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 x Jackson CVR2 Humbuckers

Price second hand: £100 - £200 ($200 - $400)

Review
This is one of Jackson’s entry level guitars, although the term ‘entry level’ is something that this machine most certainly does not adhere to.

Firstly – I just have to express my love for Jacksons. If you’re looking for a growling metal beast that spits hate with every pick of a note then you can’t go wrong with a Jackson. They’re fierce speed machines designed for one thing and one thing only – face melting, and the JS30DK is no different, albeit a low end model.

Playability
Much like the Ibanez neck profile a Jackson neck is very thin and sleek, allowing optimum access to the fretboard. As I’ve said before this isn’t for everybody’s tastes, but for those that prefer less chunk you will be extremely satisfied with the feel.

Sound
Another similarity to Ibanez that I find with Jacksons is the tone, which seems to be a very clear-cut middy range, perfect for speed licks and metal riffing. The stock pickups are actually not as bad as you’d think, despite them being the same pickup in two different positions, the 3-stage selector switch does what it says on the tin. You can get a nice grunty metal tone in the bridge position, just pile on the gain and shred away, but what surprised me with the JS30 was the utterly smooth blues you can get when in the neck position. On the clean channel just dial in a touch of reverb and you’ve got the warmest acoustic textures at your disposal.

Round Up
If there are any reservations about this guitar it’s the bridge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sturdy and it functions well as you’d expect from a Floyd Rose, but it felt a bit clunky at first, and was the only feature that really showed the JS30DK’s feather-light price tag.
That said, this guitar is sick for the price. It was my first superstrat axe and was my guitar of choice for live shows in earlier years. It never once let me down and was a sturdy performer. It has now, however, been relegated to my backup, but I still bring it out from time to time. I highly recommend for any first time metalheads with a taste for fret burning.

Rating

Sound: 7

Looks: 6

Playability: 8

Value for money: 9

Overall: 8

Share This

Ibanez RG7620

Specs

Price new: (No longer in production) £800 - £1000 ($1200 in the US at the time)

Neck type: Bolt-on, Wizard 7 3-piece Maple

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Lo-Pro Edge7 double locking tremolo

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 DiMarzio New-7 Humbuckers

Price second hand: Anywhere between £200 and £500 ($400 - $800 in the US) depending on the condition and modifications.

Review
To put it simply – this is my favourite guitar. I bought it not long after getting into the 7 string range, and it has to be the most comfortable guitar I’ve ever played, and that includes 6 strings.

It’s my second 7 string, which I bought after feeling there was something more to be desired from my first. I was determined to be meticulous with my specifications this time around, so I researched and became more informed on the market. After receiving many recommendations and researching a bit of history I had my heart set.

Playability
It’s everything I required; it has the smooth, flat, fast neck that I love which is just effortless to play. You can lower the action as much as you like and there’s absolutely no fret-buzz or rattle. Its paper thin and the largest stretches are a breeze even for a 7 string neck. This isn’t for everyone of course, despite it being effortless for me it may be unfitting for someone who prefers a chunkier radius, like that of an ESP or Schecter.

Sound
The DiMarzio New 7 pickups are beautiful, boosting the mid-range quality that tends to come with Ibanez guitars. They’re scorching hot, and although the majority of owners swap them out straight away I’ll be keeping mine for a long while yet! With a 5-way selector switch the range of tones you can get out of this thing are amazing. Anything from ‘50s PAF style Les Paul sounds, Strat blues textures, smooth shred slurs and razor sharp metal, it’s all at your disposal at the flick of a switch.

Lo-Pro
If you’re a strict user of Floyd Rose locking tremolos like me then you’ll love this trem. The action is incredibly smooth, making wide vibrato and dive-bombs a doddle. The lo-pro edge7 has a very low profile, which looks extremely sleek as well as having great functionality. It has an interesting locking feature too: inside the posts that the bridge blades pivot on, there is a tiny 1mm allan key grub screw which locks the posts into place. Once you’ve adjusted your action you tighten the grub screw so that it doesn’t slip, increasing the life of the posts as well as helping to further stabilise tuning.

Round Up
If you’re looking for a guitar with unbelievable playability then I highly recommend this beast. Fast shreds, fat sounds, razor highs, and a great feel. Perfect for anybody that’s into their axe pyrotechnics. I’ll admit it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing guitar I’ve seen. It’s very simplistic looking with no extras, but at the end of the day, who cares? It’s got a much better sound quality and playability than a billion custom shop models with bells and bows on them. And let’s face it; fancy mother of pearl inlays that stack another £100 onto your axe aren’t going to make you play better!

Plus, they don’t make them anymore, you can only buy second hand. So with the money you save you’ll have plenty of room on your purse strings for upgrades and customisations. Have a search online today.

Rating

Sound: 9

Looks: 8

Playability: 10

Value for money: 9

Overall: 9.5

Share This

On my most recent monthly thumb through magazines de la guitar I came across a company that was new to me and relatviely new to the Western world entirely. A Korean companty in fact, by the name of Spear.

Spear make fantastic looking and sounding guitars for the money, and I for one would love to try one. How, you may ask… to be honest I don’t know. I had the exact same problem with Maverick when they first burst on the scene at the start of the decade. It wasn’t until about 5 months after I’d seen a write-up about them that I was able to get my hands on one in high street guitar stores. This is due to (I assume) the generally slow pace that it takes for the demand of such products to reach the high street market from the mouths of us eager neck stranglers, and personally I can’t wait for the word of Spear guitars to catch on.

Firstly they look beautiful. Elegantly crafted with time and precision, and an attention to detail that would make the luthers of much bigger brands envious. The designs are awesome, very reminiscent of the pointy 80’s shred cheese that I love oh so much. They’re not all like that of course, as all new companies generally do with their new production line Spear have spawned the obligatory look-a-like range including Les Paul, Tele, Gretsch, and Stratocaster. But it’s the Gladius that takes my particular fancy.

The Gladius SP to be exact. Purely down to taste of course, this monster looks like it can shred with the best of them. Fast flat neck, twin humbuckers, Floyd Rose locking trem, and a superstrat body shape to boot. Pretty much my ideal criteria when buying, but that’s just my personal preference seeing as I’m a man who’s stuck in the 80’s. Apart from on the side of the fretboard it only has an inlay at the 12^th fret, which is a sweet pearl effect dragon claw. The body has a beautiful ‘spalted’ maple top, which is where the wood has had a fungal infection that has then been removed, leaving behind woody patterns in a dark outline. It sounds damaging but it’s not. It gives the wood a unique finish that looks the nuts and is completely unique on every guitar.

Construction wise this machine boasts a neck-thru fixing. Most guitars in this price bracket, and above for that matter, are all bolt-on. Now, I’m not that much of a tech nut, in the sense that I won’t pay £500 more for a neck-thru construction in the belief that it doesn’t improve stability and sustain enough to justify the price, but in this instance I will admit it looks extremely well crafted, and would put me on the fence for buying one of these over an Ibanez or Jackson for example, in the same price range.

Seeing as we’re on the subject of money I’ll let you in on a little treat - this thing is filth cheap. £349 to be exact, and for a guitar of these specifications that’s just ridiculous in myexperience. Spear manufacture their axes in Vietnam, which is how they keep the costs down, but they don’t skimp on material or built quality, that’s for sure. It’s a piece of engineering that warrants a much bulkier price tag, especially when you consider this;

Body: Mahogany with spalted maple top

Neck: 5-ply Canadian hard maple/mahogany, neck-thru 25.5 scale

Fretboard: Rosewood

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 x Spear H-monster ALNICO humbuckers

Hardware: Licensed Floyd Rose double locking vibrato, die-cast machineheads.

Pretty enticing, no? Especially when some of the higher end models are loaded with EMG’s and have some crazy paintjobs. Word of Spear guitars doesn’t seem to have reached as far as I’d have hoped however. When you search the net all you end up finding are a few stores here and there that might have the odd model kicking about in the backroom. It’s disappointing to say the least but I’m sure this irresistible line of metal beauties can’t be kept quiet forever!

For more info and to check out the full range go to www.spearguitar.com. For British distribution visit www.blacki.eu.

Share This