Pickup dilemma for '96 Epiphone Sheraton (Samick factory)

[Leeskiii]

Evening everyone,

I haven't been on here for a while as I have been locked away writing an album for my new band and working a full time job. Now I have a regular income I want to sort my rig out starting with my current guitar as I think I'm confident that this guitar was made for me!

Now, I have 3 sets of pickups in mind however I am open to recommendations;

• Bare Knuckle - The Mule (set)
• Skatterbrane - Earthbrane (set)
• Wolfetone - Dr Vintage (set)

I'd love to hear from anyone with experience with any of these or have heard them in the flesh.

I use a '96 Epiphone Sheraton > Korg Pitchblack > Boss CS-3 > Visual Sound Route 66 > Boss BD-2 > EHX #1 Echo > EHX Holy Grail Nano > Boss NS-1 > Orange AD30 HTC > PPC212 OB

Anyone?

[Dan Graves]

Why do you want different pickups ?
What do you want to achieve ?
What sort of tone are you after ?

[Leeskiii]

Why do you want different pickups ?
What do you want to achieve ?
What sort of tone are you after ?

I'm after new pickups as I feel the stock pups in this guitar don't bring out the best sound from the guitar. They lack alot of balls, clarity and midrange in my opinion and get very muddy when using my distorted sound.

I want to achieve a cleaner more audible sound when performing in a band situation. I also want versatility in both the clean and distorted playgrounds without loosing quality of sound in either. I guess clarity, attack, versatility and tonality are the things I really am after.

Im a big fan of large sounding bands such as Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Glasvegas, U2 and The Script (latest album) and love their huge atmospheric lead sounds but then I love to be able to chill out and play some atmospheric cleans like bands such as Chapel Club, White Lies and Friendly Fires stuff.

I heard some demos of the Skatterbranes on their site and loved the lead sound for my genre but its hard to tell whether they'll work for my style of playing and for clean.

Obviously everyones ears are different but if you listen to some of their tones you may get the jist of what I'm after.

Let me know what you think!

[Dan Graves]

I think that for a VERY large part, the sound you're after will have to come from your amp.
If you need more clarity and more midrange the pickups will do that, but to get more 'oomph' you'll have to turn up that amp.
I'll also note you didn't tell us what amp you're using, so that sort of makes it hard to see if there is room for improvement on that front.

For clarity i'd always go with Bareknuckle, however i'm not convinced a set of Mules will be your cup of tea, or very well fitted for stuff like Coldpay or U2, not enough power.
Same with the Wolftone and the Skatterbrane, those PAF clone Alnico II type pickups aren't really going to get you that sound.
They CAN do it, but there are better suited pickups for this sort of thing.
I can't recommend much from Wolfetone or Skatterbrane (especially Skatterbrane, since Skatterbrane is VERY limited in choices, considering ALL their pickups are based off the PAF design and barely vary from that), but for BKP i suggest you Email or PM Tim (Mills), he always answers every PM and Email that asks 'which pickup for me'.
One thing to keep in mind when messaging him : the more details you give the better, so guitar type, brand etc, musical influences and tonal wants and needs, amp used are all tings worth mentioning.

Personally i'd go for something more hot, perhaps even more modern when trying to approach U2; a BKP Rebel Yell or Cold sweat set respectively.
But i'd sooner ask Tim, he makes the damn things, knows best, and out of all the BKP sets i've bought and owned (all bought based on Tim's advice), only once did i get the wrong thing (which was my own fault), and even then things got worked out nicely.

[shadowscott007]

I think the amp is an Orange AD30...

Shadow

[Leeskiii]

I use an Orange AD30 with a 2x12 open back cab but I will have a Mesa Boogie Lonestar or Lonestar Special 2x12 combo to use in stereo soon.

I have listened to a tonne of the newer modeled pickups and I've never been a fan. It seems like everyone just wants to make pickups for metal or heavy rock. I have never found a modern style pickup that I prefer over a PAF style pickup. I like the mules as they are clear and smooth sounding and thats what I'm looking for as I generally play lead with the bottom E open and use the notes on the B string to make a phrase or lick. But then I love the tonality of the Earthbranes and the Dr Vintage's. I dont think attack is too much of a factor as I dig in quite hard and pick quite hard so maybe this wont be essential.

I'll give him a message and see what he thinks!

[close2u]

@ Leeskii

long time no see

I notice your sig ... no more Silver FOxes?
Is that a new band you've got going?
How is it going?
 

[Leeskiii]

@close2u

I know, how have you been buddy?

Nah, those days are over. Have been for a while. Typical bassist's sleeping with the singer whilst having a girlfriend sorta thing. Unfortunate, but for the better on my part!

Yes, Cellar Doors is a new project. It's going very well thanks. We're currently finishing off our album and are beginning to record next week. I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, 'Like' and share the page to the world: www.facebook.com/wearecellardoors

Cheers!

[Dan Graves]

Do keep us posted on what Tim says about it, i'm always interested in seeing his advice, sometimes he comes up with the most unlikely pickups, but usually it's exactly right, so..

[Leeskiii]

Has anyone got a contact e-mail for Tim?

[Dan Graves]

[email protected]

[Leeskiii]

[email protected]

Geezer!

[Dan Graves]

So simple that you could have figured it out yourself.
If Tim is on holiday, you can always try [email protected] , Ben or Adam will then answer your mail after consulting with Tim.

[Leeskiii]

So simple that you could have figured it out yourself.
If Tim is on holiday, you can always try [email protected] , Ben or Adam will then answer your mail after consulting with Tim.

I could have but I didn't know if he had a .surname in place!

Cheers, does he reply quite speedily. Then I'll know whether to mail the [email protected] account.

Thanks again!

[Leeskiii]

Afternoon,

I have just spoke to Tim at Bare Knuckle and he does in fact make pickups for both The Script and Coldplay and he said The Mules are the perfect pickup for what I'm after. He said The Script use The Mules in all their guitars and they are actually his pickup of choice for his LP's.

I think I'm going to go with the mules and try out the other two options in my backup Sheraton.

I'll let everyone know how it goes but it wont be for another month or so yet!

Thanks for all your help!

[Dan Graves]

Guess that settles that.
Did he say anything about U2, Mules as well ?

[Leeskiii]

Guess that settles that.
Did he say anything about U2, Mules as well ?

This is the E-mail I received:

Hi Lee

the simple answer is I make the pickups for The Script and Mark uses Mules in all of his guitars.I've also made pickups for one of the Cold Play guitars but those were single coils so not really applicable in this case.
I really wouldn't worry about output - there's more than enough output from a set of Mules to drive any amp or FX combination - I play in a classic metal band and use Mules and Riff Raffs in all of my LPs for the simple reason that I like a vintage voice and dynamics and the fact that they handle anything I throw at them.
They would certainly be my first choice for U2, Kings of Leon etc - all of which the tones are based firmly on vintage output pickups.

[Dan Graves]

Well, Tim would know better than most, considering his ties with lots of Guitar techs for big bands and quite a few big name artists...
I have been told David (Edge) had been experimenting with hotter pickups since the 90's, but i'll gladly take Tim's word over that of the guy who told me that story.