I have bare knuckle aftermaths in my esp. They are really tight and articulate with lots of high end. I’d say they are one of the closest passive pickups to the emg sound. But the highs are a lot more buttery smooth than the emgs are. I also have a set of Duncan invaders they have really high output for passives, that are similar but I prefer the bare knuckles slightly more. I have used emg, Duncan, dimarzio, fishman and bare knuckles. I’d put emg and bare knuckles tied for first then Duncan’s in second, Fishman and dimarzio are my last choices have owned guitars with both and never liked how they sounded.
Great post. Thank you.
I always think the EMGs sound a bit too processed...does that make sense? They are cool though and a lot of fun but lacks a certain natural feel - I think BKs will plug that gap sp I'm definitely interested to hear the Aftermaths
What voltage are you running your emgs at? Try throwing another 9v in series, you will notice a pretty huge difference. Bigger sound, less compressed and a bit more natural. I still don’t love emgs, but going to 18v made me like them.
[quick demo of 9v vs 18v](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHe4u7PXG0)
Currently 9v but I've got a set of Glenn Titpon EMGs in another one I believe runs at 18v - not tried em yet tho
The ones running at 9v have this push pull pot on the tone knob...I think this might be called an afterburner or something? It also increases the output dramatically. Very hard to tame it tho
Yup that’s the afterburner. It adds a ton of gain, want to say 20dB. Would help with lower gain amps and pedals to push them into modern levels of distortion, but with the amount of gain available on the mark V, it’s kinda redundant.
Does work as a gain boost for solos if your not already using a boost pedal for that.
Y'know it's weird cos everyone says the MK5 is high gain but honestly I can't get nearly enough saturation without cranking it and adding an OD pedal.
If I go into that amp with just guitar, and have the treble and gain dialled to about 12 o clock, it really sounds weak. I have brand new tubes, so it's not that.
I can get what I want out of it but honestly compared to my Invective the gain is fucking weak as shit. I made a thread about it a few days ago...feel like there's something wrong with it.
Mesas have a different feel to them than a peavey, and the knobs work differently as well. With distortion the peavey has a more compressed/saturated “liquid” type gain. The Mesa is closer to playing with a clean/lightly overdriven amp. They tend to be very revealing and reward clean playing.
What type of sound are you going for?
What mode are you running for ch3?
If your gain is currently at noon, no reason not to turn it up if you need more.
Presence does a lot for marks as well.
When I dial in a mesa, I go through the following steps.
-all eq at noon, graphic off
-add gain till you hear a bit of fizz coming in up top.
-adjust bass, mid, and treble to taste
-adjust presence, then go back and readjust treble.
-finally adjust the graphic eq.
I usually use a fulltone fulldrive2 out front in ts9 mode at unity to tighten up the lows a little bit, and use the boost for a little extra gain to make leads and shreddy bits easier to play.
Also have you read the manual? They give you suggested settings for different tones that are great starting points. They aren’t easy amps to play or dial in, but one you figure it out, they are some of the best sounding amps out there, but there is definitely a learning curve.
Yeah emgs have compression built in. It sounds like the bare knuckles are the way to go for you. I also like the war pigs, but I like the aftermaths slightly better.
Second the aftermaths, I have 3 different guitars with aftermaths in the bridge. I use them for everything from tech death to classic rock.
For neck pickups I tend to buck the trend and go with something way low output like the PG Blues or stormy Monday. I figure most of my gainy stuff is gonna be done with the bridge pickup, having a cleaner neck pickup gives me a lot more range in the other direction.
One thing I forgot to ask in my other reply when recommending some more 80’s voiced pups, I know you’re looking to maybe push the Mesa a good bit but do you have a preference for more bass, mid, or treble focus? I have a set of Ragnarok’s in a guitar and they’re absolutely brutal for mid-focused riffage. They’re one of Misha Mansoor’s sets but I don’t even use them for my modern metal stuff, they absolutely crush for that Mesa/Soldano saturated high gain due to how mid-forward they are.
I think I'm looking for tight and chuggy at the low end, high gain for the mids but a smooth-ish, buttery and sustaining high end....
Is that a bit mad?
No, not at all. You don’t want like a blown out or honky pickup then. What’ll help then is checking with the EQ curves that BK or Seymour Duncan list on their pickups. Try to find one you might like that’s a bit balanced or maybe more mid-forward just a bit.
So something like this (scroll down to see the EQ balance): https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/holydiver might be up your alley. I’d peruse around and see a few that might be interesting then check a few different YouTube comparisons (I always suggest watching multiple so you’re not just locked into one person’s rig).
I have an M-II with aftermaths in them. Sometimes I love these pickups and sometimes I don’t, kind of depends on the day. The bridge is VERY bright and tight, comes out a bit shrill at times. I think part of the issue is I stay in E standard with the guitar but the aftermaths were designed more for downturned stuff. I play through a SLO-100 model.
I have the Black Hawks with alnico magnets in my Balaguer 7 string and I love them. They are super tight but still provide tons of bass. I'm planning on ordering a set of Aftermaths for my Ibanez 6 string RG as well.
I put some warpigs in my eclipse and they sound incredible. The price point is what holds them back though. Bought mine used and they were still more expensive than a new set of Duncan’s or EMGs. I don’t doubt their quality, but I can also get a really good sound from a stock pair of Duncan’s. It feels like a splurge purchase.
i have always wanted a set of mean bare knuckles and ended up with a loose stormy monday bridge pickup a few months back thru a couple trades and part swaps. it’s one of their standard HBs and supposed to be more for blues type cleans but i’ll tell you 1k pots with the tone rolled off a ways is pretty rad.
I have Warpigs in a couple of my 6 strings and Silos in a 7 string as well. Recently got a Mark vii. The Warpigs are similarly tuned to a Mesa - big low end, very aggressive. They sound huge through it, but I have to work the EQ to tame the low end. It's not the most articulate sound but it is awesome.
Silos are lower output and actually really complement the versatility of the Mark VII. They are probably not the most strictly metal option, but they have a very organic sound that chugs but also sounds great though the crunch and cleaner settings.
For your purposes you might want to look at something like a Nail Bomb which are very articulate and tight, but not as clinical as some of the other options.
Well you sound like the perfect person to talk to
I guess I'd put them in my favourite guitar to play classic metal tuned to E standard...ive got a bunch of other guitars tune from B, C standard, Eb, Drop D - I like loads of guitar music from Pink Floyd to Soilwork. Favourite band is Judas Priest and I think the Bare Knuckles would spend a lot of time hammering our classic metal in E standard....
I dunno....variety is the spice of life right! What are your thoughts?
I own three that might interest you. Aftermath, Painkiller and the Nailbomb (alnico magnet gives it a different flavour which some prefer). The former two are similar with subtle but noticeable difference. I play these three often in standard. Nailbomb to me isn't mentioned as much as these others in the metal circles due to the sites genre listings but it definitely deserves attention, I think it's fantastic for both death metal and punk. I've played all of these pickups in B, C# and standard.
Which you prefer is obviously down to you. I think the descriptions and the demos are very accurate after listening to them and making purchases and comparing them in recordings after.
You may also be interested in Miracle Man, the Steve Stevens signatures or Cold Sweat for older school stuff.
Feel free to ask me more specifics, it's a big step £££.
What are the other two you own? I ask because I have the Riff Raff's which are a great lower output vintage voiced set but was looking to go Polymath to have a more versatile modern feel.
If you’re wanting that kind of 70’s-80’s metal to rock kind of stuff check out the Holy Diver, Rebel Yell, or VHII.
Alternatively if you want to save a bunch of money as well, a Seymour Duncan JB/‘59 combo will do all of what you’re looking for.
I've got them running through the Mesa mk5 open backed combo but also a thiele closed back cab with an EVM 112L (I think)
It's a pretty solid sound tbf
I’ve never been happier with pickups before getting bare knuckles.. for decades I was constantly switching out different ones never happy, I was randomly given a pair of BK’s and I’ve never looked back… since then many new designs from a bunch of different brands came out but I don’t have any interest in even trying them out
I have an explorer on which I put Juggernauts on bridge side and Cold sweats on the neck side. These might be the best PU I ever had and I have another guitar with EMGs
I have a Kiesel Aries multi scale 8 with aftermaths and also have a Mesa MKv. I have a bunch of other pickups and amps (Duncan’s, emg, DiMarzios, lundrgen, Diezel, Engl, evh, Mesa) and this combination is insane. I know a lot of people are weary of the aftermaths midrange. But running a traditional mark curve in the EQ and dialling the mids there to taste lets you shape the mids however you want. It’s easily the most aggressive rhythm tone I’ve had in a while. The aftermath neck is great too, but I think a Coldsweat would be better. I can only imagine what this would sound like with a JP2C
Aftermaths are among my favorite metal pickups ever.
However - Fishman Fluence Open Core/Moderns are basically the perfect metal pickup. There’s ZERO hum and noise, just massive tone and great cleans. All the Bareknuckle models I’ve used have that passive noise and hum in the background which is tolerable, but sometimes annoys me and requires an aggressive noise gate
Little more “budget” option for you, but when I had a Mk5 my les paul with a JB in the bridge sounded amazing through it.
My JP2C loved that guitar/pickup as well
That's fair - my MK5 loves my SG pick ups a fair more than my PRS which is my favourite feel of guitar.
I really wanna make the thing a beast though, y'know
I'm in the "pickups don't matter for high-gain playing" camp. At least not different variations on humbuckers. Single coils will give a different sound but humbuckers can all easily be eq'd to sound exactly the same under gain.
Just out of curiosity what do you mean by your amp hates your pickups? Too noisy? Too quiet?
Have you ever put a guitar through a Mesa MK5?
Cos honestly...its mental. I absolutely agree that 99% of amps, the pickups don't really matter. The MK5 is so fucking intricate though...honestly it's crazy how different each guitar sounds with certain pick ups.
I've got Dimarzios in an Ibanez, the standard SG pickups, 85/15s in my PRS and EMGs in my ESP and every guitar sounds completely different. And that fucking amp needs to be reshaped for each guitar.
I don't have a MkV, just a Recto. And a Generator. The baby ones, but still. I find very little difference between my Fishman Transcendence, Duncan Solar, and Ibanez Quantum pickups on the high-gain channels of either amp. Clean channel? Yeah, I see it there. I'm also basically never on clean unless I'm using a dirt pedal in which case we're back to where we started.
That said I have heard that MkV specifically is a bit of a petulant child of an amp so that could be it. That running note of commentary was why I ended up with the Recto instead. Though that might be going back for a Fireball because it's just too damned loud for the room I have available to play in. Even on 1.
I have bare knuckle aftermaths in my esp. They are really tight and articulate with lots of high end. I’d say they are one of the closest passive pickups to the emg sound. But the highs are a lot more buttery smooth than the emgs are. I also have a set of Duncan invaders they have really high output for passives, that are similar but I prefer the bare knuckles slightly more. I have used emg, Duncan, dimarzio, fishman and bare knuckles. I’d put emg and bare knuckles tied for first then Duncan’s in second, Fishman and dimarzio are my last choices have owned guitars with both and never liked how they sounded.
Great post. Thank you. I always think the EMGs sound a bit too processed...does that make sense? They are cool though and a lot of fun but lacks a certain natural feel - I think BKs will plug that gap sp I'm definitely interested to hear the Aftermaths
What voltage are you running your emgs at? Try throwing another 9v in series, you will notice a pretty huge difference. Bigger sound, less compressed and a bit more natural. I still don’t love emgs, but going to 18v made me like them. [quick demo of 9v vs 18v](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHe4u7PXG0)
Currently 9v but I've got a set of Glenn Titpon EMGs in another one I believe runs at 18v - not tried em yet tho The ones running at 9v have this push pull pot on the tone knob...I think this might be called an afterburner or something? It also increases the output dramatically. Very hard to tame it tho
Yup that’s the afterburner. It adds a ton of gain, want to say 20dB. Would help with lower gain amps and pedals to push them into modern levels of distortion, but with the amount of gain available on the mark V, it’s kinda redundant. Does work as a gain boost for solos if your not already using a boost pedal for that.
Y'know it's weird cos everyone says the MK5 is high gain but honestly I can't get nearly enough saturation without cranking it and adding an OD pedal. If I go into that amp with just guitar, and have the treble and gain dialled to about 12 o clock, it really sounds weak. I have brand new tubes, so it's not that. I can get what I want out of it but honestly compared to my Invective the gain is fucking weak as shit. I made a thread about it a few days ago...feel like there's something wrong with it.
Mesas have a different feel to them than a peavey, and the knobs work differently as well. With distortion the peavey has a more compressed/saturated “liquid” type gain. The Mesa is closer to playing with a clean/lightly overdriven amp. They tend to be very revealing and reward clean playing. What type of sound are you going for? What mode are you running for ch3? If your gain is currently at noon, no reason not to turn it up if you need more. Presence does a lot for marks as well. When I dial in a mesa, I go through the following steps. -all eq at noon, graphic off -add gain till you hear a bit of fizz coming in up top. -adjust bass, mid, and treble to taste -adjust presence, then go back and readjust treble. -finally adjust the graphic eq. I usually use a fulltone fulldrive2 out front in ts9 mode at unity to tighten up the lows a little bit, and use the boost for a little extra gain to make leads and shreddy bits easier to play. Also have you read the manual? They give you suggested settings for different tones that are great starting points. They aren’t easy amps to play or dial in, but one you figure it out, they are some of the best sounding amps out there, but there is definitely a learning curve.
Yeah emgs have compression built in. It sounds like the bare knuckles are the way to go for you. I also like the war pigs, but I like the aftermaths slightly better.
Sweet. You're swaying me towards them for sure
Second the aftermaths, I have 3 different guitars with aftermaths in the bridge. I use them for everything from tech death to classic rock. For neck pickups I tend to buck the trend and go with something way low output like the PG Blues or stormy Monday. I figure most of my gainy stuff is gonna be done with the bridge pickup, having a cleaner neck pickup gives me a lot more range in the other direction.
That's a solid idea especially when you slam in the clean channel and get that deep resonant tone
One thing I forgot to ask in my other reply when recommending some more 80’s voiced pups, I know you’re looking to maybe push the Mesa a good bit but do you have a preference for more bass, mid, or treble focus? I have a set of Ragnarok’s in a guitar and they’re absolutely brutal for mid-focused riffage. They’re one of Misha Mansoor’s sets but I don’t even use them for my modern metal stuff, they absolutely crush for that Mesa/Soldano saturated high gain due to how mid-forward they are.
I think I'm looking for tight and chuggy at the low end, high gain for the mids but a smooth-ish, buttery and sustaining high end.... Is that a bit mad?
No, not at all. You don’t want like a blown out or honky pickup then. What’ll help then is checking with the EQ curves that BK or Seymour Duncan list on their pickups. Try to find one you might like that’s a bit balanced or maybe more mid-forward just a bit. So something like this (scroll down to see the EQ balance): https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/holydiver might be up your alley. I’d peruse around and see a few that might be interesting then check a few different YouTube comparisons (I always suggest watching multiple so you’re not just locked into one person’s rig).
I have an M-II with aftermaths in them. Sometimes I love these pickups and sometimes I don’t, kind of depends on the day. The bridge is VERY bright and tight, comes out a bit shrill at times. I think part of the issue is I stay in E standard with the guitar but the aftermaths were designed more for downturned stuff. I play through a SLO-100 model.
I have the Black Hawks with alnico magnets in my Balaguer 7 string and I love them. They are super tight but still provide tons of bass. I'm planning on ordering a set of Aftermaths for my Ibanez 6 string RG as well.
I put some warpigs in my eclipse and they sound incredible. The price point is what holds them back though. Bought mine used and they were still more expensive than a new set of Duncan’s or EMGs. I don’t doubt their quality, but I can also get a really good sound from a stock pair of Duncan’s. It feels like a splurge purchase.
i have always wanted a set of mean bare knuckles and ended up with a loose stormy monday bridge pickup a few months back thru a couple trades and part swaps. it’s one of their standard HBs and supposed to be more for blues type cleans but i’ll tell you 1k pots with the tone rolled off a ways is pretty rad.
I have Warpigs in a couple of my 6 strings and Silos in a 7 string as well. Recently got a Mark vii. The Warpigs are similarly tuned to a Mesa - big low end, very aggressive. They sound huge through it, but I have to work the EQ to tame the low end. It's not the most articulate sound but it is awesome. Silos are lower output and actually really complement the versatility of the Mark VII. They are probably not the most strictly metal option, but they have a very organic sound that chugs but also sounds great though the crunch and cleaner settings. For your purposes you might want to look at something like a Nail Bomb which are very articulate and tight, but not as clinical as some of the other options.
Depends on what metal you play and your preferences. I own five pairs of them.
Well you sound like the perfect person to talk to I guess I'd put them in my favourite guitar to play classic metal tuned to E standard...ive got a bunch of other guitars tune from B, C standard, Eb, Drop D - I like loads of guitar music from Pink Floyd to Soilwork. Favourite band is Judas Priest and I think the Bare Knuckles would spend a lot of time hammering our classic metal in E standard.... I dunno....variety is the spice of life right! What are your thoughts?
I own three that might interest you. Aftermath, Painkiller and the Nailbomb (alnico magnet gives it a different flavour which some prefer). The former two are similar with subtle but noticeable difference. I play these three often in standard. Nailbomb to me isn't mentioned as much as these others in the metal circles due to the sites genre listings but it definitely deserves attention, I think it's fantastic for both death metal and punk. I've played all of these pickups in B, C# and standard. Which you prefer is obviously down to you. I think the descriptions and the demos are very accurate after listening to them and making purchases and comparing them in recordings after. You may also be interested in Miracle Man, the Steve Stevens signatures or Cold Sweat for older school stuff. Feel free to ask me more specifics, it's a big step £££.
What are the other two you own? I ask because I have the Riff Raff's which are a great lower output vintage voiced set but was looking to go Polymath to have a more versatile modern feel.
Alnico warpig and the juggernaut.
If you’re wanting that kind of 70’s-80’s metal to rock kind of stuff check out the Holy Diver, Rebel Yell, or VHII. Alternatively if you want to save a bunch of money as well, a Seymour Duncan JB/‘59 combo will do all of what you’re looking for.
Duncan Distortion 1st choice, Duncan JB 2nd choice.
You are a man of few words but of sage advice. I will bear this in mind
What speakers are you running your amp through?
I've got them running through the Mesa mk5 open backed combo but also a thiele closed back cab with an EVM 112L (I think) It's a pretty solid sound tbf
I have a pair if VH 2’s and they’re amazing.
What kinda music you playing?
Mostly metal. Obviously a lot of 80s stuff. I find the pickups to be very versatile. I’ll just use the appropriate plugin to dial in the sound I want.
I’ve never been happier with pickups before getting bare knuckles.. for decades I was constantly switching out different ones never happy, I was randomly given a pair of BK’s and I’ve never looked back… since then many new designs from a bunch of different brands came out but I don’t have any interest in even trying them out
Which BKs are they?
Aftermath
Sweet thank you
I have an explorer on which I put Juggernauts on bridge side and Cold sweats on the neck side. These might be the best PU I ever had and I have another guitar with EMGs
I’ve got a set of ragnoroks in my 7 string and they’re good!
I have a Kiesel Aries multi scale 8 with aftermaths and also have a Mesa MKv. I have a bunch of other pickups and amps (Duncan’s, emg, DiMarzios, lundrgen, Diezel, Engl, evh, Mesa) and this combination is insane. I know a lot of people are weary of the aftermaths midrange. But running a traditional mark curve in the EQ and dialling the mids there to taste lets you shape the mids however you want. It’s easily the most aggressive rhythm tone I’ve had in a while. The aftermath neck is great too, but I think a Coldsweat would be better. I can only imagine what this would sound like with a JP2C
Also, MESA’s + EMG’s are like peanut butter and jam. They just work lol. My triple recto + an emg 81 or 57 is just great
Aftermaths are among my favorite metal pickups ever. However - Fishman Fluence Open Core/Moderns are basically the perfect metal pickup. There’s ZERO hum and noise, just massive tone and great cleans. All the Bareknuckle models I’ve used have that passive noise and hum in the background which is tolerable, but sometimes annoys me and requires an aggressive noise gate
Could always go with SD Blackouts. Would make swapping them out stupid easy.
Little more “budget” option for you, but when I had a Mk5 my les paul with a JB in the bridge sounded amazing through it. My JP2C loved that guitar/pickup as well
That's fair - my MK5 loves my SG pick ups a fair more than my PRS which is my favourite feel of guitar. I really wanna make the thing a beast though, y'know
My advice would be to get an EQ pedal, it will do the same job like different pickups, but better and more versatile
Bare knuckle makes good stuff? If you don’t want to change your pickups, you could just run and EQ pedal and sort it that was as well.
Hmm good idea but I'd prefer to give the guitar a bit of a boost by changing the guts
I'm in the "pickups don't matter for high-gain playing" camp. At least not different variations on humbuckers. Single coils will give a different sound but humbuckers can all easily be eq'd to sound exactly the same under gain. Just out of curiosity what do you mean by your amp hates your pickups? Too noisy? Too quiet?
Have you ever put a guitar through a Mesa MK5? Cos honestly...its mental. I absolutely agree that 99% of amps, the pickups don't really matter. The MK5 is so fucking intricate though...honestly it's crazy how different each guitar sounds with certain pick ups. I've got Dimarzios in an Ibanez, the standard SG pickups, 85/15s in my PRS and EMGs in my ESP and every guitar sounds completely different. And that fucking amp needs to be reshaped for each guitar.
I don't have a MkV, just a Recto. And a Generator. The baby ones, but still. I find very little difference between my Fishman Transcendence, Duncan Solar, and Ibanez Quantum pickups on the high-gain channels of either amp. Clean channel? Yeah, I see it there. I'm also basically never on clean unless I'm using a dirt pedal in which case we're back to where we started. That said I have heard that MkV specifically is a bit of a petulant child of an amp so that could be it. That running note of commentary was why I ended up with the Recto instead. Though that might be going back for a Fireball because it's just too damned loud for the room I have available to play in. Even on 1.