Bare Knuckle Pickups The Mule

Pickup features: humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: prs se tremonti
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: prs stock pups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): metal, metal, and metal
Reason for pickup change: low output, a lot of noise on the background, lots of feedback, lack of character.

Perceived output level: the story was, i went to the shop hoping to buy a pups from seymour duncan . its a dimebucker for a start. the guy on the counter said, whybut a pickup from em when in fact u can design ur own. he suggested bareknuckle pups. he rang a guy named tim. i told him that im a fan of pantera and i reli like the sound of the dimebucker wid the 59 on the neck. he told me that he knw evrything bout guitars and and i thought why not give it a shot. he made for me a mule pups alnico 5 for the neck and a pup called miracle man. i dnt knw what to expect widthese pups. i was scared a little coz i just dished out ?180. when it arrived, the mule was zebra lookin and m. man was all black. i thought it was a good color choice. went to the guitar tech to have it installed. whenevrything was hooked up, the tech said itsa good sounding guitar. but i didnt appreciate it first coz it was only plain acoustic and no effects at all. i went home and plug it in on my zoom gudget and 100 watts fender speaker. what i heard is a sound made in hell. its awesome, powerful, not thin sounding and yet it can scream. the good thing about these pups is, theyre quite pickups. what i meant is, i strummed the guitar wid out any chords and let it just ring by itself til it fades away and put it beside the speaker. i was ecpecting some feedback but no feedback at all. no nothing. it was an amazing exprerience and my wife can even distinguish the sound. and recently i bought a warpig for my ibanez.
Tone:
Sonic evaluation:
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: im sold for life with bareknuckle pups. i hve nothing to do with seymour duncan, dimarzio, emg and all those brandy products. BKP company is just a small company based in england and thyre not that huge yet. so the way i see it, its very intimate, very homely and customer service is fantastic. u wnt get that from other pups company.

Pickup features: Humbucking
Impedence or other specs: 8.9k

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Aged Historic '57 Goldtop
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Cassic '57
Other pickups on guitar: Bare Knuckle Mule also
Artists using this pickup: Tim Mills, me and those who have been lucky enough to discover Bare Knuckle
You musical style(s): Blues, Classic Rock
Reason for pickup change: Stock pickups had a good general tone, but weren't well balanced- too mushy at the bottom end, too harsh at the top end.

Perceived output level: Slightly more than stock
Tone: Extremely well balanced. There is definately a big wow factor when you first hear these little beauties. Our band, Tora Bora, based down in Guernsey in the Channel Isles, generally play a mix of blues and classic rock tracks, including stuff from Free, Cream, The Allman Brothers Band, Hendrix, early Mac and a few of our own numbers. The thing that immediately strikes you is the balance of these pickups. Clear defined kick (Mule?) at the bottom end which is so often lacking on Les pauls, but a lovely bright yet creamy top end- never harsh sounding. Given a clean boost through the Klon to get the power tubes cooking, they sound fantastic!
Sonic evaluation: Gibson Historic '57 through a Klon Centaur, Holy Grail Reverb, into handwired Marshall 2061X head and Marshall 4x12 Greenback half stack.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues/ Rock

Comments: If they were stolen, I'd claim off my insurance intially for the Goldtop,(which I assume they'd run off with to boot) and in the meantime order another set of Mules from Tim and Ray to put straight into the replacement axe

Pickup features: Passive Humbuckers
Impedence or other specs: 8.9K ish (bridge)

Model of guitar or bass: Les Paul
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Original Gibson neck Pickup, BKP crawler bridge.
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a tad more bite and woodiness.

Perceived output level: Low output...but can scream
Tone: balanced, warm, woody, edgey....not shrill.
Sonic evaluation: Marshall JCM 2555 stack, sounds like a bstard. I play raw blues to hard edge rock. its perfect for me. really tasteful tone. FAT but has bite....not harsh at all! beeeaaautiful!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments:

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker (chrome covered)
Impedence or other specs: 7.3K Alnico IV

Model of guitar or bass: Epiphone G-310 SG
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: stock Epi humbucker
Other pickups on guitar: Bare Knuckle Black Dog
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): everything from Cocteau Twins to Black Sabbath
Reason for pickup change: the stock Epi pickups were too muddy low down, and not clear and defined enough up high. clean sounds were poor.

Perceived output level: slightly more than the Epiphones
Tone: balanced and warm.
Sonic evaluation: i needed versatile pickups, and Tim was happy to advise me in what would work best. he wound me a Mule with slightly lower DC than they normaly are, which he's done for SG players in the past with great results. the Mule does everything i need - from clean sounds, to warm bluesy sounds to dirty metal sounds - i can hit the lot of them. i can get jazz or even country tones if i feel that way inclined.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: the Mule is perfect for just about everything.

Comments: if i lost the SG i'd replace it and i'd definately fit another a Mule and a Black Dog, but i plan on keeping this guitar until they screw down the lid of my coffin. my next guitar will probably be a Les Paul, and will get Bare Knuckle pups. to me, it looks much better than the stock Epi pups, and sounds a *lot* better. they may be pricey, but they're hand built to order, and you get what you pay for. extremely well made, great service. i can't fault them.

Pickup features: humbuckers (zebra, open coils)
Impedence or other specs: 9.0/7.5 ohms, Alnico 4, 2 conductor wire

Model of guitar or bass: PRS Santana SE V1
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Originals (EMGs?)
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Mainly Jazz/Rock.. But to pay the rent, EVERYTHING!!
Reason for pickup change: The original pickups were ok, i felt they lacked any real tonal character. I found myself using all manner of EQ and Enhancer pedals to get some "guts" out of the thing.

Perceived output level: Plenty more than the original pickups.
Tone: Open, powerful and yummy! I find them so versatile.
Sonic evaluation: I use my PRS Santana SEV1 with a large range of amps (hired backline for many sessions/band things), but my main amp is probably the Fender Twin. (They make my Twin ROAR! No mean feat, i can tell you).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: So far all of the many styles I do as a pro musician have been covered (bar Tele Twang!)

Comments: To start with, I am a PRS man. From the cheap all the way up to the prohibitively expensive, to me they are THE eletric guitar for feel. The SEV1 played like a dream but sounded two dimensional. But not anymore. I can honestly say these pickups will breath life into ANY setup. Get them now! Seriously.. NOW!

Pickup features: Passive calibrated set of humbuckers with Alnico IV magnets.
Impedence or other specs: DC 7.2K Neck and DC 8.9K Bridge

Model of guitar or bass: Paul Reed Smith Custom 22 Stoptail
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Dragon II Bass & Dragon II Treble
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Me!!! Haven't heard of any famous artist using these pickups, shame!
You musical style(s): Fusion (Indian Classical music with Rock and Jazz) , Blues, Jazz and Rock
Reason for pickup change: I weas highly frustrated with the stock Dragon IIs! They were too midd heavy and just never made it for me. I have always found them to have an ugly tone and they were way too unrefined and unclear. Absolutely no bottom end punch either....I needed something more ballsy and refined, with more harmonics, dynamics and definition.

Perceived output level: They have a lower output than the Dragon IIs, but they have much more punch and balls! I didn't 'feel' that they were 'weaker' pickups!
Tone: Very balanced! Switching between the bass and treble position you notice that it's the 'tone' that changes, not the volume. I really didn't expect a 'calibrated' set to be so well balanced. The tone is very reminiscent of vintage PAFs. Tim assured me that the best PAFs used Alnico IV magnets, so I went for it, and I'm very glad I did. The tone is just very balanced, sweet and versatile.
Sonic evaluation: My main amplifiers are a Cornford Harlequin, a Germino Masonette and a Fuchs ODS 30. All top boutique amplifiers with tones to die for. I dont't use a lot of effect. I only have a Keeley compressor, an Analogman TS-9 Silver Mod, an Analogman Clone Chorus and an Analogman Sunface Fuzz. All really stunning gears!
I don't wanna sound like all of a sudden I have discovered 'the Holy Grail' or anything like that, but I must admit that I'm extremely satified and happy with these pickups! They produce that tone I have been looking for in my PRS. It's not classic Gibson Les Paul PAF tones, the PRS has a voice of it's own. But the Mules seem to really bring to life the best tones this guitar is capable of producing. I absolutely love it. The bidge pickup sounds like 'melted chocolate', if that means anything to you! By that, I mean that it's 'brown' and extremely sweet. Think Robben Ford, Scott Henderson and Warren Hayes (the Mule?!?) The bottom end kick is just astonishing! I really never expected humbuckers to have such a clear and punchy bottom end. It's really beautiful.
The pickups are very sensitive to the way you 'touch' the notes, the way you pick and to your vibrato, which is just a dream for a player like me, who doesn't heavily rely on effects to get a wide aray of tones.
What really surprised me though was the quality of the clean tones! Again, I never expected humbuckers to have such beautiful clean tones. I used to always rely on singlecoils for my clean tones, now I have another option! It's not comparable to singlecoils though, it's something of its own, which is good since I play such 'different' and 'unorthodox' types of music. Think Allan Holdsworth types of clean tones.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mainly 'Fusion' stuff, a la Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Robben Ford and Jimmy Herring. I'm also into Indian Classical music mixed with Rock and Jazz, a la Shawn Lane. The pickups are very versatile and take everything you throw at them quite happily. I have always found weird to say that a pickup can 'emulate' so and so. Although it's true that pickups are voiced according to 'styles' of music, it's really down to your technique and the way you touch that strings that produce different types of tones. What you need is really a pickup that can reproduce the different nuences of your playing and attack, which is easier said then done. That said, these pickups can do any Fusion stuff as well as Blues, Jazz, Rock, and even early Metal stuff! They really react extremely well to 'touch' and attack.

Comments: I have been playing for about 10 years.
First of all I would like to comment on the service I received from Tim Mills (Bare Knuckle pickups guru and owner). This guy is just amazing!! He definitely knows what he's building! Buying blind I would have probably chosen a pair of Stormy Mondays, but he recommended the Mules with Alnico IV magnets. And they are just perfect! Dealing with him, you can really see that he loves what he's doing and makes no compromise to give the best products and the best service. E-mails are answered the same day, or the next day, which is very nice. And all his pickups come with a lifetime warranty, that's saying something about the faith he's got in his products.
Such a nice and friendly guy too! I had a few problems wiring the pickups into my PRS (I'm no guitar tech!), but he was extremely helpful in finding me a diagram I could understand! You rock Tim!!
Just e-mail him and he will build a pickup that exactly suits your need! 'Custom shop' service without the 'custom shop' prices!
My Vigier Shawn Lane signature and the Dragon IIs are next on the list for an upgrade and a rewiring respectively!
These pickups are not cheap, but considering the other products available on the market. I would rather pay for BareKnuckles than get DiMarzios or Duncans for free. It's a choice, I have made mine!
Given the quality of the pickups and the customer support service, these are really amazing value for money pickups! Very highly recommended!

Pickup features: Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: 8.4k

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Standard
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Bridge Burst Bucker Pro
Other pickups on guitar: Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday
Artists using this pickup: Dont Know
You musical style(s): Blues / Rock
Reason for pickup change: The Burstbucker pro was just OK. I knew Bare Knuckle could improve on this.

Perceived output level: I get the impression that this has more out put than the Burstbucker, but this could be down to the scatter winding technique
Tone: Exceptionaly well balanced
Sonic evaluation: Gibson les paul through a Crowther Hot Cake into a Peavey classic 50.
On clean this pick up is really clear and balanced. When overdriven the same clarity is there. I have the Stormy Monday in neck and the combination of the two gives me a beautifully balanced and warm tone.
The Mule has no obvious spikes and it gives me a taste of what is possible from this product and makes me feel that we just accept that Gibson pickups are good,when clearly they are well short of this type of performance.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great match for blues rock.

Comments: As I've said in My Stormy Monday review. This is a fantastic product which deserves to be given a chance with big name pros (if they don't have them already)this opens up a few more possibilitys which were lacking in my previous pickups and the warm vintage tone I have heard so much about is now installed into my Les Paul giving a superb combination. I would hate to have it stolen.
I have a Les Paul Studio as a second Guitar and would like to experement with some more Bare Knuckles. You'll only find out if you try them.

Pickup features: Passive neck/bridge humbuckers
Impedence or other specs: Neck 7 K ohms. Bridge 8.4 K ohms

Model of guitar or bass: Hamer Studio Archtop
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Seymour Duncan '59 neck, JB bridge
Other pickups on guitar: None now
Artists using this pickup: Don't know.
You musical style(s): Most things except Nu Metal
Reason for pickup change: Never liked the JB, thought the '59 a bit harsh. Previos Hamer Sunburst, owned from 1991 until neck break wrecked the guitar in 2004. I went through loads of pickups on that guitar before settling on Duncan Antiquity humbuckers. I was always happy with the neck pickup, but the treble lacked character by comparison. This Hamer Studio (from 1993) is a replacement for the neck break guitar. Has had a refret (wide, tall), new nut, CTS volume pots (replacing some 250K push-push taps). I've read the reviews and sort the opinion of people I respect and listened to guitars fitted with various bare knuckle pickups, when I've had the chance. I have been impressed enough to spend the money and give them a whirl.

Perceived output level: Perceived to be slightly higher than Duncan '59. These pickups are really very open and clear, seemingly allowing the guitar to 'breath'.
Tone: Crystal clear, balanced humbuckers these are. I can perceive no specific tone signature of the pickup as such, but there is a lot of body and substance to the tone, even with the volume and/or tone controls rolled off. Everything I have played has sounded convincing and alive. String seperation is excellent and the balance across the pickup selections is also spot-on. I have to say that the middle position, when used with myriad volume/tone settings, is so versatile that it has to be experienced. I have spent literally hours playing here - just for fun. I had a good talk to Tim Mills, on the phone, prior to ordering these pickups, purely for his advice and opinions on his interpretation of my preferences. Buying blind, I may have chosen Stormy Monday pickups. Tim's interpretation of my preferences was right on the money. I think these people know what they're building inside out and I would invite you to talk to them.
Sonic evaluation: Marshall JMP1, Marshall EL84 20/20, Alesis Quadraverb Plus (for reverb, live), Custom 2 x 12 pine open backed cab fitted with Celestion Greenback speakers (8 ohm), wire individually for stereo.
I play clean and back the OD1/OD2 volumes off (about 25-33%)to give better balance/body for live use, that way everything works - including the volume controls on the guitar - across all styles. But that's just me, we're all diferent, thankfully.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play from clean blues/jazz to AC/DC style rock and anything in between. Whatever I'm asked to do, really (asuming I can).

Comments: I've been playing the guitar for 35 years - not continuously obviously. I have wasted as much money on gear as the next bloke (could have paid my mortgage probably!). The gear listed above works for me, along with any good Telecaster (Fender or not) and a Gibson WM45 acoustic and Shure mics.
I can pretty much tell what is going to work and what isn't for me and these pickups are, without doubt, the best humbuckers I have used. I've played these in the house at low volumes and at stage volumes. They cut it all ways. I would suggest that you always try to listen to something before you buy. In this case listen to the guitar you've got played acoustically and decide how best its attributes could be amplified to your taste. Then call Bare Knuckle Pickups directly and put it all in the pot. I believe you will probably get a suprising result from the pickups you choose to buy. This is inspiring stuff.

Pickup features: Humbucker - custom wound neck
Impedence or other specs: 7.4 K Alnico IV

Model of guitar or bass: Custom Made Les Paul
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: classic 57
Other pickups on guitar: Bare Knuckle Emerald
Artists using this pickup: If you play blues or rock you should use it
You musical style(s): Blues, Rock, 60's & 70's pop
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a better blues lead tone - more like Paul Kossoff's

Perceived output level: a little hotter than classic 57
Tone: think of the thickest humbucker lead tone and you have it
Sonic evaluation: Marshall Silver Jubilee 25/50 Combo, Fender Princeton II, blackstone overdrive, boss DF-2 feedbacker

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: this is the greatest blues pickup, but it is very versitile too. If you turn down the volume it cleans up really nicely. Actually on my guitar it cleans up without losing too much volume, which is really great.

Comments: I have the magnet reversed in this so that in combination with the bridge Emerald I get another great tone. Once again I told Tim the sound I was after and he delivered.
I have been playing over 30 years and now i am having to buy all new pickups! Seriously, this is the sound I always wanted form my Les Paul, and not just one of them, it has lots of sounds in it. The only problem with Bare Knuckles is that once you have one then you need to get more!

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: God knows, I just play guitar not build them!

Model of guitar or bass: Paul Reed Smith McCarty
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: McCarty Treble
Other pickups on guitar: Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday in the neck position.
Artists using this pickup: Bob and Bill,
You musical style(s): Jazz, Funky Rock, Blues, Rock
Reason for pickup change: Found the stock Pups a little muddy and not enough gain for the rockier stuff that we do.

Perceived output level: Ceratinly more output then the stock McCarty pickups,
Tone: Well balanced, with a lower mid kick.
Sonic evaluation: As Mentioned I am using a PRS 01 McCarty (Non ten top) through a Jim Dunlop MXR Wilde Overdrive, a Cry Baby, and a US Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I also have an old 94' Jackson Ps-1 which is a back up and a guitar that I was using for heavier Rock. Put it this way my PRS now has more balls and output than my Jackson!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Funky Rock, Jazz, Blues, Rock, and an occassional bit of Disco.

Comments: I have music insurance so iI am covered and certainly would buy another McCarty and place the same pick ups in. I have been playing for about 12 years and this is the very first time that I have ever replaced pickups, but I was upset that I had bought a guitar for ?2400 and it was begining to sound flat. I also own as mentioned a old Jackson PS1, and couple of accoustics, and play through a US Hot Rod Deluxe. I did not compare this to other products because I have no idea about pickups, I stated what sound I wanted to my luther, and he said I needed a Mule and Stormy Monday, That is what I ahev and it sounds how I want, simple.
This is the sound that I wanted, in the bridge position it screams, lovely lower mid kick, and cutting tone, I have found that the pickups are working really well with my McCarty and it hasnt changed the tonal quality of the guitar, it still sounds like a McCarty but louder, smoother (Neck), and more agressive, and sustains for longer,
It is now my perfect guitar, I am very happy, Now it is time to save up for a new amp!