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BigB « Cold, me? Never... »
Published on 07/14/13 at 12:36I recently mounted this set on a LP Studio 91, but I have been using BKP for over four years on other guitars. The original pickups (490R and 498T) aren't bad but, to be honest, they play in different leagues - definition, clarity, articulation, dynamics, response, there's no comparison. For me, these BKP are the ideal complement to a LP and they are simply incredible, among the best BKPs, together with the Blackguard Flat 52.
I can understand that people used to overcompressed pickups or with a poor definition don't like them, because it's not as "comfortable" to play with pickups that reveal absolutely every detail, for good and for bad... You can certainly say "cold" instead of ""precise and detailed" ─ or "round and warm" instead of "muddled and mushy" ─ it's all a matter of word choice. As far as I'm concerned, I love to be able to hear distinctively every single note of a chord, even with a fat distortion, and that all playing intentions are faithfully reproduced. All wrong notes are inevitably and faithfully reproduced, too, which is certainly not as nice but, on the other hand, it makes you want to improve.
So, yes, this pickups are very brilliant, even twangy like those of a good Tele, and they require you to learn how to use the tone and volume pots of your guitar. The good news is that, as a consequence, the pots become useful, which wasn't the case with the original pickups and electronics of the LP Studio (nor most current LPs, for that matter). Personally, I think it's great to be able to go from a fat, round and warm overdrive (yes, yes, they can handle it, even the bridge pickup) to a crystal-clear clean sound on par with a good single-coil, including all nuances in between, by adjusting a couple of pots on the guitar. Compared to the (now long gone) days when I used the pots as simple switches and spent my time playing with flop flops to change channel and activate/deactivate pedals, I think these pickups are a big leap forward in all respects (sound quality and playing comfort).
Another good point of these pickups, in my view, is their ability to cut through the mix without the need to crank the volume of the amp until you mask everything else, a problem I used to have with the original 490T/498R, regardless of what I did on the amp in terms of EQ.
In short, as far as I'm concerned, I'm satisfied with these pickups. They sound just like I expected after listening to clips, samples, videos, etc. ─ under the condition that you dial in your amp and guitar appropriately.
In the end, the main inconvenience of these pickups (like all BKPs I know) is that once you get used to this kind of quality you become very demanding.
NB: For those who think they are not "vintage" enough, you must remember that the idea was to reproduce the sound of the PAFs from the late '50s *at the time they were first put to use,* not the sound they have now, 50 years after demagnetization and oxidation... Thus, they are inevitably more brilliant and biting than the PAFs from the '50s that have survived to this day.
I can understand that people used to overcompressed pickups or with a poor definition don't like them, because it's not as "comfortable" to play with pickups that reveal absolutely every detail, for good and for bad... You can certainly say "cold" instead of ""precise and detailed" ─ or "round and warm" instead of "muddled and mushy" ─ it's all a matter of word choice. As far as I'm concerned, I love to be able to hear distinctively every single note of a chord, even with a fat distortion, and that all playing intentions are faithfully reproduced. All wrong notes are inevitably and faithfully reproduced, too, which is certainly not as nice but, on the other hand, it makes you want to improve.
So, yes, this pickups are very brilliant, even twangy like those of a good Tele, and they require you to learn how to use the tone and volume pots of your guitar. The good news is that, as a consequence, the pots become useful, which wasn't the case with the original pickups and electronics of the LP Studio (nor most current LPs, for that matter). Personally, I think it's great to be able to go from a fat, round and warm overdrive (yes, yes, they can handle it, even the bridge pickup) to a crystal-clear clean sound on par with a good single-coil, including all nuances in between, by adjusting a couple of pots on the guitar. Compared to the (now long gone) days when I used the pots as simple switches and spent my time playing with flop flops to change channel and activate/deactivate pedals, I think these pickups are a big leap forward in all respects (sound quality and playing comfort).
Another good point of these pickups, in my view, is their ability to cut through the mix without the need to crank the volume of the amp until you mask everything else, a problem I used to have with the original 490T/498R, regardless of what I did on the amp in terms of EQ.
In short, as far as I'm concerned, I'm satisfied with these pickups. They sound just like I expected after listening to clips, samples, videos, etc. ─ under the condition that you dial in your amp and guitar appropriately.
In the end, the main inconvenience of these pickups (like all BKPs I know) is that once you get used to this kind of quality you become very demanding.
NB: For those who think they are not "vintage" enough, you must remember that the idea was to reproduce the sound of the PAFs from the late '50s *at the time they were first put to use,* not the sound they have now, 50 years after demagnetization and oxidation... Thus, they are inevitably more brilliant and biting than the PAFs from the '50s that have survived to this day.