IRs York Audio Master Thread - Newest Cab Pack: KW 412 M25-SH

Third-party impulse response pack
Randalljax said:
Justin have you tried the 3rd power Mag Frags they are close to you in Nashville I believe
Also curious what 3 sets of BKP you bought I have been looking a a few of theirs
The Peacemaker and Rebel yell
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I haven't heard of the 3rd Power Mag Frags, but I'll have to check them out.

I have sets of the Mule, VHII, Abraxas, and Emerald... but I need to get the Rebel Yell. My friend has a guitar with those that sounds amazing and I didn't know the model until after I ordered the other sets.

Thenewexhibit said:
Oh, cool! I actually have a set of Mules in a Les Paul Traditional (essentially a standard) and they are really great! It’s funny; at first, I thought they sounded bland, and in a matter of minutes, I went from “these sound a little bland—I don’t know if these have character—that sounded really complex and rich—that sounds very vocal—that sounded very musical—these sound great!” Hahaha

You said you A/B’d the thornbucker plus to the Mules in the same guitar?

I find it interesting that you mention “punch” too. My strat build that has a Thornbucker +, in comparison to my Tele build which has a Friedman classic plus humbucker, sounds and feels like it has less punch than the Friedman (different magnets), so I’m gonna try an SSV in the bridge to see how that sounds. I have the feeling it will pair better with the V60LP single coils regarding punch and transient response.

Which other Bare Knuckle pickups are you trying out? Also, did the Mules that you got have covers, or were they uncovered?
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Yeah, I have a Boss Looper pedal I use to compare two sets of pickups in the same guitar. I record a riff with a set of pickups, swap the pickups, and then record the same riff with the new pickups. This lets you hear both sets back to back in real time through the same amp without the acoustic volume of the guitar you hear when playing it.

All of the BKP sets I got have nickel covers.

I'm going to do some more testing today, but the VHII set already sounds pretty incredible in another Les Paul.
 
York Audio said:
I haven't heard of the 3rd Power Mag Frags, but I'll have to check them out.

I have sets of the Mule, VHII, Abraxas, and Emerald... but I need to get the Rebel Yell. My friend has a guitar with those that sounds amazing and I didn't know the model until after I ordered the other sets.


Yeah, I have a Boss Looper pedal I use to compare two sets of pickups in the same guitar. I record a riff with a set of pickups, swap the pickups, and then record the same riff with the new pickups. This lets you hear both sets back to back in real time through the same amp without the acoustic volume of the guitar you hear when playing it.

All of the BKP sets I got have nickel covers.

I'm going to do some more testing today, but the VHII set already sounds pretty incredible in another Les Paul.
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Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the Abraxas. Been tempted by those a few times. They do that David Grissom thing, and his pickups are my favourite humbuckers I’ve ever used.
 
York Audio said:
I haven't heard of the 3rd Power Mag Frags, but I'll have to check them out.

I have sets of the Mule, VHII, Abraxas, and Emerald... but I need to get the Rebel Yell. My friend has a guitar with those that sounds amazing and I didn't know the model until after I ordered the other sets.


Yeah, I have a Boss Looper pedal I use to compare two sets of pickups in the same guitar. I record a riff with a set of pickups, swap the pickups, and then record the same riff with the new pickups. This lets you hear both sets back to back in real time through the same amp without the acoustic volume of the guitar you hear when playing it.

All of the BKP sets I got have nickel covers.

I'm going to do some more testing today, but the VHII set already sounds pretty incredible in another Les Paul.
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Another one you may want to look at is the Peacemaker it’s a lower output , it’s the sig pickup of Chris From Black Stone Cherry and it’s supposed to be very balenced
 
I put a set of Abraxas in a PRS Custom 22, because I didn‘t like the split-sounds of the stock pickups. Now they are great and the humbucker sounds are pretty fat. But still nice, not too fat.
 
nathan_393 said:
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the Abraxas. Been tempted by those a few times. They do that David Grissom thing, and his pickups are my favourite humbuckers I’ve ever used.
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I'm still getting used to all of the pickups and their character, but these are my initial thoughts having them all installed in Les Pauls:

The Mule - My favorite bridge pickup of the bunch by a mile. It's clear, open, sounds punchy and aggressive with high gain, and plays nicely with cleans. It's the best at conveying the guitar's natural personality so far. The neck pickup is a little too warm and loose for me personally, by I might throw an A5 magnet in it to tighten and brighten it a bit.

VH II - Best neck pickup IMO. It isn't woofy at all and sounds magical by itself or in the middle position. The bridge pickup is tight and aggressive with great pick attack. I wouldn't be mad if it had a little extra body to it though. Overall, it's a great pickup set.

Abraxas - Less note clarity and top end with more mids compared to the Mule. Probably better suited for players who do more lead work and a want a smooth vocal-like tone with single notes. It can sound great, but I haven't really bonded with that set yet.

Emerald - Tighter bottom end and punchier/more aggressive in the mids than the VH II bridge. It's on the hotter side, but doesn't make things cloudy like your average high output pickup. The tight lows, present mids, and brighter highs make me want to try them in a baritone. I bet it would give you great control even with low-tuned guitars.

I think I'm going to put the VH II neck in my main LP with Mules if the A5 magnet swap doesn't do the trick.

I'm also going to order a Rebel Yell bridge pickup. My friend has one in a baritone Les Paul and it's easily the best sounding high output pickup I've ever tried. Curious to hear what it sounds like in a standard tuned guitar.
 
York Audio said:
I'm still getting used to all of the pickups and their character, but these are my initial thoughts having them all installed in Les Pauls:

The Mule - My favorite bridge pickup of the bunch by a mile. It's clear, open, sounds punchy and aggressive with high gain, and plays nicely with cleans. It's the best at conveying the guitar's natural personality so far. The neck pickup is a little too warm and loose for me personally, by I might throw an A5 magnet in it to tighten and brighten it a bit.

VH II - Best neck pickup IMO. It isn't woofy at all and sounds magical by itself or in the middle position. The bridge pickup is tight and aggressive with great pick attack. I wouldn't be mad if it had a little extra body to it though. Overall, it's a great pickup set.

Abraxas - Less note clarity and top end with more mids compared to the Mule. Probably better suited for players who do more lead work and a want a smooth vocal-like tone with single notes. It can sound great, but I haven't really bonded with that set yet.

Emerald - Tighter bottom end and punchier/more aggressive in the mids than the VH II bridge. It's on the hotter side, but doesn't make things cloudy like your average high output pickup. The tight lows, present mids, and brighter highs make me want to try them in a baritone. I bet it would give you great control even with low-tuned guitars.

I think I'm going to put the VH II neck in my main LP with Mules if the A5 magnet swap doesn't do the trick.

I'm also going to order a Rebel Yell bridge pickup. My friend has one in a baritone Les Paul and it's easily the best sounding high output pickup I've ever tried. Curious to hear what it sounds like in a standard tuned guitar.
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This is really cool stuff to hear! I always value your experience with tone because you have a great ear! The interesting thing with Bare Knuckle Pickups too is that they are very sensitive to height changes, seemingly more than other pickups. I have a Nailbomb that I used which was cool for higher gain stuff, but I'm curious about the Rebel Yell as well for that application. I have a set of the Black Dog's, and I think they are really cool pickups, but I swapped them out for Friedman pickups, which I think I'm gonna swap out to try some Suhr SSV's. I used to really dig the sound of the Black Dog's (still do) and their output range, etc., but they're a little hotter than I like. Another I have interest in is the Stormy Monday set for my 335. I hear Mules can work good in that application too, but for whatever reason, I keep thinking about the Stormy Monday's for that guitar. Have you considered the Nolly pickup set for a little higher gain sound? I guess they have great versatility.

Do you think you might do some sound clips and comparisons of these pickups at some point?? Asking for a friend...... :tearsofjoy:
 
York Audio said:
I'm still getting used to all of the pickups and their character, but these are my initial thoughts having them all installed in Les Pauls:

The Mule - My favorite bridge pickup of the bunch by a mile. It's clear, open, sounds punchy and aggressive with high gain, and plays nicely with cleans. It's the best at conveying the guitar's natural personality so far. The neck pickup is a little too warm and loose for me personally, by I might throw an A5 magnet in it to tighten and brighten it a bit.

VH II - Best neck pickup IMO. It isn't woofy at all and sounds magical by itself or in the middle position. The bridge pickup is tight and aggressive with great pick attack. I wouldn't be mad if it had a little extra body to it though. Overall, it's a great pickup set.

Abraxas - Less note clarity and top end with more mids compared to the Mule. Probably better suited for players who do more lead work and a want a smooth vocal-like tone with single notes. It can sound great, but I haven't really bonded with that set yet.

Emerald - Tighter bottom end and punchier/more aggressive in the mids than the VH II bridge. It's on the hotter side, but doesn't make things cloudy like your average high output pickup. The tight lows, present mids, and brighter highs make me want to try them in a baritone. I bet it would give you great control even with low-tuned guitars.

I think I'm going to put the VH II neck in my main LP with Mules if the A5 magnet swap doesn't do the trick.

I'm also going to order a Rebel Yell bridge pickup. My friend has one in a baritone Les Paul and it's easily the best sounding high output pickup I've ever tried. Curious to hear what it sounds like in a standard tuned guitar.
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This was great to read! Did you happen to split any of these neck pickups? I have a Cold Sweat neck that feels a bit too bright and scooped when split, and I'm looking to swap it out sometime, since I use the neck pickup in split mode a good 80% of the time, as opposed to as a full humbucker.

Or maybe I should look at swapping it out for some sort of pickup that excels primarily at single coil sounds and can occasionally mimic the humbucker sound?
 
I haven't tried splitting the coils on any of the pickups. I would email BKP and tell them what you're looking for. They're amazing at helping you find solutions for what you're looking for.

Also, has anyone made any clips with the new Recto DynaCab? I'd love to hear how you guys are using it.
 
York Audio said:
I'm still getting used to all of the pickups and their character, but these are my initial thoughts having them all installed in Les Pauls:

The Mule - My favorite bridge pickup of the bunch by a mile. It's clear, open, sounds punchy and aggressive with high gain, and plays nicely with cleans. It's the best at conveying the guitar's natural personality so far. The neck pickup is a little too warm and loose for me personally, by I might throw an A5 magnet in it to tighten and brighten it a bit.

VH II - Best neck pickup IMO. It isn't woofy at all and sounds magical by itself or in the middle position. The bridge pickup is tight and aggressive with great pick attack. I wouldn't be mad if it had a little extra body to it though. Overall, it's a great pickup set.

Abraxas - Less note clarity and top end with more mids compared to the Mule. Probably better suited for players who do more lead work and a want a smooth vocal-like tone with single notes. It can sound great, but I haven't really bonded with that set yet.

Emerald - Tighter bottom end and punchier/more aggressive in the mids than the VH II bridge. It's on the hotter side, but doesn't make things cloudy like your average high output pickup. The tight lows, present mids, and brighter highs make me want to try them in a baritone. I bet it would give you great control even with low-tuned guitars.

I think I'm going to put the VH II neck in my main LP with Mules if the A5 magnet swap doesn't do the trick.

I'm also going to order a Rebel Yell bridge pickup. My friend has one in a baritone Les Paul and it's easily the best sounding high output pickup I've ever tried. Curious to hear what it sounds like in a standard tuned guitar.
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Oh that's interesting to hear!

I've had Thornbuckers (with the Plus bridge) in my PRS CE-24 for the last several years. I like them as they are nicely balanced, but sometimes they are too polite especially in the bridge position.

I had a set of Mules in them a while back and I really liked the bridge. It was similar to the TB+ but a little more of a raw bluesy PAF tone instead of the smooth balanced tone. Talking like 10% difference or less, not night and day. Like you, I found the neck to be just a little too wooly sounding, and then the middle position tone lost some of the sparkle and quack. So I swapped back to the TB set.

I would love to try another set of Mules but don't want to spend $400 on a set of pickups. I have a set of Wolfetones (Dr V neck and Marshallhead bridge) that I swapped A4 magnets into and I call those my poor man Mules. They are a little brighter than what I remember the Mules to be but sound pretty good at half the price.

Have you ever tried the Friedman Classic pickups? I have a set of those and they are pretty cool. Another PAF style slightly overwound, kind of like how you describe the VHII. I should swap those back into my PRS at some point. I also have the Suhr SSV which are a little more scooped/aggressive compared to the TB set, but still a bit polite.

ANYWAYS, I've been really enjoying the KW pack as single mics instead of the mixes. I really like the 160-1 IR on its own or with a little bit of the 57m FOA-1 blended in for brightness to taste. That has a fuller tone than the premixed ones and seems to sound really good with all kinds of amps.
 
Jarick said:
Oh that's interesting to hear!

I've had Thornbuckers (with the Plus bridge) in my PRS CE-24 for the last several years. I like them as they are nicely balanced, but sometimes they are too polite especially in the bridge position.

I had a set of Mules in them a while back and I really liked the bridge. It was similar to the TB+ but a little more of a raw bluesy PAF tone instead of the smooth balanced tone. Talking like 10% difference or less, not night and day. Like you, I found the neck to be just a little too wooly sounding, and then the middle position tone lost some of the sparkle and quack. So I swapped back to the TB set.

I would love to try another set of Mules but don't want to spend $400 on a set of pickups. I have a set of Wolfetones (Dr V neck and Marshallhead bridge) that I swapped A4 magnets into and I call those my poor man Mules. They are a little brighter than what I remember the Mules to be but sound pretty good at half the price.

Have you ever tried the Friedman Classic pickups? I have a set of those and they are pretty cool. Another PAF style slightly overwound, kind of like how you describe the VHII. I should swap those back into my PRS at some point. I also have the Suhr SSV which are a little more scooped/aggressive compared to the TB set, but still a bit polite.

ANYWAYS, I've been really enjoying the KW pack as single mics instead of the mixes. I really like the 160-1 IR on its own or with a little bit of the 57m FOA-1 blended in for brightness to taste. That has a fuller tone than the premixed ones and seems to sound really good with all kinds of amps.
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Do you have the Friedman Classic Plus for the bridge, or are they both Classics?

It’s funny you bring those up; I just swapped my Friedman Classic Plus Bridge and Classic Neck in my tele parts guitar with Suhr SSV’s, and while I only played one service last night (I’m playing 4 tomorrow), it’ll be a good test to see how they sound in comparison. However, I did record the Friedman’s with a short basic chord progression with Justin’s preset he made for the KW pack, and then the same progression with the SSV’s. Both clips had the same strings, same pickup heights, and same patch etc.

To my findings, the Friedman's, which are lower output in spec, are actually hotter than the SSV’s, which I expected, but the Friedman’s (in this guitar) have more low end/low mid, and more upper mids, and the neck is wooly and dark, and feels a little slow under the fingers.
The SSV’s sound more balanced, but glassy, and are more immediate in response if that makes sense. The neck seems to have the same basic character as the Friedman, but a little less low mid, but good low without the boominess because the transient response of the SSV neck makes the low end make sense, where as the Friedman didn’t quite have that transient response, so it was perceived more as boomy, and would fuzz out the low end depending on the amp, whereas the SSV stays tighter. The slightly lower output of the SSV’s allow more chime and jangle than the Friedman’s, but still take gain really well on my first impressions; the 5150 iii blue 50 watt and Revv amp sounded really articulate and fast.

Thought I would just chime in on this!

I’m curious about the mule in the bridge and the VH ii in the neck too. Also curious about the Suhr Woodbucker a bit. I have a Thornbucker + (covered) in my strat parts guitar, and while it sounds nice, I’m gonna swap it for the SSV bridge because I think it will match better with the V60 LP single coils in terms of transient response, whereas the Thornbucker + seems polite in comparison to the single coils.
 
Did a quick sweep through the mics in the 4x12 Recto DynaCab.

Had 3 riffs recorded & reamped through a NAM profile of my Ceriatone King Kong 100W (profiled with my Mesa 4x12 OS Straight cabinet as the load using a Behringer GI100 box between the head and cab).

Anyway, repetitive but just so the mics stand out.

 
Hi Justin, just wanted to let you know that I really love the 212 M25 57 IR from your GoT preset. That IR sounds absolutely lovely! Is there any chance to get a full pack from this or any other 2x12 pack suited for nice rock / higher gain stuff? Really like 2x12 recently.
Cheers!
 
DropDee said:
Hi Justin, just wanted to let you know that I really love the 212 M25 57 IR from your GoT preset. That IR sounds absolutely lovely! Is there any chance to get a full pack from this or any other 2x12 pack suited for nice rock / higher gain stuff? Really like 2x12 recently.
Cheers!
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Check out the 2x12 Creambacks man, awesome pack !!
 
York Audio said:
I haven't tried splitting the coils on any of the pickups. I would email BKP and tell them what you're looking for. They're amazing at helping you find solutions for what you're looking for.
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Just want to add that if you ever get the chance to try the Polymath neck, it does a really good job in parallel for single coil-ish tones.
 
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