General Gear and Tab Season IV: Can it play barre chords?

[cutonio]

Did someone try the TC Electronic Dark Matter ? I was interested since it's very cheap and I saw it in the MUSEum recently. Is it any good ?

 

I'm now tired of my EHX Soul Food, and I find the Boss BD2 not natural sounding when the gain is at 10 o'clock.

 

I already have the Mooer Black Secret as a distortion, but I don't know if it's similar to the Dark Matter.

[Fish Luke]

Did someone try the TC Electronic Dark Matter ? I was interested since it's very cheap and I saw it in the MUSEum recently. Is it any good ?

 

I'm now tired of my EHX Soul Food, and I find the Boss BD2 not natural sounding when the gain is at 10 o'clock.

 

I already have the Mooer Black Secret as a distortion, but I don't know if it's similar to the Dark Matter.

 

Check this video

 

Near the end the dark matter sounds pretty good to me so I'm gonna get one to try it out as they're so cheap!

 

As a replacement for overdrive mojomojo (also in video) is more suitable as the dark matter is a distortion.

 

Also found today Electro Harmonix OD Glove which may be similar, might get both and compare.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Fish Luke

[Stocking]

The Holy Diver, is not constructed anything like either of the MBK pickups. It's wound with 44AWG wire, so in theory for the same mV output level would produce a darker pickup.

 

I know, I was just saying he's been pushing them since of my new interest in BareKnuckles:D

 

Also found today Electro Harmonix OD Glove which may be similar, might get both and compare.

 

I love the Glove. I almost debated getting one but went for the upper class EHXtortion instead.

[heyjackk]

Tried uploading the MBK3 test but apparently Madness is copyrighted on soundcloud so I'll have to try upload it somewhere else lmao

[Cider]

Tried uploading the MBK3 test but apparently Madness is copyrighted on soundcloud so I'll have to try upload it somewhere else lmao

 

Woot! Thank you. I never used Soundcloud before - how fast did they take it down?

 

Liking the case, I'm a fan of rectangle cases myself, so I'm gonna see if I won't jus tbuy one of those for around 50-60 bucks and put subtle anime references on it

Thanks! I was going to get a rectangle TKL or SKB myself but I couldn't pass up on this Hiscox. Gonna be doing lots of moving in the next few years so I'm glad I have a flight case for each of the guitars now (don't worry I'm going to bubble wrap and ship them )

 

As for the MBK-2 and 3 I recommend checking out clips for the Bare Knuckle Nailbomb and the Aftermath ( respectively) I'm 99% sure the Manson versions are those pickups, maybe ever so slightly different ( if at all) and with a Manson cover. My friend who's worked with Bare Knuckle and has been trying to get me to take a pair of Holy Divers off his hands (which I just might) has told me they're really similar.

Hm, I thought I saw a few posts saying the the MBK-2 and Nailbomb differ slightly, and the MBK-3 is totally different from other BKP pickups. The thing about clips from other people is that they don't play Bellarz songs I can't really tell

 

also did you check out the Lace Sensor HG-1500? I remember linking some neck single coil sized pickups to you, but I can't seem to recall if you wanted it to be a humbucker or just wanted it not to hum in general.

I have not checked out the Lace Sensor. I finally replied to the neck pickups a few days ago on the Cort thread, my bad for the late reply. I honestly don't even know if I need a neck pickup - I use the bridge way more. What do you guys use your neck for?

 

The Holy Diver, is not constructed anything like either of the MBK pickups. It's wound with 44AWG wire, so in theory for the same mV output level would produce a darker pickup.

Jaicen, I see that BKP dealers sell the pickups with different post sizes and magnets. What do I want?

[jonbrown]

I have not checked out the Lace Sensor. I finally replied to the neck pickups a few days ago on the Cort thread, my bad for the late reply. I honestly don't even know if I need a neck pickup - I use the bridge way more. What do you guys use your neck for?

 

Squeeling wankery.

The sustainiac neck sound is actually really nice. Idk if mansons wired it to sound like a single coil or HB for me but it sounds a LOT smoother and brighter than both of the neck pups in my strats.

[heyjackk]

Woot! Thank you. I never used Soundcloud before - how fast did they take it down?

 

 

0.13 seconds haha, I've just put a pitch shifter on the Madness section to make it a semi tone lower

 

Here you go Cider, I can do some more later but I only had a spare half an hour (I rushed a little bit so excuse my playing at times) so could only get a couple of songs into it. https://soundcloud.com/jack-hallows/mbk3

 

Dead Inside Solo - MBK3 on a VH4 with fuzz

Dead Inside verses - MBK3 on a fender '59 with reverb

 

Madness Solo - MBK3 and Sustainiac blended in middle position on same preset as Dead Inside just with gain backed off a little bit

Madness Cleans - MBK3 on same preset as Dead Inside cleans except with added chorus

 

Plug In Baby - MBK3 with a marshall cranked and a little fuzz - the MBK3 reacts so much nicer to fuzz than the MBK2

Plug In Baby "cleans" - MBK3 blended with sutainiac in middle position AC20 with a mid boost and reverb

 

Invincible cleans first half - MBK3 on a Hiwatt and Reverb

Invincible cleans second half - MBK3 and sustainiac blended in middle position on a Hiwatt with reverb and delay (personally one of my favourite presets)

 

As you can kind of hear in the soundcloud clip, I prefer the sound of the MBK3 blended with the sustainiac when clean to the MBK3 by itself. It's a little tinny when clean by itself. Distorted however it's miles better (in my opinion) than the MBK2 as it blends really well with fuzz distortions and that's what I like to use mostly

[Stocking]

Hm, I thought I saw a few posts saying the the MBK-2 and Nailbomb differ slightly, and the MBK-3 is totally different from other BKP pickups. The thing about clips from other people is that they don't play Bellarz songs I can't really tell

 

Most pickups are going to vary slightly but they're the same basis, the MBK-2 set is equivalent give or take a tiny amount of tweaking to the Nailbomb/Mississippi Queen set, and the MBK-3 set is more or less equivalent to the Aftermath. If they arent the same pickup, they're extremely closely related, like i said.

 

I have not checked out the Lace Sensor. I finally replied to the neck pickups a few days ago on the Cort thread, my bad for the late reply. I honestly don't even know if I need a neck pickup - I use the bridge way more. What do you guys use your neck for?

Well, I play lots of instrumental prog and such so I use my neck for the soaring lead type sounds for melodies and a lot of times blended with bridge for cleans. It's no problem for the late reply, no big deal. And yeah I use the bridge way more, but I just like the idea of being prepared in a sense, that if I ever find myself needing a specific tone, I have the specific way to get in on the guitar - though I actually enjoy playing live shows and what not so I'm a bit biased.

 

Squeeling wankery.

The sustainiac neck sound is actually really nice. Idk if mansons wired it to sound like a single coil or HB for me but it sounds a LOT smoother and brighter than both of the neck pups in my strats.

 

I can't wait to get mine Just gotta figure out if I want the switches or the pot, I don't have a drill at home and I cba to pay some dude $75+ and wait another week for them to be done with my guitar....

[Cider]

0.13 seconds haha, I've just put a pitch shifter on the Madness section to make it a semi tone lower

 

Here you go Cider, I can do some more later but I only had a spare half an hour (I rushed a little bit so excuse my playing at times) so could only get a couple of songs into it. https://soundcloud.com/jack-hallows/mbk3

 

Dead Inside Solo - MBK3 on a VH4 with fuzz

Dead Inside verses - MBK3 on a fender '59 with reverb

 

Madness Solo - MBK3 and Sustainiac blended in middle position on same preset as Dead Inside just with gain backed off a little bit

Madness Cleans - MBK3 on same preset as Dead Inside cleans except with added chorus

 

Plug In Baby - MBK3 with a marshall cranked and a little fuzz - the MBK3 reacts so much nicer to fuzz than the MBK2

Plug In Baby "cleans" - MBK3 blended with sutainiac in middle position AC20 with a mid boost and reverb

 

Invincible cleans first half - MBK3 on a Hiwatt and Reverb

Invincible cleans second half - MBK3 and sustainiac blended in middle position on a Hiwatt with reverb and delay (personally one of my favourite presets)

 

As you can kind of hear in the soundcloud clip, I prefer the sound of the MBK3 blended with the sustainiac when clean to the MBK3 by itself. It's a little tinny when clean by itself. Distorted however it's miles better (in my opinion) than the MBK2 as it blends really well with fuzz distortions and that's what I like to use mostly

 

Wow, Jack, thank you so so much. That was great. I really appreciate the effort you put into this.

You are right, the MBK3 does sound great distorted *__* I actually loved the clean parts on Invincible as well.

Thanks a lot again!

[heyjackk]

Wow, Jack, thank you so so much. That was great. I really appreciate the effort you put into this.

You are right, the MBK3 does sound great distorted *__* I actually loved the clean parts on Invincible as well.

Thanks a lot again!

 

Yeah it sounds amazing with fuzz.

 

For a more expanded reference here's a list of Muse songs I play regularly on either of my guitars with either pick up when either at home playing by myself to a 'setlist' for practise or in a band.

 

Glitter Manson (MBK3)

 

Standard Tuning: Supermassive Black Hole, Hysteria, Resistance (gives it some balls lmao), Muscle Museum, Showbiz, Escape, Panic Station, Unsustainable, Starlight (for the visual gimmick of stars on the guitar), Plug In Baby, Invincible (solo sounds mega and the whammy reacts better with the MBK3?), Dark Shines

 

Drop D: New Born, MK Ultra, Unnatural Selection, Liquid State,

 

Drop C: Dead Inside

 

Anything Else: Survival, Citizen Erased, The Globalist (the heavy part)

 

Black Manson (MBK2)

 

Standard: Knights of Cydonia (don't have a tremolo bar guitar sighs), Mercy, Madness (the clean stuff at the end just sounds better), Time Is Running Out

 

Drop D: Stockholm Syndrome (It sounds mega with an MBK3 but I get carried away sometimes and don't wanna hurt my baby), Psycho, The Handler, Reapers (all sound just more Matt on an MBK2 I guess), Hyper Music (it needs a cleaner distortion, something the MBK3 struggles with), Micro Cuts (the clean verses sound better with an MBK2), Defector (I like it to be a little more tinny than fuzzy)

 

Drop C: Map of the Problematique (reacts better with the sequencer on the axe fx)

 

Anything else: Uprising (MBK2 sounds better with again, slightly tinny distortions), The Globalist (the slide part)

 

Again this is just personal preference and when I play some of those with a band it also depends on what allows me to make as little guitar switches as possible because I'm lazy lmao. Also yep, I play a lot of Muse I know haha.

[Cider]

Yeah it sounds amazing with fuzz.

 

For a more expanded reference here's a list of Muse songs I play regularly on either of my guitars with either pick up when either at home playing by myself to a 'setlist' for practise or in a band.

 

Glitter Manson (MBK3)

 

Standard Tuning: Supermassive Black Hole, Hysteria, Resistance (gives it some balls lmao), Muscle Museum, Showbiz, Escape, Panic Station, Unsustainable, Starlight (for the visual gimmick of stars on the guitar), Plug In Baby, Invincible (solo sounds mega and the whammy reacts better with the MBK3?), Dark Shines

 

Drop D: New Born, MK Ultra, Unnatural Selection, Liquid State,

 

Drop C: Dead Inside

 

Anything Else: Survival, Citizen Erased, The Globalist (the heavy part)

 

Black Manson (MBK2)

 

Standard: Knights of Cydonia (don't have a tremolo bar guitar sighs), Mercy, Madness (the clean stuff at the end just sounds better), Time Is Running Out

 

Drop D: Stockholm Syndrome (It sounds mega with an MBK3 but I get carried away sometimes and don't wanna hurt my baby), Psycho, The Handler, Reapers (all sound just more Matt on an MBK2 I guess), Hyper Music (it needs a cleaner distortion, something the MBK3 struggles with), Micro Cuts (the clean verses sound better with an MBK2), Defector (I like it to be a little more tinny than fuzzy)

 

Drop C: Map of the Problematique (reacts better with the sequencer on the axe fx)

 

Anything else: Uprising (MBK2 sounds better with again, slightly tinny distortions), The Globalist (the slide part)

 

Again this is just personal preference and when I play some of those with a band it also depends on what allows me to make as little guitar switches as possible because I'm lazy lmao. Also yep, I play a lot of Muse I know haha.

 

Just listened to the clip again with my good headphones. God, I can't get over how good this pickup is. Seems to me like you like old Muse with the MBK3 and new Muse MBK2 better? I really like the 3 with fuzz. Does the 2 not play as nice with fuzz and distortion?

[heyjackk]

Just listened to the clip again with my good headphones. God, I can't get over how good this pickup is. Seems to me like you like old Muse with the MBK3 and new Muse MBK2 better? I really like the 3 with fuzz. Does the 2 not play as nice with fuzz and distortion?

 

In terms of poppier songs yeah. I think it's just because Matt's used guitars with an MBK2 in for the last couple of album tours and I like being able to match his tones.

 

The 2 just doesn't pack as much of a punch with it. The 3 is not necessarily heavier but it responds to fuzz better.

[Cider]

In terms of poppier songs yeah. I think it's just because Matt's used guitars with an MBK2 in for the last couple of album tours and I like being able to match his tones.

 

The 2 just doesn't pack as much of a punch with it. The 3 is not necessarily heavier but it responds to fuzz better.

 

Hmm, what did Matt use before the MBK-2? The Nailbomb? I

 

I couldn't really control the old Fuzz Factory so I sold it (looks like my Reverb buyer loves it). What else can I get for Bellarz fuzz that I can tame?

 

Or should I just get one of those Line 6 HD like you guys? How do the presets work anyway - would that by itself be enough

[jonbrown]

Update: I managed to partially get close to the filtered tone of that stockholm outro I linked a couple posts ago. I actually didn't have to do anything special at all. Just rolled my tone knob on my mbc all the way down to 0 (MBK2) and I pretty much nailed it with the patch I have on my pod. For the jam outros though I have a synth effect set up to give it that weird harmony sound, but otherwise for pretty much every current distortion MB uses that sounds like it has a filter effect on it, tone on 0 nails it perfectly.

 

Considering the tone knob is pretty much a high-pass filter, I just gotta figure out how to replicate it with the pod's EQ filter cuz with the tone on 0, sustainer squeeling wankery doesn't work on the higher strings

 

Don't have any sound clips or the capability of recording anything so I guess it's a Soldano

 

The tweaking still continues for the knights super fuzz however

[Stocking]

Hmm, what did Matt use before the MBK-2? The Nailbomb? I

 

I couldn't really control the old Fuzz Factory so I sold it (looks like my Reverb buyer loves it). What else can I get for Bellarz fuzz that I can tame?

 

Or should I just get one of those Line 6 HD like you guys? How do the presets work anyway - would that by itself be enough

I'm 99% sure he used a Nailbomb which is why the MBK-2 sounds identical

 

I personally love the Devi Ever Hyperion for my Muse tones - I wish I had some recordings of it but alas I dont

 

A lot of Multi-effects nowadays like the POD HD and the RP1000 are going to be great, but since it seems like every one here has the POD that might be better to share patches

[Witz]

Update: I managed to partially get close to the filtered tone of that stockholm outro I linked a couple posts ago. I actually didn't have to do anything special at all. Just rolled my tone knob on my mbc all the way down to 0 (MBK2) and I pretty much nailed it with the patch I have on my pod. For the jam outros though I have a synth effect set up to give it that weird harmony sound, but otherwise for pretty much every current distortion MB uses that sounds like it has a filter effect on it, tone on 0 nails it perfectly.

 

Considering the tone knob is pretty much a high-pass filter, I just gotta figure out how to replicate it with the pod's EQ filter cuz with the tone on 0, sustainer squeeling wankery doesn't work on the higher strings

 

Don't have any sound clips or the capability of recording anything so I guess it's a Soldano

 

The tweaking still continues for the knights super fuzz however

 

Brilliant! I'm hoping to get your super fuzz tone loaded up today, I've been so busy with with I haven't picked my guitar up this week

[nerd herd]

Hmm, what did Matt use before the MBK-2? The Nailbomb?

 

He's used nailbombs/ MBK-2s since BH&R, apart from MBK-3s/ P90s is a couple of guitars. Before that he used Kent Armstrong & Rio Grande pickups I think.

[Cider]

He's used nailbombs/ MBK-2s since BH&R, apart from MBK-3s/ P90s is a couple of guitars. Before that he used Kent Armstrong & Rio Grande pickups I think.

 

Cool! Thank you

 

Question, gear heads: How does one abuse a pickup enough for it to look like this? Bake it? (idk if it's the lighting but it looks seriously deformed to me)

[Witz]

Cool! Thank you

 

Question, gear heads: How does one abuse a pickup enough for it to look like this? Bake it? (idk if it's the lighting but it looks seriously deformed to me)

 

Fire

 

But seriously I actually suspect that has been in a fire

[james90]

It couldn't handle the djent.

 

I bet this guy goes through several pickups a year because of that. Maybe he should invest in some covered ones.

[james90]

He's used nailbombs/ MBK-2s since BH&R, apart from MBK-3s/ P90s is a couple of guitars. Before that he used Kent Armstrong & Rio Grande pickups I think.

 

yeah. he used the rio grande crunch box for the bridge pickup in some of them (laser, mirror, and bomber)

 

All had them switched out for some BKPs though.

[heyjackk]

Update: I managed to partially get close to the filtered tone of that stockholm outro I linked a couple posts ago. I actually didn't have to do anything special at all. Just rolled my tone knob on my mbc all the way down to 0 (MBK2) and I pretty much nailed it with the patch I have on my pod. For the jam outros though I have a synth effect set up to give it that weird harmony sound, but otherwise for pretty much every current distortion MB uses that sounds like it has a filter effect on it, tone on 0 nails it perfectly.

 

Considering the tone knob is pretty much a high-pass filter, I just gotta figure out how to replicate it with the pod's EQ filter cuz with the tone on 0, sustainer squeeling wankery doesn't work on the higher strings

 

Don't have any sound clips or the capability of recording anything so I guess it's a Soldano

 

The tweaking still continues for the knights super fuzz however

 

nice! I'm gonna have a go on the axe fx when this bout of food poisoning naffs off!

[Cider]

nice! I'm gonna have a go on the axe fx when this bout of food poisoning naffs off!

aw get better Did you get the Axe FX?

 

Someone tell me the difference between the kill switch on the MA's and the kill button on the Cort. I kind of hate the button, but idk how the kill switch works. Is it a 3 way toggle or what?

[heyjackk]

aw get better Did you get the Axe FX?

 

Someone tell me the difference between the kill switch on the MA's and the kill button on the Cort. I kind of hate the button, but idk how the kill switch works. Is it a 3 way toggle or what?

 

I've had one for about a year now haha.

 

Kill switch is a three way toggle that kills the sound in the middle position

[james90]

Forgot to ask this before, but

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQIVBKaIW5k

 

would the settings on his axe FX/kemper/whatever be causing that feedback at the beginning?

 

I don't think it was the guitar, because he was using a different one a couple nights after and it was doing the same thing. maybe it was to give a more pronounced effect when he's breaking stuff, sort of like the collapsable guitar from a few years back?