New Pickups: Bulldog Custom Set
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:14 pm
I've posted about this in the Diary Thread a few times, but I ordered some pickups from Bulldog earlier this year.
Bulldog is Hayden Minett. He currently works for Matamp and has previously worked for Bareknuckle. He knows his stuff.
The pickups were for my Aerodyne Tele. So a neck P-90 and a tele Bridge. I need a fair bit of versatility from this guitar. I decided to go for a P-90 that was wound as a vintage P-90, but with an extra tap to make it hotter. This would give me a nice thick lead tone as and when I needed it. The tricky bit was going to be matching a bridge pickup to it. After a few emails, Hayden had the idea of putting an extra tap on the bridge too. So this is something around his usual Iceman pickup, with an extra tap to make it stand up to the P-90 a bit better.
I was looking forward to the P-90 the most, as I generally like big, thick, dark tones. For me, the bridge pickup was mostly about solving the problem of something having to go there. The P-90 sounds great, but the bridge pickup has totally blown me away. I first noticed how twangy it was, but after a bit of adjustments, it's a bit tamer. The incredible thing is the amount of low end, though. It sounds huuuge. Really impressed.
I can't hear a massive difference between the taps on the neck pickup. This sounds as huge and thick and warm as I was expecting.
The middle setting is quackier than I would have expected, or than I would really like. I think this will be a matter of continuing to play with heights etc and getting balances right. Pretty sure it's not a phase issue...
Going to have to spend quite a bit of time relearning my amp now.
Anyway, a demo. This is my Matamp 1224, a Matamp 412 with G12H75 Creambacks, and a Behringer XM8500 (SM58 clone) as the mic.
First time every micing a guitar amp. My ears hurt.
0'00 - 1'10" - Bridge pickup, low output tap (rhythm) (clean)
1'10 - 2'20" - Bridge pickup, high output tap (rhythm) (clean)
2'20" - 3'35" - Bridge pickup with some volume rolled off, both taps (lead) (clean)
3'35" - 4'15" - Neck pickup, low output tap, full volume (rhythm) (clean)
4'15" - 4'45" - Neck pickup, low output tap, volume rolled off (rhythm) (clean)
4'45" - 5'10" - Neck pickup, high output tap, full volume (rhythm) (clean)
5'10" - 5'25" - Neck pickup, high output tap, volume rolled off (rhythm) (clean)
5'25" - 6'40" - Neck pickup, various settings (lead) (clean)
6'40" - 8'10" - Both pickups, various settings (rhythm) (clean)
8'10" - 9'50" - Bridge pickup, various settings (rhythm) (overdrive)
9'50" - 12'00" - Neck pickup, various settings (rhythm and lead) (overdrive)
12'00" - 13'05" - Bridge pickup, low output tap (rhythm) (heavy overdrive)
13'05" - 14'25" - Bridge pickup, high output tap (rhythm) (heavy overdrive)
14'25" 15'00" - Neck pickup, high output tap (lead) (heavy overdrive)
Bulldog is Hayden Minett. He currently works for Matamp and has previously worked for Bareknuckle. He knows his stuff.
The pickups were for my Aerodyne Tele. So a neck P-90 and a tele Bridge. I need a fair bit of versatility from this guitar. I decided to go for a P-90 that was wound as a vintage P-90, but with an extra tap to make it hotter. This would give me a nice thick lead tone as and when I needed it. The tricky bit was going to be matching a bridge pickup to it. After a few emails, Hayden had the idea of putting an extra tap on the bridge too. So this is something around his usual Iceman pickup, with an extra tap to make it stand up to the P-90 a bit better.
I was looking forward to the P-90 the most, as I generally like big, thick, dark tones. For me, the bridge pickup was mostly about solving the problem of something having to go there. The P-90 sounds great, but the bridge pickup has totally blown me away. I first noticed how twangy it was, but after a bit of adjustments, it's a bit tamer. The incredible thing is the amount of low end, though. It sounds huuuge. Really impressed.
I can't hear a massive difference between the taps on the neck pickup. This sounds as huge and thick and warm as I was expecting.
The middle setting is quackier than I would have expected, or than I would really like. I think this will be a matter of continuing to play with heights etc and getting balances right. Pretty sure it's not a phase issue...
Going to have to spend quite a bit of time relearning my amp now.
Anyway, a demo. This is my Matamp 1224, a Matamp 412 with G12H75 Creambacks, and a Behringer XM8500 (SM58 clone) as the mic.
First time every micing a guitar amp. My ears hurt.
0'00 - 1'10" - Bridge pickup, low output tap (rhythm) (clean)
1'10 - 2'20" - Bridge pickup, high output tap (rhythm) (clean)
2'20" - 3'35" - Bridge pickup with some volume rolled off, both taps (lead) (clean)
3'35" - 4'15" - Neck pickup, low output tap, full volume (rhythm) (clean)
4'15" - 4'45" - Neck pickup, low output tap, volume rolled off (rhythm) (clean)
4'45" - 5'10" - Neck pickup, high output tap, full volume (rhythm) (clean)
5'10" - 5'25" - Neck pickup, high output tap, volume rolled off (rhythm) (clean)
5'25" - 6'40" - Neck pickup, various settings (lead) (clean)
6'40" - 8'10" - Both pickups, various settings (rhythm) (clean)
8'10" - 9'50" - Bridge pickup, various settings (rhythm) (overdrive)
9'50" - 12'00" - Neck pickup, various settings (rhythm and lead) (overdrive)
12'00" - 13'05" - Bridge pickup, low output tap (rhythm) (heavy overdrive)
13'05" - 14'25" - Bridge pickup, high output tap (rhythm) (heavy overdrive)
14'25" 15'00" - Neck pickup, high output tap (lead) (heavy overdrive)