# Bareknuckle Impulse Pickups



## noob_pwn

Hey guys,

Haven't seen a thread on here about these new pickups yet so I thought I'd start one myself.
About a year ago Tim approached me about doing a signature pickup set. These are finally about to come out now and I'm very excited about it

They will be both a HS and HH set available. Both humbuckers use A5 magnets and the single uses a ceramic. All 3 use a blade design like the blackhawk. Immediately available in 6 & 7 string format and 7 string soapbar format with hopefully an 8 string version to come.

While they look just like the blackhawks and cobras, looks can be deceiving! These babies have been designed from the ground up to suit baritone guitars and for guys that use big strings by myself. The neutral midrange we went for has meant that they work well in just about any guitar I've tried as a result though because no frequencies really stick out. The thing I love about them the most is while they handle that low tuned high gain stuff well with ease, they also excel at just about anything else you throw at them, especially mid-gain tones which is something that not many pickups geared towards this purpose can do. They're not really voiced as a "Djent" pickup set at all.

Output wise, to my ears they're about 20% cooler than the blackhawks. 

The impulse bridge is c-hawk meets the rebel yell for everything high mids up and c-hawk meets emerald from everything below that. Retains the compression and "glue" you get in the blackhawks. It will give you controlled highs and lows which can be hard to control in a baritone, a consistent attack across all strings and plenty of thickness and sustain while remaining clear enough. It is by far the tightest sounding alnico I've ever heard.

The neck single coil is like none I've really heard before. It's got an extremely present and thick midrange with rolled off presence almost like a P90. Just enough bite without being harsh, plenty of cut and works great with both 500k and 250k pots. Enough power to keep up with the bridge and heaps of grind. The low end is big enough to capture the way a detuned guitar sounds but isn't boomy and is very tight. Never gets lost behind effects and has a relatively low noise floor.

The neck humbucker is like a cross between the blackhawk and VHII. It uses an asymmetric coil design to give great articulation, I wanted to capture that aspect of the single coil. It screams on lead tones, sustains for days and cleans up very well. Like both the bridge humbucker and neck single it also covers breakup tones very nicely. Sounds to my ears about as hot as the single. Split tones are unreal on this one.

Originally this was only going to be a HS set as that's my preference but I've just given Tim the green light on the neck humbucker version too with the latest prototype. I've done a few clips of the HS set for you guys but haven't been able to do this for the neck humbucker yet. Guitar i used is my seafoam green Jackson B7 pictured at the bottom of this post (27" scale, bolt on maple neck/ebony board, alder body with maple top, 550k bridge vol, 280k neck vol tuned F, A#, F, A#, D#, G, C with 12-82 kalium strings).

https://soundcloud.com/josh-smith-965110242/sets/bareknuckle-impulse-demos


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## chassless

wow, these things ooze clarity! interesting bunch.


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## pkgitar

They sound awesome! I came across your "me and my guitar" video with Total Guitar and you struck me as a stand up guy with a lot of detailed knowledge of your guitar(s). Definitely intrigued.


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## TommyG

The Chug sounds really good....


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## giwrgos02

Every single sample sound so smooth and unique. These tones are so well made, they are treasure man... 

Have you done any post processing though?


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## RustInPeace

Everything sounds awesome, especially the neck single coil.... except for those chugs. Im just not into the modern djenty tones.


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## AkiraSpectrum

sounds wicked!


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## coffeeflush

There was nothing in the bare knuckle bunch that was nuetral, before this. Now I am finally interested. 
the pickups sound awesome.


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## noob_pwn

giwrgos02 said:


> Every single sample sound so smooth and unique. These tones are so well made, they are treasure man...
> 
> Have you done any post processing though?



Just a bit of EQ which is no different to what I would do live


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## katsumura78

How do these sound on a guitar that's not tuned so low or baritone scale?


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## noob_pwn

katsumura78 said:


> How do these sound on a guitar that's not tuned so low or baritone scale?



pretty nice to my ears, they're just a very neutral, balanced sounding set of pickups. The low end gets chunkier on shorter scale guitars so you can get a lot more juice out of your lower notes than you would on a baritone


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## giwrgos02

I guess John has tried them too, right? What was his opinion about them? Is he gonna put them on his signature guitar, since they were designed especially for baritone guitars?


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## noob_pwn

giwrgos02 said:


> I guess John has tried them too, right? What was his opinion about them? Is he gonna put them on his signature guitar, since they were designed especially for baritone guitars?



Jon's one of those if it's not broke don't try and fix it sort of dudes. He's taken a lot of convincing to get the Blackhawks out of one of his guitars because they work great but I've finally talked him into trying these, will be dropping a set into one of his guitars shortly. It's hard for him to judge how these sound without hearing them in one of his axes because my jacksons sound pretty different.


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## Hey_Im_FinN

Just out of curiosity, what does your bass player tune to?


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## noob_pwn

Hey_Im_FinN said:


> Just out of curiosity, what does your bass player tune to?



He tunes to F, A#, F, A#, D# and G#,D#,G#,C#, F.


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## Hey_Im_FinN

noob_pwn said:


> He tunes to F, A#, F, A#, D# and G#,D#,G#,C#, F.



Down an octave from the guitars?


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## Lemons

Cheers for taking the time to do some clips man, I might have to try out a set when the humbucker neck version is released


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## noob_pwn

Hey_Im_FinN said:


> Down an octave from the guitars?



Correct! He's not always playing those lowest notes though, especially in the F tuning.


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## noob_pwn

Lemons said:


> Cheers for taking the time to do some clips man, I might have to try out a set when the humbucker neck version is released



My pleasure mate!


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## JacobGudge123

Sound fantastic! Seriously considering getting a set of these installed in my ESP LTD SCT-607B. Out of curiosity what are the individual gauges on that Kalium 12-82 set? Thinking of trying those strings out at some point


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## noob_pwn

JacobGudge123 said:


> Sound fantastic! Seriously considering getting a set of these installed in my ESP LTD SCT-607B. Out of curiosity what are the individual gauges on that Kalium 12-82 set? Thinking of trying those strings out at some point



I think it's this, (don't quote me on it)

12p,16p,22p, 34, 44, 64, 82


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## Guamskyy

Hey Josh, what inspired you to use your current tuning? I see it is a drop tuning variant but with two major 3rd intervals on the 3rd and 2nd string.

Aside from that, your new set looks very cool and I'd be very interested in trying them out.


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## noob_pwn

Guamskyy said:


> Hey Josh, what inspired you to use your current tuning? I see it is a drop tuning variant but with two major 3rd intervals on the 3rd and 2nd string.
> 
> Aside from that, your new set looks very cool and I'd be very interested in trying them out.



Hey mate,
To be honest with you we found that F tuning through experimenting, we would play some songs in drop A# on 6 strings a long time ago. When we decided we wanted to move to 7's we thought we'd try adding a lower string to that tuning, so we'd still be able to cover old material. A low F made a lot of practical sense, and it's a style of tuning I've seen a few guys use before like Devin Townsend.


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## Guamskyy

noob_pwn said:


> Hey mate,
> To be honest with you we found that F tuning through experimenting, we would play some songs in drop A# on 6 strings a long time ago. When we decided we wanted to move to 7's we thought we'd try adding a lower string to that tuning, so we'd still be able to cover old material. A low F made a lot of practical sense, and it's a style of tuning I've seen a few guys use before like Devin Townsend.



Ah thanks for pointing that out, I just realized now that it is drop A# on a 6.


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## giwrgos02

Hey Josh,

I'm in love with that "Bridge Breakup" tone. Could you please tell me what did you use for it? Which amp/cab, pedals and effects? I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me! )


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## noob_pwn

giwrgos02 said:


> Hey Josh,
> 
> I'm in love with that "Bridge Breakup" tone. Could you please tell me what did you use for it? Which amp/cab, pedals and effects? I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me! )



Hey mate,
It's just the fender twin stock kemper profile, a seymour duncan 805 and my strymon timeine/bigsky


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## katsumura78

How soon will we be able to order these? I have a JPXI ready for a new set of pickups since I didn't get along with the A/O set. Should I give BKP a call tomorrow?


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## azyat

That's really cool!
I'll be on the lookout for these new pups for sure


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## noob_pwn

katsumura78 said:


> How soon will we be able to order these? I have a JPXI ready for a new set of pickups since I didn't get along with the A/O set. Should I give BKP a call tomorrow?



I would assume they'll be online within the next week or so, Tim said a few days ago he was setting up the site for them. I'm sure if you phoned in they could fill you in, prototypes are finalized so there's no reason that they couldn't ship yet afaik.


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## katsumura78

noob_pwn said:


> I would assume they'll be online within the next week or so, Tim said a few days ago he was setting up the site for them. I'm sure if you phoned in they could fill you in, prototypes are finalized so there's no reason that they couldn't ship yet afaik.




Sweet ! Perfect timing actually, I'll order those once they hit the website. Any other video/sound demos coming out ? The ones you posted were pretty cool.


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## AboutBlank

Online and ordered.

What I not exactly get is that the Radiator option is 20 GBP more than the same option for the Black Hawks...

(I'm totally aware that a sig pickup is a little bit more pricey, in this case 5GBP compared to the Black Hawk, but the Radiator thingy is strange^^)

Anyway, stoked they are released and excited to put them in my guitar.


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## Blytheryn

Just saw that they come available as 6 string versions too. Very cool. I might have to pick up a set, because to be honest these are the first BKP's to pique my interest.


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## chassless

^ gotta agree. I'd love to hear more clips


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## noob_pwn

chassless said:


> ^ gotta agree. I'd love to hear more clips



I'll definitely make a few more when I'm off tour next, and make sure to do some with the neck humbucker.


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## guy in latvia

Firstly, congrats Josh, you've earned it!

I'm actually quite interested in the single coil and how it compares to SD hotrails? Can it be used to get an Iron Maiden type lead tone? Also, I don't see it available on the BKP site, when will it be available?


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## AboutBlank

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers&sub=contemporary&pickup=impulse

Edit: Sorry, you're looking for the singlecoil...


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## noob_pwn

guy in latvia said:


> Firstly, congrats Josh, you've earned it!
> 
> I'm actually quite interested in the single coil and how it compares to SD hotrails? Can it be used to get an Iron Maiden type lead tone? Also, I don't see it available on the BKP site, when will it be available?



Hey mate, I can check in, should be out very soon and good to see you around these parts and hear from you! I haven't used the hotrails so can't comment but they have a very full and flat midrange, smooth top end and sound very thick. A lot of low mid for a single coil.

I'm sure if you email Tim inquiring about a set he'll be able to sort you out, they may just not have updated the site for it yet.


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## guy in latvia

^Thanks for the info!

Considering ordering an HSS set for my Caparison TAT.


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## Silence2-38554

Hey Josh, I've been trying to email the BKP dudes about some comparisons but I figure I might as well ask you since they're YOUR pickups. To date, the Juggernaut and Alnico Black Hawk have been my favorite bridge pickups. Can you weigh in with some comparison on how the Impulse bridge compares to these two? Thanks!


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## noob_pwn

Silence2-38554 said:


> Hey Josh, I've been trying to email the BKP dudes about some comparisons but I figure I might as well ask you since they're YOUR pickups. To date, the Juggernaut and Alnico Black Hawk have been my favorite bridge pickups. Can you weigh in with some comparison on how the Impulse bridge compares to these two? Thanks!



I haven't spent a whole lot of time with the juggs. They seem to have an accentuated pick attack and upper mid & low end where the impulses are fairly flat and neutral everywhere. The neck is an asymmetric wind on the impulse so has a bit more of a single coil flavour and it's a bit more scooped. The impulses are a bit more compressed and not so touch sensitive. Obviously the blade design contributes a fair bit to a different sound too.

The impulses have less output than the Blackhawks. Directly comparing to the A5 bridge it has less low mids and tighter lows, highs sound thicker and warmer, a bit clearer overall. The neck is brighter and more scooped than the Blackhawk neck with a lot less low-mid.


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## Pftpdrummer17

Hey Josh, what would work better for a neck pickup the Impulse or Black Hawk. I already have a Black Hawk bridge pickup and am trying to see what would work best with it for the neck position.


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## noob_pwn

Pftpdrummer17 said:


> Hey Josh, what would work better for a neck pickup the Impulse or Black Hawk. I already have a Black Hawk bridge pickup and am trying to see what would work best with it for the neck position.



They're both pretty different, if you have the bridge pickup sitting quite low you'll be able to get the impulse to match output if you have it fairly close to the strings. The impulse is a fair bit brighter sounding and a bit scooped, highs are a bit warmer and there's less low mid. It's a bit more articulate. Really comes down to what you prefer


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## HeadofaHessian

Any chance at getting some clips of the impulses in jons guitar? Really contemplating throwing a set in mine, hearing them in jons guitar would help me make a descision! (Tour the US ASAP!!!)


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## noob_pwn

HeadofaHessian said:


> Any chance at getting some clips of the impulses in jons guitar? Really contemplating throwing a set in mine, hearing them in jons guitar would help me make a descision! (Tour the US ASAP!!!)



I used one of Jon's sig guitars as a tester for these, it worked really, really well. A little bit bit darker sounding than my Jacksons and with a fuller bottom end.


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## vansinn

giwrgos02 said:


> ..Could you please tell me what did you use for it? Which amp/cab, pedals and effects? I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me! )



Yep, I agree on the gear info. These pups sounds really neat, so I too would like some gear info to better judge the resulting tone.
Cheers mate, neat info


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## noob_pwn

vansinn said:


> Yep, I agree on the gear info. These pups sounds really neat, so I too would like some gear info to better judge the resulting tone.
> Cheers mate, neat info



No worries.

Before I continue, for those asking about the single coils, they are to be officially released shortly. If you really want to get your hands on some in the time being just email BKP and they'll be more than happy to wind them for you.

All these clips use the pictured Jackson B7 from the OP. Middle position is wired to use the bridge inner coil and hum cancel with the neck. Electronics are a 550k bridge volume pot and 280k neck volume pot wired with a dimarzio EP1111 switch. Strings are kalium 12-82 and the scale length is 27"

So "chug" is double tracked using a blend of a 6505 and a 100w 5150III both going into separate orange V30 2x12" cabs (I can't remember what mics were used). Bridge pickup only. We recorded using both amps simultaneously. 

Everything else was single tracked using my live rig which is based around a kemper and a bunch of pedals. All the delays are a strymon timeline, reverbs are a strymon bigsky and modulation is a strymon mobius. I'm pretty sure all the profiles are stock ones.

"Bridge breakup" uses a fender deluxe profile with a little bit of compression before the amp on the kemper and a seymour duncan 805 in front. Bridge pickup only. The cluck is really coming from the pickups and the 805, the comp doesn't really do a whole lot here.

"Low gain OD" uses the same fender profile with a free the tone red jasper in front and a vibrato effect from the mobius. Bridge pickup only

"Clean BMN" is using that same fender profile with a tiiiiny bit of compression from an outboard 1176. We used an API pre for this. I wanted this one to be real transparent to what the pickups actually sound like. I use the bridge position, middle and neck.

"Neck SC mid gain" uses an AC30 top boost profile. Neck single coil pickup only. No pedals in front of the kemper.


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## katsumura78

Just picked this B7 up, the color is Vanilla Shake! I'll be grabbing a set of these impulse pickups and I'm guessing they'll play well together


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## Lemons

Just ordered a slanted set of these for my next ET multiscale, it's a while away but I'll definitely let everyone know what I think of the Impulse set!


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## noob_pwn

here's a great metal metal demo of the impulses in a les paul


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## narad

Can you get the solid metal covers with blackhawks or impulses?


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## technomancer

narad said:


> Can you get the solid metal covers with blackhawks or impulses?



Pretty sure it says on the BKP site radiator covers only



noob_pwn said:


> here's a great metal metal demo of the impulses in a les paul



You need to update your endorsements in your signature BTW


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## katsumura78

Cool demo. Waiting on my B7 to get repainted so the pickups are on my desk, it's slightly torturous lol.


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## noob_pwn

technomancer said:


> You need to update your endorsements in your signature BTW



thanks mate, noted & updated.



katsumura78 said:


> Cool demo. Waiting on my B7 to get repainted so the pickups are on my desk, it's slightly torturous lol.



I know those feels 
Check in and let us know what you think when you get your axe back!


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## AP_Guitar

I've lurked these forums forever, and just now joined to comment on this thread.

Building a custom 6-string tele baritone with a Warmoth 28 5/8" neck. I was dead set on getting the BKP Aftermaths, but after hearing all of this I think I'm going with the Impulses. 

They sound so clear for F tuning, hard to pass these up.


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## Lemons

Good choice, in my opinion the aftermaths kind of suck.

EDIT: In comparison to other BKP's


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## chassless

yeah, i didn't like the aftermaths much either. the bridge is just mids and punch, the neck was a little unmemorable. meh.


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## noob_pwn

saw this thread pop up again and I thought I'd chime in.

BKP tim forwarded me this video of a great demo of the impulses. The dude's high gain tone is a little fizzy but he shows off some really cool aspects of the pickups.


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## chassless

^ so weird, at 2:00, neck pickup sounds like a bridge one. The dude is master picker though.


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## diab0lus

Here is my guitar. It's still stock. 30" scale, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, mahogany body, 3/4" maple cap.

I currently have my guitar set up for octave down E using DR Tite-fit strings (I use the 8 string heavy 11-80 set, less the low B string), but have considered tuning up to G1 because the definition goes to  once I get down to around G#1. I'm mainly playing doom/drone, bi-amped through tube amp and SS bass amp. Does an impulse in the bridge make sense for this guitar and the style I've described or would it make sense to go with something else like a ceramic nailbomb, cold sweat, or aftermath? Thanks!


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## Carl Kolchak

Listened to the "Chug" clip and thought to myself that is the exact kind of balanced/neutral tone I've want for my baritone, but wasn't hearing in other pups.


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## Carl Kolchak

diab0lus said:


> Here is my guitar. It's still stock. 30" scale, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, mahogany body, 3/4" maple cap.
> 
> I currently have my guitar set up for octave down E using DR Tite-fit strings (I use the 8 string heavy 11-80 set, less the low B string), but have considered tuning up to G1 because the definition goes to  once I get down to around G#1. I'm mainly playing doom/drone, bi-amped through tube amp and SS bass amp. Does an impulse in the bridge make sense for this guitar and the style I've described or would it make sense to go with something else like a ceramic nailbomb, cold sweat, or aftermath? Thanks!



I'm playing an Ibanez SRC6 30" baritone guitar/short scale bass atm, and think the Impulse is basically the answer to both our sonic questions. Don't know if this is a problem for you as well, but most pups I've heard sound oppressively "twonky" for heavier gauge strings (I'm using almost exactly the same gauge you are, btw.). Which is good, I guess, if you're playing djent, but not so hot if you're playing slower, dommier stuff where saturation and sustain mean more than annoying high-mid scratchiness. As you can hear in that Chug clip, there's no excess low end flub or high end fizz to be heard. That said, this really does sound like the ideal pup for down-tuned doom, imo.

One question I have for people following this thread, what would be the best value pot for this pup, 250, 500, or 1K?


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## noob_pwn

Carl Kolchak said:


> I'm playing an Ibanez SRC6 30" baritone guitar/short scale bass atm, and think the Impulse is basically the answer to both our sonic questions. Don't know if this is a problem for you as well, but most pups I've heard sound oppressively "twonky" for heavier gauge strings (I'm using almost exactly the same gauge you are, btw.). Which is good, I guess, if you're playing djent, but not so hot if you're playing slower, dommier stuff where saturation and sustain mean more than annoying high-mid scratchiness. As you can hear in that Chug clip, there's no excess low end flub or high end fizz to be heard. That said, this really does sound like the ideal pup for down-tuned doom, imo.
> 
> One question I have for people following this thread, what would be the best value pot for this pup, 250, 500, or 1K?



I like to use the BKP 550k pots, tends to sound better a bit wider open. If for some reason it's not bright enough you could try 1k. This problems you're describing were just what I was trying to combat.


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## Carl Kolchak

noob_pwn said:


> I like to use the BKP 550k pots, tends to sound better a bit wider open. If for some reason it's not bright enough you could try 1k. This problems you're describing were just what I was trying to combat.



What freqs are these pups pushing?


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## katsumura78

I finally got my guitar the other day. I'll try to snap some photos and write what I think about these pickups. Spent an hour playing yesterday and they're the real deal. Clarity and dynamics! Be on the look out for my NGD.


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## Carl Kolchak

katsumura78 said:


> I finally got my guitar the other day. I'll try to snap some photos and write what I think about these pickups. Spent an hour playing yesterday and they're the real deal. Clarity and dynamics! Be on the look out for my NGD.



Clips.


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## noob_pwn

Carl Kolchak said:


> What freqs are these pups pushing?



Well the whole voicing is fairly flat, there's no real frequency humps in them.


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## diab0lus

Carl Kolchak said:


> One question I have for people following this thread, what would be the best value pot for this pup, 250, 500, or 1K?



I have decided to buy the 4-conductor Impulse for the bridge position based in part on your response to my comment. After I install the pickup and try it out with the existing stock tone pot, I am going to bypass the tone pot while maintaining the existing push/pull coil split switch. Whenever that happens, I can provide some anecdotal feedback on the tone differences. I sold off all of my recording gear and mics years ago, so I don't have a way to really demonstrate the differences unless you think something useful can be gleaned from a cell phone microphone .


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## Bearitone

Hey Josh,

Could you compare the Impulse bridge to a Lundgren M7 or M6?
The M series is currently my favorite bridge pickup but, I want something different for my new baritone.


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## noob_pwn

kindsage said:


> Hey Josh,
> 
> Could you compare the Impulse bridge to a Lundgren M7 or M6?
> The M series is currently my favorite bridge pickup but, I want something different for my new baritone.



I don't have enough experience with Lundgrens to comment I'm afraid!


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## noob_pwn

Sorry to resurrect this thread. Here's a review guitar world did with some video/playing footage. It's kinda different to the other stuff I've seen floating around

http://www.guitarworld.com/reviews-accessories/review-bare-knuckle-pickups-impulse-humbuckers/29779


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## Lemons

Well I'm just under a month away from getting my next ET with a slanted Impulse set, I'm interested to see how these fair with mid gain tones in standard tunings. I remember seeing these being described as a lower output Blackhawk set, in which case they should be perfect.


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## vansinn

I've been using OBL 450 L/XL dual-blade pups since around '87.

While the 450 L and XL has different tone than these new Bareknuckle Impulse's, I sense the same ability to keeps notes well defined; not in an edgy way but simply nicely cutting through.

What's so nice about such thin blades is that even if you rip a chord hard, there'll always be the same pole area under the string, and thin blades results in less magnetic pull, which can translate to a cleaner sound and maybe longer sustain.


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## kale1doscope21

Sorry for the necrobump but do bkp still offer the impulse single coils? If so, how do they compare to the cobras?


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## noob_pwn

kale1doscope21 said:


> Sorry for the necrobump but do bkp still offer the impulse single coils? If so, how do they compare to the cobras?



If you ask they can probably wind you a set but don't quote me. They aren't publicly offered. They have rolled off highs and lows and a very thick midrange, a lot more low mid than the cobra and a tad less output. They match up great with a humbucker in a h/s guitar and work well with both 250 and 500k pots.


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## philkilla

noob_pwn said:


> All the words



Amy new Intel if these are coming out for 8 strings? I'd like to give them a try in my banshee.


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