# Juggernaut vs. Ragnarok impressions...



## Silence2-38554 (Apr 22, 2019)

I've finally had a chance to put both of these pickup sets through their paces and wanted to share, but also see if others have had the same experience. I currently have a Jugg set in my Boden OS6 and the Rag set in my B6 clone I built a couple years ago. So, different guitars for sure, but both set up & tuned to drop C.

Right off the bat, I'd like to say that the Jugg sound clips on the BKP website couldn't be doing a worse job showcasing the pickups. According to the clips, they are a muffled, lo-fi sounding, awful pickup. I don't really get why they don't re-record those clips, but anyway....

I suppose I'll start with the Rag set- first impression is that it is not nearly as hot of a pickup set as I was expecting. In fact, according to the input level going into my Kemper, the Jugg set has more output. The next thing I noticed is that the bridge is really quite dull.... for a ceramic. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the only way I could get the pick attack dialed in was to install a no-load tone pot to completely take it out of the circuit when on 10. I have to do the same thing with the Impulse, being alnico, but did not ever expect for that to be necessary on a ceramic. 

The low mid of the bridge pickup is shifted slightly lower than the Jugg, and is slightly less prominent in the overall sound. The high mids have nothing really interesting going on. I would agree that this is not a "djent" pickup at all, as there is no high mid / "cocked wah" spike at all. Being a ceramic pickup, I'm also not really getting any of the "purr" that Misha would always mention, something that is very present in the alnico Black Hawk, Impulse and Jugg.

The neck pickup is....fine. Nothing to write home about, I would say it's like a ceramic version of the Jugg neck, in that it's very fluid but more compressed. 

Juggernaut set- Personally, I think Misha nailed it the first time with these and don't really get the point of the Rags after testing both sets.

Bridge pickup- More high end than the Rag. I actually thought this pickup was too bright at first, as I had it installed in a no-tone knob guitar. Then, I installed a "tone knob on 10" simulation circuit and it was perfect. Enough pick attack to be really aggressive but won't take your head off if you tremolo pick the high strings. Output level is great, a tad hotter than the Rag and responds perfectly to right hand intensity. 

My only issue with the bridge pickup of the Juggernaut set is how prominent the low mid hump is. If that were pulled back juuuuuust a hair, the pickup would be perfect. Aside from that, it has the purr and it has more interesting mids than the Rag, I'm guessing due to the hybrid magnet situation.

The Jugg neck pickup is glorious. Essentially a hotter VHII, which is also glorious. It's fluid, it's dynamic, it's alnico!

Now, please don't interpret this comparison as "oh, this dude just doesn't like ceramic pickups" False. The Painkiller set is one of my absolute favorites! At one point I also tried my hand at an A-Bomb, hated how slow it felt, swapped the mag to ceramic myself and everything about that pickup improved! 

I think my issue is that I'm a bit disappointed and sort of confused. In my mind, Misha has now made the most interesting sounding and the most uneventful sounding pickup sets in the BKP Contemporary range. It's not that I dislike the Rags, but I'm struggling to find something to really love about them.

TLDR:
Rags- compressed, bland, versatile
Juggs- dynamic, interesting, djent

I would LOVE to hear other people's impressions that have tried both sets! Especially if @bulb would like to weigh in


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## Lemonbaby (Apr 22, 2019)

I have a Ragnarok in the bridge of my Swan. Great sounding PU, even with many stock Helix sounds. Split clean sound is better than any other HB I own.


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## Xaeldaren (Apr 22, 2019)

This is really interesting! Your thoughts have got me so excited to try out the Juggernaut. I've got the Ragnarok set in my ash-bodied Ibanez, and I adore them. It originally had the Tone Zone/Air Norton combo, and while I adored the split sounds and thought the Air Norton was a gorgeously rich and fluid neck pickup, the Tone Zone just wasn't what I was looking for for tight rhythm sounds. 

The Ragnarok solved all my problems. The neck sounds just as lush and creamy as the Air Norton, if not more, the split coil sounds are downright gorgeous, and the bridge pickup is exactly what I'm after very tight and aggressive but with no mud whatsoever. 

I've been intrigued by the Juggernaut for another guitar because I love the idea of a more dynamic, less in your face version of what I have with potentially even sweeter clean sounds, and this is just confirming it!


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## MSS (Apr 22, 2019)

I recently installed a Juggernaut set and had some trouble dialing the bridge in. I thought it sounded brittle in the treble area when pushed. I ended up getting some really good tones out of it though and it recorded really well. I decided to replace it with the Atlas and am pretty happy with it so far. My fav is still the venerable M7.


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 22, 2019)

Rags- a tad higher output than the jugg, much less of a cocked wah voicing, thicker/warmer sounding voicing overall. neck was basically the jugg neck but a tad hotter which I'm fine with. I'd say the rag bridge is more comparable to a really underwound warpig than the jugg voicing/output wise.

juggs- the cocked wah voicing is hard/if not impossible to dial out from the bridge, has a kind of chubbiness to the low mids, lows are tight/responsive, high end wasn't shrill in my swamp ash guitar or mahogany guitar, clarity is quite good, split sounds great. pick attack is
Neck pickup is nice and warm/liquidy/smooth feeling, like the vhii or cold sweat neck. I loved the neck pickup a lot for leads/sweeps/general shred wankery.

My biggest complaint about both pickups is that they really demand that you dig in while picking, and I'm a pretty light picker... I had to seriously pummel the strings to get them to distort to a level I liked, and I hate pickups that make me fight them like that.
Neither set were my thing, I much prefer the holy diver and black dog sets for general versatility or the impulses/blackhawks for more modern tones.


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## chopeth (Apr 22, 2019)

Jugg and cold sweat neck doesn't sound any similar for me, the jug being a lot warmer and less liquid than the cs.


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## diagrammatiks (Apr 22, 2019)

I just switched out juggs in a guitar with ragnarocks. 

I was surprised how low output the rags were. I was really expecting cpig levels of output but it’s not. 

I don’t mind the cocked wah thing of the juggs. I like them. 

Still undecided about the rags. They are really bland compared to the juggs and pigs.


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## icipher (Apr 22, 2019)

I have Juggernauts in my Kiesel DC7X. They sound awesome. Not high output, but a nice, balanced sound, that holds the guitar tuning together really well and still sounds aggressive when I put some muscle into the picking. I have been curious to try to Ragnarok, but this review has me second guessing that urge.


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## crankyrayhanky (Apr 22, 2019)

Agreed with all the comments here about Juggernaut
You do need to dig in to get it going. They sound surprisingly AMAZING clean.
Also, need to mention the mids- they sound hollow (in a good way). Not sure how else to put it. Not the best pickup, but one of the top ones for me and love the unique & diverse voicing. I have them in 2 axes (dropC) and they'll stay...but wouldn't want them in every guitar....well maybe the neck- that is a perfect neck pickup.


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## KnightBrolaire (Apr 22, 2019)

chopeth said:


> Jugg and cold sweat neck doesn't sound any similar for me, the jug being a lot warmer and less liquid than the cs.


the jugg neck is still liquidy imo, but yeah it's not quite as smooth as the CS. The CS just has that extra little hint of smoothness where notes can run into each other without getting mushy. I've yet to find a pickup that really compares to it except for maybe the liquifire or the 59 neck, both of which are murkier sounding than the CS.


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## AkiraSpectrum (Apr 22, 2019)

Thanks for the review!


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## bulb (Apr 22, 2019)

Nice review, I think it comes down to taste but the thing I like is that people generally tend to greatly prefer one over the other, and both have sold very well.

They are different pickups and lately, perhaps due to the vibe and tone of p4, I have found myself reaching for the Rag equipped guitars more!


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## chopeth (Apr 22, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> the jugg neck is still liquidy imo, but yeah it's not quite as smooth as the CS. The CS just has that extra little hint of smoothness where notes can run into each other without getting mushy. I've yet to find a pickup that really compares to it except for maybe the liquifire or the 59 neck, both of which are murkier sounding than the CS.



Exactly, I tend to compare both CS and LF a lot, with that slight difference. They are my two favourite neck pups.


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## lurè (Apr 22, 2019)

Rags are very fun to play and can cover a lot of ground; the mid gain tones are excellent and definitely better than the juggs.

Interesting that you find the lower mids of the ragnaroks shifted lower than the juggs; I find that the rags are overall brighter with a less "chubby" and more defined low end.


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## Gila_Crisis (Apr 26, 2019)

I just got a set of Ragnaroks, which I've installed in a Schecter SLS7 Baritone, and so far I love them. 

These shine a lot on the clean sounds! There's a lot of clarity, bite in the mids and a full, round/soft low-end. 
I like a lot that despite these are "high gain pickups" they have a wonderful single-coil-ish sound (which amazed all my band mates, the reggea-dub band I play with, yes.... it's right... I use a 7 string baritone guitar to play reggae-dub!). 
With distortion the sound is really thick and tight, with a lot of clarity (but never harsh) and note separation.

I compared these to my other guitars which mount Nailbomb alnico sets. 
The NB is more fat and grinding, a quality I like better,especially for my ambient-drone/doom projects.
But since this baritone Schecter was always my bright sounding guitar, my aim was to keep its brightness, compared to my other guitars.

Conclusion? I'm really impressed and super happy about these pickups!


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## Humbuck (Apr 26, 2019)

Fwiw I have a Juggernaut in the bridge of an ESP Horizon and it's huge. I love it. Total beast. I never got the cocked wah thing...I think it's in people's heads after they read about it.


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## MerlinTKD (Apr 27, 2019)

'Cocked Wah' is just fun to say


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## oneblackened (Apr 27, 2019)

The Ragnarok bridge to me sounds like an EMG 81, if you basically reversed the tilt of the EQ (it's kinda warm with a good deal of low end punch). It's pretty hot but it's not nuclear like the C-Hawk bridge is (which, by the way, that thing is stupidly hot). They work well in almost anything - it sounds quite good in my EC-1000T/CTM which is a very warm guitar but they also work in brighter guitars. It's not so much "tighter" than the Juggernaut as it is a little more balanced in the bottom end. 

The Juggernaut bridge is like an Aftermath if you turned up 300hz a bunch to me, but not as hot. It also has this weird vocal/"cocked wah" midrange thing that you either love or hate. It works WAY better in brighter guitars than darker ones - I'm talking swamp ash + maple, extended scale length (26.5"+), bolt on, ebony fretboard, maple neck. It doesn't like anything darker than that. 

The Juggernaut neck is IMO flat out better than the Ragnarok neck - the Rag neck is not very nice in series at all, it's arguably too hot. Splits nicely.


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## Alex79 (Apr 27, 2019)

oneblackened said:


> The Ragnarok bridge to me sounds like an EMG 81, if you basically reversed the tilt of the EQ (it's kinda warm with a good deal of low end punch).



That's not that surprising, since Misha said he wanted a blend of active and passive pickup attributes.


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## bulb (Apr 27, 2019)

Alex79 said:


> That's not that surprising, since Misha said he wanted a blend of active and passive pickup attributes.



Yup, there’s something really cool that happens to the mids of an active pickup, where it compresses then and crunches them in kind of a unique way, but actives have a lot of other downsides and I personally hate the way they feel. The mission statement with the Rag that I initially gave to Tim was to try to capture what’s happening there and still have the benefits of a passive setup!


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## Silence2-38554 (Apr 29, 2019)

Alright, I'm going to start investigating what's going on with my Rag setup today. Did some more comparisons to other BKP sets I have & my Rag set is outputting lower than my C-Bomb, Cobra T, Juggs and Impulses. It's annoying, because it's not a lot lower, just enough to be noticeable and also make the sustain of the pickup terrible. Might try wiring the bridge pickup direct to output & see what's what.


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## Gila_Crisis (Apr 30, 2019)

Silence2-38554 said:


> Alright, I'm going to start investigating what's going on with my Rag setup today. Did some more comparisons to other BKP sets I have & my Rag set is outputting lower than my C-Bomb, Cobra T, Juggs and Impulses. It's annoying, because it's not a lot lower, just enough to be noticeable and also make the sustain of the pickup terrible. Might try wiring the bridge pickup direct to output & see what's what.



Be careful setting the height of the pickups first! 
I've carefully spent a bit of time tweaking this, to get the best ballance between both PUs and the best sonical result!


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