Test: Bareknuckle Mothers Milk vs Dimarzio Area 67

[slash-ed]

Well I just heard, the news today.

[jimi]

I liked the 2nd soundclip more, but there wasnt much in it. I guess the assumption is that the BKPs should sound better because they're more expensive? so I'll pick 2nd clip as the BKPs, but then I don't really know what a good strat sound is. Good playing though!

[mr_sooty]

Um, no to Creed. Even God doesn't like Creed.

[AiRdAd]

Firstly - great playing Cam

Secondly - I've got a 50/50 chance of getting this right..... so I'm going to guess that the Dimarzios are clip 2, as they are of a hum cancelling design and have a more rounder fuller sound, that is - as Ed said 'more polite' - and maybe lacking some of the bite and edge that the Bare knuckles have, as they are a single coil design.

Thirdly - soundwise, I think I prefer clip2 clean and clip 1 dirty.

[Vorbis]

Um, no to Creed. Even God doesn't like Creed.

[willow13]

nownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownownow

weird even though the first word is now, looking at the whole thing it says own (one warrior nation??)

Um, no to Creed. Even God doesn't like Creed.

but didn't he have his arms wide open

[Cdog]

Its tonight now... spill the beans mr sooty

[Hot_Grits]

because it's just not the right sound for the kind of stuff we do.

So... just out of curiosity, what IS the "sound" of modern day white people church pop/rock?

This, basically:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQk65gVED1I[/youtube]

Wow.

I understand that this is essentially man's inhumanity to man. But what kind of god stands on the sidelines and allows this to go on?

[mr_sooty]

The correct answer is basically this:

I think the second clip is the Bareknuckles. To me, they sound full and clear, which is precisely my experience with the Bareknuckles in my Strat. The first set sounds a bit thinner and doesn't quite have the same top end sparkle, for want of a less overused word.

This is my assesment too pretty much, although I don't think the Dimarzio's lack anything in the top end. It's the bottom end fullness that they lack compared to the Bareknuckles in these clips IMO. But I agree they sound a touch 'thinner', at least in the clips.

I am super impressed by how close the Dimarzio's (pickup 1) come to the Bareknuckles (pickup 2) though. I personally can only hear the difference on the neck only position. To me, the combined position and the middle position sound identical on both clips, and the overdrive part is pretty darn close too. But with neck only I hear a little extra bottom end richness from the BKP's.

Having said that, I've since found that the Dimarzio's are extremely responsive to height adjustments, and I was able to give them more bass fullness and a sweeter top end by raising the bass side and lowering the treble side slightly. They're now the same height at both ends, where as I had the BKP's set slightly higher on the treble side and slightly lower on the bass side, and for these clips I did the same with the Dimarzio's. I found the Dimarzio's were almost too bright, but lowering that side just a touch actually made a fairly significant difference.

Overall I'm very impressed with the Dimarzio's, although it's very hard to choose between them, because there's that part of me that just wants the sweetest tone possible and the BKP's have a slight edge for my tastes, even if it is very slight. But the Dimarzio's will mean the Strat is at least an option on stage.

Thanks everybody for your comments I hope you found this experiment interesting!

[Vorbis]

Hmm..tone almost identical, Dimazio's cheaper and noiseless.

No brainer isn't it...Or am I going against the boutique ( ) grain?

[Cdog]

so thats that then.

Of course you forgot to mention one important thing: bareknuckles have more mojo and 'cred' among honorable giturus...
Which, in a general sense is often the only reason any gear sounds... 'better'
I still like the recording of clip 1 more... but like you said its much of a much anyway

cool demo and experiment, chur mr sooty

[mr_sooty]

Hmm..tone almost identical, Dimazio's cheaper and noiseless.

No brainer isn't it...Or am I going against the boutique ( ) grain?

Yeah, basically it's as you say, but there's always that little niggle that says 'my guitar could just sound fractionally better'. I mean jees, Callaham has made a career out of replacement tremolo blocks for OCD inflicted people like me. (For the record, I tried the Callaham block, I didn't like it).

[Vorbis]

I too installed the Cally block...sucker for pointless spending I guess....

[Vorbis]

I think the best thing you can do for your tone is keep hold of that Dr Maz amp, cos it's awesome. Forget about orange drops, expensive steel blocks, mojo strings and germanium-powered fuzz benders.

/2c

[mr_sooty]

I think the best thing you can do for your tone is keep hold of that Dr Maz amp, cos it's awesome. /2c

+1. I have no desire to part with the good Doctor.