Viking Pickups: Berserker Bridge & Neck Review

I've been using a set of Berserkers which is part of the Odin series from Viking Pickups for just over a month now and they have made a very welcome addition to my setup amongst the likes of Bulldog, Entwistle & EMG pickups.


They have filled a major gap that I have in my collection with is a serious lack of pickups that use Alnico magnets. To some people this may seem like utter insanity but I have never managed to find any that I liked after flirtations with the Duncan JB & the Bare knuckle Nailbomb. Neither of these suited me at all. They both suffered from a soft flubby low end which just wont cut it for the music that I play.


This is the key point where the Berserkers differ. The low end is very controlled and focused which is a bit of an odd trait for an AV pickup but it's definitely something that I like.


The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output clocking in at 16.6k on the bridge pickup and 8.6k on the neck so they aren't exactly what you would consider a straight up PAF I'd say more a hotrodded PAF and even that is downplaying the power.

They have a good solid amount of upper mids which is complimented by a healthy amount of highs that doesn't fizz out or go really scratchy. The Low end as i said earlier is very focused and precise. These three points added together make for a nicely balanced tonality across the whole TMB spectrum.


They seem to soak up gain in a very pleasant way without getting ultra saturated so you still hear all of the notes ringing out in the chords yet you can still chug away like James Hetfield on them. Add to this the midrange detail and you have a recipe for disaster!


The bridge provides a present and clear clean sound that some may describe as spiky but to me it is more of an in your face biting clean sound which is what most players look for when looking at bridge pickup clean sounds. The neck pickup is where the soft smoother clean sounds are for those delicate passages.

The Look
The Berserker comes in a selection of different metal covers that look like well used pieces of weaponry. The colour choices are Black, Bronze & Silver. Pictured below is the Black set.

Summary & Soundclips
As I said at the top of this review these pickups have filled a gap in my collection and I can't see them changing for anything else any time soon. They provide a wide range of sounds that I could get with my other guitars but it would always sound a bit forced due to the Ceramic & Neodymium magnets with the Berserkers it sounds very thick & natural.


I would highly recommend these to anyone who is tired of the same old choices that we've been given all of these years and want something a little different and special.


The Price for a set is £82.45 which is an absolute bargain especially when paired with the fantastic customer service and sales support from the guys at Viking Pickups.


To purchase or enquire further about Viking Pickups contact Stefan on the link below.


http://www.vikingpickups.com/

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything here so thought I'd do a quick post.

I more than likely have some downtime coming up in a few weeks time so I plan on doing some indepth amp and pedal reviews, hopefully with clips, of the gear I have that's been built by Toe-Knee.

I'll post back more when I know for sure what's coming!

Me$a MKIIC+ Build : Part 2

This update has very little information as not much has changed really.

I have installed all of the capacitors.

I aren't too familiar with the circuit so i went with safe bets on the cap choices. I'm using Mallory 150 alongside nichicon and Vishay electrolytic capacitors with a few Kemet & Vishay Tantalum capacitors.

Me$a Simul-Class Style Output Transformer

Hi guys. This is going to be short and sweet as not much has happened.

It's just a quick update to show off the custom wound Simul-Class Output Transformer.

It took a heck of a lot of research finding all of the info regarding the Simul-Class architecture. After scouring the internet for a few months I found a wealth of information on the SLOclone forums (should have checked there first) And this is the result....

Me$a MKIIC+ Build

Hey guys I've been pretty quiet lately due to work commitments and life in general.

I have always wanted a MKIIC+ with the Simul-class power amp, reverb and graphic EQ and have been watching eBay for years now and they all keep going for £2k+ or are in terrible condition.

So I finally decided that I should build one myself. This amp is easily the most complex thing that I have attempted and has taken a few months of research just to get my head around the circuit.

The PCB & Chassis are from Ampclones.com and they're incredibly well made and easy to solder to.

I haven't done much work on this yet as it's a pretty expensive build so i'm going to be doing it a bit at a time over the next 4-5 months.

I have the a custom Simul-Class output transformer on order from BLS Electronics. I am really looking forward to getting this after putting in so much time researching the output transformer design and I have wanted to try some BLS transformers for quite some time now.

Here is a picture of the chassis (I scuffed it unfortunately when jamming it back into the box but i'll just get some faceplates to cover the damage)

And here is a picture of the boards populated with resistors, diodes and transistors.

I will post more as the build progresses.

Building a high gain amplifier part 2: The poweramp

Hey guys. I haven't been keeping up with this as well as I had hoped to but life gets in the way you know?

Today i'll give a brief overview of the poweramp. If you are using PCBs from C3amps or SmashGuitars this is all silkscreened so is an absolute breeze.

As usual I always start with the smallest components as it makes it far easier to keep things flush against the board as you build it up.

The smallest parts on the poweramp PCB are the balancing resistors for the filter caps which make sure that the caps see an even voltage. They also perform an additional function of bleeding away any voltage once the amp is powered off making it safer to work on which is a nice bonus. It does take a few minutes though so always check the voltages before working on the amp.

From here we move onto the diodes that form the rectifier for the AC input and also the bias supply. These have a polarity so make sure to check the circuit and silkscreen matches up with the way you insert them.

Also notice in this picture there is a jumper. This is one of the capacitor legs that I saved whilst doing the preamp. 

Next I install the axial capacitors for the bias and filtering. Again these are polarised so be mindful of this when soldering.

And finally moving onto the main filter caps. The F&T caps are truly fantastic for this application and they are what I will be using.

And that is all! Nice and simple just so long as you keep track of the polarities. The next post that I do will actually be wiring the preamp into the amp as I got my chassis predrilled and prepped from C3amps to save some time and work. I'm not going to say when the post will be up as everytime I do that something gets in the way so just keep checking back!

TK

Building a high gain amplifier part 1.5: The preamp continued.

I didn't get much time to take photos during this part as I was rushing somewhat as I had other things on later in the evening.

In this post you will see the board populated with the coupling & bypass caps. Some people will swear by one brand and type of cap whilst others will say that it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. In my experience it does but not as much as some would have you believe.

I have chosen Sprague 716p Orange Drops for the majority of the preamp because they have a certain hifi vibe to them that I like and seem well balanced tonally. For the 1uf bypass caps I have gone for Vishay MKT's, these are polyester caps and have more of a gritty feel to them. Another reason that I chose these for these positions is purely based on the physical size as a 225p orange drop is a really tight squeeze and  I like thing to look nice and clean in my builds so these are not an option.

Below is a quick comparison shot of the 225p and the MKT as you can see the 225p is gigantic!

In this next shot you can see the preamp fully populated with 716ps and the MKTs

And here is the lone Mallory 150 2.2nf cap as I forgot to order the 716p in this value. Luckily I had this kicking about.

And finally we have a bunch of leg cut offs from the caps. I'm going to save a couple of these as they will come in handy for the next post

In a few days I should have part 2 of this log up which is the power amp.

Thanks for reading

TK

Peak 2005 FCB4N2 Midi Controller

I've been waiting for this to arrive for a little while now. Customs had it for over a week and it seemed like they just didn't want to let it go. Chances are they couldn't figure out what it was so they kept on studying it!

Anyway onto the actual midi controller.

I'll start off with the the reasons why I went with the Peak unit rather than the usual suspects such as Voodoo Labs, Behringer etc.

I can't stand plastic looking controllers more so when they have plastic switches, it just screams cheap and nasty to me. The second reason was the price, at $149 this thing is a steal. Add to that the fact that it's really solid with sturdy metal switches and a nice clear display and you are clearly onto a winner.

The FCB4N2 also has a really nice black brushed metal finish which just adds a touch of class and looks very durable so I can't see it bending at all or easily getting damaged.

The unit was fairly simple to program after I got over my initial user error (retard moment) and as an added bonus the custom support & communication from Peak 2005 throughout the purchase was fantastic and I also had to contact Peak regarding my user error and got a very helpful and easy to understand reply.

I believe that this unit will hold up well on the road and if there any any issues I am sure that Peak will be there to back me up.

There isn't really much more to say regarding this as the unit looks and feels great and functions as it's supposed to. Beyond that it isn't really expected to do much more.

You can purchase the above controller from http://www.peak2005.com/j/midi-foot-controllers/15-fcb4n2-programmable-midi-foot-controller-ver20.html and also a number of other devices related to midi control.

The Metal Man #2

Greetings everyone,

This is just an introductory post as I am the new contributor to this blog

In reference to the title, I like metal. I own a lot of Ibanez, and I play seven strings. And I've started building amps. So taking that apart, I'll be reviewing or 'blabbering' on about metal, guitars that I like and building amps and maybe even some funky guitar customisation madness.

So here's to me, and my corner of the blog!

Roadkill Cabs Custom 2x12

This one took a while getting just right.

The idea behind it was to get something sounding in between a 2x12 & 4x12 as i love the punchiness of 2x12 cabs but i like the fullness of 4x12s but i hate the low end bloat they often have.

I went out and tried a fair few cabs and noted down what i did and didn't like about them as well as the dimensions/speaker placement etc

I then discussed things further with Tom @ Roadkill Cabs and he came up with the idea of altering the dimensions of his stag model and placing the speakers more towards the top of the cab for better projection into the room.

The internals of the cab are also kind of split into two 1x12s (i'll get some pics of this) rather than the usual single piece of wood for bracing to the back plate. This also seems a lot more substantial than what I have seen in a lot of cabs.

The result is exactly what i wanted. Very open,detailed and clear sounding cab with excellent highs, precise mids and a very tight low end without the additional resonance that you can get that can muddy up your sound.

Speakers are Legend V128s wired in series for 16ohm.

For now there is just a very quick pic. I will get some more tomorrow once I have moved all of the gear around.

Also the dimensions are as follows.
690 w x 490 h x 340 d

10,000 Hits!

When I started writing this blog I figured that it would just be a place for me to keep tabs of what projects I have been working on and an archive of photos and such.

However it has had a nice steady stream of visitors with a few emails also.

I just want to say a big thankyou for taking the time to read my ramblings and hopefully you will stick with it as things start to expand over the coming months.

If you have any questions or feedback don't hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks again

TK

EMG James Hetfield Signature Pickups (Het Set) Updated with audio sample.

I've had this set for just over a week now so I feel that I can give a fairly fair review of them.

First of all i'll get it out of the way that these aren't just the standard 81 & 60 in some flashy covers as most people expect them to be. I wanted a set of these for quite some time being a massive Metallica fan. Especially after hearing some newer live clips where James Hetfield has sounded amazing and cut through really well. From here on we can go into the main bulk of the review.

The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output which is to be expected as they are designed exclusively for metal and of course they are EMG pickups.

They have a great helping of upper mids which was a pleasant surprise with just the right amount of grind going on there. They also have a touch more low end than than the standard EMG pickups but it is still very tight and precise with absolutely no excess flub. The high end is very upfront but isn't grating in any way and doesn't fizz out.

These pickups don't dissapoint for clean sounds either. The bridge provides that classic james hetfield clean sound, think of the Master of Puppets interlude or the intro of Welcome Home. The neck pickup is even nice r and delivers some very soft yet punchy clean sounds that work really well for things such as fade to black or the intro to and justice for all.

Clearly Metallica tones are very easily achievable with these pickups as are tones from any of the 80's metal bands. If this is what you are looking for then you will not be dissapointed with these pickups.

The Look
These pickups look very slick with a very nice black nickel finish with individual ceramic polepieces on the neck pickup and steel poles for the bridge pickup.

Summary & Soundclips
Overall I am extremely happy with these pickups. I play Thrash metal primarly and these pickups can cover everything I throw at them with ease from Metallica right up to modern Exodus. Usually when I swap pickups out I have some bad points that really niggle at me which is why I left this review for a while and so far i can't find a single fault.

Naga Viper Treble Booster

I'm not going to say much on this as I built this for Brow so I'll let him going into more detail on it when he gets it. But for now here are a couple of pictures.

It's a really tiny circuit. I took this one for reference purposes.

 

 

 Here's the finished pedal 

And here's one more with it all powered up just for the sake of it!

MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive Clips. Updated Clips

Hey guys.
It's just a brief one today as I really don't have too much time on my hands.

A good friend Ben Asaro kindly provided me with some DI tracks that he used to use for demoing pedals. With this I have reamped it six times across two channels/modes on my amp for demonstration purposes.

During all of the clips the pedal settings stayed exactly the same which was everything set to half way on the dials for consistency. Below you will find all six of the clips with a brief description of what is going on.

When I have a little more time I will do some more in depth clips to show how transparent the pedal can be and also how it sounds in a mix as I would normally use it. If you have any settings requests please leave a comment and I will do my best to accommodate.

Also a big thanks goes to Ben for sharing the DI track.

For the sake of complete consistency I recorded the following clips using the Slave Out on my amplifier which is tapped straight from the speaker output jack. I then loaded an impulse response in Reaper for each item to emulate the cabinet. This ensures that everything is exactly the same across all of the clips other than the channel being changed and the bump switch being activated.

Clip 1 - This is on the clean channel of my amp with the pedal bypassed.



Clip 2 -  This is on the clean channel with the pedal turned on.



Clip 3 - This is on the clean channel this time with the pedal on and with the bump switch engaged.





Clip 4 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal bypassed.



Clip 5 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal turned on.



Clip 6 - This is on the crunch channel with the pedal turned on and with the bump switch engaged.

MXR Custom Badass Modified Overdrive: An introductory review

Hey guys here we are on the first post of 2013 hopefully it will be a gear filled year with lots of builds & gear acquisition!

Anyway onto the main point of this post. I've gotten a couple of new pieces of equipment lately and I'll be putting up full reviews and sound clips as I get more familiar with each item.

First up is an incredible Overdrive pedal from MXR. The custom badass modified OD.
Usually I will build my own effects but I felt like having a break and just buying something for a change.

Controls:
The MXR has your standard overdrive controls such as Gain, Output & Tone. It then goes a little further by adding in a 100hz cut/boost control and a bump switch that boosts the low end and midrange when activated.

Sound:
This I find is where the pedal really shines. Without the bump switch engaged it is a fairly transparent pedal and leaves your core tone pretty much unmolested. When you kick in the bump switch the low frequencies and midrange are boosted but not by a ridiculous amount which keeps the core tone but brings the pedal more into a thicker tube screamer territory. Also noteworthy is the fact that the bump switch can be left engaged when the main circuit is off which just thickens up your sound with a very minimal boost which can be nice for cleans.

The gain on tap is fairly smooth when used on a clean channel but there is plenty of it and once you get past the halfway mark it gets nice and gritty. When used on an already overdriven amp you can get total saturation just by adding in a little gain which is very nice for those old school thrash type tones.

Another nice feature of this pedal is the tone control it never gets truly boomy or ridiculously tinny at either extreme of the control and provides a lot of usable options.

The 100hz cut/boost is what really drew me to this pedal primarily being a metal player I like a nice clean low end so a little bit of cut really brings out the tightness required for some more modern styles and when used in conjunction with the tone control & the bump switch you really do have a lot of options and I feel that I haven't fully explored this myself.

The level control is the final control and there isn't really much to say other than it has an extremely large range that should satisfy most users needs.

Build Quality:
This pedal seems really solid and well made with a high quality enclosure and very sturdy jacks even if they are PCB mounted. The pedal mainly consists of micro components which I guess explains the small form factor and also will help with mass production. The switch is very solid if a little softer than I normally use it doesn't have that thick satisfying click that i'm used to be I can't see it failing at any point. The only negative point is that there is a small finish flaw in the bottom corner on the face of the pedal but it's nothing major and doesn't affect functionality in anyway at all.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this pedal and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a more transparent overdrive that doesn't cut out masses of low end unless you specifically set it to. It's extremely useful for those that play rock or metal.

I will be posting again in a week or so with some sound clips and possibly some more information depending whether my view on this pedal changes as I get more used to it.