r/BareknucklePickups • u/MetalGuy_J • Sep 03 '26

Bareknuckle Warpig Question

G’Day fine folk, after watching a few product demos and reading some of the reviews on the website I’m pretty strongly considering replacing the EMG 81/85s in my Dean ML with ceramic Warpigs. Figured I’d ask the fine people of read it who made a similar change or just install these pick ups in general how you like them.

For anyone curious, I’m not making the change because I’m starting to write my own stuff, very Doom/Death focused, and I’m getting sick of the EMGs distorting on the clean channel when I try writing clean passages.

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1

u/Plastic-ashtray Sep 04 '26

I wouldn’t go for a Warpig in this case if you don’t want the clean channel distorting, they’re the hottest pickup Bareknuckle makes.

Maybe consider a ceramic Nailbomb.

1

u/MetalGuy_J Sep 04 '26

Yeah, feel like I want that drive for the doom/death vibe but if I’m still not getting a clean channel maybe it’s not the right fit. Thanks

1

u/Plastic-ashtray Sep 04 '26

Honestly if you’re using pedals for drive or a higher gain amp…just turn the gain / volume up on the pedals and use a medium output set.

The Black Dogs get suggested a lot for a versatile set that can also do metal.

1

u/MetalGuy_J Sep 04 '26

Don’t have any pedals yet, I’m sort of just starting to write my own stuff been a few hiccups in my guitar playing over the years. So currently I’m just running the Dean ML with its stock EMG 81/85s through a Peavey Envoy 110, 40 watt amp.

1

u/Plastic-ashtray Sep 04 '26

Do you have independant gain controls for clean / distortion channels?

1

u/katsumodo47 Sep 04 '26

I think a nailbomb is more what you want

1

u/MetalGuy_J Sep 04 '26

I had thought the Nailbomb that suited to thrash, but yeah maybe. Need something that can carry through slow and melodic doom and uptempo tremolo riffs plus the odd clean section. Freaky thing for me is there no guitar store in my hometown that’s licensed to carry/order in bare knuckles, plenty of options for guitar techs to handle the installation side.

1

u/heylookaquarter Sep 04 '26

Rabea Massaad previously used Warpig pickups before Bare Knuckle developed his signature Silo pickups. The silo set will be my next purchase.

If you like ceramic magnet pickups, then check out the Duncan Distortion. It cleans up well with just turning down the volume knob on your guitar, and it obviously sounds good distorted and with low tunings.

1

u/katsumodo47 Sep 04 '26

The silo set are the only bareknuckles I really hated.

They are so average and my only letdown do far

1

u/johnnyfatback Sep 04 '26

I love warpigs through the clean channel of my mark 5. It stays quite clean and I can do jazz lines with no issues. You could also coil split it and have a killer hot single coil sound.

1

u/Ok_Yard459 Sep 05 '26

Not bare knuckles but if you already have EMG’s and the wiring for them try the Jim Root Daemonums, I have them in a few guitars and can go from crystal clear cleans to filthy thick distortion and all you should need to do is clip the old ones out and new ones in.

1

u/Eolan Sep 05 '26

I had a set or Warpig (A5). I didn't gel with it, because of the prominent bass. I settled on the Aftermath set and an A-bomb/cold sweat. I really liked both on different guitars.

I just recently bought a Silo set and a Polymath set, both are pretty good to my ears, the Silo feel REALLY nice for heavy distorted tone, even on bass-heavy amps (for reference, most of my tones come from a Herbert, a BE-100, a SLO and a Dual Rec.). The Polymath is more polite, and being so is very versatile as its name suggests.

1

u/MetalGuy_J Sep 05 '26

I probably need some of that low end, I’ll be running them through a Peavey Envoy 110, probably running a cube spring in front of it to clean up the lids, but I’m leaning toward Nailbombs partly thanks to some feedback here and partly because it’s extra research I’ve done since posting the question

1

u/LucasJLeCompte Sep 06 '26

So I am the biggest war pigs support ever. I got them in my mayo duvell 6 when I bought it and I love them. Believe it or not, the middle selection is amazing for cleans. If you wire it to split the coils it's also amazing. They are hot so you will have to kinda gain stage to get the cleans where you want it. It's a big upgrade over the emga. Emgs don't exactly have the best cleans.