MuttPups BubbaBucker review

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Bubba
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MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Bubba »

A while ago, myself and Muttley had a conversation on here where I mentioned how much I loved the BK Riff Raff bridge pickup I have in my "Son of Gobshite" guitar, but that I sometimes wished it had a little more output to drive the crunch channel on my JVM. Well he got straight on the case and a couple of days before Christmas a brand new MuttPups prototype landed on the doormat! What with it being Christmas, then having a new job to contend with and all the hassle over the Shambollix going pear-shaped I didn't get it installed until a week or so ago.

This was how we went with it:
The Riff Raffs come in at about 8.2K and the coils are spun with only about a 10% bias (more copper one coil than another).

To get a slightly a wee bit more crunch without going muddy like the LB's etc.. you would increase the bias to around 15%, scatter wind the bobbins a bit more and push the output a little, say 8.8k to 9.1k. That would make the pickup hotter without losing any of the clarity and middle punch and it would start to break up a little more at lower gains. The only downside would be that if you wanted to split the coil you would have a rather spanky single coil tone. Not a problem for you I would have thought in this instance. It would also not outpower the B90 to any greater degree.
When I first plugged in the guitar after installing this beauty, I hit my test chord - a clanging open D - and was a little puzzled to find that the sound had cleaned up a tiny bit, rather than gone more Steve Jones! I tried the higher gain settings on the JVM and found that the new pickup sang like crazy compared to the BK, with controllable feedback blossoming easily. The notes were still very distinct with good pick attack. This was a real head-scratcher for me.

Yesterday I recorded my first tracks with the pickup (see the Jazz Noir thread in the Listening Booth) and both characters of the thing can be heard. My conclusion is that the pickup IS hotter but it has such unbelievable clarity at ordinary crunch gains that it SEEMS less hot. Having recorded the thing I'm absolutely stoked. Ok, it didn't exactly replicate what I originally had in mind but at that time I was thinking more towards what I thought I needed for the Shambollix live stuff. It could still do that job, but what I have in my hands is a complete gem of a pickup that I didn't expect to get.

Thanks, Mutt - it's a fucking belter. :biggrin: :coolstorybro:
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Glad it's working out for you.. Let me know if you want me to have another crack at pushing the crunch? Did you wire a split coil?
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by JD01 »

Awesome - I should really do a full review of my Muttbucker as its fucking brilliant.
I'm really pleased with the rhythm tones I got with it on my last recording. One of them tones that makes me want to go back and re-track all of my songs!
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

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muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:10 am Glad it's working out for you.. Let me know if you want me to have another crack at pushing the crunch? Did you wire a split coil?
I did wire it with the split coil and I'm extremely happy with that, too. When I asked you to push the gain slightly I was thinking of it in terms of matching my other live guitar more closely. Now I have this I'm not interested in changing it! I don't like mush unless I'm trying for it. You can't un-mush a mushy pickup very successfully, but you can dull a bright, articulate one. I've never heard a humbucker sound as clear as this one.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Excellent. Glad it sits right for you. I get what you mean about the mush.. Just for the record, I think I could put a bit more copper on there next time and make it slightly hotter without compromising too much. I was aiming to fall between the BK and the Mutt90 so they paired quite well. The clarity in and of itself will make the thing sound a little less hot simply because the ears are drawn to the mids and highs.. For me "Mush" comes from the mids falling apart and "Mud" comes from the same thing but with the low end. If you can keep the clarity in the mids then the thing will be articulate without losing too much output. Thats kind of what I was aiming for so I think I learned on this one too..
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

JD01 wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:32 am Awesome - I should really do a full review of my Muttbucker as its fucking brilliant.
I'm really pleased with the rhythm tones I got with it on my last recording. One of them tones that makes me want to go back and re-track all of my songs!
:like:

I will put any reviews up on my blurb and website if allowed and all credit given obviously.. I make em, you guys make em sing..
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Bubba wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:52 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:10 am Glad it's working out for you.. Let me know if you want me to have another crack at pushing the crunch? Did you wire a split coil?
I did wire it with the split coil and I'm extremely happy with that, too. ..............
Brief description of how it sounds..??
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Greg_L »

Bubba wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:52 am

I did wire it with the split coil and I'm extremely happy with that, too. When I asked you to push the gain slightly I was thinking of it in terms of matching my other live guitar more closely. Now I have this I'm not interested in changing it! I don't like mush unless I'm trying for it. You can't un-mush a mushy pickup very successfully, but you can dull a bright, articulate one. I've never heard a humbucker sound as clear as this one.
This sounds like a pickup I'd get along with. I love humbuckers like that, and I hate mush.

Congrats Bubba and good job Mutt!
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:28 am
Bubba wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:52 am

I did wire it with the split coil and I'm extremely happy with that, too. When I asked you to push the gain slightly I was thinking of it in terms of matching my other live guitar more closely. Now I have this I'm not interested in changing it! I don't like mush unless I'm trying for it. You can't un-mush a mushy pickup very successfully, but you can dull a bright, articulate one. I've never heard a humbucker sound as clear as this one.
This sounds like a pickup I'd get along with. I love humbuckers like that, and I hate mush.

Congrats Bubba and good job Mutt!
I think Ive mentioned it before but I get that articulation and clarity by paying real attention to the scatter wind and the tension on the wire. Even though the handwound stuff out there from the big guys like SD and BK claim to be hand wound they still suffer from the generic "just knock em out" syndrome. To really release a sound in a pup you have to wind it based on an individual requirement and try and pick out the important bits from the request you get. SD, BK et al can do that but they charge and their stock stuff is just wound to a pattern they know works.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Greg_L »

muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:33 am

I think Ive mentioned it before but I get that articulation and clarity by paying real attention to the scatter wind and the tension on the wire. Even though the handwound stuff out there from the big guys like SD and BK claim to be hand wound they still suffer from the generic "just knock em out" syndrome. To really release a sound in a pup you have to wind it based on an individual requirement and try and pick out the important bits from the request you get. SD, BK et al can do that but they charge and their stock stuff is just wound to a pattern they know works.
That sounds awesome. My BK Riff Raff is "custom wound" and it has the qualities I like in a humbucker. They didn't have any when I ordered mine and they had to make me one so they offered to tweak it however I wanted. They did a good job. It's PAF-like. Open and airy. Whatever they did to control the mids is nice. I told them I only play through screaming Marshalls so I don't need a shit ton of midrange.

You wanna make a few more Bubba pups? Maybe a little hotter? I'll give them to my hard rocker buddies.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Sure, we'll talk... I can run up a dozen and do em Wholesale, you can then make the cab fare and beer money...;)

I assume you mean the bubbabucker not the Bubba90.. either is good.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:55 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:33 am

I think Ive mentioned it before but I get that articulation and clarity by paying real attention to the scatter wind and the tension on the wire. Even though the handwound stuff out there from the big guys like SD and BK claim to be hand wound they still suffer from the generic "just knock em out" syndrome. To really release a sound in a pup you have to wind it based on an individual requirement and try and pick out the important bits from the request you get. SD, BK et al can do that but they charge and their stock stuff is just wound to a pattern they know works.
That sounds awesome. My BK Riff Raff is "custom wound" and it has the qualities I like in a humbucker. They didn't have any when I ordered mine and they had to make me one so they offered to tweak it however I wanted. They did a good job. It's PAF-like. Open and airy. Whatever they did to control the mids is nice. I told them I only play through screaming Marshalls so I don't need a shit ton of midrange.

You wanna make a few more Bubba pups? Maybe a little hotter? I'll give them to my hard rocker buddies.
I would assume they did pretty much what I do which would be to lay the copper up with a distinct scatter and a little looser than stock. To go the other way makes them tighter, woolier and punchier. More suited to rock and metal.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Greg_L »

muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:04 am Sure, we'll talk... I can run up a dozen and do em Wholesale, you can then make the cab fare and beer money...;)

I assume you mean the bubbabucker not the Bubba90.. either is good.
Right yeah. Bubbabuckers. What magnets did you use in Bubba's?
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:09 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:04 am Sure, we'll talk... I can run up a dozen and do em Wholesale, you can then make the cab fare and beer money...;)

I assume you mean the bubbabucker not the Bubba90.. either is good.
Right yeah. Bubbabuckers. What magnets did you use in Bubba's?
Cast milled a5's, 62mm.

I can put whatever magnet you want in there within reason. Deciding on bobbin colours would also be a thing..
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Greg_L »

muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:25 am

Cast milled a5's, 62mm.

I can put whatever magnet you want in there within reason. Deciding on bobbin colours would also be a thing..
Ok cool. Roughcast A5s would probably be right in their wheelhouse. I'd need two bridge pickups. Probably around 11.5k. They like em hot. But they need to be able to clean up fairly well. Not like sparkly clean clean, but reasonable clean up with volume rolled back.

I'm not sure on the looks yet. This will be a surprise for both of them so let me poke around and see what they'd want. I'll get back to you.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Bubba »

muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:20 am
Bubba wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:52 am

I did wire it with the split coil and I'm extremely happy with that, too. ..............
Brief description of how it sounds..??
It's really difficult to pin a description on it. I would say it has "attitude". It's not like a Strat. It has a bit of the overwound Tele character but with more oomph like a good P90. Dropping out the coil on the BK was a big volume drop and it sounded a bit neutered. Not so this one - this sounds more like a guitar swap, with more than enough welly to hold its own.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by JD01 »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:35 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:25 am

Cast milled a5's, 62mm.

I can put whatever magnet you want in there within reason. Deciding on bobbin colours would also be a thing..
Ok cool. Roughcast A5s would probably be right in their wheelhouse. I'd need two bridge pickups. Probably around 11.5k. They like em hot. But they need to be able to clean up fairly well. Not like sparkly clean clean, but reasonable clean up with volume rolled back.

I'm not sure on the looks yet. This will be a surprise for both of them so let me poke around and see what they'd want. I'll get back to you.
My MuttBucker is probably more on point for them. Its 10.5k.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by Bubba »

muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:17 am . The clarity in and of itself will make the thing sound a little less hot simply because the ears are drawn to the mids and highs.
This is exactly my assessment of it. If it wasn't hotter than the BK it wouldn't sing so well on the same higher gain settings. But on a low crunch you can hear every individual note.
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Greg_L wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:35 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:25 am

Cast milled a5's, 62mm.

I can put whatever magnet you want in there within reason. Deciding on bobbin colours would also be a thing..
Ok cool. Roughcast A5s would probably be right in their wheelhouse. I'd need two bridge pickups. Probably around 11.5k. They like em hot. But they need to be able to clean up fairly well. Not like sparkly clean clean, but reasonable clean up with volume rolled back.

I'm not sure on the looks yet. This will be a surprise for both of them so let me poke around and see what they'd want. I'll get back to you.
No worries. Just let me know what you are after and I'll spec it out when you are ready...
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Re: MuttPups BubbaBucker review

Post by muttley »

Bubba wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:41 am
muttley wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:20 am

Brief description of how it sounds..??
It's really difficult to pin a description on it. I would say it has "attitude". It's not like a Strat. It has a bit of the overwound Tele character but with more oomph like a good P90. Dropping out the coil on the BK was a big volume drop and it sounded a bit neutered. Not so this one - this sounds more like a guitar swap, with more than enough welly to hold its own.
Good stuff, again thats kind of what I thought we were shooting for. There is nothing worse than switching to a spit coil and it sounding wimpy and quiet no matter how good the tone is. Thats a historical problem with all splits on stock stuff IMHO..
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