Bare Knuckle Knaggs SSC Humbucker Set

The SSC humbucker set is made by Bare Knuckle as the OEM selection for Knaggs SSC Steve Stevens model guitars. What?! Steve is using something other than his BKP signature Rebel Yell pickups? Of course he does! He’s known as the Grammy award winning “fingers of rock” that covers hard rock, glam metal, heavy metal, instrumental rock, post punk, new wave, power pop, and more! That’s a LOT of ground to cover! LOL!

For my money, I’m a huge fan of BKP’s The Mule model. Hands down one of my Top 5 best P.A.F. options on the market. And in many ways, I can hear the Rebel Yell as a really loud Mule. When versatility is key, options are a good thing. That’s where the SSC comes in.

When you are looking for the classic vintage tone, but you’re wanting more of a vintage-hot output. THAT is what this is. Imagine a literal modelling of The Mule. Alnico 4 magnets. Butyrate bobbins. 42 AWG plain enamel wire. The specs are even almost identical. But louder! How is that? Let’s take a look!

Installation

This is going in to a double-hum guitar with a maple neck and rosewood board. It’s the same testbed as for the Painkiller, Silo, and PolyPAF evaluations, to name a few. This means that the BKP 550k pots and the BKP caps are part of the wiring harness. I’m going to suggest .015μF for the neck and .022μF for the bridge. Tuning is E standard with 10-46 strings.

Evaluation

So many things can be said about the SSC humbucker set. How about starting with the idea of wanting more about of a classically accurate P.A.F. replica? Just a little more push. Keep the tone and the voicing. Add the slightest umph to it. If you’re like me, you might need to tweak the gain just a bit in some instances while playing a true P.A.F. clone (again, such as The Mule). The SSC bridges that gap.

The tone is there. Balanced frequencies. Woody low end timbre. Sweet presence of the highs. An opening bloom across the midrange. A snappy response and a full range of character. And that little extra bit of torque in reserve under the hood to take you to the next level when you dig in to the strings.

We’re talking about an amazingly responsive design that’s a bit of a chameleon grounded firmly in the Goldilocks range to suit most any guitar player. Just add the right amp and the right fingers. That last one is solely up to you! LOL! There is literally nothing that I can throw at the SSC that it doesn’t give right back to me in spades. The nastiest dirty tones and the most pristine clean amp channels. All with series wiring. No coil splits or parallel connection required.

Specs

Since this is documented to be modelled on the BKP Mule humbucker, let’s throw down with those specs for a reference:

What’s the Difference?

I know, right? On paper, the SSC and The Mule are identical for all intents and purposes. But I have a few theories. LOL!

First, it could be the wire. Yes, the are both reported to have 42 AWG plain enamel. Loyal readers might recall prior mention of the “in between” options that still qualify as the reported size. Min-Nom and Nom-Max. Imagine that as min being on the lite side going to nom being nominal. And of course nominal going to max, being the extreme of the parameter. These options are ways to get a smidge more or a hair less copper around that coil. And I do know of at least one big company that sells the same wind under different names with this exact difference. However, I have no knowledge if BKP employees this variable and it’s just a guess on my part.

Next up is the magnet. Both sets are using roughcast Alnico 4. However… I bet you didn’t know that I have a gauss meter? HaHa! Pulling the respective magnets for testing actually did reveal that the SSC magnets have a higher gauss strength. Could that be it? Yes. BUT… is it definitely what is behind the bump in output? I have no idea. It could be any one of a few things or even a combination. If at some point, BKP makes an official comment about it, I’ll update this article. Otherwise, it’s anyone’s guess how the sausage is made.

Demo

For additional examples, look in to these other Knaggs artists that use the Knaggs SSC model: Jurica Kasajic, Josh Molen, Fraser Nairn (Flash), Michael Nakon (Granite State), Matt O’Donnell (Dayshift), Matt Schulze, Anthony Sgarlata, Bruce Sokolovic, Dion Smith, Pete Thorn (Five For Fighting, Chris Cornell, Melissa Etheridge, Don Henley, and more!), Javier Vinas, Billy Varga (Motorjunkie), Chuck Rhodes, Didier Roegiers, and Billy Morrison too!

Conclusion

The SSC is going to be good for hard rock, glam metal, heavy metal, instrumental rock, post punk, new wave, power pop, and more. It’s only available as stock equipment in the Knaggs SSC models. So save up that lunch money! HaHa! Or you can keep your eyes peeled for something becoming available on the secondary market. It might take a while, so be patient on your hunt. Trust me, the wait will be worth it.

For reference, this Bare Knuckle SSC humbucker set evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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