Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

[David T]

Hi there fellow guitarists,

I'm a very happy user of the Seymour Duncan Blackouts Modular Preamp for a long long time! Man, and i love that thing!!
This little device really does wonders with my pickups!! Great and powerful sound and zero hum and hassle-free maintenance when switching pickups!
I've been playing live with my Artec High Output equipped Cort guitar and for Rock and Metal these pickups really scream, however i want to tackle something different on my future projects, something more vintage which requires a more strat-like sounding! I'm planning to install some humbucker-sized P90s to get that tone but for now i would like to try a parallel configuration on my neck pickup to get something much more close to that P90 sound!
After fiddling a bit with the wiring which by the way is super easy with this modular preamp, the closest thing i got to what i want was a split coil. After playing a bit with that configuration, i didn't like it much because not only i lost much of that pickup power but i got quite a hum as well. The only thing i couldn't find a way to get was a Coil Tap (Parallel Wiring) Configuration? Can anybody please help how to do that with a 2Humbucker (4Wires), 1 Tone, 1BMP1 configuration WITHOUT any Push/Pull Pot (I mean a way to make it permanent and not switchable)? Thanks a lot in advance, dear friends!
Hope to hear from you soon! And "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" !!

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

Welcome to the forum.

First of all, coil tap is NOT the same as parallel.

Here is a diagram showing several pup color codes. To get parallel (with SD pups for example) simply connect green and white to ground and red and black together as the lead. This connects the two coils in parallel rather than the typical series (green to ground, red and white connected together and taped off, black is lead).

https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seymourduncan.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F05%2FWD_Pickup_Color_Codes.pdf

[David T]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

Thanks my friend, for clear these things out!
Just for curiosity, can you clear for me the difference between coil tap and parallel? I know that split coil is when you shut one coil down and the parallel is when you wire the coils in parallel, that i knew, it was just the coil tap that i never figured out what is it exactly. But nevermind, my friend, what i really need to understand is how i connect the wires for the parallel configuration in the bmp preamp? Could you help me with that? Its just a bit confusing because with the bmp you connect all the wires in the preamp, the NS(North Start), NF(North Finish), SF (South Finish), SS(South Start) and Ground, so i really can't figure out which wires should i connect to the preamp and which wires should i wire together (if needed)...
Thanks in advance for your help!
Best regards,
David T.

[Mincer]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

Here is a quick explanation of a coil tap. You usually associate these with single coils.

[David T]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

Thanks!
Now i just need some help to understand how i should make the connections in the preamp to get that parallel configuration! Could you shed some light on that?
Using a bit of logic if i need to wire both starts and both ends of the coils, i think that i should connect the starts on the north start of the preamp and the ends on the north finish of the preamp.. am i right?

[David T]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

Well, seems like i managed to figure out how to make the connections by myself... didn't even got a reply from the Seymour Duncan Support Service about that question... what a terrible support service..

[Mincer]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

We are sorry you didn't receive a reply to your question, but happy you sorted it out. But how does it sound? Does it sound the way you wanted?

[David T]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

At first i wasn't, but i'm very selective with the sound of my guitar, so after trying to wire the bridge pickup in parallel, i did the same with the neck pickup, and things started to be a bit more balanced. But still wasn't perfect, the neck pickup had the vintage but powerful punch i needed but the bridge pickup was too trebly, so i lowered all the staggered poles of the south coil really hard and levelled them with the height of the north coil poles (the flat poles of the humbucker pickup), now the flat poles are much nearer to the strings and the tone is more stable and balanced, not trebly at all, and still retain a bit of punch which goes just perfect when paired with the neck pickup.

All in all it wasn't easy to get that sound but adjusting the configuration, the height and the poles of the pickups everything became much more balanced with a much nicer tone!

Thanks anyway for all the tips!

Next step... an active circuit from Artec! That will be quite a bang on the sound of my guitar! Maybe i'll have to drill a wider pot hole but it will be worth it!

Have a rocking week my friends!

[orpheo]

Re: Seymour Duncan BMP-1 with Split/Coil Tap Configurations

The BMP puts the individual signals of the coils through its processor and then adds those signals parallel. Not in series. (If I recall correctly).

Coil split: won't work with that device unless you make it passive active switchable.

Forgetaboutit