Bare Knuckle Juggernaut vs. Dimarzio Fusion Edge (sound)

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The Bare Knuckle Juggernaut is the signature pickup of Misha Mansoor from Periphery, and it's certainly a divisive pickup on the internet. People either love it or hate it. I've been testing it this week and I've been enjoying it for what it's intended for. Playing through Misha's personal AxeFx setting sounds just like playing their music. The Juggernaut utilizes a large alnico 5 magnet in the center, with 2 ceramic magnets on both sides. The center magnet is the same size that's in a Super Distortion, and from what I understand it's the standard magnet size for a filtertron pickup. However, it doesn't use the thicker pole pieces that a Super Distortion has and utilizes keeper bars.


After taking its measurements and frequency curve, I noticed something interesting. The Dimarzio Fusion Edge I had just tested before had a very similar inductance. When I removed the tape, I was very surprised to find that the Fusion Edge is actually designed nearly identical to the Super Distortion, complete with the large magnet and thick pole pieces. Similar to the Super Distortion, the Fusion Edge uses a ceramic magnet in the center, and no flanking magnets. It also utilizes Dimarzio's Virtual Vintage technology, which simply means there are 3 metal plugs in between the 4 inner-most pole pieces. I then lined up the frequency curves, and they aligned nearly identically.



I thought this would be a good opportunity to compare the sound of each pickup. I tested both pickups through my 2020 Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60's with ObsidianWire wiring harness. Both pickups were tested precisely at a pickup height of 4mm bass/3.5mm treble. The clean track is through an AxeFx III Twin Reverb, and the metal track is through an AxeFx III 5150 amp. I found both pickups to sound very similar, especially in the metal context. Both tracks switch back and forth between each pickup as noted in the comments of the soundcloud clip.


soundcloud.com/jonathan-klinvex/jugg-vs-fusion-edge-clean?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing


soundcloud.com/jonathan-klinvex/jugg-vs-fusion-edge-metal?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Let me know what you think. The playing dynamics are a bit off on the clean setting, so there's a bit more variation there. Something to note - I purchased the Dimarzio Fusion Edge for roughly $37, and I paid around $147 for the Juggernaut. So if you're on a budget and are interested in the Juggernaut, maybe try a Fusion Edge first! 

Bare Knuckle Juggernaut
DC Resistance: 13.49k
Magnet: Large alnico 5 center, 2 ceramic flanking magnets
Inductance: 6.68H @100hz
Max Gauss: 650G in center 4 poles

Dimarzio Fusion Edge
DC Resistance: 11k
Magnet: Large ceramic
Inductance: 6.77H @100hz
Max Gauss: 770G in center 4 poles



Checkout guitarpickupdatabase.com for data and specifications on pickups across all brands.

[antigua]

Maybe this is another case of a artist with an endorsement deal says "make me a piece of gear that is exactly like something your competitor makes". Looking in the general direction of PRS. 

[gpdb]

I can't imagine the Misha would have asked Bare Knuckle to make a pickup that sounded just like a stock Ibanez pickup. It's more likely Ibanez asked Dimarzio to build something similar. But I think the real story is that the Fusion Edge is very closely related to the Super Distortion, so it really seems like the Fusion Edge was built to be a tweak on the Super Distortion. It just so happens that both of these pickups also line up closely. Something else I found out in the Fusion Edge is that both the neck and the bridge model are the same, EXCEPT the bridge model uses the large center magnet, and the neck model uses a regular one with a spacer underneath it.