picking a bridge for SG (maybe VHII)?

[johnnyswitch]

hey guys, im back after a while :p

i was thinking about warpigs a while back, but ive since joined a band and my style has been more along the lines of clean, blues, classic rock, and hard rock. not really a huge metal type tone. my workhorse guitar, gibson SG special faded, is my favorite of the ones i own as far as feel, but i have been messing with the sound extensively.
ive changed pickups a few times, using both humbuckers and p90s. currently ive got the stock bridge back in (490T) and a gfs Mean90 (bridge) in the neck. for a while it worked, but i just dont feel they really go together in this guitar.

i dont know about the neck yet, but i want something different in the bridge. im looking for a fat tone, but not muddy. tight mids and low end. i love the upper range, nice clarity, but i just want to get rid of a bit of that 'peircing' brightness i seem to get. i'm a guitar-into-amp kinda guy, i hardly ever use pedals. i need a good chunk, and i love sounds along the lines of angus young, iommi, page... also need a nice clean.

currently, i figure im pointed at a VHII. am i correct or am I off base? i thought about a calibrated set but im not sure, once ive got a bridge then ill do some soul searching and see what i want for the neck.
that, plus im in canada so BKP prices are double in dollars :P

thanks for the input guys

[ericsabbath]

i have this exact same guitar
I'm enjoying the holy diver bridge / cold sweat neck on it
I just had to tune the screws and pickup height  to compensate the absence of an angled pickup ring
it sounded too dark when the pickup was distant and the screws were low, but it sounds great now

[johnnyswitch]

hmm that sounds interesting, what style of music are you playing with it? what kind of tone are you going for; rock, metal, br00talz...?

i was under the impression a holy diver was more of a metal pickup, but i might be wrong

[johnnyswitch]

i figured i was after something like a riff-raff, or a VHII. anyone else have input on these pickups for SGs?
im not looking to copy someone's tone, i just know what kind of base sound im after.
maybe tim could help..?

thanks guys,

j

[badgermark]

Mississippi Queens would work wonderfully, fat with bite. I love mine in an epi les paul. Give a perfect hard rock tone, but clean is amazing too. I love mine.

[Philly Q]

The Riff Raff bridge will give you an Angus sound... I wish I could think of something cleverer to say about it, but that's what it does.   It's a "what it says on the tin" pickup.

It's not a fat sounding pickup though - not as thin/piercing as the 490T you've got, but still pretty bright.  Having said that, I think SGs work best with relatively bright, tight pickups - certainly not anything with too much bass and midrange. 

Not sure about the VHII, someone must have one in an SG but I can't remember right now.  If you wanted something hotter I've always thought the Cold Sweat, with its ceramic magnet, could be good in an SG... but again I haven't tried it.  :(

[johnnyswitch]

philly: thanks, i was guessing the riff-raff would be along the lines of what you said. angus is a reference to a sound i'd like to get, but i dont want to have HIS sound, you know? so thanks. also, i can't say i know much about the cold sweat, but from what i have read about tims magnets, i dont think im really looking for a ceramic pickup, at least for this guitar. i'm under the impression that they're a tighter, punchier sound which really works well for metal, but i may be mistaken in my understanding of ceramics.

badgermark: i've thought about MQs quite a few times. I wasnt sure if i wanted P90s in this particular guitar. but they're definitely a possibility; i LOVE p90s. thanks for making me think about that again haha.



should i just give tim a call or email?

im just bummed because i cant really afford a calibrated set right now; too much rent and insurance and all that fun stuff. so really its either bridge or neck. i'd love to get both at once but it'll just have to be bridge for now.
anybody know if i could order a neck-calibrated pickup later on? or would that be too complicated...

thanks!

j

[badgermark]

If you buy a bridge pickup from Tim directly then a neck at another time they will be calibrated already. Not sure exactly how BKP work, if they have stock or wind as they need but the pickups in a set will work together beautifully.

Just to reassure you, i bought a neck MQ for my tele, loved the pickup but not in the guitar. Punted it into my les paul and ordered a bridge model, match made n heaven, my favorite set so far.

[gwEm]

a5 mule will give you fatness and versatility, but still bite. you can get rather heavy with it too.

[johnnyswitch]

badger: would you say the MQs work well even for heavier rock, palm muting and all that fun stuff? i dont play metal in this band, but we do play around in drop-d territory and stuff like that. so we play some hard rock, but we also play some more laid-back stuff, classic rock, blues, and clean territory. i've tried P90s before and enjoy them, but i havent tried them for the heavy stuff.

gwEm: so you'd recommend an A5 Mule over an A4? i've looked up some mule clips and they seem to be a real versatile pickup. ideally, i'd love a pickup that will cover all my bases- and sound GOOD doing it. that's why i came here :D