Nailbombs don't work well in my LP Custom

[LP_LOVER]

Thanks lads for your useful comments.

It is very difficult to describe sounds. One man's warm is another man's muffled. One man's powerful is another man's cold.

Gritty means 'with grit, dirt, distorted in a musical way, touch responsive in a valve amp'

A sharp top end means 'overpowering brittleness in the higher end of the frequency range, less warm, powerful but somewhat unmusical'

What I mean is I want a warm but powerful pickup.  The standard Gibson HB bridge sounds good - the neck sounds weak and muffled.

I am going to check out either a Holy Diver set or a Crawler set.

And yes I re-registered as I forgot I was even on the board. That's what going to Afghanistan and Iraq does to you!!  :(

Cheers,
Jim

Hi Jim,

I understand every word you're saying (also about the Gibson humbuckers). My personal opinion/experience is that BKP's have a lot of top end clarity compared to most, stock/mass produced pickups. Most guitarists are used to the 'warm' (but muddy) tone of Gibson humbuckers/Duncans etc...

In my opinion BKP's are the way to go BECAUSE of the clarity and naturel tone they have. No mud; always a clear and articulate tone with a 'bright' top end.

It also depends A LOT on the individual guitar you're
using.

[d1dsj]

As mentioned earlier, you would be better off talking to Tim direct. Great guy who clearly understands the relationship between pick up winds, magnets and wood type for a particular application.... you'll be sorted in a jiffy!

[The Sorbz]

Thanks mate - I'll do that

[LP_LOVER]

It's definately between the Crawlers and Holydivers.

Your choice...

[LP_LOVER]

Crawlers might be less compressed.

[ericsabbath]

Thanks lads for your useful comments.

It is very difficult to describe sounds. One man's warm is another man's muffled. One man's powerful is another man's cold.

Gritty means 'with grit, dirt, distorted in a musical way, touch responsive in a valve amp'

A sharp top end means 'overpowering brittleness in the higher end of the frequency range, less warm, powerful but somewhat unmusical'

What I mean is I want a warm but powerful pickup.  The standard Gibson HB bridge sounds good - the neck sounds weak and muffled.

I am going to check out either a Holy Diver set or a Crawler set.

And yes I re-registered as I forgot I was even on the board. That's what going to Afghanistan and Iraq does to you!!  :(

Cheers,
Jim

the holy diver and crawler will be warmer, but I don't think they are "gritty" in any way
they are very open and clean

maybe you might like the midrange grind of the warpig
or the cold sweat crunch, which is probably closer to your gibson (I believe the HB-L is ceramic, since it's high powered and designed by bill lawrence), but the sweat has a sharper treble than the nailbomb

[Philly Q]

the holy diver and crawler will be warmer, but I don't think they are "gritty" in any way
they are very open and clean

I'd say the Crawler (bridge) is gritty, in the sense that it's quite a growly, grindy kind of sound.  It's certainly not pretty (and that's not meant as a criticism!).

[LP_LOVER]

To each his own...

Any BKP will sound great; it's just about finding the right pickups for your guitar, your playing and your set-up + every Les Paul sounds different. You can't compare a warm sounding LP Standard with an 'edgy' sounding LP Custom and so on......

The HD's sound great in my LPC.

[_tom_]

I just thought, how about the Emeralds? Dont get mentioned a lot but maybe they'd work well for you? I dont actually know what sort of sound they have but if its anything like Thin Lizzy as the name suggests then they're bound to be good :)

edit - the description of them sounds promising
"Street-wise savvy, powerful, warm bottom end, rich harmonics and sustain. "