Best pickups for Metal

[The Barra]

Hi guys

I'm looking to buy some BKP humbuckers for a custom Warmoth Soloist I own. At the moment I have been getting by with a set of GFS Power rails which have been ok but not amazing. My main gripes with them are that they are very high powered and make analog effects far and break up, and the way the rails are finished at the edges mean that sometimes the bottom string gets caught underneath the rail of the pickup. (problem lessened by having heavier gauge strings).

I play metal, tuned to drop C, with a fair bit of gain, I'm the lead guitarist in the band so the single note sound is very important, and I also play a lot of Clean parts. I use delay through the loop, and some wah and flanger sounds through the front. Also use gate/ compression.

I was thinking about getting a set of Aftermaths. Can anyone that has had these pickup shed any light on them for me? The other considerations were the painkiller, the holy diver. I was steering away from the warpig, because I thought they might be a little to high powered and not articulate enough for what I'm going for.

Thoughts?
The Barra

[Mr. Air]

What's the wood of the guitar and what kind of metal do you play? Stating that would help finding the right pickup.

My initial thought is Ceramic Nailbomb for the bridge and Cold Sweat for the neck. The former will give you a tight aggressive sound for riffing and chords while the latter will deliver great leads and clean tones.

[The Barra]

Thanks for the reply man.

It's a mahogany body with a flame maple top. Bolt on neck is maple with ebony fingerboard. Fixed bridge. I play mostly melodic death metal, black metal, and progressive rock. Not thrash at all. I do use the bridge p/up for soloing as well as the neck. I'm looking for a pretty good balance between the bridge and neck. The cold sweat is a good match with the Ceramic Nailbomb? I want the neck to be pretty raucous as well.

Cheers

[Kiichi]

The good old Nailbomb bridge CS neck might very well be the ticket here as Mr. Air noted.
Canīt comment on whether ceramic or alnico though.

But the PUs fit the woods and the NB should do a brilliant job with the melodic death, is agressive enough for black metal for sure and prog rock is also one of its stables.
And if you want a metal sounding neck PU for fluent leads you canīt really go wrong with the CS.

[The Barra]

Thanks dude, it sounds like the Nailbomb bridge and Cold sweat neck is a popular combination for my style of music to match the woods in my guitar. Sounds like a pretty safe bet. I'll do a bit more research on each of these pickup and I'll let you guys know what I go with.

Thanks for the input

The Barra

[Slartibartfarst42]

I've never played the Aftermath or Painkiller so I can't comment on them. I'd have thought the Holydiver would be too thick and smooth for the style you're after. I agree the Nailbomb could be a good option. It's the tightest and most aggressive sounding pickup I've ever used by some distance and mine was the alnico version. The Miracle Man could also be good as in some ways it sits between the Holydiver and Nailbomb.

The Cold Sweat is a great pickup but if you like it really raucous, why don't you think about putting a bridge pickup in the neck? I have no idea at all if that would work but the Holydiver is often said to have the sweetest lead tone of any bridge humbucker so I imagine it would still sound good in the neck, just a bit hotter and more raucous.

[The Barra]

I guess as long as it didn't outshine the bridge output wise it wouldn't be a problem. But I would be more inclined to go a genuine neck p/up. I guess I used the wrong word there. When I said raucous I really meant I want it to be pretty well balanced in output in comparison with the bridge.

I'd noticed that the DC resistance was 8 or so for the cold sweat neck in comparison to the Nailbomb bridge which is 14 or so from memory. I heard a review from one guy who had a holydiver in the bridge and cs in neck who said volume drop was noticeable. I guess I'd only be using the neck possy for either leads (with a boost) or for clean. I guess I've just answered my own question there!

Cheers for your help mate.

Anyone got any thoughts on the Nailbomb neck for my setup?

Cheers

[Kiichi]

The NB neck is also a nice one, but it is the only BKP I actually hear cited of being scooped. If that can work for you, maybe.

On Dc resistances: These are really to be taken with a lot of salt usually, most of the time they tell you nothing more or less, at least in terms of output.
Thing is that Dc resis of pickups wound with different wire like not comparable at all (DC resistance is a representation of the number of winds, different thickness wire, different results). When they are wound with the same wire it gives you an idea, but no answer, in concerns of output and compression (generall hotness), but even still the magnet used can really throw that off too.
For example look at the DC resi of the black hawk. Yeah its the terretory of the the mule, pg blues and such, but donīt think for a second it has a similar output.
So be really carefull when looking at that.

If there is a volume difference between the NB and the CS neck I recon it will be in an area where hight adjustemt will do most of the job.

[EffigyForgotten]

If you mainly play Melodic Death then the Miracle Man bridge should be what you're looking for. The guitarist of Arch Enemy uses/used a duncan JB and if you like their sound the Holy Diver would be good for you, its like a tighter/smoother JB.

[Slartibartfarst42]

And I find the Miracle Man to be a slightly hotter, tighter and more aggressive version of the Holydiver, which is why I suggested it initially. In terms of DC Resistance, the neck Miracle Man is also very close to the bridge, though it is a different magnet. Actually, with either a Miracle Man or Holydiver in the bridge, I'd strongly suggest an Emerald in the neck. I use an Emerald with a Holydiver in the bridge and it works in terms of output better than most other combinations I've ever tried and is the best lead pickup I've ever tried too.

[The Barra]

Cheers. I'll keep all that in mind. So far I'm leaning towards Nailbomb (ceramic) in the bridge and cold sweat in the neck