Cheers folks,
so some of you may already have stumbled across my first impression thread of those pickups, for those who didn't, here's a quick explanation: I just recently got myself a used Miracle Man - Sinner HSS Set for my Custom Strat by fellow forum member Slartibartfast. Although this was a kind of blind purchase as I only had read things about them before and never played them, I'm very happy with the results I got, everything went better than expected :)
The Sinners are actually unique as they are both bridge version fitted with baseplates and specifically wound to work with the Miracle Man, the impact this has on the sound is bonecrushing (Both measure about 21k DC resistance). I finally played the guitar yesterday through a halfstack and now I can give you a full report:
The problem I always had with this particular guitar was that it always sounded too thin and biting, it was missing weight behind notes and heavy palm muting, not even the Holydiver could fix that. Turns out that it was begging for a scooped pickup as it seems to have so much midrange and high mids that every pickup I tried in it only enhanced this unto the point where it would sound annoying. Although I was initially afraid that the highs would be too much, this is not the case. On to the sound!
Eric has mentioned it before, the Miracle Man is a kind of bipolar pickup in it's behaviour and has quite an odd voicing. If you're used to that your pickups have the weight in the midrange, this is a completely different story. The pickup is not scooped in a way like people would worry to get lost in the mix, it's just that the focus of the sound is in the lows, low mids and highs. With nowadays rigs being quite midheavy already I wouldn't worry as long as you don't downtune to Drop Z and "djent" :P
So the Miracle Man gives you all those wonderfull weighty chugging sounds as soon as you start to play heavy palm muted downpicking, the low mids just give everything so much depth and every note retains plenty of body due to the low mids. The Bass response is tight considering that you usually don't think a fat low end would be tight at the same time, I play the guitar in E-Standard and with my Tubescreamer engaged I have no problems whatsoever. The saturation is just wonderfull, it steers more towards the fat and organic overdrive and distortion you get with the Holydiver rather than the cold and in your face harsh sound the Painkiller gives you, which is a great plus as I always kind of wanted to have an alternative that gives you a tad more than the HD but wouldn't be as modern as the PK. The MM delivers.
At the same time having the weighty character, you can make your guitar scream and squeal like crazy. Pinch harmonics are effortless, the lead tone is great especially for shredding and at the same time it's an amazing rhythm pickup. The sound is pure late 80's, great for Death and Thrash Metal as well and just everything you sometimes miss with the Holydiver. Slart has said it before, I can only agree. Where the HD stops, the MM starts.
Another thing I noticed that Eric has mentioned: on low volumes it can sound a bit boxy, but as you turn up the volume through a halfstack everything gets only better. Jonathan also said that it gives your Strat more a kind of Les Paul type of sound which I find to be true as well. Also the clarity is amazing but that's a BKP trademark so it comes as no surprise. All in all it's a great pickup and I don't know how I can go on praising it, I'm just so happy I finally have my Strat sounding the way I wanted it to sound since day one :D
The Sinners are both a bunch of mean beasts – anything but Singlecoils in the traditional way. This may have something to do with the fact that they're actually both bridge versions, but I'm sure the regular SSS set would be quite the same, great for anyone wanting to delve into modern metal territory without altering the look of a Strat. They saturate very well and have tons of output, you have no volume drop when switching positions whatsoever but they still give you the option of some of the straty quack sounds when you play with the volume and knob. I can sweep on the Neck Sinner without feeling a loss in power or lack of sustain and fluidity. Just like the Miracle Man they both brake up into harmonic feedback beautifully and squeal as well. The cleans are modern but wonderfull, giving you lots of bass still great glassy tones for strumming. They fit the guitar just as well as the MM does and complete the tonal palette.
Another thing I wanted to mention: at first I noticed that the combination of the MM and the Middle Sinner are actually out of phase, this would be easily fixable by just reversing 2 wires. However after initially wanting to do just that, I started to fall in love with this sound more and more as it holds the option of going from bonecrushing metal straight to blues when you have your amp maxed out on gain. You have a drop in output and a thin sound with lots of highs (the out of phase sound) but by playing with the tone knob you can easily fix any excessive highs and when I play the intro to Hey Joe it just sounds like one would expect it to sound. So for the sake of versatility I will keep this as it is. I use only the Neck and the Bridge pickup for metal anyway, so this won't hinder me in any way ^^
What can say more? I'm very happy with the results I got and these are definitely great pickups. I hope this review is somewhat usefull to someone, anyway, I'm off now to play my Strat some more, cheers! :D
