Hey everyone,
I just received and installed my first BKP, a Painkiller for the bridge of my PRS Singlecut. My initial impressions are positive, although I'm still trying to figure out some type of polarity mismatch or phasing issue when both pickups are active (the stock neck PRS #7 and the Painkiller). Both pickups sound perfectly fine when played individually, but in the middle position (both on) it sounds thinner and about 50% volume.
I haven't had a lot of time to really play with and locate the optimal pickup height, so I'll definitely do a more in depth review once I've given it a workout.
I am a bit surprised that it balances so well in volume when compared with the PRS #7 in the neck. I have the neck pickup set fairly low, but I found myself needing to increase the height of the Painkiller higher than I had my PRS #7 bridge (DC resistance of 8.44k) set in order to match the volume of the neck #7 (DC is only 7.36k).
Pros:
The clarity is good, and the cleans are actually very solid, which I wasn't necessarily expecting out of an aggressive bridge pickup. There is a definite spike in the upper mids, which I have to make significant adjustments on my amp to account for (this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's what makes the pickup sound agressive and cut through). The note separation under high gain is exceptional. I typically tune to Drop C and it has no problems.
Cons:
Considerably lower perceived output than I was expecting based on the website description and various reviews. Most other pickups I'm familiar with definitely seem to be higher output. I have several Seymour Duncan's (JB, Custom, Distortion), a DiMarzio Dominion, and various EMG's.
I have to increase the gain quite a bit on my amp in order to get pinch harmonics as easily as my other guitars.
