well
at least in MY 2 les pauls, the miracle man sounded VERY dark, but it's high end is very strong and cuts pretty well
i had an emg 81 too, tried a duncan custom, duncan distortion, gibson 500T and other ceramics... the miracle man is definetely a lot better and more organic than all of these
i tried the painkiller in another guitar and i liked it too, but miracle man is still my favorite ceramic bridge pickup (my favorite ceramic neck was gibson 496R)