bridge warpig in a les paul: alnico or ceramic?

[dheim]

i'm thinking about a pickup change for my epi les paul gothic. it's currently equipped with a bridge SD A8 and a neck SD jazz.
i love the neck tone (very articulate and bright, as i like neck pickups), but the A8 has been a great delusion (with a name sounding like an Audi i should have been prepared for the worst, after all...  :P). too thin and weak. the high-midrange is nice but in general it sounds weaker than a JB and even looser (A8 is supposed to have the tightness of a ceramic, but my experience was very different)... if you listened to some clip of mine you already know it... i'm mostly into gothic-death metal, nothing too technical, and i vastly prefer organic sounds. i've got a set of alnico warpigs and i love them.

BUT, and it is a big BUT (to citate monty python...), i'm a bit afraid of the amount of darkness that my les paul gothic could generate with a warpig... it's a middy guitar, and curiously it has become very, very bright with the A8; i don't like it at all!
anyone has got a C-warpig in a les paul? i don't like bright bridge pickups, but don't want to sound too low-mid heavy...

[dheim]

i fear i've been a bit confused... but i'm at work, it's monday, so it's quite normal... :)

to translate, i'm thinking about a ceramic warpig to avoid muddyness but don't want to sound too bright and mid-scooped. yeah, i've done it!  :lol:

[DimeZakk]

As you say it's a middy guitar; why not take the standard Warpig? It won't be muddy in a middy guitar and give you the low end youre looking for. The ceramic will sound brighter, clearer and a hell of a lot more brutal...

[dheim]

The ceramic will sound brighter, clearer and a hell of a lot more brutal...

i like the idea... :) mind that i don't play ultra-tight rhythmics and often go for long notes (gothic doom, you know... :)). my only experience with a ceramic high gain pickup has been an EMG81, and i hated it from the very first seconds i used it... so i'm afraid of the "81 effect"... yes, i'm attracted by the idea of an even-more-bloody-brutal warpig but don't need extreme precision at the expense of sustain and smoothness on legato notes... so maybe i'd better choose an alnico one. or not?  :(

[Roobubba]

Heh, I seriously doubt you'd find *any* compromise on sustain or smoothness on legato notes by going for the C-Pig. Have you asked Tim?

Roo

[dheim]

Heh, I seriously doubt you'd find *any* compromise on sustain or smoothness on legato notes by going for the C-Pig. Have you asked Tim?

Roo

no, but i had this very suspect...  :? i think i'll go for a normal warpig, but i'll certainly ask tim before!

[AdamB]

No BKP will sound as bad as an EMG 81!!

I love my ceramic warpig! Tight and super brutal!

[Jopster]

Sorry hijack...

I have a Painkiller in a LP Classic. I'm thinking of putting a Warpig in my other LP Classic.

How does an A Pig compared to a PK and how does a C Pig compare to a Painkiller?

[ericsabbath]

the warpig is darker, more compressed, fatter, smoother, has nice organic grind on the midrange and the bass is more "bouncy"
the c-pig is similar voiced to the regular one, but louder, more agressive, brighter, tighter and does "krown krown" on the palm mutes, instead of the "tchank tchank" of the PK, like my friend says  :lol:

[Fearhk213]

The ceramic will sound brighter, clearer and a hell of a lot more brutal...

i like the idea... :) mind that i don't play ultra-tight rhythmics and often go for long notes (gothic doom, you know... :)). my only experience with a ceramic high gain pickup has been an EMG81, and i hated it from the very first seconds i used it... so i'm afraid of the "81 effect"... yes, i'm attracted by the idea of an even-more-bloody-brutal warpig but don't need extreme precision at the expense of sustain and smoothness on legato notes... so maybe i'd better choose an alnico one. or not?  :(

You definitely won't lose sustain with the C-Pig compared to the A-Pig.  It's a little more compressed and sustains wonderfully.  I find it more flattering pickup for leads and legato type stuff. 

As far as the smoothness goes there are a couple of things to think about.  The highs on the A-Pig are rounder than the C-Pig, which has sharper highs.  The C-Pig is also dirtier sounding; the notes have some hair to them.  So in that regard the A-Pig is definitely smoother; however, the A-Pig's mids are more prominent and aggressive.  The mids have a ton of growl, whereas the C-Pigs mids sit back a bit more and are mellower in the growl department.  The growl is also more prominent in the low end with the A-Pigs too.  In the end I'd still say the A-Pig is the smoother due to it's overall all rounder highs, but I figured I'd mention the growl factor since to some that's not exactly smooth either.

[dheim]

fearhk123, thanks for your detailed description! rounder highs and mid growl are two things i love in my warpigs, so i think i'll go for another alnico, at the moment...
thanks to everyone for the ads!

[EEF13]

wow
I always hear great things about the Alternative 8

[PINKBITS]

I'm just not a big fan of ceramics. They just seem to take away that something special that alnico mags give you IMO.