Bridge pickup for Epiphone SG

[Lorenzo]

Hi, I'm setting up a guitar for a friend and he wants a new pickup in the bridge.
The guitar is an Epiphone SG standard.
He plays mainly old school metal, doom and some punk stuff no mid scoop stuff.
I suggested a Warpig. Would it be a good choice?
Other pickups to consider?

[99_not_out]

I have an AV Warpig Bridge in the same guitar, and its almost certainly too thick and heavy (NOT muddy MDV!) for those sounds. Its glorious, but also a beast! Will do the Doom metal well :)

For old school metal and punk (and general SG-ness) - Riff Raff, its not a one trick AC/DC pony so don't be put off by that (if DC don't float your boat).

Maybe consider the Nailbomb too - nice mid growls and higher output, so will wander into Doom too I guess. I am not a Doom expert though so I stand prepared for correction ;)

[Lorenzo]

What do you mean too thick and heavy?
He uses a lot of gain and bass.
What music do you play?

[99_not_out]

OK, the Warpig is a compressed high output pickup with a lot of bass and low mid focus and great clarity in those areas. It does not have a lot of highs / high mids, or at least is biased towards the low end so the lows really come through. As a result its great for down tuning and heavy stuff, and shines under high gain.

I play a bit of everything really - old school rock and punk, blues and early to more modern metal (80's / 90's / 00's thrash). Metal is covered nicely end to end by the Warpig, if you like that chanky heavy sound, but it is out there with the low end. If your chap likes his bass, then maybe the Warpig is the way for him to go. The '80s / '90s thrash stuff I play though is however better handled by the Painkiller I have - it is more high mid focussed and can really nail those '80s / '90s metal tones.

I can get a passable old school metal / punk tone from the Warpig, but IMHO its not the Warpigs thing really and there are better BKPs for that sort of sound. The Warpig is compressed and tight, so misses some of the sparkle and dynamics you see in lower output pickups when I use it with less gain.

So I guess if your fella wants a high gain, heavy, tight, low focussed and compressed sound then the AV Warpig will be great!
If however he values a (slightly) more balanced, open and dynamic sounds for the old school / punk area then a Nailbomb, which is also heavy, just not as heavy as the Warpig.

BTW, I judge "heavy" by the ammount of compression / bass / low mids in the sound.

[Lorenzo]

Thanks for the description.
He already has a stock Gibson SG and he wants to mod the Epiphone to be the "heavy backup".

[99_not_out]

AV Warpig then from me then! It has the grin factor :twisted: - there are a few SG / Nailbomb users here who may provide you with a bit more detail on that front too.