Yeah a lot of rail pickups are considered high output metal pickups, but it seems that Tim is aiming for something different with these. I replaced the X2N in my Schuldiner, even though I did like the pickup and it really had the Death tone, with a MM. I thought of highest output, etc, etc, but it came down to dynamics and power, ease of harmonics, and all things pointed to the MM. The axe sounds totally different now; very huge which is funny because it's a really small, light guitar. But it's metal as f*ck. Think Decapitated's "The Negation" or "Names" at the 0:35 mark \m/. We just have to find out more about the BlackHawk to get a better picture. And actually hear it.
To continue Bulb's comments: I think Tim never tries to nail a genre with a pickup but rather create unique, dynamic, clear sounding pickups in all output levels to give the player a great set of tools to formulate the tone they desire. It's all subject to the ear. I personnaly can't listen to one single sound clip and think "wow that's the tone I want, that pickups is this or that". i want to hear lots of uses for the pickup at different settings and amps to get the feel of its potential. But you have to play it yourself too. It's mostly technique; a bad player can make great pickups sound like shite. I always end up wanting to hear something played with my tone, instead of wanting someone elses. Maybe they are in the direction they want, but ultimately I want it to be uniquely me, and that is more personal skill and technique than anything.
There's a lot more to pickups than genre tones. One of the first pieces I play to hear a pickup's range is "Die to Live" by Steve Vai. It makes you dig a lot of sound out of the pickups so you get a pretty good idea of intonation, clarity, eq, harmonics, and response. That's just what works for me, before I start noodling around or whatever. So, as stated before, it wil be interesting to learn more about the new pickup and it's uses.
