How heavy can the Crawler go?

[James_B_K_P]

I've almost finished building my first guitar and as soon as I've finished spraying (Probably a week or two to go) I'll be buying fitting the electronics. The crawler has the exact EQ I'm after and from most of the sound clips I've heard, has that sort of throaty punch I love. I play a lot of Dream Theater, sometimes ever Machine Head, Pantera and a lot of Thrash. I do however want the pickups to be versatile as I play a wide range of styles. Is the crawler the right pickup for me?

Almost forgot, The guitar is poplar with a maple neck/rosewood fretboard.

[Telerocker]

Hey James.

I have the Crawler a swampash/maple neck/ebony fretboard MXG customstrat (a brand Patrick Eggle made some years for a guitarshop in Holland). It's a quite versatile pickup for a lot of rockstyles, but I don't play prog. The Crawler really growls when pushed. Very fat and throaty (solo)tones, also above the 12th fret. The highs stay round, but are not dull and I can dial in enough treble for a balanced sound (I play a Rockerverb 50 that has no icepicky highs)
The Crawler might handle progressive styles when your amp/speakercombo has enought lowend tightness. I mention this bec the Crawler might have a tad too soft bass-response for prog. and metal. Overall the flavour is quite PAF-ish, but thicker, with more balls and output. It's like a Mule on steriods.
Bottomline: not really a genuine metal/prog-pickup, the Crawler is more hardrock then metal. Personally I think the Holy Diver is closer to what you're looking for.

Hope this helps a bit
Frank

[clivey]

Crawlers can definitely do metal - thrash and early Dream Theater would work really well. They have a real kick in the midrange, and are quite a bit more agressive than most people think. Not the tightest or the brightest of the higer output BKPs, but they work equally well in my alder/maple bodied superstrat and mahogany bodied 7-string, and I play a lot of progressive/metal stuff. They're very versatile too - clean up well and the split coil sounds are fantastic.

I think you might also want to check out the Nailbomb though - they'll cover pretty much everything your looking for, but with a bit more of a modern voicing than the Crawlers.

Your best bet though is to ask Tim and the guys at BKP, they know best!

[ericsabbath]

ceramic nailbomb

[James_B_K_P]

Cheers for the replies! I was looking at the crawler because I wanted to avoid anything too high gain. However, the nail bomb now looks more like what I'm after. I'm playing through a JCM 2000 Dsl 50 at the moment so the nail bomb will hopefully mean I don't have to push the gain all the way to 9/10. How does it pair with a cold sweat neck? I won't be coil splitting or anything like that. Just good old fashioned Bridge/Both/Neck 3 way switching and a single volume pot :)

[Telerocker]

Cheers for the replies! I was looking at the crawler because I wanted to avoid anything too high gain. However, the nail bomb now looks more like what I'm after. I'm playing through a JCM 2000 Dsl 50 at the moment so the nail bomb will hopefully mean I don't have to push the gain all the way to 9/10. How does it pair with a cold sweat neck? I won't be coil splitting or anything like that. Just good old fashioned Bridge/Both/Neck 3 way switching and a single volume pot :)

Nailbomb and CS-neck is a classic (metal) combi much praised on the forum. The Nailbomb has a topendsizzle and agressive character you like or you don't. It certainly will push your Marshall.

[BigB]

I have both Crawlers (set) on a going-trhu maple neck / maple sides MiJ 80s Vox and and a ABomb bridge on a (rather dark) SG. The guitars are obviousy quite different, but anyway: there's not much of difference wrt/ output level, both push the amp about the same. wrt/ tone, both have punchy and throaty mids, the main difference is with the low and hi ends. The Crawler has softer lows and more rounded highs, with a very "full" and fat tone where the ABomb has  much tighter lows and more sizzle. I don't play (and barely listen to) metal so I can't tell if Crawlers could do, but clearly the Crawler is more "vintage with a modern twist" when the  ABomb is "modern with a vintage twist".

My  2 cents...

[Telerocker]

I have both Crawlers (set) on a going-trhu maple neck / maple sides MiJ 80s Vox and and a ABomb bridge on a (rather dark) SG. The guitars are obviousy quite different, but anyway: there's not much of difference wrt/ output level, both push the amp about the same. wrt/ tone, both have punchy and throaty mids, the main difference is with the low and hi ends. The Crawler has softer lows and more rounded highs, with a very "full" and fat tone where the ABomb has  much tighter lows and more sizzle. I don't play (and barely listen to) metal so I can't tell if Crawlers could do, but clearly the Crawler is more "vintage with a modern twist" when the  ABomb is "modern with a vintage twist".

My  2 cents...

That sums it up quite accurately

[James_B_K_P]

Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry for the late response, just got back from my holiday! I've bought a pair of aftermaths on recommendation from Tim. :D
I decided I'm not too bothered about the versatility because I have other guitars for that. This will be my main Thrash/Progressive metal guitar.
I bought a set with Tyger covers and black bolts. These are my first BKP's so I can't wait for them to arrive! I also bought the 550k custom CTS pot, the Switchcraft jack input and Switchcraft 3 way switch. The guitar is single volume with no tone so I only need the one pot. Does all of this sound compatible?

[Telerocker]

That's something completely different... but for trash etc the right choice. You wouldn't want a Crawler for those styles. Keep us informed how they sound in your guitar.

[James_B_K_P]

Yeah, I'll keep you posted Telerocker! I'm very excited about this build and eager to get it finished. It been my first ever real guitar build, as well as my first purchase of BKP's. Everything has gone well so far. I've just got the sides of the guitar to spray tomorrow and then it's a matter of fitting the electronics :)