Warpig for Death Metal riffing...Alnico not clear enough?

[jllozano]

Hello all, this is a question for you guys that play death metal with fast palm muting and very fast tremolo riffing....I have an alnico 5 warpig installed on the bridge of a jackson baritone guitar..basswood body, tuned to C...However i seem to find that sometimes when doing fast palm muting bass sounds kind of loose, would the ceramic warpig help me out with that problem or what other pickups would you recommend.... I like the tonality of the alnico pig very much....it's just the looseness that isn't helping me...any suggestions? I already mailed tim but i'd like to have you guys' suggestions as well

[AdamB]

I believe the ceramic warpig is tighter

[Will]

I'm sure with the upgrade to ceramic, you also get a brighter sound (never had a direct magnet swap personally: just what I have heard)

[WezV]

what amp are you playing with.  the A5 warpig should still be good enough for this (i.e  better than most pickups on the market)  even if a ceramic would be slightly better

[jllozano]

variety of amps...rockmaster,jcm900.....modellers also...Atomic 212 amp.....i want something like the tightness my emg81 with 18v mod had, but with the great tone of the warpig...very full sound but good PM tracking in bass dept...so that bass doesn't seem to bleed from note to note......

[AdamB]

Well the EMG 81 is ceramic, so maybe getting a ceramic warpig will help

[Henk]

For fast palmmute riffing you need to boost out enough mids to get plenty attack. Also the amount of gain/sustain can reduce the punchyness of the attack and turn everything mushy.

Try tweaking your amp to get a bit cleaner and punchier mids, youll probably still have an impressive wall of gain just underneath that. A ceramic version would tighten up everything im sure, but i personally like big sounding metal heavyness.

I would definately try perfecting the sound on the A5 WP first, i really cant believe it isnt in there somewhere, sounds quite un-BKP like.

[Neemo]

So the ceramic warpig is a bit brighter. Does this mean that it sounds thinner when soloing? I've heard several clips with the A5 warpig's full and thick lead sound, I'm still bit undecided on which would be better for an alderbody custom that I'll be recieving soon. The ceramic's tightness is so appealing for some serious chugging  :guitar4:  PDT_003

[gwEm]

i've always seen the alnico version as the 'classic' warpig, and the ceramic as something of a specialist.

maybe this is bullshitee, but if i ever get a warpig set, it will certinally be alnico.

[jllozano]

well I went ahead and ordered the ceramic version ...after I get it and try it i'll let you know any differences for those interested.....and about the reccomendations about mids...I generally use something like bass 60% mids 85% and highs 40%....those are approximate and depending on which amp it varies of course but lack of mids is not the problem I am talking about.The problem is that some of the bass frequencies when doing fast PM's seem to bleed from note to note.....keep in mind this is fast fast mutes I am talking about....but otherwise I love the alnico pig's sound characteristics and if the ceramic does't solve that issue (or doesn't sound as HEAVY)I will definetely put the alnico one back in there......Also for anyone that wants to suggest pickup height mods...that has been done already....

[Henk]

This sounds more like a low end problem to my, they just are too slow trough the speakers sometimes, ive had this problem with multieffects mostly but sometimes also due to amp clipping.

I play 32th mutes in bursts on my mules and they come out perfectly, allthough i should focus on the acoustic stringsound when playing trough toneport because the smallest latency can put you off track.

Another thing could be, but i suppose you allready have 13's on your guitar since its down to C. Sting 'flabbering' can cause this also.

Fast mutes noodleing:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=774994

[maverickf1jockey]

That sounded suspiciously close to Hocus Pocus at the beginning...

[Henk]

That sounded suspiciously close to Hocus Pocus at the beginning...

If you would have read the original post i put it in you would know part are tabbed riffs from Focus yes. I have tabbed the tab liked in this thread.

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10397

And more about the toneport here:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10340

I do play alot of Jan Akkerman(the old stuff) and Paul Kossoff at the moment, they just played from the heart back then, i really dig that!

[maverickf1jockey]

Saw them Saturday at the Cheese and Grain, Frome. They played a seriously good show, the supports were shite though... :roll:

Guy called Niels Van Der Steenhoven on guitar nowadays; I think he's a sessioner by trade judging by the way he played much closer to the Akkerman lines than Akkerman ever did live.

They've got Pierre Van Der Linden back too; he was drumming like a $%&#er possessed that night, top stuff!

Thijis is still mad and we wouldn't have him any other way.

Seen Akkerman there too doing solo acoustic stuff. His support was better (than Focus').

Good venue but whatever you do go to the toilet before you go in!

[Roobubba]

The flabbing out on very low, very fast notes might not be the pickups or the amp, at all. It could be the speakers. I just changed my 5150 cab from sheffield 1200s to Celestion G12K-100s and EVM 12L black labels in an X pattern. At bedroom volumes, it's a LOT more articulate in the bass end. I'll crank it for the first time tonight, so I'll let people know what it's like at volume soon!  They still need to break in, of course!

Roo