Brighter Pickups for my Charvel M 6

[duckino]

Hi there all!

New to this Forum and really enthusiastic with the idea of purchasing my first BK set of pickups!I hope you 'll help me find the one that suits me best.So as you already noticed I own an old Japanese Charvel model 6 guitar with Evolution(Bridge) , Fast Track 1(Middle) and The Chopper(Neck) all ceramic DiMarzio Pickups.Other specs:

HSS
Body-Poplar
Neck Through Design
Electronics-3 On Off Toggle Switches(one for each pickup)
Floyd Rose Tremolo
Rosewood Fingerboard

I must say that I am happy with my Evo when it's distorted(I am a big fan of Steve Vai's smooth lead sound) but can't say the same when it's not.I'd also like my other two single coil sized humbuckers , changed with brighter , high output , true single coil pickups.Now I know that my guitar is ment to shred and that it could never sound like a strat , but I'd like to make it as close strato sounding as possible , especially in the positions 2(N/M) and 4(M/B).I want a set versatile enough to go from Eric Johnson's "Manhattan" crystal "STRATO" cleans to Steve Vai's smooth leads and although I'm not a metalhead (not any more) , I'd like to have a pickup to go to Dream Theater's "The Mirror" Rythm guitars if/when needed.
My obsession with the Super Hi Output pickups comes from the fact that no matter what pickups I had installed in my Charvel , my mexican Fender and even my cheap Yamaha Pacifica 112 with it's shitety ,low-output, nonamebucker and single coils kept having stronger output ,like I'd turned my amp's volume from 2 to 2 1/2 .I never figure out why something like this was happening.Was it the electronics(500 or 250k or whatever controls) , the woods or the neck through construction!
Having said all of the above , which set would you recommend as more appropriate for me?I e-mailed Tim and he helped me end up in the four combinations below.

1.Warpig/Trilogy Suites
2.Nailbomb/Irish Tours
3.Nailbomb/Trilogies
4.Miracle Man/Trilogies

I believe I'm going for the third one although the second one looks tempting too.Which one would you suggest?Do you have a complitely different compination to recommend?

Thanks in advance

[il˙ti]

Nailbomb/Trilogy

The Nailbomb really handles that Satch/Vai singing lead tone, especially in strats and superstrats. There was a video posted recently of "Always with You, Always with Me" but I can't seem to find it. I don't know much about single coils, but I'd go for Trilogy Suites for the name alone.  8)

[FELINEGUITARS]

I like the Miracle Man option in a Charvel 6 / Jackson soloist

[gingataff]

If you like smooth Vai type lead sounds then the MM might be a better choice than a Nailbomb.

I have an Evolution in a guitar at the moment that previously had a Nailbomb (I'm considering a Miracle Man for this guitar and this is the closest thing I have to that), and the Evo is definitely smoother I presume due to the ceramic magnet. The Nailbomb did sound great but it has more push in the upper mids and a lot more crunch, which lets it punch and cut with lead lines rather than the more balanced mids and compression of Vai's tone.
 It's been a long time since I tried a Miracle Man but from the clips I've heard I'd say it has the smoothness you want.

..Having said that I have managed to get some fairly good Eric Johnson tones with my Nailbomb by rolling down the volume a tad and the tone a lot more. I'm not sure if this would work as well with the MM.

[Antag]

I like the Miracle Man option in a Charvel 6 / Jackson soloist

I agree.  I have the model 5 from the same era (same guitar execpt HH/5-way selector/dot inlays instead of HSS/3 mini toggles/sharkfins).  It must've been made with a very dense piece of poplar because it weighs a ton & has a very thick meaty sound - not at all what you associate with maple neck-thru guitars (I'm guessing it's the use of poplar rather than alder for the body wings).

IMO the Nailbomb will give you a really dirty, gritty tone rather than smooth.  Miracle Man would be perfect.

FWIW, I have a Painkiller in mine & it's uber-aggressive with massive mids & low end.  Just screams (or rather bellows) METAL :twisted:

[duckino]

Thank you very much for you suggestions so far.

Miracle Man ha!But what about the cleans.I don't think that I could ever get equally good cleans out of a ceramic magnet.At least not like the Warpig's or the Nailbomb's.That's why I was hoping to get a Alnico V , to have good cleans as well as good distortion.What do you say about the Warpig?Would it have smoother distortion than the Nailbomb?

What about the other two positions?What would you recommend?

[gwEm]

BKP ceramic cleans are better than most manufacturer's alnico ones.

the painkiller has a particularly nice clean, in my opinion obviously :)

[Johnny Mac]

I have a Charvel Mode 6 with Miracle Man and Two Trilogy Suites and it's a a fantastic sound. But nothing like a strat in those other positions. You won't get it to sound like one imo. Just buyt a strat wnd stick some irish tours in like my one that sounds wicked too!

[gingataff]

Maybe a way to get more Strat-like sounds in positions 2 & 4 would be to use a lower output middle pickup, perhaps something like a mothers milk.