Bridge Pickup for VOS Les Paul

[bluesymetal]

I'm looking to up grade the bridge pickup in my les paul.  Its a 1960 RI VOS, I love the tone, but it's a little noisey through my jvm because the pickup's are not wax potted.  Plus I think I could go a little hotter.  I  play modern rock and metal.  Styles similar to GNR, Pantera, CoC, AIC mixed with Maiden, Motorhead, Sabbath etc....  www.myspace.com/IIIshot

Anyway I'm going for a tone between Jerry Cantrell on Facelift and Slash on Contraband, maybe leaning a little more towards Jerry since that tone seems a tad meaner.  I'm eyeing up the holy diver, but maybe a more mid gain pup might be better suited for me considering I like the general tone of the stock gibson? 

I defintly don't need more low end added to my sound, the gibsons really thick as is and I dont like a real bass heavy scooped mid sound like godsmack and the like.  I think I'm just getting a bridge pup btw, the stock neck is perfect at nailing that fat slash gnr lead tone.  Any suggestions?

P.S. I'm assuming these pickups are nice and quite right?  The noise issue is the main reason I'm ditching the stock one.   

[Machek]

I'm thinking crawlers or holydivers should do, but i'm leaning more towards the Crawlers, which are just awesome sounding for what you are looking for... through a hot and bothered dimed old marshall, my crawlered LP was unbelievable...

[ericsabbath]

I love all the bands you mentioned (except GnR) and I must say...
the Holy Diver is your pickup!
powerful but not overpowering and has a ton of every usable frequency
it's fat (and I mean FAT, not scooped PAF fatness), but extremely balanced and versatile
the lead tones sound very thick and fluid (think Jerry Cantrell soloing live), the cleans are bright and crystal clear and it's surprisingly tight enough for Pantera stuff
the clarity is incredible for that amount of output and mids
definitely my favorite bridge pickup

I recorded this rough video with it
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T1RafxMYU5w

I bet you'll be impressed with improvement over the stock burstbuckers
it has a lot more bass than the stock pickups, BUT you won't get that impression cause it has a lot more mids and highs too
you'll get a much fuller sound without sounding "bassy"

but if you're really worried about it, try its brother, the Rebell Yell, for a brighter tone

[il˙ti]

I was thinking Holy Diver too for the mention of Jerry Cantrell. But tonally it would be a huge step away from the burstbucker, and since you like the overall tone of that, it might not be ideal to go all the way in the modern category. The HD is very modern sounding afterall. It is also very bass/low-mid heavy and you said that's not necesary. You said yourself that a mid-gain pup might be more suitable and I think you're right. The metal bands mentioned (Maiden, Motorhead, Sabbath) have tones that you'll get most accurately with lover gain pickups. (go check the players forum, Tom has some excellent sounding metal clips with the Mule)

I'm gonna suggest the Black Dog. It will pair better with the burstbucker in the neck, and have more of that vintage-y sound that Slash is known for. Not long ago, the Black Dog was suggested for classic metal tones in a Les Paul, with the ability to go into modern metal, particularly Iced Earth's tone. If you're unsure about it, talk it over with Tim.

[man_of_java]

I have a brand new spare, f-spaced VH II for sale. This pickup kills. Hot over wound PAF. I bought 3 BKP's at once one SS RY and two of the VH II.
Let me know if you might be interested.

[shaman]

welcome,man of java.....(I almost bought the VHII from him,but I have some crawla's on the way...)
I like the Black Dogs for J Cantrell, mainly because Tim recommended them for me in my Paul when I acknowledged the Cantrell tone...a key to those tones is going to be the amp as well...whatcha playin' thru, BM??I have found that my amps just shine with the Mule ,RY,VH II...I can use the dials on my amps and get all three very close....these pups have dynamics!!I back off the gain a good bit on my Mesa amps and really use the volume control a lot and I can cover all ground(Allmans to Tool,etc...) with each pup no problem

[bluesymetal]

welcome,man of java.....(I almost bought the VHII from him,but I have some crawla's on the way...)
I like the Black Dogs for J Cantrell, mainly because Tim recommended them for me in my Paul when I acknowledged the Cantrell tone...a key to those tones is going to be the amp as well...whatcha playin' thru, BM??I have found that my amps just shine with the Mule ,RY,VH II...I can use the dials on my amps and get all three very close....these pups have dynamics!!I back off the gain a good bit on my Mesa amps and really use the volume control a lot and I can cover all ground(Allmans to Tool,etc...) with each pup no problem

I'm running through a JVM 410 H and a Diezel cab at the moment.  I switch amps pretty often though, I'm eyeing up both the orange rockerverb 50 and splawn nitro currently.  I am really happy with the JVM though.  More gain on tap than I would EVER need, plus a lot of classic marshall tones.  Reverb is decent too. 

I might check out the black dogs.  Like I said I really don't need a ton of low end.  I tried a PRS Tremonti Treble I had laying around in it and hated it.  Overly compressed and to bassy.  I did like how easy it was to nail harmonics on it because it's so hot. 

I would prefer a voicing with similar qualities to the burstbucker, but maybe a little hotter to bring out those harmonics and defintly want less noise. 

[il˙ti]

All BKPs are gonna give you great harmonics and less noise. I think you'll be really happy with the change. Black Dog clips are few though, so drop Tim an email before deciding.

[shaman]

yes..def. drop tim an email-all bk's I have blow away the burstbuckers-you can't go wrong!

[ericsabbath]

looks like tim is off internet these days :(

i ordered a cold sweat a few days ago and asked him to ship it to my friend in london cause she's coming back to brazil on the next week, but i didn't got answered yet
i hope he comes back at time

i tried to e-mail him today and got this automatic response:

"I will be away from my computer until the 10th July and unable to respond to email enquiries until that time.  The workshops are open as usual and the BKP team are on call for sales and technical advice on 01326 341313.

Regards,
Tim."

[AndyR]

Sounds like a well-deserved holiday to me :D
It's the 10th today - so he's probably buried under emails now!!

[ericsabbath]

he answered me today  :D

[JamesHealey]

HD + LP = MUD, IMHO.

[ericsabbath]

HD + LP = MUD, IMHO.

you couldn't be more mistaken :D

[sjwebb90]

One thing to remember when you are swapping out pickups in  LP's, is check your POT values. If you have the 300K volumes pots installed, then replace with 500K. If you don't the your guitar is likely to sound dull even with the BKP's, unless of course "thats your thing"!!!