holy cr@p! this thing is awesome!
I couldn't take my hands off my guitar for 2 hours after installing it :lol:
this thing even made my framus cobra sound 80'ish
the guitar is my late 80's/early 90's MIJ Hurricane les paul custom copy (the one with satin nitro camo in my avatar)
this guitar had several pickups: stock gotoh, emg 81/85, emg 85/81 (i've swapped them several times), seymour duncan custom w/ alnico 8 magnet/'59, gibson 500t/496r, mighty mite motherbucker, bk holy diver bridge/cold sweat neck (twice), bk miracle man (twice)
this pickup was bought to be installed in my gibson sg faded, but I couldn't wait for the rest of its hardware, then installed in the les paul, replacing the holy diver and it sounded soooooooooo good that it probably will stay where it is
not that I prefer it over the holy diver (my dream pickup), but I think the holy diver will be better accomplishment for the sg
I always thought that the "instant John Sykes" thing was total bullshitee, but it is actually true!
in 5 minutes my hands were moving by themselves and trying to play some hard rock, old Dio and of course I had to play some Cowboys From Hell :lol:
comparing to the other pickups I had in this guitar, other BKP's I've tried and other brands, I'd list some noticeable characteristics:
output - about the same amount of the holy diver with a hair more presence, more bite than the duncan custom, less output than the miracle man, painkiller and gibson 500t.
lows - very balanced and neutral. it lets the wood low frequencies act without adding or stealing bass. doesn't have the huge bass boost of the miracle man or the low mid hump of the holy diver, just the right amount. but don't get me wrong... at least in my les paul, it sounds THICK!
mids - the pickup description on the website doesn't make any mention to the mids and most reviews don't talk about its midrange, so I was expecting something a bit mid scooped, like a bill lawrence or most PAF wound pickups... WRONG! not a huge amount of mids, but they are definitely there and very present! not like a painkiller, warpig or the holy diver, but a lot more mids than the miracle man, especially high mids.
highs - very biting, but controllable. not round like the holy diver, but not too spikey like the miracle man. more on the painkiller ballpark.
brightness - definitely a bright pickup. brighter than the holy diver and the miracle man, but in a tasty way.
tightness - just a bit tighter than the holy diver, not extreme like the miracle man and painkiller
clean - about as bright as the holy diver, but a bit harder. more middy and smoother on the treble strings than the miracle man. like every other BKP I've played , it's CLEAN on clean.
gain - this thing is pure and raw crunch! it has the harley davidson growl that the miracle man has on the low midrange, but in the high mids, and the crunch of the gibson 500t but with the BK extreme clarity instead of the 500t mud and a less extreme, more controllable amount of gain. the power chords sound aggressive and grainy and the leads are biting, but never harsh. :D
if the Miracle Man and the Painkiller had a teenage rebel son, he would be the Cold Sweat :lol:
