Rebel Yells, Crawlers, Holy Diver, or Cold sweat???? In my Les Paul Custom

[Axe Palace]

A lot of my customers use the Holydiver in their Gibsons and absolutely love it. The HDs are terrific in mahogany, great for leads, rhythm, and cleans. I think they're a little fuller sounding than Rebel Yells.

The Cold Sweat would be a great option if you like the tightness and supreme note definition associated with ceramics. Those work great in mahogany as well. Despite it's power and clarity, it's also very open and has nice cleans as well \m/

[mikey5]

A lot of my customers use the Holydiver in their Gibsons and absolutely love it. The HDs are terrific in mahogany, great for leads, rhythm, and cleans. I think they're a little fuller sounding than Rebel Yells.

The Cold Sweat would be a great option if you like the tightness and supreme note definition associated with ceramics. Those work great in mahogany as well. Despite it's power and clarity, it's also very open and has nice cleans as well \m/

Out of Curiosity what are the differences between the Cold sweat and Holy Diver and which one has that randy tone better? Most people up here think the best option is the crawler, and of course riff raff

[mikey5]

The problem with what you want is that on one hand you want classic rock with fat midrange, then you want Metallica which is all scooped mids.  Thats asking alot of any pickup imo - decide which you play more and err towards vintage or hot depending on what you play most.
[/quote]

I know I am so indecisive about this stuff. I have one Les Paul with alnico2 pickups which are quite fat vintage paf sounding, Yea I want something hotter for the custom les paul. People are talking about the crawlers being able to hold up to Metallica, Ozzy, Brootals type stuff so I might go with those. On the other hand the Cold Sweats seem vintage and modern so Its between those. I am glad to have a forum like this for people to answer my dumb questions.

[JSHRED]

I think it also might not hurt to have a starting point for reference. I think I replaced my first pickup around when Vai signed with Ibanez, and I've probably owned 30 or 40 different pickups since then, and now I have my handful of favorites (Important Side Note: I use different pickups for different overall applications, there's no swiss army knife for tone) but even though I have my favorites, I'm still always finding out surprising things about what I want for myself in my own tone. I think that goes for everyone.

I'll get egged for my first suggestion, but if you have a paul and you like rock and metal, toss in a Gibson Dirty Fingers. It's what I've played forever, it's what I use for 90% of everything, from classic rock to 80s hair rock to prog metal to scoop metal. Another alternative is a Duncan Distortion.

Now that I'm dripping with egg yolks, I'll say why I pitched a couple non-BKP pups. They're not too expensive, and I think it will be really good to get a first respectable aftermarket pickup, so you can say, I like the Dirty Fingers, but I would like something warmer. Or cleaner. Or lower output. Or a little more scoopy. THEN, your favorite mates on the BKP board can suggest a dozen different things based entirely on your specific critique of your own tone.

I think you'll find over time you'll want a Nailbomb for metal, a Cold Sweat for Randy, and a Miracle Man for Ozzy and Black Label. And maybe mules for classic rock. Who knows. But you have to jump in some place, and no one pickup will do it all.

[ericsabbath]

I absolutely love my holy diver in les pauls and I see the crawler as its "blues brother"
I believe the crawler is in the gibson 498t ballpark (but apparently more middy), so I wouldn't choose it for what you're looking for
the cold sweat has a great mid crunch and treble attack that works awesome for 80's stuff
it's a very balanced pickup and has a lot of bite without going extreme
works great for early dio, whitesnake, early zakk, extreme, old metallica, accept, ratt, even early pantera
I actually use it for modern metal and I'm liking it better than the miracle man I had before
it doesn't steal or add bass or mids like some might think
it's a very flat pickup on these frequencies, just adding some brightness and crunch
sounds very punchy in my les paul, just not overbearing like the miracle man
the holy diver has about the same output, but it has a very fat and clean midrange, with smooth lead tone, more modern sounding
it's powerful and dominant, but not exactly crunchy
both are definitely my favorite bridge pickups

[il˙ti]

I believe the crawler is in the gibson 498t ballpark (but apparently more middy),

Why do you think that? It is not by a long shot, in my experience. The 498T is ALL treble, the Crawler is bass and mids with reduced treble. So it's not just more middy, it is significantly fatter aswell. The power is similar and they both have A5 magnets, but EQ-wise they really couldn't be more different. But you're right about it being the blues brother of the Holy Diver, I think.

[mikey5]

So hang on the treble is important to me. Which one soars more in the treble (dont like thin sounds as some pickups sound higher and thinner) the cold sweat or Crawler? I want a pickup with good treble. I guess the only thing I can compare to is the tone of Randy Rhoads Les Paul I know I keep saying that but I guess that would mean the Cold Sweat right??And whatever can do randy tone can probably do Metallica right?? I guess one pickup cant do it all perfectly like the guy said about a pickup Swiss army knife

[il˙ti]

^ No Randy's tone would be the Riff Raff as discussed in your other thread. ;) The Crawler has very smooth highs, Cold Sweat has much more bite due to the ceramic magnet. There's probably no pickup that will nail both Randy and Hetfield's tones as they are very different. Crawler will come close to Randy's tone, but not quite have the treble bite. You can play Metallica with a Crawler and make it sound great, but it does not do the scooped tone that Metallica is associated with. The Miracle Man would be bang on for the Metallica tone, but it wouldn't do the other things you described as well as other BKPs. Cold Sweat I think would be your happy medium.

[mikey5]

Thanks man your righteous

[IntenseJim]

I know this thread is prehistoric but....

I have the bridge  RY, BD, tried the CS and now the Crawler in LP Standards and a R68 LP Custom into a Soldano SLO.  The Crawler an CS were in the Custom and the style is hard rock with Steve Stevens flair.



CS was damn good but when soloing on high notes it was a bit bright.



Crawler is fuller, smoother and really nice when soloing but the low end is not as tight as the CS, BD, or RY.
It's similar to a RY but a bit smoother and less 'exciting'  in the upper mids.
The Crawler low end is reminiscent of a Duncan Custom Custom but the pup has more clarity and dynamics than the Duncan.


I might  go back to the stock Gibby pup for this guitar or perhaps try a Holy Diver.

[lulusg]

Jim ! Maybe Tim maybe able to make something for you. Seems like you have tried various BKPs on your custom(right?), with mixed results, you might be zeroing the sound that you want! So my guess would be talking to Tim if you haven't done it yet!! Good luck!!

[IntenseJim]

Maybe but I feel a bit like a douche not being able to hone in and make the right choice.

It's possible  that this particular Les Paul is just not happening for my style since my other two LPs with RY and BD simply kick ass.

[lulusg]

Nahh! You are ok Jim !! Some instruments just get harder to tame.  I guess the potential is there, Tim is known for being very patient, just exchange ideas and go  back to the drawing board. Hey you might have the best tone waiting to happen!! Give it a try!

[shaman]

a Custom LP was tough for me...mine is brighter than my Standards, no doubt....pots and caps do make a difference!I have an RS pot setup with Nailbombs and I am happy!I tired other pups, but it would have required 250-300kpots because of brightness-the hotter/darker output of the bonbs gave me that modern / vintage mix I was looking for-cleans up nicely, and has tightness/sqwuakkk for days..Sykes city with the ability to get ballsy clean-I like the clarity of the neck pup-plenty of treble/no mud-cuts real nice
I had tried Crawler,RY,HD, and Mules in the Custom....bombs are the bomb for me-check out any of the Chris George demos-nails the sound I have found!hey LULU!!!!!Happy Harvest  Season!70 degrees and sunny in Alabama!OWWW!

[Zaned]

CS was damn good but when soloing on high notes it was a bit bright.

Makes me wonder if the Ceramic Nailbomb would be the right pickup for you. It's darker and thicker than the regular CS. Does your custom have an ebony fretboard? That would explain the brightness, as ebony emphasizes lows and highs. The middier and darker tonality of the C-bomb might suit very nicely..

-Zaned