Gibson Flying V Pickups?!?

[DimeZakk]

I am extremely pleased with the BKP's I've put into my Les Paul Standard (Nailbomb/Coldsweat) and now I need some pickups for my Gibson Flying V...

The guitar is always droped down to C standard (sometimes drop b or drop a# too) so the pickups must handle downtunings very well. I love Melodies in the style of Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) or Syu (Galneryus) so I thought the Holy Diver would be the right pickup for my needs as I've read that it's a very warm sounding pickup that's greatfor leads and melodies. Is it also tight enough for Heavy Riffing? because I'll also play some In Flames and Machine Head with it and the pickup needs to be tight enough for that and must deliver screaming harmonics but as it's a hot Alnico V pickup I am not sure about the Holy Diver's hights and high mids...

The Painkiller (or even the Miracle Man) seem to be the perfect Heavy Riffing pickups but I'm afraid they sound to harsh for melodies and warm leads or am I mistaken?

I'll basicly need a pickup set that delivers warm leads and tight riffing.

[Antag]

Much as I love the Holy Diver (have it in several guitars), I'm not convinced it's the best choice for serious drop-tuning.

Miracle Man & Painkiller will be much tighter & I don't think either of them are "harsh".

However, IMO the best choice would be a Warpig - powerful & tight enough for serious drop tuning under mega-gain but with a really full warm lead sound.  FWIW, I recorded a Warpig clip tuned to drop-Bb, in a Gibson Flying V... :)

[Antag]

Also, just for interest's sake, have you ever tried tuning your NB-equipped LP down to C?  Is there something about the NB that makes you not list it as a possible choice for the V?

[ericsabbath]

I didn't find the alnico pig to be any tighter than the Holy Diver
just a bit brighter on the top end and more compressed on the mids
the Holy Diver sounded pretty tight in my Les Paul copy, a bit loose in my Gibson SG
so I just replaced the alnico 5 magnet by an alnico 8 bar
it's louder, brighter and almost as tight as the Cold Sweat and didn't loose the thick lead tone  :D :D :D

[DimeZakk]

First of all I want to try diffrent BKPs, so that's reason number one NOT to get another Nailbomb. The Nailbomb is an incredibly versitaile pickup but it's extremely open and cutting pickup. I am looking for a little more compressed sound with more high end 'cause the Nailbomb isn't the best pickup for pinch harmonics and stuff

[OldCrow]

I just purchased a AlNiCo Warpig for my faded flying V, unfortunately I won't have it dropped in the guitar for another few weeks (Christmas gift from the girlfriend...) But I only tune down to Eb. I'm pretty much no help ha. I've heard that the Black Dog works awesome for down tuning, or tuning really low, I LOVE mine in my Heritage 150 and I've tuned as low as drop C# for one son and it sounds every much as awesome, though I use pretty thick strings as well.

[FELINEGUITARS]

The ceramic magnet pickups seem to work really well for downtuning as they keep the low end tight.

I have just tried a Ceramic Warpig and was really amazed at how tight it sounds on the low end.
And it wasn't OTT in other respects which I had feared it would be which was superb.
So it would get my thumbs up along with Miracle Man, Painkiller and maybe Cold Sweat

[JMP2203]

First of all I want to try diffrent BKPs, so that's reason number one NOT to get another Nailbomb. The Nailbomb is an incredibly versitaile pickup but it's extremely open and cutting pickup. I am looking for a little more compressed sound with more high end 'cause the Nailbomb isn't the best pickup for pinch harmonics and stuff

and what abouth ceramic nailbomb? its going to be more compressed and with more hi-end than the alnico v you have.

[ericsabbath]

the painkiller and cold sweat are hot as hell, but they're not compressed
the painkiler is really loud, middy, but it's very clear
the sweat is sharper, but similar

the miracle man and c-pig sound more compressed to me
my friend that has a PK, a MM and a CWP describes the PK picking response as "tchank tchank", while the MM and CWP do "krown krown"  :lol:

[DimeZakk]

...describes the PK picking response as "tchank tchank", while the MM and CWP do "krown krown"  :lol:

THAT is the best sound description I've ever seen :D