Ooops..excuse me..I got GAS..ordered a new Miracle Man

[Derail]

 Yesterday I dug out my '83 Explorer which hasn't seen the light of day for maybe 10 years or so. I had forgotten how nice this axe was to play, but immediately remembered why I'd put it back in it's case and pretty much forgotten about it. I had to completely readjust the tone on my amp because of the muddines of this mahogany slab. Even after doing that, it was still lacking. My immediate thought was new pickups. Wanting as close to immediate gratification as possible, without compromise in quality, I ordered a Miracle Man bridge pickup which should be in my possession by Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm looking to brighten up this beast while retaining tight low end response and good harmonics. I know I should have probably posted for recommendations first, but I was GASin'. I had done a ton of reading in this forum before buying the Nailbomb for my Strat, which I love, so I'm not completely amongst the uninformed.
 So, what do you guys think? Did I make a good choice?  I do need a recommendation for the neck pickup, which I'll have to special order. I'm in California and BKs are only available in a few places out here, and their selection is small. I play primarily high gain hard rock/80's-90's type metal through a Peavey Ultra 60. TIA for your opinions.

[MDV]

I'd have gone for a PK personally, but the MM should be great in there!

[PhilKing]

I had an MM set in my explorer for a bit, but I swapped them out for a Warpig/MQ set.  The MM's were great for high gain tones, but for what I wanted to play (more classic heavy rock), the Warpig and MQ nailed it.  I put a push/pull tone pot in so I could do series/parallel switching on the Warpig too.  I have the MM's in a PRS clone, they are great sounding pickups and the neck is surprisingly bluesy sounding (for a 17K pickup with A5 magnet).  If you like the MM then I would probably tell you to go with the MM neck, but the MQ gives some really nice tones and an Abraxas is stunning for sestaining mellow neck tones.  You'll probably get recommendations for the CS neck pickup too. which I also like (my BC Rich mockingbird has a CS set and they wail in it).

[Derail]

I had an MM set in my explorer for a bit, but I swapped them out for a Warpig/MQ set. 

Was your explorer particularly dark sounding before you put in the MMs? Mine is, with the stock pups (dirty fingers I think). From the soundclips I've heard, the Warpig seemed less bright, and I was thinking that a pickup Like a MM might bring it to life more while giving me some good low end. What kind of difference did you notice when you switched the MM for the Warpig?

[PhilKing]

When I had the MM's in it, it made me want to play more metal and hard rock, just because of the sound.  Changing to the Warpig really made me want to slow down and play old Black Sabbath riffs.  The difference was really in the note definition and attack.  The MM's have a really tight bottom end where the Warpig's is looser.  A Ceramic Warpig would be different and more focused, but I haven't played one much, so I'm not sure of the exact details between it and the MM.  I think all Explorers are on the dark side because of the mass of body wood.  I put a one meg pot in for the Warpig to give a little more open top end and brighten the sound a bit.

[Derail]

When I had the MM's in it, it made me want to play more metal and hard rock, just because of the sound. 

That's mainly what I play, so hopefully I'll be pleased with my choice. If I am, I'll probably take your suggestion about the MM neck too.
 

I think all Explorers are on the dark side because of the mass of body wood.  I put a one meg pot in for the Warpig to give a little more open top end and brighten the sound a bit.

My thoughts exactly. They're definitely one big slab o' mahogany. The 1 meg pot idea is a good one. I hadn't thought of that. I'm gonna file that one away for future use. Thanks!

[Derail]

It's alive!!!.... A freaking miracle, man. Got my MM yesterday and put it in. What a difference. I've got no more mud. Just before I took out the stock pickup, I spent some time to adjusting the active tone controls (5 being flat) on the crunch channel of my Peavey Ultra 60 to see where I'd be when I got the old pickup to sound it's best, so I'd have a reference point for comparison. I had to bump the mids to 7, the highs to about 8 1/2 and it still sounded mushy and pretty cra**y in general. After I got my MM in,  I put the bass on 6 and the mids and highs flat, on 5, and it was like it was a different guitar. The difference in clarity and tone is amazing. I did find I had to adjust the pickup height lower than I usually do to avoid some overtones and sustain issues on the unwound strings. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot, but I've only been playing with the height adjustments for a little bit. I just wanted to take some time out to let you all know how well things worked out for me and my once lifeless slab of mahogany. I've got two RS Guitarworks Superpots and a RS GuitarCap on the way and an appointment next week for a fret dress and setup which should iron out some other issues with this Explorer, but all in all it's like a having a new guitar. I'll check in again when I get the MM neck pup.

[FernandoDuarte]

:D Great that you like it!

[ericsabbath]

glad to hear, man!
I had the miracle man set in two les paul copies and my bandmate has this set in his custom guitar
I have a peavey rockmaster preamp (which is the peavey ultra/xxx preamp section) and he has an ENGL/Soldano based amp he built himself that sounds somewhat close too
the miracle man was one of the best matches with those amps/guitars and definitely the punchiest pickup I've had
bet it sound even better in an explorer

[Derail]

One last update on my Explorer, for whomever may be interested. I received and installed my new 500k pots and cap from RS Guitarworks today and OMG! After removing them, I checked my old neck and bridge volume pots and they measured 261k and 245k ohms, respectively. Not ideal in the least for humbuckers. No wonder the guitar sounded sludgy. I didn't bother desoldering the cap from the old tone pot to check it, because the volume pots alone were enough to muck up the tonal response I could have gotten out of the stock pups. At this point, I think I'll stick with the stock neck pup, cuz it sounds really nice now. The MM bridge pup, of course, sounds even better and it's a keeper.