Two guitars, two pickups, two questions...

[DimeZakk]

1. I want to buy an SG (Gibson or ESP Viper, tending to go for a viper right now...) and I am pretty much dead set on a Warpig set (Alnico) as I will use that SG for Stoner Rock/Metal and doomy stuff aswell as some ultra heavy blues...think of Mastodon meets Down. I know the Warpigs will be awesome for that kind of music but my question is:
How will alnico warpigs perform when I want to play some thrash metal (Sepultura or Machine Head kinda stuff)?
I imagine them as fairly loose but mighty sounding, can they do some tight thrash riffing too? If yes, then I'm in heaven!

2. I have a friend who plays Hardrock with a whole lot of gain but at the same time he likes to use open chords a lot and therefore needs a pickup thats capable of giving him a clear tone... He hated my Nailbomb, said it was muddy and is dead set that his Gibson 500t in his explorer isn't as muddy as my Nailbomb-.-
We all know that the 500t is muddy as hell and the Nailbomb is way clearer but to him clarity means hearing every single note of a chord seperatly in a high gain situation (and the ceramic 500t does that better than the Nailbomb)

Now guys, which BKP is capable of crystal clear open chords under heavy distortion?

[Fikealox]

Not a big help here, man, but I have a Gibson SG Special Faded and an ESP Viper. The Viper sits a bit weird while seated, but in all other ways it blows away the Gibbo. If I was in your shoes I know what I'd go for ;)

[DimeZakk]

Yeah I just played a Viper with EMGs and it was awesome already, I can't imagine how it will soud with decent pickups!

[Lilarcor]

Keep in mind that the Viper has a much thicker body than a SG. It sounds more like a LP than a SG.
I can't comment on the Warpigs as I haven't played them yet but I think the Coldsweat might be what you're friend needs. It's soooo clear in my seven string RG. You can definitely hear every single string ringing. At the same time it's very organic and classic sounding for a ceramic magnet and has a some kind of flat eq'ed mids.

[DimeZakk]

Cold Sweat sounds like a great idea! I'll still need some input on the warpig though...

-tight enough for some thrash?
-do warpigs sound good when coil splitted (neck, bridge or both) ?
-when I order white open coils warpigs, will those big screws stay black or are they coming with white screws?

[DimeZakk]

Nobody has some input on Warpigs?

[Jonny]

If you want tight, then go ceramic.

I have a ceramic Warpig bridge.

However, when I think 'tight' I would go Painkiller but I don't know about the compatability with SGs

And if you want white coils with black slug poles. Ask for white coils with black slug poles - and you will get white coils with black slug poles.

There is a slight difference with slug poles and the usual screws however.

Bear in mind, all that was my opinion

[Davey]

the warpig will be good enough for thrash. i dont have it split, so i cant comment on that, but i do have it wired so i can choose series or parallel (which IMO sounds a lot better than a humbucker split).

go for a calibrated warpig set. you'll love it. it is tight enough and huge sounding

[ericsabbath]

for some odd reason, the best pickup for Down I ever heard was the Miracle Man
but I think an slightly overwound Cold Sweat (around 17k-18k) might be better

[DimeZakk]

I'll also get a Miracle Man set for my 84 Flying V, and a cold seat bridge for my Les Paul (Just to try if i'll like it more than my Naimbomb in there...), then I'll have MM, CS and Warpigs at my hands - One of them will me my tones I guess^^ Big order for Tim coming up!

I think I'll go for the Alnico Warpig set and coil split the neck pickup...I'll rather have a huge sound then the tightness of a Cpig.

One last question about the pig: The Viper is a fairly thick SG type guitar (almost as thick as a Les Paul) but it has NO maple cap - Will the (alnico) warpigs cut through that much mahagony?

[Fikealox]

I don't know how true this is of all Vipers, but my Viper's actually not a dark or muddy sounding guitar at all. Maybe it's the rather light mahogany used, the thin-ish neck, and the ebony fretboard, but regardless of the cause it's actually got a pretty articulate (if thick) tone - sitting somewhere between the average SG and LP. I wouldn't have any second thoughts about sticking A5 Warpigs in it. In fact, if I didn't love the Blackouts so much that's probably exactly what I would do.

edit: I should say that i have no first hand experience with Warpigs, but I think anything less muddy than Invaders would go fine in the Viper, and I seriously doubt the Warpigs are muddier than Ingayders :)

[ericsabbath]

Down and CoC guys use Invaders, btw  :lol:

[DimeZakk]

I will get a used Viper In urban camo and right now it has two emg 81s in it so I can't really tell much of the guitars true tone but it's true that it is very light for a mahagony guitar. If Pepper Keenan uses those bass-heavy, muddy pickups in a Viper and sounds good, then I think it will sound even better with a Warpig set! Thanks  guys!

[ericsabbath]

I preferred their tones when they used Tom Anderson H3's on Gibsons
now Pepper and Woody use Invaders and Kirk uses EMG 81

[juansolo]

I can highly recommend a Ceramic Warpig in a Viper, it's toight as a toiger with a very large bottom. Bloody lovely thing. Tim did me an MQ neck to match and that does stoner no trouble. Out of curiosity I dug out the specs of the pups and I suspect the MQ is essentially a Pig-90 (Ceramic Warpig is 22k, MQ is A5 and 20k). It's f**king epic, just HOOOGE sounding thing. Both suit the Viper down to the ground.

Click for gratuitous Viper shottage