Some help to choose between PK/NB

[fr33man1]

Hello, closed my old topic since i was not clear enough and had not choosen what sound i was looking for.

So I am after some old machine head style tone, in the vein of burn my eyes album. That crunchy and mid grinding distorded sound. So a dynamic, punchy pickup that stays tight and articulate enough at drop B or C flat tunings.

I will fit this in an bubinga explorer with glued maple neck and ebony fretboard. Really want a nice tight bass response and those crunchy mids.

I read several topics on both NB and PK even the 6 page one from Dr.Vic and could not make my mind on those bridge pickups.

Nailbomb seems versatile and quite organic and mid grinding as i request but what about severe downtuning ?

PK seems handling low tuning very well with tightness and fast response but seems having a very open tone which im not sure to appreciate...

[MDV]

The painkiller is what you want, but if youre worried itll be too open, just get a C-Pig. It will also do what you wish, and is more compressed.

[Ivan]

I don't know if people agree but from the Painkiller seems to be the tightest of them all.  If your guitar is dark or if you want to use drop tuning I think the PK will do wonders for your bass.

Also there are a lot of low mids which you may or may not like (I didn't but I'm picky about mids). However since you mention Machine Head then I think you will.

[fr33man1]

Thanks for the infos. So I'll follow tim's recommandation in the end , he adviced me on a pk bridge as I asked him.

Just for info, is the painkiller still versatile or is it a metal beast only ?


But I'm not so sure for the neck unit. The holy diver or cold sweat seem to be good choices for cleans but to play burning leads (arch enemy melodic themes styles or machine head intro cleans with chorus added, im not a solo player) will they be powerful enough ?

[guitardude]

never played a PK but heard clips of it clean and it was ok not the best cleans but was better than a MM

[MDV]

The PKs are pretty versatile.

They back off well and have good cleans. Unlike the MM (bridge at least) which is only happy when its on full whack and has somewhat sterile cleans. PK crunch tones are great and cleans are very useable.

NBs moreso.

[Antag]

Cold Sweat neck matches very well with PK bridge (actually it matches well with any of the contempory bridge models) - it has nice cleans but is powerful & punchy enough for lead work.  I have a PK/CS combo in my Jackson KV2 & they balance really well together.

The PK neck is great for noodly lead work, but its cleans are too powerful & aggressive for my tastes (it's the only ceramic neck pickup BKP make FWIW).

As an alternate suggestion, I think the VHII neck is absolutely GREAT.  Similar level of power to the CS, but a thicker sound with more of a "vintage" neck tone, as opposed to the smoother more modern sound of the CS.  I've matched it with an MM & NB bridge successfully & IMHO it would balance fine with the PK.  It's hard to say which has a "better" clean or lead tone, but to my ears the VHII has more of a "chime" to the clean sound & a slightly "bigger" more dynamic lead sound.

[fr33man1]

I think I'll go with that  CS/PK combo. I listened to your VHII samples Antag and I found indeed that vintage feeling in the sound and I despised it on my sg61 with the c57 neck lead tone.

Don't want that sort of tone in a modern dedicated axe.  By the way Antag since you love the HD neck for clean how would you compare HD and CS neck in a rr1t or kv2 guitar ? (my explorer is gonna tonally wise be similar to your jacksons with alder bodies)

[Antag]

Well, it's no secret on this forum that I love the Holy Diver (bridge AND neck models).  For me, the Holy Diver neck has a wonderful clean sound - very bright & clear.  But I find it a little too bright for lead work - doesn't give notes that thick "ooooo" vowel sound that I really want from a neck pickup under gain.  The Cold Sweat is far better for this - it has more power & low end, but not so much that it totally owerpowers the clean channel - it's a great all rounder.

CS is probably the best choice for your neck pickup...

[fr33man1]

Im looking on the pig aswell, but is the A5 looser than the PK so you advice me to go for a ceramic version ??

[MDV]

I dont have a problem with the A-pigs tightness (and I'm a tightness freak). It IS looser, but its still pretty good. Its the duller top end compared to the c-pig that makes it lose in my eyes. Its not as percussive, tight, but not as tight, and not as clear or cutting (thats the main thing).

The PK is a step up in articulation cut tightness percussivness and clarity again from the c-pig.

[fr33man1]

From what I get and hear, your much more keen on tightness than me and we might not have the same definition of tight.

The fact is Im fearing PK to be too tight for my tastes, and the more I listen to it the more I think its one of the brightest and middiest bkp in modern range.

Fact is my axe will be bright, and my amp sounds quite tight, mid focused and very open for an high gain one. Warpig might be a better choice to balance that.

[ericsabbath]

machine head = miracle man

[MDV]

From what I get and hear, your much more keen on tightness than me and we might not have the same definition of tight.

The fact is Im fearing PK to be too tight for my tastes, and the more I listen to it the more I think its one of the brightest and middiest bkp in modern range.

Fact is my axe will be bright, and my amp sounds quite tight, mid focused and very open for an high gain one. Warpig might be a better choice to balance that.

Sensible reasoning.

Burn my eyes = painkiller
TMTC = PK
BR = MM
SC = MM
TTAOE = MM
Blackening = MM or PK, both can hack various parts of that.

[Dr. Vic]

Let see...

Burn my eyes = painkiller
TMTC = PK
BR = MM
SC = MM
TTAOE = MM
Blackening = MM or PK, both can hack various parts of that.

MM wins hands down ! (PK = 3 / MM = 4)

+

machine head = miracle man

And as darth hellstyle and Yoda end up with the same suggestion.... then do not look any further :mrgreen:...especially with what you said concerning your rig !

The fact is Im fearing PK to be too tight for my tastes, and the more I listen to it the more I think its one of the brightest and middiest bkp in modern range.

Fact is my axe will be bright, and my amp sounds quite tight, mid focused and very open for an high gain one. Warpig might be a better choice to balance that.

 


And the VHII suggestion for the neck from Antag is very tempting too
 :good: