Pickup suggestion for my RRs

[Sophie]

Hello everyone!

The reason I joined this forum is I had the chance to try a BKP Painkiller in a Jackson DK1 yesterday evening, and that thing just blew me away  :twisted: I'm seriously thinking of installing this pickup in some of my guitars, but I would need your advices first.

My main guitar is a Jackson Stars RR custom shop (alder body, maple neck-thru) loaded with a Jackson J-80C and a JE-1000 gainboost. I totally love the lead tone of it, but it lacks a bit of precision when playing fast riffs on the lower string. (Lamb Of God's Redneck or Grace kind of riff, you see what I mean?)
Then I also have a Dan Spitz professional RR (poplar body, maple neck-thru) loaded with Duncan Blackouts AHB-1. This type of riff comes out very clearly on this one, but then the tone itself is really not nice at all, way too much gain and trebles, it nearly makes my ears bleed when playing in the higher frets.

The Painkiller I tried yesterday sounded incredibly clear and I totally loved its tone aswell, but the guitar was tuned to E standard, while I use C standard myself, so I was wondering if this pickup is well-suited for low tunings and if it will sound as clear in C than it does in E ...
Or do you have any other pickup suggestion that would suit C tuning better?

This is the kind of tone I'm looking for. I play in a Lee Jackson GP-1000 preamp and Engl 840/50 poweramp. (I might change that one someday though, but anyway ...)

Finally, I have a third Jackson Stars RR, with ash body this time (and maple neck-thru). Any suggestions for this one? Something a little different maybe.

Oh, and do BKP pickups come with the mounting springs and screws?

[DimeZakk]

Painkillers work great with downtunings so a Painkiller calibrated set for your Main Axe. Your second RR should be loaded with a Nailbomb set for some Alnico tones (Lamb Of God). I don't know how Ash sounds but I guess for that Sinergy tone a Cold Sweat set!

[gwEm]

Great taste in guitars Sophie! I've been eyeing up the Jackson Stars series too :)

I have a Jackson RR24 - maple through neck/alder wings, which has a painkiller installed. its very :twisted: but a little on the bright side, especially the attack.

On the Stars I would fit a Miracle Man set.

Popular is often a difficult wood to find the right pickups for. I would gamble on Warpigs, or something low output (maybe a VH2).

[Spitfire]

if you are wanting to try different pickups in the different guitars.. maybe a warpig in one of them... id definatly go for a painkiller in one of them too..

Id avoid the nailbomb, i dont think its what you are looking for... although im sure some would disagree.

[Sophie]

Thanks for your replies all of you!

(Btw, I see in your answers that I forgot to mention that I only use a bridge pickup).

Painkillers work great with downtunings so a Painkiller calibrated set for your Main Axe. Your second RR should be loaded with a Nailbomb set for some Alnico tones (Lamb Of God). I don't know how Ash sounds but I guess for that Sinergy tone a Cold Sweat set!

Ok, I'm definitely going for a Painkiller then!  :twisted:

I'm not shure about the Cold Sweat though. From what I understand in the description, this pickup seems to have lots of bass and trebles, which ash wood has aswell. Wouldn't a pickup with lots of low mids and not too much trebles be a better balance? But then I only read the description, so I may be totally wrong about this PU ...

Great taste in guitars Sophie! I've been eyeing up the Jackson Stars series too :)

I have a Jackson RR24 - maple through neck/alder wings, which has a painkiller installed. its very :twisted: but a little on the bright side, especially the attack.

On the Stars I would fit a Miracle Man set.

Hehe thanks! May I ask what amp you use with your RR24/Painkiller? Have you tried the Miracle Man? How would you compare it to the Painkiller?

[MDV]

I dunno about the PK in those RRs. They tend to be quite bright. It will do it, theres no doubt, but expect a shiteload of very crunchy high mid and glassy top end.

For a tighter low end, grindier as opposed to crunchier, more low mids and low end and smoother and sweeter top end go for a ceramic nailbomb.

I play in c standard and drop A# (mostly the latter) and find both the PK and the NB lap it up, but the NB moreso IMO. This is through a Powerball and with a few different guitars that they have each been in now.

[ericsabbath]

the alnico bomb seems to work pretty well with poplar

[dheim]

Thanks for your replies all of you!

(Btw, I see in your answers that I forgot to mention that I only use a bridge pickup).

Painkillers work great with downtunings so a Painkiller calibrated set for your Main Axe. Your second RR should be loaded with a Nailbomb set for some Alnico tones (Lamb Of God). I don't know how Ash sounds but I guess for that Sinergy tone a Cold Sweat set!

Ok, I'm definitely going for a Painkiller then!  :twisted:

I'm not shure about the Cold Sweat though. From what I understand in the description, this pickup seems to have lots of bass and trebles, which ash wood has aswell. Wouldn't a pickup with lots of low mids and not too much trebles be a better balance? But then I only read the description, so I may be totally wrong about this PU ...

Great taste in guitars Sophie! I've been eyeing up the Jackson Stars series too :)

I have a Jackson RR24 - maple through neck/alder wings, which has a painkiller installed. its very :twisted: but a little on the bright side, especially the attack.

On the Stars I would fit a Miracle Man set.

Hehe thanks! May I ask what amp you use with your RR24/Painkiller? Have you tried the Miracle Man? How would you compare it to the Painkiller?

Miracle Men can be really bright in bright guitars. i've got mine in a pretty balanced sounding Ibanez RGA (mahogany body, maple neck and godknowswhatismadeof top) and the result is bright. with nice lows but bright highs...
Cold Sweats are definitely bright.

but i would ask Tim (the boss) anyway...

[gwEm]

Great taste in guitars Sophie! I've been eyeing up the Jackson Stars series too :)

I have a Jackson RR24 - maple through neck/alder wings, which has a painkiller installed. its very :twisted: but a little on the bright side, especially the attack.

On the Stars I would fit a Miracle Man set.

Hehe thanks! May I ask what amp you use with your RR24/Painkiller? Have you tried the Miracle Man? How would you compare it to the Painkiller?
[/quote]

Its more rich, with flatter mids, and less attack. Its my favourite for maple neck through guitars.

[Neemo]

I have basically the same type of guitar discussed here. ESP SV Standard with JE-1000 booster. I chose an alnico Nailbomb for it and it really makes the guitar stand out. Great thing about the booster is that you can get a really ripping tone out of it, something like Alexi Laiho's style. Yet it cleans out very nicely with a good amp. I have a ceramic warpig on my other axe which is quite similiar as well but I really can't decide which is better. Basically Warpig has a Huge tone and it really grinds on low tunings but Nailbomb sings like no other, can't think of a better pickup for soloing and lead stuff than NB.