Miracle man suitable uses?

[Towser83]

Hi guys, I'm new here was just in need of some advice..

I saw an SG Special advertised for sale which is a nice price. The thing is it's a long way down to the guy's house to try it out so I was hoping to do some research cos it's had the treble pickup replaced with a miracle man.

I would kind of like a guitar where I can get some nice metal tones but that's not what I'm going to be mainly playing. It's more like classic rock (Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Angus Young) so I want something that can do mid distorted powerchords plus some nice lead. I don't want something that lacks the depth of tone of a normal SG when not totally driven.

So am I barking up the wrong tree with the Miracle Man? Is it basically a metal lead pickup?

Cheers!

[Dr. Vic]

Hi, welcome !  :)

The Miracle Man is a very high output pickup designed with a ceramic magnet mainly for metal, with a colored EQ that gives a low mid push to your sound.

For the tones you want, it would be better for you to go with an alnico magnet. The obvious choice would be the Riff Raff, I guess, but you also should have a look to the Rebell Yell, which is an absolute killer pickup in a SG, especially for the classic rock tones you've described, BUT with some extra power for extended versality.

Go to the player section to find the RY clips of S. Stevens and some others (like Hunter's clips).

After that if you think you would still prefer a Ceramic magnet to play more metal stuff, then Cold Sweat.

[MDV]

The MM is not the pickup you seek. Its not all that metal compared to some others, but its the least versatile of all BKs, in my experience, and least capable of the high output ones, let alone the others, of doing the rockier tones that you seek.

You wanna look at riff raffs, rebel yell, black dog, emerald, crawler, maybe holy diver and cold sweat.

[dave_mc]

The MM is not the pickup you seek.

agreed. I haven't tried the other BKPs, but the MM isn't that great for classic rock tones.

[Towser83]

Ok thanks  :D

I guess I could always buy the guitar, take out the miracle man, fit something else and sell the miracle man to save me some money. I wouldn't mind having a guitar for playing intense metal but I can't justify it at this point when I won't be using it that much. If I had 20 guitars and a load of case yes, but that's not me  :lol:

[Will]

BKP's do seem to get a fair value on ebay, may be worth a shot

[Alex]

As a Miracle Man user I feel the pickup is often a bit underappreciated and underrecommended here on this forum, but then again I would second the opinions here... Black Dog might be indeed more what you want.

[dave_mc]

don't get me wrong, i really like the MM. Just not for the tones he's after. :)

[Brow]

I'd 2nd the suggestion of buying the guitar and just selling the pickup on for something more suitable.

If you do decide to do that, I may be interested in the MM myself for my Charvel  :D

[MDV]

As a Miracle Man user I feel the pickup is often a bit underappreciated and underrecommended here on this forum, but then again I would second the opinions here... Black Dog might be indeed more what you want.

Its a good pickup, I've had several.

But while not the most metal pickup, its a metal pickup - its smooth mid voicing and somewhat scooped sound make it quite (comparatively) sterile for rockier sounds. Its only happy when being run flat out into a high-ish gain (or more) amp.

[HairyChris]

Yeah, doesn't like clean at all. Works well for tightening up Mesa Rectos.

I wouldn't have called it particularly smooth, though. At least mine isn't!

[dheim]

MMs aren't my favourite BKPs, but i love the neck one a lot on cleans... the bridge pickup is a bit cold and sterile, compared to the other BKPs i own (NOT compared to an EMG81 - it's similarly voiced but much less syntht-like). very good for tight rhythms a-la rammstein, for example, but definitely not a rock pickup.

you can try it and decide by yourself wether you want to keep it or swap it with a different pickup! if you play (hard) rock but want to play a bit of metal i can suggest you the Cold Sweats... they work great in my SG!

[FELINEGUITARS]

I would recommend an Emerald for the bridge of the Sg for classic rock tones and a bit of added girth from the guitar whilst keeping it vintage.

I know it's horses for courses with tones and tastes , but I love the Miracle Man pickup and have it in two of my main playing guitars. It gives me a perfect classic  80s rock/metal sounds - I have it in a mahogany guitar and its a good Schenker territory sound (which pleases me greatly).
It's great for crunchy mid/late 80s rock metal- Dokken, Scorpions etc

You may find the neck position MM in the bridge is a good alternative - same winding spec as the bridge MM but has an alnico 5 magnet instead of the ceramic so you loosen up the bass response a bit  and lose a bit of the cut whilst feeling fuller in the mids.

I probably feel the same about the Nailbomb as many feel about the Miracle Man - I find it dark and lifeless unless in a really bright guitar......but as I said it's all personal taste