Help me pick out pickups?

[manana12]

Hey im new here and heard great things about BKP so im really wanting to buy one.  I play a lot of metal. im looking for a pickup that can handle solos and also good leads ,djenting and so on here is a link so you get an idea of what kind of music i play.  http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1035580&content=music
also, i heard good things about coldsweats. what are they good for? im only looking for a bridge pickup.

the guitar i will be putting it in is an ltd viper-50. I dont even know if its worth replacing its pickups. Thanks!

[DimeZakk]

The Painkiller would be your Weapon of choice!
...and it's up to you if you want to build a humbucker into a guitar that is worth more than the actual guitar!

[James C]

no experience of the PK, but if you want to chuck it in your Viper then go for it, if you get a better guitar in the future you could always load the PK into that.

[manana12]

well i do have an ibanez xiphos an an rg prestige but the viper isthe only one tuned to A

[BigB]

well i do have an ibanez xiphos an an rg prestige but the viper isthe only one tuned to A

Does that guitar sound good by itself ?

[manana12]

it souunds ok but im sure a bareknuckle is 10X better than dimarzio activators! Here are the stats for my xiphos
    * Mahogany body
    * Maple/walnut 5-ply neck
    * Wizard II thru-neck
    * Bound rosewood fingerboard
    * 24 jumbo frets
    * 25.5" scale
     Edge III tremolo bridge
    * U.S.A.-made DiMarzio D Activator humbuckers
  Will a painkiller be too bassy for it? I want a pickup that is extremely clear with distorted chords and very tight for djenting. Something like Bulb's sound. Very tight on the low end ( i dont need a lot of it) and great mids. Thanks.

[BigB]

it souunds ok but im sure a bareknuckle is 10X better than dimarzio activators!

Well, the point is that BKPs are AFAICT (from - limited - personal experience and folks wisdom here) very reactive to the host guitar, so while they are indeed great pups by themselves, the result on a cr@ppy axe might not be that pleasing...

Here are the stats for my xiphos
    * Mahogany body
    * Maple/walnut 5-ply neck
    * Wizard II thru-neck

 (snip)

  Will a painkiller be too bassy for it? I want a pickup that is extremely clear with distorted chords and very tight for djenting. Something like Bulb's sound. Very tight on the low end ( i dont need a lot of it) and great mids. Thanks.

Maple/walnut going-thru neck... Well, may not be that easy to find the matching pup.

Maple is usually very tight & bright, with a fair amount of hi-mids that can easily make the guitar sound harsh, specially with hot ceramic pups (what I experienced with the stock X2Ns on my Vox Custom 24). From what I've seen about walnut, it would be brighter than mahogany, with complex mids and sweet highs - so it could balance the maple - but can easily dampen the sound, specially in the mids, if it's a too dense piece.  And then you have mahogany sides...

With such a combination of woods, I think you really should ask Tim and describe as accurately as possible how the guitar sounds unplugged. Else you may end up with the wrong pup on it.

My 2 cents.