Back again. Just some more advice please.

[kylendm]

Alright well I'm always on and off of what pickup I should get since my direction of tone keep changing. Right now I have a C-Pig in my JEM.

JEM:
Body - Alder
Neck - One piece maple
Fretboard - Ebony

When playing detuned (Drop A#) heavy fast riffage with some big chords I notice all the notes don't really stay intact. It's also overly warm and thick sometimes but I don't want a treblely monster (i.e SD JB), it can be a bit too tight to. This is what I'm looking for.

Compared to my C-Pig I want something hot, saturated, not overly tight but holds the notes together well at low tunings (up to drop C), maybe a bit less output would help. A good clean tone isn't important since the middle pickup does them nicely.

What do you guys think?

[ratspeak]

Interesting that you find the C-Pig not tight enough. Maybe try a Nailbomb? The only two I would think to recommend are the Painkiller and Cold Sweat, but they both have a lot of high-end.

Have you tried cutting the bass back on your amp? With my C-Pig Horizon I have to turn the bass and mids down a lot more than when I use my D-Sonic equipped Strat.

[Roobubba]

The miracle man might suit here. It's tight, but does have a lot of bass output, and is by all accounts smoother than e.g. PK. I find the treble isn't overbearing, and it has lovely grindy mids. Less insane output than the C-Pig, probably a smidge tighter for the low tunings, and tonally fits the bill.

Roo

[kylendm]

^ ^ It's not my amps because I have four of them and it's just not getting the tone I want. It's just too thick for my low tunings and too high output.

I heard the Miracle man before but I hope the it's not too tight because I like a little meat and thickness too just not as much as the Warpig is giving.

[kylendm]

Does anyone else have any opinions?

[Roobubba]

It's not 'too tight', but then you don't want it flobby either...

Ask Tim what you asked us. And then let us know what he said :)

Roo

[MDV]

Its a similar things that I ran into a year or two ago - I used to use the ultra high output stuff, and switched to medium-high for the extra clarity. Plus the Powerball that I used then (and still use) and Pitbull CL and JVM I also use now all have MORE than enough gain on tap, and you really arent doing yourself any favours tuning to low registers with ultra-hot pickups into modern metal (or metal-capable) amps

Unless that ultra-saturated sound and huge low end push is what you want, and isnt fighting your playing style.

I'd do what I did - back off the output of the pickup a bit. Miracle man is a decent call, but might be a bit bright in that guitar. Ceramic nailbomb, one of my two main pickups, should suit you.

[Alex]

I think the Miracle Man probably is the answer.

[kylendm]

I'm really leaning toward a Nailbomb since that's what one of the people on BKP recommended last week but this new Aftermath thing intrigues me. Could this be the pickup I'm searching for?

It's not super high output, it's tight holds notes together when detuned and but I'm worried it might be a little overly bassy. I want a pickup that will scream when I do pinch harmonics. Would this work well in my JEM or should I stick with a C-Bomb?

[MDV]

This occured to me at the time, but there was no point recommending it because you wouldnt get one.

Its EXTREMELY tight. If that puts you off, then dont get it, get the C-Bomb, which will do the job. If youre not put off by that, it will to the rest of what you want quite superbly.

And its not that bassy, no - thats how the demo tracks have been dialed in and mixed (especially with the bass - heres one without bass, a small and extremely roughly recorded riff from one of my tracks http://soundcloud.com/mdv/aftermath-holy-tyranny-happy-riff-exerpt guitar is in drop B.

[kylendm]

I really liked the clips and how tight it was but sometimes I go into mojo with some more open classic rock tones. If the C-Bomb can get me at least 85% if not a little more close to those clips than I think I found my pup.

[MDV]

See edit

[kylendm]

That just made things harder   

[MDV]

Hows that?

[kylendm]

The Aftermath sounds so great being so tight and articulate. It's a certain tone I've been dying for but like I said sometimes I just want something a little more open and just a bit looser.

I think I'm going to go with the Aftermath just for the sake of trying new things. I'm getting a new guitar with similar specs to my JEM and maybe I'll just put a C-Bomb in there.