Pickups for my Jackson

[Rasta666]

Hey guys whats up?
I need some help.
I have a Jackson KVX10 King V and I want to install new pickups.
I want to know what's the best choice to make it sound heavy but perceptible. I play thrash metal tunned in D and I'm looking for a sound like Metallica have in their Death Magnetic album, Kreator or something like that.
I would be very gratefull for every comment.
Thanks and sorry about my English.
Stay Cool. 8)

[Doadman]

My first thought would be either Painkiller or Miracle Man. If you want a choice of 3, I'd throw a Nailbomb into the mix as well.

[ShredHeadJHJ]

I have Miracle Man's and overall they would be very suitable for what you're looking for. Judging from what I know about BKP's, I think those are the most closest voiced for Metallica. What kind of amp are you playing? This is a big factor in your sound. Get something that compiments your amp. For example, if you play an ENGL I would not get Miracle Mans, but something with more of an upper mid cut like probably NailBombs or PainKillers.

[Rasta666]

Ah sorry true true. I'm playing a fender 212R frontman.  :D

[Madsakre]

Miracle men is my best bet. but maybe you should go out and look for another amp too :)

[Doadman]

Bare Knuckle pickups will make a huge difference to your tone but not as much as a good valve amp. The Fender Frontman is decent with cleans but otherwise awful. There are always some good buys to be had on Ebay and I'd change that before any pickups.

[Madsakre]

Exactly. decent distortion comes in many forms.

Good cheap amps include
Marshall valvestate heads
Crate Shockwave
Randall Rh150
Marshall MG series.

All of these are solid state amps. But believe me. you'll get better metal tones out of these than most low end valve amps.

I can tell you that chuck(death) used the valvestate head
The shockwave is still used by scott hull(pig destroyer)
the randall is also used by scott hull
and the MG was used on some abysmal torment releases

[Doadman]

The Marshall Valvestate is good but I wouldn't touch the rest of them. Not tried the new MG yet but the old one was awful (not as bad as the Frontman though). I'd always look at valve first, though I'm not struck on the Peavey ValveKing as a budget option. If it was a hybrid amp I'd look at Peavey Vypyr and Marshall JMD; maybe a Spider Valve, though they sound a little digital still. If it was full solid state it would have to be either Peavey Vypyr or Roland Cube.

[Madsakre]

Well. the spider valve is not a hybrid amp :)
both its pre and power amp is 100% valve powered.

got mine modded back in the days. it runs on 2 12ax7's and 4 6550's(!)
Considering its price and the pricerange its in its by far the best amp.
When i bought it i also had fireball's and dsl 100's in my mind. but none of them had that exact sound i was after. I hated the fireball's voicing and its non reactive eq. So i ended up with the spider valve which runs through my rectifier cab.

Next thing i'll buy will probably be rack stuff or a rectifier.. but theres atleast 13 months to that.

[ShredHeadJHJ]

I don't know. I think that I would look for something like a BlackStar 20 watt head with a 2x12 cab with like 50 watt speakers. That would be your best bet. I'm not saying you have to get a BlackStar, but you would benefit most for looking up something with those specs.

BareKnuckle pick-ups are very expensive, so your money would be best spent on a good amp in this case.


These are some amp heads I would research if I were in the market for this sort of thing:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Jet-City-Amplification-JCA20H-20W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=583597

(This looks bad ass) -
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Jet-City-Amplification-PicoValve-5W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=430426

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Egnater-Tweaker-15W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=423553#used

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Krank-Rev-Jr-Standard-20W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=489719#used

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vox-Night-Train-NT15H-15W-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=581333#used

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blackstar-Venue-Series-HT-Studio-20H-20W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=423767#used

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Marshall-Haze-MHZ15-15W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head?sku=581909#used

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Orange-Amplifiers-Tiny-Terror-Series-TT15-15W-Tube-Mini-Amp-Head?sku=424046#used


Here are a couple of combos I would like to try:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blackstar-HT5-Series-5W-1x10-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=483559

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-ValveKing-112-Combo-Amp?sku=481442

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-6505-112-60W-1x12-Tube-Combo-Guitar-Amp?sku=582106

[Doadman]

The Spider Valve is not a proper valve amp because the preamp valves don't work the same way as they do on a real valve amp where they create the amp's tone. On the Spider Valve the preamp stage is still modelled digitally rather than generated by the valves and that's why it sounds digital still compared to a full valve amp. If the Spider Valve was indeed a true all valve amp it wouldn't have the wide variety of tones on offer. Don't get me wrong, I think there's a real place for these hybrid amps and I can see the appeal if you need a diverse range of tones but as yet, they don't have the ultimate quality of tone of a decent valve amp. The Spider Valve is certainly a hell of an improvement on normal Spider amps but I personally found the hybrid Vypyr to be more convincing. I've not yet tried the new version of the Spider Valve so that may be better.

Blackstar Venue series and Jet City would be great places to start with a valve amp as both are excellent products and I think the Peavey 6505+ 112 is tremendous value if you want high gain. The tone on Bugera amps is also really impressive but there are a lot of accounts of reliability issues that may put you off but it is a lot of bang for your buck.

[Madsakre]

The Spider Valve is not a proper valve amp because the preamp valves don't work the same way as they do on a real valve amp where they create the amp's tone. On the Spider Valve the preamp stage is still modelled digitally rather than generated by the valves and that's why it sounds digital still compared to a full valve amp.

Well same happens with normal amps :) if you open up a marshall etc you will find a big printboard in it which generates sounds "digitally" too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTFGuP9J6Dg

I wish i could add more to my cause. but im having a headache and lingual difficulties also play in

[Rasta666]

Hey many thanks for the answers. It was very helpfull. I've started seeing some amps. I'll need to work a little more until I can buy a good amp. But thanks.
Stay Cool.
Thrash Lives  :D

[Brutalix]

Hi!

Why not save for a Mesa?
The Express 5:50 has been getting cheaper, and has killer high-gain tones...:I say this because you have a Fender, so why not go to Mesa?

If you really plan to save on an amp, I'd say get the Mark V, which models the IIC+, which is big in Metallica early sound....or get a Triaxis....