Thanks guys, looks like the vote's unanimous :D This might me a forbidden subject on here, but... d'you know how the Painkillers compare to the Lundgren M8's (other than price, I know the Lundgrens are pretty extortionate)? It's just really between these two now...
I'm using an M7 in my custom made ash body/maple set neck/maple fingerboard guitar, and it's my favourite pickup besides a couple of BKP models, but it's not really good at clean tones. The Lundgren M's have moderate output which is great for detuned distorted riffage (the low-end stays clear and articulate even in the drop G tuning I use), but has a somehow weak and thin clean tone with lots of hi-mids (which is also great for distortion, giving an incomparably gritty and agressive character to your sound).
I'd say that the Painkiller is better for cleans (compared strictly to the Lundgren, so I don't want to say anything like it's sounding bad distorted, it's great, but IMHO Lundgren is better), has rich hi-mids similar to the Lundgren M's, but with less top end and more bass, which gives you the "body" the M's lack in a clean setting. For distorted things, I prefer the Lundgren M versus the Painkiller.
I've just bought a used C-Bomb for my custom made 8-string (purpleheart/black walnut body, bolt-on maple neck with wenge fingerboard), I hope it does arrive this week and can give you some info on how does it work in an 8-stringer tuned to drop E. I couldn't really decide whether to choose the Cold Sweat or the C-Bomb, but after some comparison of the sound samples on the new site and reading the diagrams I decided to go for the C-Bomb, because it has less top end and more focused mids, which would be more suitable for my 8-string which has a lot of top-end sparkle because of the purpleheart body and the bolt-on maple neck.
My guitar instructor uses an RGA-8 with Blackouts, and it sounds waaaay better than the EMG's IMHO. But still, a good passive pickup like the BKP Cold Sweat or hopefully the C-Bomb would be even better.
