What is considered the best BK "Lead" pickup?

[dheim]

nailbombs, followed by rebel yells. alnico warpigs have a surprisingly smooth lead tone on high notes, even if they're (of course) the most compressed of the bunch... holy divers (in my opinion) are too dry and focused and lack and to work really well on leads, unless you shred at light speed...
cold sweats are really fine in a dark guitar, but you excluded ceramics so i'll do it too.
i would have never said that i could (almost) agree with mark's statement on miracle men until i tuned my MM equipped guitar in B... in E they were too fizzy for my taste.

[ericsabbath]

holy divers (in my opinion) are too dry and focused and lack and to work really well on leads, unless you shred at light speed...

lol wut

had 16 pickups in my lp copy and the holy diver was hands down the most fluid lead pickup in that guitar
also had the same pickup in two other guitars (that also had several pickups), and the results were the same (well, it sucked for rythms in a gibson sg, but the lead tone was still there)

didn't try the rebel yell, but the diver was much easier to deal on solos than the nailbomb, warpig, miracle man and cold sweat

here's an old cr@ppy video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=BR&hl=pt&v=T1RafxMYU5w

it helped a lot with my poor sloppy playing  :lol:

[kevinr]

+1, I'm with you Eric!

[ShredHeadJHJ]

here's an old cr@ppy video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=BR&hl=pt&v=T1RafxMYU5w

it helped a lot with my poor sloppy playing  :lol:

Wow man, sounds better on leads than id does on rhythm chugz.

I just loaded up on gear last month, but next guitar I buy I am looking to build a mahogany dual hum guitar. I wanted to put a Rio Grande BBQ/Texas set in the guitar, but now I'm starting to wonder if the Holy Diver or Rebel Yell would be close tonally to that particular set. I really want to try some more BKP's.

[Emperoff]

I'm considering the exact same three pickups for my rico as well as I don't like ceramics either (for the same reason). Based on the recommendations I've been getting you may try the Rebel Yell, as it's the tighter of the three and will sound great on mahogany.

The Holydiver sounds somewhat modern and focused to me. I've always associated the clips I've heard of it to Killswitch Engage tone, and watching Eric's video made me confirm that  :)

Or you could buy all three from a dealer with money back warranty and keep the one you like the most.

[kmanick]

Well I've got a Rebel Yell on it's way. Now I need to decide whether I want to put it in the Rico
or pull the Painkiller out of the bridge of my Rg7CT and put it in there (as I'm not happy with that pickup at all)
My first impulse is to go with a HolyDiver for my Rico but I'm worried that  it may sound muddy
in an all Mahogany neckthru 7?
Between these 3 any one know which has more "lower mids" to it?

[JamesHealey]

EMG81..


ooooo 8)

[ericsabbath]

Well I've got a Rebel Yell on it's way. Now I need to decide whether I want to put it in the Rico
or pull the Painkiller out of the bridge of my Rg7CT and put it in there (as I'm not happy with that pickup at all)
My first impulse is to go with a HolyDiver for my Rico but I'm worried that  it may sound muddy
in an all Mahogany neckthru 7?
Between these 3 any one know which has more "lower mids" to it?

the holy diver has more lower mids
but the tightness is directly related to your amps, speakers and boosters
in that video I was using a tube preamp through a quite saggy power amp head, that didn't sound tight on the lows with any pickup at all and the guitar was a les paul copy in drop C
the holy diver sounded quite tight through the framus cobra, my friends SLO100 clone, his peavey 5150 and the peavey rockmaster I had
if you have a similar amp (I guess you have a Mesa Mark) or some sort of hot rodded or stock Marshall, it won't mud up at all
it's a quite tight and clear pickup, with just enough warmth in the lows
still tighter than a duncan JB, that's a common pickup in 7-string schecters, for example

[kmanick]

Cool!
 I do have a Mesa mark IV and I also have a 5150 II so maybe I will bive the HolyDiver a shot.
I like the lower mid sound of the Miracleman but the lead tone from that pickup left me  a little "cold" as well (ceramic again) :(
So maybe the Holydiver thru a boosted mark IV (or a boosted 5150 II) thru a 2X12 recto cab would be tight enough for say something like this? (rhythm tone not lead)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2i5Ap5Ovo

[ericsabbath]

Cool!
 I do have a Mesa mark IV and I also have a 5150 II so maybe I will bive the HolyDiver a shot.
I like the lower mid sound of the Miracleman but the lead tone from that pickup left me  a little "cold" as well (ceramic again) :(
So maybe the Holydiver thru a boosted mark IV (or a boosted 5150 II) thru a 2X12 recto cab would be tight enough for say something like this? (rhythm tone not lead)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2i5Ap5Ovo

yeah, if you're talking of a bass sucking overdrive like a tube screamer or SD-1 based pedal and not a bass heavy pedal like an OCD, Crunchbox or MXR CAE, it will sound that tight through most amps
clean boosters won't help much

[kmanick]

I have a modified SD-1 that I run in front on my MArk IV that tightens it up real nice.
I actually just ordered a Holydiver thru Nick at the Axe-Palace for my BRJ, so I guess I've made a decision :D
thanks again for the input guys!

[ev1ltwin]

Nick has a holy diver fetish, so I'm sure he was glad to help someone get another one in a BRJ (of which he has several as well). Glad you came to a decision, man. Enjoy!

[Emperoff]

Interesting. If it sounds good on mahogany, it will sound great with a maple neck through as well. I look forward to read your impressions of it!

[kmanick]

The BRJ is surprisingly bright for an all mahogany guitar (well maple top and ebony board, but you get my drift).

[kmanick]

Well I finally got the Rebel yell in and I decided to put it in my Ibanez RG7CT. The guy I bought it from told me it had a matched set of painkillers in it but come to find out it had a set of ColdSeats in it not Painkillers.
So I yanked the Bridge pickup out and put the Rebel yell in and I must say it's a lot better than it was,
much thicker sounding and still really tight. (The
"clack" I was hearing is now gone and it's no where near as bright or thin sounding. )
I've had a Coldsweat neck 7 before and I loved it so it's no surprise to me that I liked what I was hearing out of the neck pickup.
I need to play around with the height a little bit but so far it gets a thumbs up.
I also decided on trying an Aftermath in my BRJ so that is on it's way.
I may still go with a Holy diver in the end.
I have a USA Jackson SL2H-Mah that has a JB/Jazz combo in it and the JB in that guitar sound just perfect to me.
I've been chasing a 7 string version of that guitars tone for a while now and still haven't found it.
Unfortunately the JB 7 does not match up well to the JB 6 so I need to look elsewhere.
hope fully the Aftermath will get me close enought to where I'm happy with it.

I'm almost ready to start recording some original instrumental shreddy stuff but I still don't have the tone I'm looking for out of my 7 to match up with my Jackson.  :(