Tightest Pickup?

[dingleberry]

I've had a guitar with emg 81 and emty blackout, only the neck model of the emty set is alnico, iirc bridge is ceramic.  81 is definitely tighter, emty feels higher output with more bass, still tight but not as tight as 81.  My other guitarist has AMs, they're crazy tight.  Emerald BKP deserves an honourable mention, a different voice from most other pickups mentioned but plenty tight.

[Toe-Knee]

  I've only tried the regular blackouts and they were looser than the emg 81 and also darker, smoother, less aggressive, and IMO not as good.

This was pretty much my finding with the AHB1 blackouts. The mustaine livewires are almost as tight as emg 81. So is the HDN. However theyre both thicker in the lower mids.

I've also found recently that the EMG JH set is pretty much as tight as the 81/60 but has a bit more bite and midrange aggression. Snarlier so to speak.

Oh and another one worth mentioning is the SD distortion. I'd say it's somewhere inbetween the aftermath and EMGs but it has this weirdness going on in the high end that is bugging me.

I'm surprised that you found the live wires to be so tight.  I've never tried them, but they have alnico V magnets rather ceramics, and everything I've read about them suggest that they sound like a hotter JB and not that tight.  Also, the EMTY blackout has alnico V as well, but they were designed to be tighter than the regular blackouts, which are ceramic, so it would be interesting to find out how they compare to emg's. 

I think with the DM livewires they may have just seemed really tight with my specific amp that is very midrange based and the livewires really smash the mids which can give the impression of tightness in one setting where if you say try them with another amp they could seem pretty loose.

[Alex]

The tightest pickup is the one where you cut all the bass with an EQ pedal. Also known as a castrated sound.  :D
The question really needs to be whether a supertight sound is desired? I think a bit of looseness/lively response is needed to keep things sounding fat, punchy and not overly artificial. I think that balance is wonderfully met in the Miracle Man.
I mentioned the DiMarzio D-Sonic. It's so tight and clear I felt is sounded very artificial. It's clean sound actually reminded me of a parallel wired pickup.

[MDV]

My experience with the entwistle HDN agrees with tonys. Tightest passive pickup, quite easily. Not too far behind an 81 actually.

[braintheory]

Now I really wanna try these HDN's and the q-tuners as well.

[Dave Sloven]

The tightest pickup is the one where you cut all the bass with an EQ pedal. Also known as a castrated sound.  :D
The question really needs to be whether a supertight sound is desired? I think a bit of looseness/lively response is needed to keep things sounding fat, punchy and not overly artificial. I think that balance is wonderfully met in the Miracle Man.

This is the way I think about it. Tight is good up to a point, and after that it's no fun.  EMGs are definitely boring but very tight pickups, played by death metal guys with whole racks of digital effects.

[MDV]

The tightest pickup is the one where you cut all the bass with an EQ pedal. Also known as a castrated sound.  :D
The question really needs to be whether a supertight sound is desired? I think a bit of looseness/lively response is needed to keep things sounding fat, punchy and not overly artificial. I think that balance is wonderfully met in the Miracle Man.

This is the way I think about it. Tight is good up to a point, and after that it's no fun.  EMGs are definitely boring but very tight pickups, played by death metal guys with whole racks of digital effects.

Tell yourself that. There are very few death metal guys with 'a whole rack of digital effects'.

The guitars in death metal are by and large some of the most dry, if not the driest out there.

[braintheory]

What about the Entwistle Dark Star ND (neodymium magnet just like the HDN)?  According to the spec chart the dark star ND should also have more highs and lows than the HDN. 

[Slartibartfarst42]

The tightest pickup is the one where you cut all the bass with an EQ pedal. Also known as a castrated sound.  :D
The question really needs to be whether a supertight sound is desired? I think a bit of looseness/lively response is needed to keep things sounding fat, punchy and not overly artificial. I think that balance is wonderfully met in the Miracle Man.
I mentioned the DiMarzio D-Sonic. It's so tight and clear I felt is sounded very artificial. It's clean sound actually reminded me of a parallel wired pickup.

+1

Tightness is great but in my experience, it kills the tone I'm after if you take it too far. The Miracle Man is plenty tight enough for me. I wouldn't want a pickup that was much tighter than that but it's personal preference.

[Toe-Knee]

What about the Entwistle Dark Star ND (neodymium magnet just like the HDN)?  According to the spec chart the dark star ND should also have more highs and lows than the HDN. 

Its pretty similar just hotter and as you said hotter with more lows. Its not quite as tight but is still pretty tight.

The entwistle neo pickups are all very hot though. Id say equal with emgs on the output level.

[braintheory]

I just ordered a HDN bridge pickup.  I just couldn't help myself :lol:  The final price (with shipping and everything) was only about $31 USD.  It seems too good and too cheap to be true! 

I think I'll probably put the HDN in my Jackson SL2H, which currently has Black Hawks (ceramic version).  Do you guys think the HDN will be a good fit for the Jackson?  Acoustically the Jackson sounds a bit flat and lacking in punch, but not dark perse. 

Also, the Black Hawk is great, but too polite and polished sounding for my tastes (definitely way less raw and less aggressive than my Miracle Man or Aftermath equipped guitars).  I could see though why the Black Hawk could work well for prog and fusion stuff.

[darkbluemurder]

The question really needs to be whether a supertight sound is desired? I think a bit of looseness/lively response is needed to keep things sounding fat, punchy and not overly artificial.

I fully agree. It's also a matter of guitar and amp set up. If you have a rather unforgiving guitar you may not reallly want a super tight pickup.

I think that balance is wonderfully met in the Miracle Man.

I also agree with that statement.

Cheers Stephan

[Dave Sloven]

This alnico Nailbomb is about right for me.  Plenty tighter than the 498T, enough to demand that I improve my right hand technique, but not so tight that the punkish sound I like is lost.

[EffigyForgotten]

Tell yourself that. There are very few death metal guys with 'a whole rack of digital effects'.

Absolute BS, most death metal bands these days lean to the deathcore/technical side, and always have G-Major type rack units over pedals for even just delay for their solos. Obscura, Necrophagist, Arkaik, Deeds of Flesh, Decrepit Birth etc all tour/toured with racks.

[Dave Sloven]

Well that's what I thought.  All of the established ones on my local scene have those rack units with EMGs in their guitars, and most of the ones I've seen from interstate do too (often I am not close enough to the rigs of international bands to see exactly what they have), so I've long assumed it to be pervasive, since around 1996 at least.  But then what would I know?  I've only been around the scene since the late '80s.

Of course there are those who pursue 'old school' sounds from the '88-'92 period, and they have quite different set-ups, but then again they are the least likely to use active pickups too.  A lot of '80s players had the attitude that active pickups were something that was good for bass, but not for the guitar.