Replacement Pickups for Gibson Sg Standard (Opinions and Suggestions Please!)

[Jonasan5150]

Hey guys! So I'm new to this forum and just recently discovered BKP thanks to a friend of mine. He hasn't played any, neither have I but I'm very curious about these pickups. Sorry if I overwhelm you guys with loads of information, I've been wanting to ask my own personal questions for awhile now  :mrgreen:

So I have a Gibson SG Standard, Peavey 6505 plus combo and a Digitech RP1000 multi effects pedalboard. With my current 498t/490r set on my guitar, it sounds very thin and trebley. Lack of bass and crunch (I love some big crunchy palm mutes). I was looking at some Seymour Duncans to suit me but now that I heard of BKP, I would like to know which pickup would beef up my thin SG, give me that big powerful crunch sound without it being a one trick pony. I play for my youth church band, pop punk (Four Year Strong, All Time Low, Chunk No Captain Chunk), alternative metal (RED). I'm so much of a shredder but I do play a bit of metal, I'm more of a rhythm guitar player so a big powerful crunchy sound is what I'm looking at to balance the natural treble that an SG gets from its thin body yet versatile. And one more question, how does BKP compare to SD pickups? 

Thanks!

P.S- If you need more information about my style and gear than please let me know! I want to help you guys get a good idea of what I want from my gear  :D

[Grim]

A-Bomb or C-Bomb. Maybe a Miracle Man.

[Jonasan5150]

How about the Emerald and Warpig? I've heard they're good pickups to really beef up and SG

[Slartibartfarst42]

As the accepted wisdom with SG guitars is to either go high or low output and as you want a big bottom end, this screams out Warpig set to me. As for how they compare to Seymour Duncan; they're a lot better. BKP have more articulation, more character and a more organic nature. I just ditched a JB and a pair of Hotrails out of my guitar for a Holydiver and Trilogy Suite set and there's just no way the Seymour Duncans could live with the quality of BKP.

[Alex]

Black Dog. It's low power enough to not mush out, but very growly and full on the mids.

[Alex]

A-Bomb or C-Bomb. Maybe a Miracle Man.

I had the Miracle Man first. It turned the SG into a face-melting wrecking ball. NOT sure that's what the original poster wants.

[Jonasan5150]

Thanks for the replies you guys!  So I've narrowed my choices down to the Warpig, Black Dog, and Nail Bomb. So which one of these will be the best choice to beef up my SG and will give me a big crunchy sound? And which of these will be versatile? As what Alex said, I don't want a pickup that's just for metal that melts faces. I like to play other stuff than metal  :D so far from the sound clips they all sound great!

[BigB]

I'm currently waiting for a A-Bomb bridge for my own '80 SG Standard, so I can't tell yet how it works - now my own SG is definitly not thin sounding nor trebly (rather on the dark and "full" side) so it won't probably sound the same.

I haven't tried the Warpig neither but listened to quite a few clips of it and it's really "massive" in the low end. Might be what you want, but be warned: it's obviously kind of br00talz. 
 

[Jonasan5150]

I'm currently waiting for a A-Bomb bridge for my own '80 SG Standard, so I can't tell yet how it works - now my own SG is definitly not thin sounding nor trebly (rather on the dark and "full" side) so it won't probably sound the same.

I haven't tried the Warpig neither but listened to quite a few clips of it and it's really "massive" in the low end. Might be what you want, but be warned: it's obviously kind of br00talz. 
 

Let me know how it sounds when it comes in if you don't mind. And about the Warpigs, there's no question in my mind that it's going to be brutal   :enforcer: that's where I'm starting to doubt its versatility.... :?

[Alex]

Thanks for the replies you guys!  So I've narrowed my choices down to the Warpig, Black Dog, and Nail Bomb. So which one of these will be the best choice to beef up my SG and will give me a big crunchy sound? And which of these will be versatile? As what Alex said, I don't want a pickup that's just for metal that melts faces. I like to play other stuff than metal  :D so far from the sound clips they all sound great!

To be completely honest, each of these should be better than the original 498T. The Nailbomb is probably closest in terms of general tonality.
When you exchange pickups I'd recommend you also get some proper new CTS pots as well. The SG standard's neck pickup becomes a lot more usable with new pots as well.

A few more thoughts: the Nailbomb fattens treble strings up a bit in my opinion, the Black Dog doesn't so much. The BD has more clarity however and a more vintage/PAF feel. The NB is a bit tighter in the low end, but I always feel tightness comes a lot from the amp's EQ in the end, not the pickup.

[Madsakre]

warpig :) Super nice pickup

[BigB]

warpig :) Super nice pickup

Err... Care to elaborate ?

[Jonasan5150]

To be completely honest, each of these should be better than the original 498T. The Nailbomb is probably closest in terms of general tonality.
When you exchange pickups I'd recommend you also get some proper new CTS pots as well. The SG standard's neck pickup becomes a lot more usable with new pots as well.

A few more thoughts: the Nailbomb fattens treble strings up a bit in my opinion, the Black Dog doesn't so much. The BD has more clarity however and a more vintage/PAF feel. The NB is a bit tighter in the low end, but I always feel tightness comes a lot from the amp's EQ in the end, not the pickup.

Ok I'm gonna sound very stupid but what does CTS mean and what effects do the pots have to the pickups? Also, I honestly really hate my stock neck pickup lol....I'm also hoping to replace it but I'm not so sure what I exactly want out of it unlike the bridge pickup. Now for the Nailbomb and BD, can these pickups be crunchy and have good palm mutes? As I said before, I'm picky about my rhythm sound and palm mutes. I dig big crunchy sounds and crunchy palm mutes   8)

[Jonasan5150]

warpig :) Super nice pickup

Err... Care to elaborate ?

Yeah, please elaborate. I wanna know why so many people love the warpig  :P and if you can, can tell you tell us the versatiliy and how it matches to the Nailbomb and BD please?

[BigB]

Ok I'm gonna sound very stupid but what does CTS mean and what effects do the pots have to the pickups?

CTS  is just a pot brand - which happens to be of decent quality. About the effect of pots on your tone (and overly simpified): a part of the high frequencies always "bleed" to the pot's earth. The higher the pot's value, the lesser you loose your highs, so you can play on the pot's value as a kind of fixed tone control. One usually uses lesser values for bright vintage single coils (250K pots is the standard on strats and teles) and higher values for darker higher output humbuckers (500K being the standard).

Note that there's usually a +/- 20% tolerance so a 500K pot can range from 450 to 550K (usually it's rather between 450 and 500 than above 500). And yes, 50K can make an audible difference.