Hi,
I've been wanting to try some new BKPs in my Les Paul 2008 Standard. This will be my first experience with BKPs so I'm not quite sure what would be the best pickups for my needs.
I play in a Prog Metal band in the style of bands like Dream Theater, Queensryche and Porcupine Tree. I incorporate elements of Jazz, Funk, Thrash, Death, and Blues into my music as well. I tend to play in E Standard, but will also use Drop D, D Standard and Drop C fairly often.
I normally use the Bridge Pickup primarily for my high gain rhythm playing. I lean towards faster riffs with plenty of palm muting and pinch harmonics to make certain parts stand out. Tonally, I was thinking of getting a more modern polished sound, but still heavy sound; something like a mix of the heaviness of Matt Pike combined with the precision of John Petrucci. I was thinking of getting an Aftermath for this purpose as I like boosting my mids and I want to be able to get a very tight sound.
I use the neck pickup for both my clean and lead playing. I like my cleans with a slight mid scoop, slightly compressed, and with a bell-like quality with piano-like lows; something like Mark Knopfler. I like my leads to be more smooth and fluid like, a lot like Santana but with a bit of Rocky George's lead tone from "You Can't Bring Me Down" by Suicidal Tendencies. I'm not quite sure what to get for the neck, so I'll leave that to suggestions.
As for equipment, I run into a JoeMeek Optical Compressor (also functions as a clean boost), a modded Mesa/Boogie Stiletto Ace (more low end and mids than normal, and a bright switch on Channel 1), and finally into a Lexicon MPX100 that I use for either reverb or delay.
