Aftermath vs Miracle Man vs Painkiller for Drop B Metalcore?

[Ephemeria]

OK, I'm really confused as to which I should pick! I play a Les Paul guitar in Drop B and I'm looking for a pickup to play Metalcore music. I like to play leads as much as I like to play riffs. But I want it to sound brutal when playing breakdowns, but still regain a certain melodic quality. This is regarding the bridge pickup, btw. For the neck, I'd really like it to track down solos. I'm not after the vintage warnth, but more the metal shred warmth. Something that cuts through when playing sweeps, fast solos, etc. This leads me onto my second question (which I've made a second thread for, just so I can get twice as much chance of finding out, lol) what are the advantages/disadvantages of a ceramic neck humbucker? It's just I see the Painkiller is the only ceramic? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

[Loomer]

What sort of a Les Paul is it, and what is the natural tone of it? How does it sound unplugged?

[Ephemeria]

Its all mahogany (Epiphone Les Paul Custom). And it sounds pretty loud unplugged. It also has a fair bit of bass to it as well.

[Roobubba]

In which case the aftermath would probably do you well.

Roo

[Ephemeria]

In which case the aftermath would probably do you well.

Roo

Yh, I thought of this, but I tend to find the Aftermath a little bit too scratchy for my liking.

[Ephemeria]

In which case the aftermath would probably do you well.

Roo

Yh, I thought of this, but I tend to find the Aftermath a little bit too scratchy for my liking. I just wanted to know what the differences are between the pickups

[Loomer]

Well, the Miracle Man is a more scooped sounding pickup. Perfect for oldschool death metal, but probably not the thing for whatever it is you kids play these days. The Painkiller might work, but then again it might still be a bit too "oldschool" for Metalcore.

Besides, all the others who play modern whatever-core tend to go for the Aftermath, so I honestly think that may be it, without having tried it myself though.

[Ephemeria]

I'll try and make it easier then, lol. I'm looking for an organic sounding EMG 81. What would you say for a neck pickup as well?

[Roobubba]

Well the miracle man would almost certainly work well in a mahogany les paul too, so there you go.

Honestly I think either would be fine. I don't find my AM scratchy in the slightest. I've tried a black dog, miracle man and aftermath in the same axe. The main point is that I was always able to dial in 'my tone', though in each case the pickup brought something new to the table. With the black dog it was the most organic with lovely clean sparkle. The Miracle man was grindy, shouty and aggressive. The Aftermath I have in there now is also grindy and aggressive, but a fair bit tighter than the miracle man (which wasn't in any way loose, just not surgically tight). All three were awesome, but for me the aftermath just wins in my axe for my style of music and playing. These are fairly minor differences, though nonetheless important ones to us guitarists. I'll say it again just for clarity, though: every BKP I've tried has been awesome in every guitar I've tried, and if I wasn't so inquisitive and such a tweaker, I'd have very happily stuck with the first pickup I put in my custom axe.

Can't help you with the neck pickup, as I never use them.

[ericsabbath]

miracle man or cold sweat

[Alex]

miracle man or cold sweat

This!

[Ephemeria]

Yeah Ben from BKP has recommended me the Miracle Mans, too. Just a quick question though, what does the Miracle Mans do that the Aftermaths won't do, and vice-versa. It's just now I'm thinking about it, will the extra mids on the Aftermaths, make it better for leadwork. It's just that the kind of Metalcore we play requires a lot of harmonised lead work, on bottom strings as well as top strings, so I want it to sound really cool, lol. Although I was personally leaning towards the Miracle Man, will the lower mids effect the sound of the lead work in any way?

[fltlll]

May I ask what bands you consider to be "metalcore"? Or better yet, which bands in particular are you aiming for?

Reason I ask is because that term has been used for the WIDEST variety of shite I've heard. Nowadays, most people mean the chug-chug with catchy hooks style "metalcore", while others mean the mid 90's Converge, or even the late 80's Black Flag... Or maybe, you mean KSE?

I have a mahogany Schecter C-1 Classic with an AM in it going through a Mesa 2c+, and it can nail a wide variety of aggressive shite. I play mostly hardcore (CBK, Have Heart, Set It Straight, Killing the Dream, Trap Them, etc) to the more technical "metalcore" (Shai Hulud, old Misery Signals, BTBAM). 

[Ephemeria]

It's more the chug-chug with catch hooks type of Metal-Core. Bands like All That Remains, Bullet, Parkway Drive, Anterior, Killswitch, etc.

[Nolly]

Miracle Man should do the job well. Get the calibrated set.

I deleted your other thread, as per your instruction. Please do try to consolidate your questions into as few threads at a time as you can, especially within one sub-forum. I think you'll find that having multiple very similar threads is more likely to dissuade people from helping, rather than giving you more responses to gather information from.