pickups/tonewood?

[Speeko]

Hi I am considering either some nailbombs, miracle man, painkillers or aftermaths but I cant decide which guitar to put them in.

 I have an ESP ltd m-200fm which plays really nice but is made from agathis, and my other is a duesenburg starplayer special which is mahogany but doesnt feel as good as the esp.

 Ive looked over all the forums and most people seem to agree that the wood makes a difference so I went to my local music shop where they have a bkp dealer, and he told me that the wood will make hardly any difference whatsoever so I'm unsure now..

also while I'm here I could do with some other advice, which pickups would suit melodic hardcore best? need lots of tight punchy distortion for riffage, that raw saturated snarly type feel to it, but I also want the chords to shine through and not be muddy or harsh! 

any help would be great thanks

[Roobubba]

Melodic hardcore, with tight, punchy distortion, raw saturated snarly feel, chords shining through, not muddy or harsh? Sounds like an aftermath to me!

BKPs are moderately transparent: they tend to bring through the character of the wood more than other pickups (and certainly more than actives). If it's good tone wood, finding the right BKP for it is likely to transform it to an epic guitar :)

[Dr.Pain]

I have an Ltd AX-250 with agathis body.  I want to play melodic death metal Arch Enemy style and Tim recommended an Aftermath.  He also told me that agathis preforms tonally in a similar way to alder, which I didn't know.

I'd email the guys for the best response.  Can't go wrong that way.

[Davidjoel111]

If you'r looking for metal tone and agathis performs similar to alder I don't recommend the Miracle Man, I have one on an american deluxe strat and it sounds spectacular for rock but  IMO it dosen't cuts as good as an Aftermath in alder. I tried the Miracle man on an Ash body and it was more suited for metal, it cuts a lot better. I would go with aftermath.

[Speeko]

Hmm made a mistake before, the duesenburg is alder not mahogany, still very unsure which guitar to put the bkp's in though, the agathis one sounds pretty good with its emg hz's but I dont want to put bareknuckles in and find out it sounds horrible due to the wood.