Pickup recommendation for ESP M-II NTB

[giorgis]

Hi,

My guitar is an ESP M-II NTB and it's equipped with EMGs. The bridge is an 81 and the neck is a 60. Originally it came equipped with an 81 in the neck position which I replaced with a 60.

I want to change the pickups to passive ones because the EMG sound is too "narrow" both sound-wise and stylistically. The 81 does the heavy palm muted metal rhythm very well but does anything else badly. The 60 in the neck position has good cleans and that's pretty much it. Also the sound of EMGs is too compressed and even with the 18 volts mod done they still lack headroom. The biggest problem of this shows when picking hard. In this case their built-in preamp can't handle the stronger signal so the sound comes out weak and thin. The EMG-Xs are supposed to be better at this but from what I've read in other forums/reviews they don't offer anything more than the stock EMGs with the 18 volts mod.

The guitar is basically a super strat with a neck through body design. For woods the horns are alder, the neck is made of maple, and the fingerboard is rosewood. The bridge is an original floyd rose, the pickup selector is a 3-way switch, and it has a single volume control for both pickups and no tone control. My amplifier is a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster 2x12 Combo and the music style I want to do is mainly 80's heavy and thrash metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth). Also some Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert style of instrumental rock. No screamo rap metal since any cr@ppy pickup can pull that off :p

So which pickup set do you kind folks recommend to me from the Bare Knuckles range?

Thank you.

-George

[Kiichi]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have no personal experience with this PU, but from what I have gathered from this forum over time, I want to throw the Holydiver in there.
The bridge is very much 80s metal. It is sayd to have a nice fullness and warmth with a sweet treble, so every riff really sounds fat and rounded. I recon it would work nicely with Satriani, Metallica and Maiden.
The neck is said to be one of the most underestimated necks in the whole range, very juicy fluid leads with a lot of live and warmth.

An alternative for the bridge might be the Nailbomb...I think there is nothing this thing is not supposed to be able to do xD

[Madsakre]

550k pots!!! if you dont change your pots you'll end up with a muffled, dull sounding guitar. Emg's use some special low k pots. So beware! Pots must be changed.

Second, pickups: Ceramic Nailbomb or Painkillers :) It depends on how you like your sound. I like my own sound very Bright and growly. I find the painkiller as my main weapon of choice. And yes, the painkiller has decent cleans.

[shred-o-holic]

I have the same guitar and what did the trick for me was swapping the 85 to the bridge and the 81 to the neck. Was way too brittle with the 81 in the bridge.

[shred-o-holic]

I have the same guitar and what did the trick for me was swapping the 85 to the bridge and the 81 to the neck. Was way too brittle with the 81 in the bridge.

I wouldn't put a Pain Killer in that guitar. I tried on in an LTD MH-327 and hated that clanky twangy sound. Maybe a C-bomb........I have one that I might move over to the NT-II......but then again the warm alnico 85 shines in the Horizon...

[Telerocker]

You can ask the BKP-team for a recommendation. I think you might consider Nailbombs too.

[darkbluemurder]

Going by the musical styles you listed - Ceramic Nailbomb or Cold Sweat.

Cheers Stephan

[sixgunsovertombstone]

I have a very similar guitar to the M-II NTB - an older LTD M-1000. Mine is from the good ol days when they still had original floyds and neck throughs on the LTD Deluxe series so its essentially the same guitar, on paper anyways... I also play in similar style/bands you mentioned. I've played mine through a Mesa Roadster and can tell you that the ceramic nail bombs work pretty damn well.

The Holy divers are great also! as are the Alnico Nailbombs. Personally I prefer the Holy Diver, its more thick and beefy while being deliciously smooth at the same time.  I find the Nail bombs to be a little sharper and more cutting, though they still sound awesome. I would say that if you lean more towards tremolo picking/thrash/very high BPM (ie slayer) the Nail bombs would work better for you, where as if you want a thick and chunky tone with amazing solo/lead capabilities then look at the Holy Diver. It isn't as aggressive as the Nail bomb but it still packs a punch and can do all the speed riffing you want as it's very articulate as well.

I chose the Holy Diver in my rig, which is pretty much identical to your rig. The holy diver replaced the Ceramic Nail bomb in that setup, so maybe that tells you something? I like the C-NB but it's going into my drop C guitar for ultimate death and destruction. I found it slightly too angry for what I was doing but make no mistake it's great if you choose it.

[ericsabbath]

painkiller is a no brainer for judas and megadeth, and definitely works for iron and metallica

also, rectifiers like ceramics better, in my experience (had a single and a dual rec)