Hmmm... Changed my mind.

[SabreStrike]

Remember my other topic about my project guitar needing a different pickup because of how bright the Invader sounded?

Yeeeeeeeeeah... I'm now starting to see that the Invader IS dark at some points, but it's also bright as well. Really scooped-sounding... And unfortunately for me, I'm now stuck in the '80s.   

So yeah. I need a bridge pickup that can deliver some really snarling, roaring '80s metal tones, while being able to hit really crazy death metal sounds if I decide to drop-tune...

The guitar is definitely some kind of '80s Metal monster. Basswood body SuperStrat, Warmoth maple Strat neck with rosewood fingerboard (need to get someone to take the normal nut out and replace it with a Floyd Rose nut), single humbucker mounted directly to the wood currently (will probably stick a single-coil in the neck when I decide to pull the Invader out), single volume (have to replace the volume control because it's probably messed up, will stick a three-way switch in there as well as a tone control and a killswitch), Floyd Rose...

Suggestions? I know there's obviously the DiMarzio Super Distortion, the Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB and the SH-6 Distortion... But I'm not exactly sure if those are the ones I want to go with. I want to explore most of my options first...

Thanks everybody for your help.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I think you'll find that we all recommend some kind of BKP pickups

Miracle Man works well in Basswood , as would Warpig or ceramic warpig
Also don't overlook Holy Diver or Painkiller

I kind of favour the ceramic offerings for basswood - my own basswood strat has a miracle man in it

[Toe-Knee]

Ill second the miracle man in a basswood body.

Its incredible for 80s metal tones and it can also do the more modern tones with ease too.

[CanadianMetalhead]

I've had a Miracle man, A5 warpig, Ceramic warpig, Cold sweat and a Tone Zone (( similar to the super distortion )) in my basswood.

The Cold sweat was tight, articulate, and overall gave me a good vibe but it's scooped and not enough low/mid bass for me (( i love my bass / low mid impact  lol )). Almost there for me but not quite.

The Miracle man was probably the most fun due to its Low mid impact sound on power chords. I found it to be a little bit of a one trick pony though. Smooth mids and nice highs but VERY compressed / tight sounding and can sound crummy clean wise. Was also awesome in my mahogany guitar too.

The Ceramic WP is definitely for metal and this thing kicks ass and sounds like a beefed up version of the coldsweat minus the scoop and top end brightness/cut. If you want metal with good chunk of bass this would be the guy. Both the Coldsweat and this don't have the great cleans but much more livable then the Miracle Man even though it wasn't that bad. This is of course comparing it to the Mule, HD neck and A5 WP which have great organic cleans and is almost unfair to compare lol. Especially the Unpotted Mule.

The A5 warpig was also great. Very organic and fluid bottom end while still remaining tight. Cleans are awesome and solo tone has been the best. The ONLY pickup that somehow got rid of the harshness of my fender cybertwin amp on distortion while still sounding pissed off and heavy. Very huge sounding so if in your face presence is your thing this is a no go because its almost the complete opposite. I've NEVER turned up the presence knob on my amp for anything except for this pickup. Also if you wanna de-tune down by a bunch this pickup is probably not your choice lol. This one is currently in my Mahogany guitar.

The Tone zone which happens to be in my basswood for some reason lol. Can be muddy, sucks on cleans in comparison to all the BKP's, has a weird high mid spike, and sounds lacks a little in clarity. But the voicing is something that I love regardless lol. It's the throatyness and low mid impact and crunch sound that I love.  But as for the super distortion I'd expect more cut in the highs and tighter more controlled lows compared to the Tone Zone and I'll eventually buy one for giggles.

As for the Holy diver, nailbomb, and painkiller i have no actual experience with them but are not to be counted out. I'm actually looking at trying another pickup for this basswood guitar myself and was looking at the painkiller or blackdog due to their accented mids and in your face sounding qualities lol.

Some other thoughts are that i remember reading that the Holy diver sounded like an upgraded version of the JB without the sharpness in the highs. Also i remember reading a forum post on another forum of someone saying they tried like 40 something pickups in his 2 basswood guitars. For the maple neck one the Ceramic WP sounded best and for the Rosewood/maple neck one the painkiller was best.

Anyways my 2 cents GL with your choice!  :shock:

[SabreStrike]

Thanks.

Honestly, I'm kinda going for stuff like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, early Metallica (up to "...And Justice For All"), Megadeth, some Def Leppard, some Quiet Riot... That sorta stuff.

I have a Fender Princeton Chorus combo amp, with two 12" speakers. I run through it as follows:

My guitar runs into a Rocktron Silver Dragon tube distotion with the knobs currently set as follows:

Fire (gain): 0
Shriek (treble): 8 o'clock
Roar (bass): 2 o'clock
Intensity (solid state boost gain): 8 o'clock
Breath (distortion symmetry): Maxed out
Level: Right under maxed out

Why those settings are made that way, is because I use this as the gain for the Tech21 SansAmps that I have. I have a US Steel SansAmp (for that Recto oomph), and a British SansAmp (for Marshall tones). I do it like that because the SansAmp colors the sound of the Silver Dragon to what I want. I have the gain knobs on both SansAmps backed off quite a bit to near clean sounds. Then I run either SansAmp into the amplifier which, depending on which input I plug it into, I can either have it room loudness or quite loud.

[CanadianMetalhead]

NP! Glad to help :P

You should look into the holydiver in my opinion if your looking for 80's in basswood. I just bought it after Tim's recommendation and if your wanting early 80's tone with a sweet sounding top end and organic feel all I've read is that the holydiver is THE guy to get lol. Early metallica was all about the seymour duncan JB and apparently the HD is similar with upgraded qualities. I also plan on experimenting with 1 meg pots to get it to sound really open and in your face like the painkiller. Apparently the painkiller is the triple magnet ceramic version of the holy diver or at least I remember that comment about it.

My 2 cents again and remember if you still have questions feel free to fire an email to the BKP guys. Last couple years they've put up with my stupid questions with nothing but class :)

[SabreStrike]

Tim suggested that I fit a volume pot first before I do anything else. If I still don't want the Invader, he did suggest that I get the Holydiver... Honestly, I might.

[mongey]

hhhmm


  something doesnt make sense here. your running these settings ?

Fire (gain): 0
Shriek (treble): 8 o'clock
Roar (bass): 2 o'clock
Intensity (solid state boost gain): 8 o'clock
Breath (distortion symmetry): Maxed out
Level: Right under maxed out

treble at 8 oclock
bass at 2 oclock

with an invader ?

 it should sound terrible but bright should be the furthest thing from your mind. also scooped . unless your taking out the mids on the amp the invader is all bass and low mids with very little treble and high mids in my experience with it , which I admit is limited

I dont know what the hell distortion symmetry is but gain on 0 even for the sounds you want that arnt super heavy is not where you should be ?

 my advice is put a volume pot that works into your guitar, if you like sounds on the darker end of the spectrum , which you seem to,put a tone pot as well and then   turn every knob on your amp and distortion pedal to 12 oclcok and play .
it wont be your perfect sound but it will give you a real ballpark of how your rig sounds which you can fine tune and decide if you need to change anything

[SabreStrike]

Note, this is a FENDER amp that I'm using. And the Mid setting is more along the lines of normal highs and mids. The treble knob is like the really high fizzy kind of treble.

The distortion symmetry is like how the distortion of the solid-state section matches the tube section. If I crank the level, I'm still getting the tube to drive hard.


But honestly, I'll try that. I'll fix stuff up in my project first, and get some stuff tossed in there as well.

[SabreStrike]

Well, I've done some more research. I found out that the body is actually an Alvarez Villain AEV-425, which they stopped making in '93. The Alvarez Villain actually has an Alder body, not a basswood body. Now, with the important stuff changed, have the suggestions changed as well?

[Slartibartfarst42]

Makes the Holydiver an even better choice. My guitar is a maple neck-thru with alder wings and originally came with a JB in the bridge. The tone was nothing special and I replaced it with a Holydiver that is absolutely AWESOME. I then tried the JB in a Yamaha Pacifica I had (alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard) and it was significantly better so out of curiosity I tried the Holydiver there too and again, it brought about a significant improvement. A Holydiver in an alder bodied guitar is simply superb and for the tones you're after is ideal.

[SabreStrike]

Is the Holydiver good with natural, artificial, and pinch harmonics as well? Like, they almost jump right out of the amp at moderate to high gain settings?

If so, I guess I'll go with that, because I'm also in need of something that can scream when it needs to.

With that settled... What do you guys suggest for a single-coil neck pickup?

I want a tone similar to Hendrix or Pink Floyd, but able to handle high gain (with little to no hum). It's kinda hard to describe the kind of tone exactly that I want for the neck pickup.

[Telerocker]

Pinched harmonics no problem. I would put an IT in the neck, it does all the Hendrix stuff and cleans up well. If you want more mids, a Slowhand.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Irish Tour for me.