I put a set of calibrated Aftermaths in my BC Rich handmade beast. It's either Alder or Mahogany. It's a super loud guitar, well balanced in terms of tone. I replaced the stock DiMarzio SuperD and PAF combo. I liked those but wanted something with tighter bass and the PAF is really deep in the neck.
The Aftermaths have a 500k volume and 250k tone. They are way too bright. I'm playing through a Framus Cobra, which is a bright amp to begin with. My speakers are Greenbacks. The low end is nice, tight, sharp, and percussive, not boomy at all. The mids are good. But the high mids and treble are far too sharp, almost ice-picky. It hurts my ears. Even with the treble and presence on the amp way down, I'm not digging it. The neck pickup is more tame but doesn't give me that Dave Murray bubbly tone I like; both the bridge and the neck pickups feel a bit thin in the high end. I have a DiMarzio Crunch Lab and Liquifire in my Moser which sound really good. I really like the Liquifire in the neck. I had a DiMarzio Super 2 in the bridge of my Moser which was ungodly bright. The high end of the Aftermath reminds me of this a bit but the Aftermath has better mids and more low end than the Super 2.
The Aftermaths are super clear and responsive but I'm not loving them. I'm thinking they would work better in a really dark guitar or an amp with lots of low mids. I'm considering replacing them with Warpigs. One thing I'm not too crazy about is these pickups just seem so "on" all the time, a bit too in your face. I play metal (Megadeth, Maiden, Slayer, etc) if that helps at all. Tim recommended the Aftermaths and told me to try a lower value (like 300k) tone pot. I went with a 250k from the start, I'd hate to think what a 300-500k sounds like in my guitar.
Anyone else have this experience?
