Which BKP is closest to...

[Slartibartfarst42]

The bridge Cold Sweat is only ceramic.

I can assure you that the Holydiver will do Rock as that's what constitutes most of our set and it's what I use most of the time. I have used Cold Sweats before too and if you want a brighter and more cutting tone, they will do it too. For the Holydiver, think Doug Aldrich and Jake E. Lee while for the Cold Sweat, think John Sykes but don't get too hung up on those comparisons as they're both very versatile pickups. I've used both to play everything from Blues Rock to modern Metal and they both cope just fine. If you want thick, warm, organic and fluid with lots of articulation, get the Holydiver. If you want something tighter and brighter, get the Cold Sweats.

[itamar101]

Thanks. I'm edging towards the holy diver but I just wish I could find more clips of it in a les Paul. I'll look in the clips thread soon.
Does anyone have an opinion on the rebel yell bridge?
I dont really want a ceramic pickup so the cold sweat is out of the question.

[darkbluemurder]

I agree with almost everything except that to my ears Doug Aldrich's tone is a lot closer to John Sykes - no surprise as he inherited his spot in Whitesnake - than to Jake E. Lee.

The Rebel Yell could be the perfect compromise between both - more mids and warmth than the Cold Sweat and more bite and cut than the Holydiver. That would also fit the "bright but not shrill" requirement.

Cheers Stephan

[itamar101]

Thanks so much for the help.
I'm off to find clips now, I just haven't had much time.
The holy diver still seems pretty cool to me as well. I just need to know how it sound with distorted chords in a les Paul. Hopefully not overly dark.
Anyway, I'll probably find some good clips seeing as how popular the holy diver is.

[ericsabbath]

I agree with almost everything except that to my ears Doug Aldrich's tone is a lot closer to John Sykes - no surprise as he inherited his spot in Whitesnake - than to Jake E. Lee.

I don't find any of them similar, but Jake and Doug definitely "sound alnico" while Sykes have had both ceramic and alnico different tones throughout the years
I have the impression that the c-bomb or miracle man or even the a-bomb would do a better Sykes than the cold sweat, but the diver definitely does a better Doug or Jake than the others
the cold sweat reminds me more of Ty Tabor, Snake Sabo, Dimebag or Nuno
the rebel yell sounds more like Warren DeMartini or something
but in the end, they all will sound like you

[ericsabbath]

Thanks so much for the help.
I'm off to find clips now, I just haven't had much time.
The holy diver still seems pretty cool to me as well. I just need to know how it sound with distorted chords in a les Paul. Hopefully not overly dark.
Anyway, I'll probably find some good clips seeing as how popular the holy diver is.

the diver is not a dark pickup
it's actually pretty bright  if you're not downtuning heavily or using it in a SG
it's a midrange based pickup, so it can sound nasal in certain guitars or extreme lower tuning

[Philly Q]

the rebel yell sounds more like Warren DeMartini or something

Yes, precisely! 

When I had the RY it always made me think of "Round and Round"!  :lol:

[darkbluemurder]

but in the end, they all will sound like you

So true.

[itamar101]

Thanks so much for the help.
I'm off to find clips now, I just haven't had much time.
The holy diver still seems pretty cool to me as well. I just need to know how it sound with distorted chords in a les Paul. Hopefully not overly dark.
Anyway, I'll probably find some good clips seeing as how popular the holy diver is.

the diver is not a dark pickup
it's actually pretty bright  if you're not downtuning heavily or using it in a SG
it's a midrange based pickup, so it can sound nasal in certain guitars or extreme lower tuning

Thats great.
Unfortuneatly i have found many clips showing what i want but ill be sure to checkout the artists you mentioned to get a good idea of the sound.
But anyway, ill have to make a decision and at the end of the day these are BKPs after all and i'm whatever i choose will sound great. :)

Thanks and of course if you have any opinions on what i should get feel free to comment  :D

[itamar101]

i think I'm gonna go  with the holy diver. what do you guys think? does anyone have any experiences playing rock with it?

[ericsabbath]

Unfortuneatly i have found many clips showing what i want but ill be sure to checkout the artists you mentioned to get a good idea of the sound.

Doug Aldrich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwd30wXc-0

Jake E. Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6LXVqetMeo

John Sykes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuKDHNPs4V8

Ty Tabor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUiyO-T_1Zs

Snake Sabo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8_rq7bhbkQ

Dimebag Darrell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3JSbOt7CLo

Nuno Bettencourt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoKJpcROgJk

Warren DeMartini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8teXR8VE4


ps: note that all of them have extremely saturated tones, but you can notice the high end and midrange differences under the huge amounts of gain
they are seymour duncan, gibson and bill lawrence high output models users, and those brands make quite saturated pickups, so BKPs would sound much clearer

[itamar101]

Unfortuneatly i have found many clips showing what i want but ill be sure to checkout the artists you mentioned to get a good idea of the sound.

Doug Aldrich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOwd30wXc-0

Jake E. Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6LXVqetMeo

John Sykes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuKDHNPs4V8

Ty Tabor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUiyO-T_1Zs

Snake Sabo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8_rq7bhbkQ

Dimebag Darrell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3JSbOt7CLo

Nuno Bettencourt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoKJpcROgJk

Warren DeMartini
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8teXR8VE4


ps: note that all of them have extremely saturated tones, but you can notice the high end and midrange differences under the huge amounts of gain
they are seymour duncan, gibson and bill lawrence high output models users, and those brands make quite saturated pickups, so BKPs would sound much clearer

Hmm. I really liked Doug Aldrich's tone as well as Warren DeMartini's and and Dimebag's but i thought that Warren's was slightly to trebly for what i use and Dimebag's tone (although nice) is just much heavier than what i'll ever play.
I did find that Aldrich's tone (and all of the rest of the guitarists that you've linked me to) is a bit too saturated and compressed. I understand that this isn't the case with BKPs. Right?
I understand that the holy diver is based on doug aldrich's sound or is at least very similar. would that be correct?

Also, doesn't Doug Aldrich use Suhr pickups? If i remember correctly they made him a signature set.

Anyway, from what i hear that the Holy Diver is meant to sound like it's winning i think. but the rebel yell doesn't seem like it would be a bad choice.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Ironically, one of the reasons I'm moving the Holydiver into my PRS and putting a Warpig in the Jackson is because there are times when I want more saturation in the sound. Would an overdrive pedal in front of the amp make the Holydiver sound more saturated too? I don't use an overdrive at all now so I don't know.

[ericsabbath]

Would an overdrive pedal in front of the amp make the Holydiver sound more saturated too? I don't use an overdrive at all now so I don't know.

 :?

mate, now you disappoint me
you've been missing the diver's greatest asset all this time
it's one of the most boost friendly pickups I ever played and it sounds sooo much better (for distortion) with the right pedals (mine loved the mxr wylde overdrive and a ts808 clone)
if you don't wanna lose any low end, the plus mode of the ibanez ts9dx is a nice and "cheap" tube screamer alternative without going boutique/expensive mod

[Slartibartfarst42]

lol, that's not strictly true but the only overdrive pedal I've ever owned is a Bad Monkey, which was really good, especially given how cheap it is but when I bought my Switchblade amp I got rid of it because the Switchblade has masses of gain on tap. Now I think about it, when I did use the Bad Monkey on my old Marshall amp with the gain on zero and the volume maxed out, it did have a very pleasing result. The sound from the Holydiver became 'bigger' and 'fuller' with far more saturation but also became more articulate in that amp. The problem was that the boost pedal had no effect on volume for solos when the Bad Monkey was used like that so I never actually bothered trying it with this amp. However, due to the multi channel nature of the Switchblade that shouldn't be a problem as I can simply turn the volume up on a different preset. Perhaps I should experiment with overdrives before going to the expense of a Warpig as what I wanted the Warpig for was a bigger, fuller and more saturated tone.

Any suggestions on overdrives to look at that won't cost the earth other than the Bad Monkey and the MXR Wylde? I'll look on Ebay.