Heavy metal les paul pickups

[dingleberry]

Hi all,

Finally got cash together to order my first BKPs, they all sound so great it's hard figure out which ones to ordered.  I emailed Ben but am interested to see what the forumites have to say as well.

The music my band plays is between thrash and death metal.  The guitar I'm looking for pickups for is an Epi LP custom.  Currently using Seymour Duncan Jazz neck and Custom (ceramic version) in the bridge.  Overall I like those pickups but my curiosity about BKPs is overwhelming lol

For the bridge pickup rhythms I want a pickup that sounds aggressive/chunky for palmmutes, has huge, churning chord ringouts, and really punchy for single note rhythms.  For leads tone I want loads of sustain, some heat on the top end but not too much, clarity and thickness, SD custom can sound a little brittle/screeching on top end sometimes.  Lately I really enjoy Ol Drake from Evile, Rust in Peace era Marty Friedman, Josh from Sylosis lead tones. 

For the neck pickup I love the SD jazz but it could use a little more umph, while still keeping a great clean tone.  Neck is never used for rhythms (but if it had enough juice for some zeppelin rhythms this would be great), so singing leading tone with some body to it, lots of sustain and note separation, with a sparkling clean tone.

Any recommendations?

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Id say aftermath.

[DoomBuggi]

For bridge my first pick would be Painkiller.  Followed by Nailbomb, then either the Coldsweat or MiracleMan.

For neck, If you like the Jazz, Keep it in there.  The Nailbomb neck is popular, as is the Coldsweat neck.  I would probably go with an Emerald or Nailbomb for that.

 I have a Gibson Les Paul that has a Painkiller Bridge, and a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II neck.  I like this combo, very much so.   I play all kinds of music with this as well.  From Prog, Thrash, Death, Doom, Punk, and rock.  

Curious to see what the others will reply with.

[Telerocker]

Not an expert for these styles, but sounds like Painkiller/C-Bomb.

[Alex]

LesPaul + Miracle Man = Thrash/Metal heaven

[Toe-Knee]

For the evile style tones and thrash in general you can't really go wrong with the aftermath or the miracle man.

Id go for the MM first but if you want something with a bit leaner low end then id go for the aftermath.

[ericsabbath]

Josh (Sylosis) is using a holy diver (he had a painkiller, but I think he sold it on the forum)
the diver would be my pick for Marty's tones as well
but your description sounds more like a miracle man or ceramic nailbomb

for the neck, you should be happy with a cold sweat or emerald, maybe a vhII

[dingleberry]

Thanks for the great responses all.  Heard back from the good folks @ BKP they've recommended a Holydiver bridge and VHII neck, I like how both of these pickups sound any care to weigh in here?

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Don't have experience with them personally, but they both sound great. I don't believe I've seen many of this combo?

[ericsabbath]

didn't try the vhII neck yet

but the holy diver certainly fits the bill
thick single notes, chunky rhythms, lot of sustain on leads, clarity on chords...
but it's not a very aggressive pickup like the ceramic models
it does the job really well with a proper booster, though

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Will the VH and HD go together well?

[itamar101]

Will the VH and HD go together well?

From the clips that I've of the VHII and my experience with the holy diver I do feel that they'll work nicely with each other.
The VHII will be more open but overall theyll work quite well together and any difference just makes it all the more versatile.
Also, the Holy Diver coil splits very nicely and I've head great things about how well the VHII coil splits.

I think that it's an excellent recommendation.
Like many BKPs, both the VHII and the HD can do many types of metal very well and when boosted with a tubescreamer or something alike they can easily do modern metal.

[dingleberry]

Thanks for the responses guys and I do use a booster, maxon od808 so shouldn't have too much trouble there. I'll be probably go for the holy diver/vhii, I prefer the sound clips for the nailbomb but I will have faith in the BKP staff.  Besides, I can always get some nailbombs later on lol

Cheers

[TheyCallMeVolume]

While the BKP staff is pretty much always spot on, if your gut tells you Nailbomb, I'd at least heavily consider it.

[itamar101]

While the BKP staff is pretty much always spot on, if your gut tells you Nailbomb, I'd at least heavily consider it.

Well, my gut was telling me to get the Rebel Yells cause for some reason they just seemed better for me but I dared not argue with Tim and I am so happy with my results. The Holy Diver is just what I needed.

You got to take into account that the official BKP clips are really quite misleading, as are most other sound clips by any other company. I also like the sound of the Nailbombs on the BKP website more than the Holy Diver but thats really unlikely to be how it'll sound when you play it.

I would keep faith in the BKP staff.
Also, if you aren't happy with the set that you got, the warranty allows you to swap it in for another set if I remember correctly.