Considering piledrivers for my 60th Anniversary Telecaster, need some input.

[Mattiguess]

So I've had this 60th Anniversary Telecaster for probably half a year now, and I'm getting to the point where I really want to branch out into different tones.  The kind of music I'm more inclined to play is slightly "djent", but very post-hardcore at the same time.  So what I'm looking for is a pretty specific tone, something very gritty, noisey hissy sounding riffs with fairly profound feedback.  Also I need something thats going to give my higher leads or more melodic emotional chords the ring they need.  I like a lot of sustain as well. 

If I had to list bands that had the sound I wanted to mimic it would have to be around The Chariot or Misery Signals kind of tones.  If anyone could help me out that'd be fantastic.

If it helps right now I'm running through a Egnater 40w Tweaker head and an Orange 4x12 cabinet.

Thanks!

[Telerocker]

Piledriver will provide the grind!

[Mattiguess]

Would you think it'd make the high tones at all sharper?  I've noticed when playing it that everything sounds really full (which I do not want to sacrifice) but the super high tones aren't too sharp with higher gain and the low end isn't too impactive as it stands.

 Do you think it would add some higher bite as well without sacrificing the full bodied sound of the telecaster?

[Telerocker]

Piledriver is quite meaty with good mids and enough highend, but is not as twangy as lower output telepickups from BKP. It has the power of a humbucker, but with enough tele-snap left. But I work on my tele a lot with the guitar''s volume- and toneknob which gives a huge range of tones. I think this pickup fits your description of tones quite well.

[Mattiguess]

Well thanks man, that's pretty eye opening.  Chances are I'm going to wait until I can afford some different equipment first and foremost.  That Egnater as much as I love it just doesn't have the balls or the grit that I need right now, even though dialing in the tone on that thing is pretty spot on.  I understand this isn't the spot to ask this but since I'm on the topic I don't think it would hurt to ask.

What kind of heads would you think of recommending? I have a few ideas as to what I'm looking for but I always feel better hearing second opinions.

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

What kind of heads would you think of recommending? I have a few ideas as to what I'm looking for but I always feel better hearing second opinions.

For the styles you mentioned: ENGL (Powerball probably), Blackstar Series 1, Peavey 6505+, Framus Cobra, and even more will all do what you want. They will sound all different, but all of them are great.

[ViggoPower]

The Piledriver is very dependent on the amp settings.
It is possible to retain some single coil telecaster attack but it will have the power and oomph of a humbucker.
The midrange is quite dry and modern sounding, prominent in a way but not overwhelming.

Here's a couple black metal tracks (the ones with "Ancient Burden" in the track name) i recorded with a Piledriver:

http://soundcloud.com/viggop

The "amp" is from Guitar Rig 5.

If you want "very gritty, noisey hissy sounding riffs with fairly profound feedback" you might wanna look elsewhere since it really isn't noisy (except for the hum) or hissy.
However, no other tele pickup will pull off djent like the Piledriver.
 

[Mattiguess]

All of those clips sound pretty awesome man.  Between the tone and the actual playing I'm very impressed haha. 

But, as for all things, I'm extremely weary of trying any modification like this without heaps of reassurance, mostly for monetary purposes and lack of skill.  What kind of neck pickups would be suggested? I'm going for cleaner tones that rival that of Pianos Become The Teeth and Caravels.  Here's an idea of the sound I'd like to try and emulate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ut3qOLDmBY

As for the heavier dirtier tone I'm sure it's easy to expect what I'm shooting for, but here's a clip of something just to ease the grey area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_JRMjLt4tg

Thanks for all the help guys!

[Brow]

I'm not familiar with any of the bands mentioned in this thread at all, so I'll stay away from recommendations for specific tones, but 1 thing I will suggest is to use 500k pots with the Piledriver. It just helps retain a bit more top end that you lose by having a hotter would pickup. Tim suggested it to me years ago when I got mine and he was right on the money  :lol:

[Roboten]

For the skramz-ish sound i'd use a BG52 set, or maybe BG50s for a darker heavier tone. I dabble in that kind of music from time to time and I use BG52s, so I guess it depends on whether you want a djenty or skramzy tone.

[Stranger]

I installed a Piledriver bridge the other day, and it's definitely a "metal" pickup.  HOWEVER, you will see many comments on this board about how it goes back to a tele sounding pickup when rolled back on the volume, and that's simply not true.  It is not what I would call a versatile pickup, and although this thing is ridiculously high-output, if you need something less aggressive for a more subdued or melodic sounds, maybe look at Blackguard Flat '50s instead.  You don't really get the note definition needed for some chords with the Piledriver bridge.  I've not grabbed the neck version yet though.  Also, I'm using 250k pots when it's suggested to use 500k with the Piledriver, so maybe that will bring some clarity to them.  It's also something to consider if you get Piledrivers because you may have to change your teles pots, while the Blackguards are recommended to be used with 250k.

[Mattiguess]

I honestly never even thought of the Blackguard series, I'll try and do some homework on them here in a little bit.

As far as the Piledriver goes though, you'd say there is a definitive loss of clarity? Because for the sounds I tend to go for, I gotta be able to produce those full bodied chords. 

For the skramz-ish sound i'd use a BG52 set, or maybe BG50s for a darker heavier tone. I dabble in that kind of music from time to time and I use BG52s, so I guess it depends on whether you want a djenty or skramzy tone.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by skramzy, but I just like a lot of bite and growl.

If it at all helps I usually run some thicker gauge strings (11-52) between DCGFAD or CGCFAD.

[Stranger]

Yeah, there's a definite loss of clarity due to a very prominent midrange.  But, like I said, I'm using 250k pots which are considerably darker than the recommended 500k, which may improve the clarity with more high-end.  I am going to keep the Piledriver I bought and upgrade the electronics, maybe even Esquire it for even more bite.  I haven't used the Blackguard Flat '50s yet, but they're where I'm setting sights for another tele.

[Roboten]

Skramz means hardcore/screamo/emo bands that are neither pop, post-hardcore nor whiny sissy bands, ie "real screamo" such as saetia, portraits of past, orchid, pg99, i robot, la quiete and funeral diner. Nowadays that means pianos become the teeth, loma prieta, sore eyelids, touche amore and comadre, so if you're going for that type of sound I'd say get a set of bg50 or 52s.

[Stranger]

He said nothing about screamo though.  He wants to play more along the lines of metalcore and the popular interpretation of post-hardcore.