I finally have the cash to buy new pickups, bare knuckle pickups have been rated highly by everyone so i thought i'd give it a go.
I dont have much experience with gear, my guitar Ibanez s570b is my first electric guitar. After reading around a bit on internet and listening to sound samples and youtube videos i think i am sure what i want out of my pickups. The current stock pickups dont sound too good to me. I use a Peavey vypyr 75 as my amplifier. I will try to list out what particular sounds i am after and what i feel lacks in my current pickups. I have been playing for a year now.
The neck pickup first, my current pickup sounds bad to me. I cannot exactly describe but it sounds a bit off not fluid like. Plus i'd like a bit more sustain from the pickup. The cleans are a bit dull sounding. Also harmonics are lacking. Some specific tones i'm after are Steve Vai's For The Love of God, Satch's Flying in a Blue Dream, Slash's first solo in Knocking on Heavens Doors, Iron maiden's various like The Trooper. I need good cleans for small intro sections and some songs like metallica's Nothing else matters. I really like steve vai's tone and playing style hence was looking at the Dimarzio Evolution. I heard Painkiller is similar to the evo.
The bridge pickup, well i know more specifically what i want from it. My current pickup has a really muddy and flabby low end, fast metal riffing doesnt sound good on it at all. It is very bassy. It was the tight and aggressive bass response that first bought me to BKP. They are also not clear and articulate. Some particular tones for reference are Godsmack's tone on Awake, Megadeth Public Enemy No.1, Green Day American Idiot, Iron Maiden The Trooper etc. I liked the painkiller bridge from the sound samples.
Well if it is any further help here is a list of bands i play. Metallica, Megadeth, Godsmack, Iron Maiden, Lamb of God, Pantera, Green Day, Blink 182, Guns n Roses, Steve vai, Joe Satriani, Pink Floyd, Judas Priest.
Please let me know if you need more information.
