Caparison Horus Pickup Choice

[Roboten]

So, my newly bought sg is just begging for the bkp treatment but i'm very hesitant about which set to get. I'm mostly a fan of low output pups, but I have a SM, a Mule and a Riff Raff set so I'm out of vintage options. Since I play in a death/crust/power violence/sludge band I'm considering getting a higher output pup, but I've read in many threads here that sg's are pretty picky when it comes to pups.

What I want: a dry, tight, bitey pickup that has enough low end to sound full and enough high end to cut through. In a nutshell, a higher output riff raff. But also, since this is a guitar I've dreamed about since I was a kid, I want versatility, otherwise I would have gotten a pair of emgs, with is sort of the sound I'm looking for. The pickups I've liked the most when listening to soundclips are painkiller, a-pig, c-bomb and black hawks, but that have been in les paul type of guitars mostly so I have no idea of what they would sound like in an sg.

On the other hand, maybe I should get a vintage hot pickups to get that boosted riff raff sound, and in that category emeralds and abraxas seem to be the way to go. Thoughts on this?

[BigB]

Tim's advice for SGs is to go either vintage output or really hot, but not "mid-hot" which tend to get a bit muddy in these guitars - but IIRC someone here had happy results with an Abraxas in his SG so I guess it really depends on the exact guitar, pickup and whatnots.

As far as I'm concerned I more than happy with the A-Bomb bridge on my on SG ('80 standard and rather on the dark/full sounding side unplugged), works wonder for "modern" hi-gain tones with all the required tightness (incredibly tight for an alnico pup), growl, bite and agression while retaining the organic nature of a more vintagey pup (no sterile cleans here), and it's not far from the RR bridge when you roll down the volume pot, so definitly not a one-trick pony.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Emeralds work great in an SG
Swap the pots for 550k ones and try the Jensen caps  - magic!

[Roboten]

The clips I've heard of the emerald does indeed seem pretty awesome, but they have all been in les pauls which have a deeper low end, and my concern is that the already bright emerald might seem even brighter in an sg. Am I just over thinking that aspect?

[Alex]

IMO the Miracle Man sounds killer in SGs.

[Roboten]

I've given the miracle man set a lot of thought, and it seems to me that it sounds pretty bland when not played with heavy distortion, and perhaps not enough bite in the high mids.

[BigB]

The clips I've heard of the emerald does indeed seem pretty awesome, but they have all been in les pauls which have a deeper low end, and my concern is that the already bright emerald might seem even brighter in an sg. Am I just over thinking that aspect?

LPs are usually brighter / snappier than SGs due to the maple cap, so I don't think you should worry too much about too much brightness. FWIW the usual recommandation for SGs are RiffRaff - which are quite bright -, and the most common problem with mid-hot pups in SGs is the over-emphasis on low-mids.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

I think another set of Riff Raff's aren't a terrible thing.

[Roboten]

Les pauls sure are brighter in the trebly kind of way, but to my ears there are certain upper mid frequencies in a sg that seem to give it a lighter, more cutting tone, and I think some pickups might accentuate these a bit too much. But the emerald set, that's a winner in a sg? Are there any clips I can listen to of emeralds in a sg?

[dingleberry]

Emerald could be a good fit.   It is incredibly clear but not as bright as I was expecting, seems to be a bit more compressed than the riff raff.  I've read a number of threads comparing the emerald to riff raff, you probably can't miss with either.  Haven't seen many clips of an sg w/emerald tho

[Roboten]

Maybe I should get an emerald set then, if it's not a good match with my sg i can just swap them with the riff raffs in my les paul :)

[Telerocker]

Not an expert with SG's, but I can't see why a Cold Sweat-set would not work.

[Roboten]

I tried my riff raff set in my sg and wow, that's just too good of a sound to not have. I'll be getting a emerald set for the les paul that I took the riff raffs from, but I still need a metal pickup. So instead of selling my caparison horus I'll live on noodles for a couple of months and get a good metal pickup for it. Therefore, this thread is now about my horus!

I essentially want an EMG type of sound, tight deep lows and grindy mids and bitey highs. The options seem to be c-bomb, painkiller, black hawk and warpig. I've listened all the other pickups to death but these four seem to be the ones that might fit my style, but I have a couple of doubts concerning a of them. The C-bomb have a very good low end, but seem to lack some mids and highs. Painkiller has the complete opposite problem, awesome highs and mids but I'm not sure the low end is deep enough. Black hawk seem too fit my bill perfectly, my only doubt comes from not having heard enough of it, and I have a hard time hearing how hot it is. Warpig has everything I want except the bitey highs in some audio clips, but it some clips on youtube it has the perfect amount of highs, so I'm curious how it's highs compares to the other pickups.

Thoughts and tips are much appreciated!

[Telerocker]

I think Miracle Man or C-Bomb would serve you well. Don't know much about the Blackhawk.

[Roboten]

The impression I've got is that the miracle man isn't bitey enough, and has a bland clean tone. Comments on this?