Advise for pickups in Alder

[Gooby]

Finally got to the year where I feel the need to change the pickups in my Jem,

I did once try Nailbombs in it and a couple of aspects were not for me. I found the trailing edge of the the note to aggressive and the mid range a little to fat.

From the clips I have liked the Holy Diver covering sounds from Melodic Rock to Heavy Progressive, but am wondering of anyone has experience of the mids compared to the Nailbomb.

One of the other pickup I am considering for the bridge is the Black Dog as my Diezel Einstein is not short of gain.

The Black hawks sound awesome but I wonder if it's slighly to far in the clinical direction for me.

If I had to pick artists (hate doing this) would be somewhere between Satriani to Petrucci and all the light to heavy tones they use.

Cheers

Martin

[Telerocker]

The Diver has more centermids and less bass/lowmids then the NB. Also a rounder topend. Blackdog is tight enough for metal, even a choice by several metalplayers. Maybe you want to consider the VHII too, that has a balanced eq and can handle prog.metal well if you have a highgain amp like your Einstein. The VHII performs very well in my ashstrat, so should do good too in alder. I like especially the touchsensitivity and the way harmonics jump out.

[Gooby]

Thanks for the input Tele :)

Its funny you should mention the VHII thats the pickup I have decided will go in the neck position, I particularly like the way it can sound like a cross between a humbucker and single coil almost..

However for the bridge I have a  more  mid pushed sound. having not liked the Nailbomb mids i am considering the Holydiver or BlackDog. Any input or alternative ideas would be cool

Martin

[EffigyForgotten]

Thanks for the input Tele :)

Its funny you should mention the VHII thats the pickup I have decided will go in the neck position, I particularly like the way it can sound like a cross between a humbucker and single coil almost..

However for the bridge I have a  more  mid pushed sound. having not liked the Nailbomb mids i am considering the Holydiver or BlackDog. Any input or alternative ideas would be cool

Martin

Id go for the Holy Diver in the bridge, does prog/power metal like its made to, has the best bridge lead tone I've ever heard, the neck pickup is an amazing combination between clean and lead tones. I wouldn't pair a VHII with a Holy Diver.

You're avatar >>>>>>>

[Gooby]

Thank you both

Yes on listening again I think you are right. Holy Diver neck and bridge would be a good pair. Either that or a pair of Black Dogs hmmm


Martin

[EffigyForgotten]

Thank you both

Yes on listening again I think you are right. Holy Diver neck and bridge would be a good pair. Either that or a pair of Black Dogs hmmm


Martin

Black dogs are more "hard rock" sounding, the Holy Diver set fits your description better.

[darrenw5094]

I am in the same boat with my Jem. After checking the Dimarzio site last night, i realised that the magnets are ceramic in the Evo's. That suprised me a bit, i assumed they were overwound with lower mags. Anyway, the pickup i singled out was the VHII. I have a spare HD in black, but not sure if it's the way to go for me.

For Satch, i am thinking the VHII.

[ericsabbath]

the diver has less bass than the nailbomb, but it has a fatter midrange
black dog has lower output, but also a ton of mids, specially with a diezel einstein (which is pretty mid focused)
maybe you might enjoy something more balanced, like the abraxas or the crawler, but the bridge vhII sounds like a great match, although it doesn't have the midrange push

I wouldn't say the neck vhII sounds anything like a single coil at all
it has a pretty fat overwound paf tone in the neck position, although it sounds bright and focused in the bridge
if you wanted a pushed single coil-like neck tone, you could go back to the neck nailbomb, maybe the riff raff for less edge
the neck cold sweat works really well for some of the G3 guys tones, specially Satriani, Gilbert and Petrucci

[Gooby]

You see..
..this is the problem BK make so many dam good pickups, being certain is so hard :)

VHII is a very expressive pickup, extremely musical. Had a set in a basswood guitar I sold. I really don't like basswood, excluding Mahogany guitars Alder is by far my favourite sonically. I really think these could be cool.

Holy Diver is still very much a contender with a gorgeous sounds. Although I wish I could try them with my setup want a good dose of mids but the fatness off my lead channel worries me.

Re the Nailbombs highs it's the aggressive nature of these I don't like, perfect for more extreme metal imo. That is not to say I don't like highs. The VHIIs have great highs and although the Divers have less you can push the treble
 on an amp to add the amount wanted.

Crawler. I was under the impression that the mids on these were more than the Divers/Nailbombs. If anyone can clarify it would be most appreciated.

Martin

[seancorker]

The Crawler is my favourite bridge PU bar non. The mids are very pronounced in the Crawler but the critical factor is the PU height. It is really two PU's in one depending on whether you choose to compress the mids or not. I like mine where I the cleans are still clean on 10. In this way the mids do not compress and the harmonics fly but it still has the "ZZ on"  steroids" fat authoritative swagger.

I've had both the Crawler and the Holydiver in the same (alder) guitar and the HD is the best PU for lead and the Crawler the best for rhythm. (The Crawler lead is still f'in brilliant) I have the Crawler in the bridge of 3 of my guitars and replaced the HD.

You see..
..this is the problem BK make so many dam good pickups, being certain is so hard :)

VHII is a very expressive pickup, extremely musical. Had a set in a basswood guitar I sold. I really don't like basswood, excluding Mahogany guitars Alder is by far my favourite sonically. I really think these could be cool.

Holy Diver is still very much a contender with a gorgeous sounds. Although I wish I could try them with my setup want a good dose of mids but the fatness off my lead channel worries me.

Re the Nailbombs highs it's the aggressive nature of these I don't like, perfect for more extreme metal imo. That is not to say I don't like highs. The VHIIs have great highs and although the Divers have less you can push the treble
 on an amp to add the amount wanted.

Crawler. I was under the impression that the mids on these were more than the Divers/Nailbombs. If anyone can clarify it would be most appreciated.

Martin

[Slartibartfarst42]

I found the Nailbomb to be very aggressive indeed and not at all like the sounds you're describing. The Holydiver is extremely versatile, has plenty mids and is smooth and articulate. The core tone is obviously 80's Metal but that sort of description belies its versatility. I used to have one in my Jackson Soloist (now a Miracle Man) and I now have one in my PRS. The PRS has become the guitar I use for most of our set simply because it covers so much ground so very well. What's more, while some Bare Knuckle pickups can be fussy as to which guitar they work in, such as the Nailbomb, the Holydiver seems to work well in pretty much anything and will certainly do well in alder.

[JimmyMoorby]

Finally got to the year where I feel the need to change the pickups in my Jem,

I did once try Nailbombs in it and a couple of aspects were not for me. I found the trailing edge of the the note to aggressive and the mid range a little to fat.

From the clips I have liked the Holy Diver covering sounds from Melodic Rock to Heavy Progressive, but am wondering of anyone has experience of the mids compared to the Nailbomb.

One of the other pickup I am considering for the bridge is the Black Dog as my Diezel Einstein is not short of gain.

The Black hawks sound awesome but I wonder if it's slighly to far in the clinical direction for me.

If I had to pick artists (hate doing this) would be somewhere between Satriani to Petrucci and all the light to heavy tones they use.

Cheers

Martin

I use 2 alder super strats as per the below with my tagline. What about a cold sweat set?  Great for lead orenientated stuff but with a slightly scooped mid sound and they can do heavy riffs extremely well just need to watch they arent to bright for you but Diezels dont strike me as bright amps......could be wrong on that though.

Jurys out on black hawk for me re its diversity but its great for full on metal (Better than an EMG 81) and cleans up VERY well but I dont like playing with the volume.

I was also interested to know that Chris Broderick ended up using a cold sweat bridge with a mule neck towards the end of his time with using BKP's.  I'd like to try that combo..... alas I aint got the funds to be buying any BKPs or guitar any time soon.

[Finnster]

I posed this same question to BKP.  He advised to go for the HD set for the tone I was after.  This is for a San Dimas Style 2(Tele style) Charvel.

I do t think you can go wrong.  I have a BlackDog in the bridge do a Luxxtone pine body Tele....great pickup, very open sounding......not really thick but that is probably more of a result of a pine wood Tele.

Just my $.02.  I'm going to try the HD's in my Charvel and replace the volume with a push/pull while I'm at it.

[Telerocker]

I have a Crawler in my swampash MGX Custom strat (made by Patrick Eggle) and it's a very beefy pickup with enough sparkle in the topend. Notes above the 12th fret keep their weight. This pickup really growls when pushed. It splits really well. I think the Crawler excels in ash and alder bolt-on guitars.

[Gooby]

I have ordered a Bridge Diver.

Thanks for all your input I feel very comfortable with my decision. Will get a matching neck pickup as and when I can afford it.

Martin