Black dog in a strat ?

[aris17561]

Hello everyone , I consider of buying a set of black dog and slow hands for my fender strat . But I am  not sure if I am correct with my choise . I want a versatile set . I am playing mostly metal but I have other aggressive guitars so I want a versatile set for my strat with good bassy low end and brightness ... Not crispy like the vh2 I had until now . I am playing dream theater iron maiden Metallica . My amps are evh 5150 iii , Mesa dual rectifier , engl fireball 60 ..

Am I correct or must look something else ?

[Telerocker]

Hi and welcome!
I'm not that familiar with the BD in strats, since it's not immediately the first choice for strats here on the forum, but in a strat a midrange focussed pickup (with still good treble) would work imho.
I would have a look at the Holy Diver too: middy, round topend, creamy solo's.

[aris17561]

Hi and welcome!
I'm not that familiar with the BD in strats, since it's not immediately the first choiche for strats here on the forum, but in a strat a midrange focussed pickup (with still good treble) would work imho.
I would have a look at the Holy Diver too: middy, round topend, creamy solo's.

The only think I am afriad of holy diver is the output... Am i right that  16kΩ is not so versatile ? Its a fender and I do not want to alter completely the fender character . I am not opposed to holydiver , to be honest the description of HD is perfect . The only think is stucking me is the high output cause I amp playing from times to times bon jovi , satriani except dream theater , maiden e.t.c.

On the other hand , Black dog puzlling me too because is has lots of mids and I am not sure if it will work good with the alder body of my fender... One reason I am looking for Black dog is because is has being used form my idol guitarist Jon schaffer from Iced earth but in a les paul , so there is a big difference ...

[darkbluemurder]

The Holydiver bridge would be very good for the tones you listed.

Are you set on the Slowhands? I recommend to do a search for the posts of forum member antag. He commented on combining Slowhands, Irish Tours and Trilogy Suites with the Holydiver and found the Slowhands did not have quite enough output to keep up with the Holydiver.

As potential alternatives to Black Dog or Holydiver I would look to the Crawler or the Rebel Yell.

Cheers Stephan

[aris17561]

The Holydiver bridge would be very good for the tones you listed.

Are you set on the Slowhands? I recommend to do a search for the posts of forum member antag. He commented on combining Slowhands, Irish Tours and Trilogy Suites with the Holydiver and found the Slowhands did not have quite enough output to keep up with the Holydiver.

As potential alternatives to Black Dog or Holydiver I would look to the Crawler or the Rebel Yell.

Cheers Stephan

I havent bought anything yet... I want to improve my strat with an hss bk pups. Os there is no limitation in discussion...

So if i go with Holydiver , i will buy it as a cmplete set with irish tours and the pots that bk recomend and jensen... So according to you irish tours are matching with holydiver ?

[Telerocker]

The Slowhands are quite middy. To my ears you loose a bit of the classic Fender vibe with those. I would look at the Irish Tours, at least, if you want to retain vintages tones. If you don't mind a contemporary tones: Trilogy Suites would pair good with a Diver too.
The Diver is not that hot, compared to the Nailbomb for instance. The advantage: you get a nice split great with the middle-pickup.
About the Black Dogs: I would ask the BKP-team for a recommendation. Maybe they are the ticket for your guitar and style, since you have highgainamps that don't need to be pushed that much by the pickup. They have gain enough. If you pick BD's, then pair them with IT's to get things balanced.

[ericsabbath]

well, the vhii is way more iced earth sounding than the black dog

but for a strat, what you want is the holy diver
maybe with a coil split for extra versatility, but don't worry about the output
it's not really what I'd call a high output pickup
it's on par with most of the standard medium output bridge humbuckers for most of the big brands (gibson 498t, prs dragon 2, suhr ssh, duncan sh-11, rio grande bbq), although it has a slightly higher dc reading than those pickups

[aris17561]

Ok guys , I sent a message to bk too and they told me holy diver like all of you so there is not doubt . I ll put holy diver ... So now help me please decide the correct single coils set for neck and mid .

As I saw Bk combine it with Irish tours or trilogy . Irish tours has very low dc , are you sure that they stay at a good balance opposite to holy diver ?
I want from the neck and mid good fat cleans and warm solos and sustain . Did I ask more ? Ha ha

[aris17561]

Hey guys I made a mistake previously . Ben French from bk recommend me Painkiller and two Trilogy Suites.  So now the thinks confused me more ...

[darkbluemurder]

As I saw Bk combine it with Irish tours or trilogy . Irish tours has very low dc , are you sure that they stay at a good balance opposite to holy diver ?

DC resistance is misleading in that case since the ITs are 42 AWG (thicker wire) whereas the TS is probably 43 AWG or thinner wire. Thinner wire has more DC resistance per turn, and it's turns that count for output. Hence, the ITs should not be much lower in output than the TSs.

I want from the neck and mid good fat cleans and warm solos and sustain . Did I ask more ? Ha ha

From the descriptions on the website and in this forum that is clearly the TS. ITs are always described as bright, fat and gritty, not as warm. No experience with BKP singles yet (with a big stress on "yet").

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

Hey guys I made a mistake previously . Ben French from bk recommend me Painkiller and two Trilogy Suites.  So now the thinks confused me more ...

Agree on the Trilogy Suites as stated before.

I don't have experience with the Painkiller. It should certainly match with the "good bassy low end and brightness" requirement and probably also with the bands listed, but I have never seen it described as "versatile" or "different than aggressive". You will probably like it very much but you will have another aggressive guitar.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

the painkiller does sound great for the mentioned bands and amps, but won't sound any less aggressive than whatever you have in other guitars

[aris17561]

the painkiller does sound great for the mentioned bands and amps, but won't sound any less aggressive than whatever you have in other guitars

Hey Eric , what about the Riff Raff ?

[ericsabbath]

not sure it's a good pup for a strat
it's quite similar to the vhII, but warmer, brighter and a little less punchy on the low end

[JohnZAH]

I'm wondering about this as well. I have the Irish tour/crawler in mind but I'm not sure if the crawler or holy diver would be better.