Here we go with another pickup review. All pickups were in the bridge position of a Les Paul Standard, together with the VHII neck in the neck position. The guitar has a three-way-toggle, 500k pots and 50s wiring but no push-pull/coil split/out-of-phase switches whatsoever.
VHII bridge
The VHII is listed as the first pickup in the vintage hot category. I first believed that the pickups were listed in ascending order by output level as the DC resistances ascend in that order but this overlooks the fact that the pickups are not wound with the same wire gauge. I have now tried all vintage hot humbuckers except for the Emerald, and the VHII may even be the hottest in output of them all. It can easily put up with the Crawler in output, and from a direct comparison in another guitar I would say Crawler and Abraxas are about the same output level. Off topic: the VHII neck pickup is definitely the hottest neck pickup in the vintage hot range and makes a good partner to the higher output bridge pickups in the contemporary range.
The VHII has more output than a traditional PAF type humbucker without going into the high output zone. It has good punch and articulation. Its trademarks are a strong edge to the tone and a lot of harmonics. Insofar I fully agree with the description on the website. On the other side of the coin it did not transfer as much of the fundamental notes in that guitar which made it a bit too thin sounding for me. It also does not have a lot of midrange. It really gets the typical EVH signature snarl prominent on the first two VH albums. Players looking for the early Warren DeMartini tones (Out of the Cellar, Invasion of Your Privacy) can also stop right here. I can see it doing a fine job in a guitar that has a strong midrange focus because the strong attack and harmonics should nicely balance that out.
Alnico Nailbomb bridge (short “A-Bomb”)
The A-Bomb has more output than the VHII. It’s definitely a high output humbucker even though it may not have as much as a DiMarzio Super Distortion or ToneZone. Due to its higher output it drives the amp harder and provides for more compression. It also has more low and center mids which leads to a greater emphasis of the fundamental tone vs. harmonics. Insofar the website description of deep bottom end with rich throaty midrange is spot on, as is the remark of the “strong and commanding voice”. I would not call the highs necessarily “warm”, they are a bit subdued in relation to the other frequency bands and compared to the VHII but there are enough to prevent it from sounding dull or blurred. It never loses the clarity all BKPs are known for. I liked it more in that guitar overall but especially for lead playing. It also balances well with the VHII neck model in the neck spot - to my taste it balances better with it than the VHII bridge did as individual pickups. However, the VHII set provides for a brilliant twangy tone in the middle position of the toggle which the A-Bomb/VHII neck does not provide - it's still a good and distinctive tone from the individual pickups but not as twangy as with the set.
Crawler bridge
I only put it in the guitar yesterday so these are my first impressions.
Quote from the website description: “The Crawler humbucker has a rich, fat, mid range with sweet highs that clean up beautifully …. Bass response is full and warm with excellent detail and the hot wind produces a smooth, natural sustain that really sings through a pushed amp.”
This description is spot on, so was Ben’s recommendation. The Crawler is completely different to both the VHII and the A-Bomb. Even though it is placed in the contemporary range I could see it easily being part of the vintage hot range. In fact I feel it would be more appropriately placed there as its tone has a lot more in common with what I perceive as “vintage” than with the modern humbuckers, and I have not even tried the ones mostly associated with modern metal tones such as Aftermath or Painkiller. The output is very similar to the VHII bridge but considerably lower than the A-Bomb. It lacks the aggressiveness of both pickups. You may have noted that the attributes “smooth” and “sweet” do not appear for the VHII or Nailbomb in their website descriptions, and I can only assume that is for good reason. Not so for the Crawler: here, “smooth” is really appropriate. From the very first note there was the tone – warm, creamy, round and fluid, powerful but still very open and clear. If you want it to sound aggressive you really have to dig in hard whereas with the other two you would rather seek to find ways to tame their aggression.
In earlier posts I described the Crawler as dark. I am now positive that this was more due to the guitar it was in, which goes once more to show that it is not the pickup alone that is responsible for the final sound. While it does sound darker than both the VHII and the A-Bomb, it is not dark as such but I would caution against putting it in a guitar that is dark to begin with.
The Crawler works well with the VHII neck even though I had to set the Crawler quite close to the strings to get it in balance with the strong VHII neck but that is where the Crawler sounds best anyway. The combination of both humbuckers produces a very distinct tone from the single positions – which is always important to me, otherwise what’s the purpose of playing both humbuckers combined? But it’s not only distinct, it’s also very good in a way that it is very clear, twangy and just spits out the harmonics. Very nice.
Once again, thank you Tim for making these fine pickups, and thank you Ben for your recommendation.
Cheers Stephan
