Pickup advice from anyone who is familiar with Marco Sfogli's solo work?

[IbbySabre]

I've done a bit of research already, but thought I'd post a topic just to be sure before hand. I've recently been loving Marco's new album ReMarcoble, and I just can't stop listening to the song "Jester's Tears". This will be my first ever pickup upgrade for one of my Ibanez (S Series type) guitars. I know Marco has recently started using DiMarzio Norton/True Velvet/Paf 36th Anniversary pickups, but rather than getting those pickups, I thought I'd give BKP a shot as I hear great stuff about them.

What would you think would be good alternatives to the above? I was thinking maybe a Crawler in the bridge, but I'm a bit lost for the middle single and the neck pickup.

For anyone who's interested in a better idea of the tone I'm after, here's a link. You just need to click listen at the bottom of the page.

http://mp3juices.com/search/marco-sfogli-jester's-tears

[IbbySabre]

Or possibly an Abraxas?

['Ash' J. Williams]

Holydivers.

Sloppy attempt at the outro to The Forest : http://snd.sc/Yt6TWE
I'm using an Ibanez S and Holydivers into an AxeFx2

['Ash' J. Williams]

Pretty confident  that Holydiver bridge/IT or TS single/Emerald neck will work really well in a S to replicate the ReMarcoble sounds

[IbbySabre]

I was looking at research into the Holy Diver, and judging by what people have said, The Holy Diver (and my previous choice of Crawler) may to too high output/saturated. From the videos I've heard of the Holy Diver, it just doesnt seem my coup of tea. I'm looking for a vintage sounding, but hotter picker. Kind of like a higher output pickup without all that punch. I saw a thread earlier on where I huy called Nolly was mentioning the Abraxas is a great pickup for this, and wondered your thoughts?

Also regarding the Emerald, wouldn't that be a bit hot, compared to something like a typical PAF such as the Paf 36th Anniversary?

['Ash' J. Williams]

The emerald neck is vintage output and sounds like a very clear P.A.F. Very beautiful and versatile pickup.

The Holydiver bridge does not feel too powerful at all because of the great dynamics (as with all bkp's) while most of DiMarzio's pups feels compressed to some extent.
By the way, i used marco's own lead preset (that i've tweaked a bit) for this little clip, and he does compress a lot his signal.

I still recommend the Holydiver. The abraxas may very well work but i never tried it.

[IbbySabre]

I've had alisten to it on my PC and it sounds a lot better. It was probably the tinny speakers off the laptop that made it sound different. I'll definiely give the HD and Emerald set a go. Thanks for the advice.

What do you recommend about the singlecoil? Best way to describe the sound I usually use the middle for is when I usually have the neck split with the middle in position 4, and sometimes back down the volume knob whilst playing through the overdrive channel. Kind of to get that sound Vai does on the intro to Lotus Feet I just find it tames the bassy-ness of the neck pickup when playing a sort of cleaner overdrive.

['Ash' J. Williams]

You might want to mail Tim on this but i'm pretty confident the Irish Tour or the Trilogy Suite will be perfect for what you described.

[IbbySabre]

I'll do that then. I think the Trilogy Suite may be a bit hot, as it's 12.5 and when the humbuckers are split, it may overpower the other coil. I bet it would balance as it's own pickup though. I'll definitely look at the Irish Tour,

['Ash' J. Williams]

Well, on paper you may be right. But a lot of experienced folks here will tell you not so much to trust the readings with bkps.
In my experience, they all feel less powerful than what you might expect from other brands with the same specs.
It's because of the accentuated dynamics and open character, far less compression than a lot of aftermarket pups, especially in the Vintage Hot and Contemporary HB range.
The Holydiver for example, feels less powerful than a Duncan JB.

[IbbySabre]

I've done some good research into the Holy Diver now, and from what I've heard, it's very modern sounding/feeling. I'm actually after something with a bit more of a vintage feel, so I'm feeling maybe this may not be the best choice at the present time? What I've managed to pull up about the Emerald neck does sound amazing though, so thanks for that :)

[Telerocker]

The Crawler en Abraxas have enough PAF-dna too sound vintagehot. Anyway the Crawler is not particularly hot. Should be in the vintagehotsection. Not much outputdifference between the Crawler and VHII in my strats.

[Marco78]

I don't understand... if you search for Marco Sfogli tone, why do you want buy BK pickups and not the original Di Marzio?

[IbbySabre]

I said why on the first thread. Plus I don't want to copy his tone exactly, I'm using it as a base for the style I'm going for, and I really want Gold Battleworn covers!

[Marco78]

I said why on the first thread. Plus I don't want to copy his tone exactly, I'm using it as a base for the style I'm going for, and I really want Gold Battleworn covers!

If you don't want to copy exactly his tone, I think that emeral/holydriver is a good combo... Norton pickups is modern sound, so I think that hd is very good...