Cheers guys
just writing this here whilst sitting in my rehearsal room. I've spent way too much time in here this week and that due to my new Bareknuckles that arrived this Monday. You can guess I'm loving them! :D
Where should I start? Well I guess I'll explain a little bit why I got that combination in the first place.
I recently acquired an used 93' Jackson Fusion Pro and I was looking for the right pickups for it. The guitar itself is amazing in every way and the fact that I got it for less than 500 bucks is a steal.
The Jackson stock pickups sounded nice, but I wanted something different, so at first I installed my Duncan Invaders I had lying around. They were ok, but too muddy and undefined as I already knew. After swapping the bridge for my Holydiver I was blown away, it suited the guitar very well, however I wanted something more "metal". I was thinking about an Aftermath for the bridge, seeing Witeters YT clips with the pickup in E-Standard (I play in E-Flat), however the day I had the cash I decided against the AM and trusted my gut feeling (reading way too much threads in this forum) and ordered the Painkiller and the Coldsweat. I'm very happy I did.
At first the look of the pickups:
I ordered them in the Black Battleworn finish with black hex screws - they look awesome, even better in real life than on the pictures. Exactly the touch that makes the guitar perfect.
The Sound:
I'll start with the Painkiller. And I'm pretty much going to repeat what the description says + my own thoughts.
Some people call it abrasive. And that's exactly what this thing is. Though in a good way if you wanna play face melting metal (and as long as you don't put it into a bright, middy guitar). This is the tightest pickup I ever played, with a defined low end, grinding mids and aggressive but not spikey highs. It took some time to get used to it, since I had the Holydiver in the Jackson previously, but once you adjust the amp and start playing Death Metal, you can't lay down your guitar. Oh and the Name fits, I played the Riffs from Priests Painkiller and it sounds godly.
Clarity. Unbelievable how clear this thing stays, and I tried to make it muddy. No chance.
Output. I'll put this somewhere in the ballpark of a JB, but then again it sounds way meaner. I'm sure this is one of the highest output PUs BKP has to offer. The mids are crushing. No survivors, no prisoners, no mercy. And when I say no mercy I want to warn you: don't play sloppy. This thing is unforgiving. When your picking sucks it will show. Almost like the pickup is running around showing a picture of your small penis to all the girls you like.
What can I say more? Forget EMGs. Forget Duncans. If you want metal, this is THE pickup. At least for me.
The Coldsweat Neck:
Again this is exactly the sound people describe when they talk about the pickup here on the forum. I had to play around a bit with the pickup height to match the PK in output, but as soon as I found the sweet spot, I loved it. Lovely, warm and modern cleans, with weight and lots of dynamics. Somewhat a bit scooped sounding but never muddy or undefined under high gain and perfect for sweep picking. Reacts great to changes when picking, sounds always fluid and gives you the option of a good clean sound when you play metal. Just switch to the Coldsweat and there you are.
I hope this review was somewhat useful, if you have any questions feel free to ask. I'll attach some pictures for you guys :)
Cheers
