Pickup recommendation for ESP Horizon

[Dudley]

Hi guys!  Been reading a lot over the last few weeks on this forum and was just wondering if you could impart some of your wisdom to me...

At the moment I'm using EMG's in my guitars and for the sake of a bit of versatility it might be nice to have some passives.  Traditionally I'd never been satisfied with any of the ones I'd used in the past but after a rig change I feel like I might appreciate them more.

I'm looking to buy an ESP Horizon and fit it with Bare Knuckles but can't think what would be the best combo.  It's a maple neck-through with mahogany sides, ebony fretboard and a maple quilt top, so overall a lot of attack.  My amp at the moment is an ENGL Powerball (quite scooped) with an Orange 2x12. 

I'm really drawn to the Aftermath in the hopes of it being really punchy with it appearing to be the most mid-focused pickup from BKP to give some depth to my tone and countering the scooped amp, but concerned it might just be too tight and high output, what with the Powerball being so surgically clear and high gain on its own anyway.

What would you guys recommend to compliment this guitar/amp setup to give an EMG-like tone for heavy stuff (in the vein of Decapitated) but more open and versatile for clean/light distortion moments like Foals or the more atmospheric moments of Ulcerate and Deathspell Omega?  Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

[Telerocker]

Welcome here!

Miracle Man would be closest, although totally different sounding then an EMG.
You could also consider the Black Dog, since the ENGL has tons of gain. The BD has a lot of centermids, is very tight for a vintage(hot) pickup and therefore can handle metal-styles well. It's often recommended for detuned and sevenstrings guitars.

[darkbluemurder]

I second the Black Dog recommendation. It has good but not overbearing midrange, not too much gain which makes it a good partner to the gain-heavy Engl, and has a very open sound overall.

I have never played a Powerball but all of the Engls I played, especially the Straight (a model they offered in the 80s), were everything but midscooped - bucket loads of gain (not only for 80s standards), treble and mids was my experience.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

I gotta vote for the alnico nailbomb

 :D

[timmy_b]

My recommendation would depend on if you wanted 'Decapitated' or 'foals' for the mostpart of your playing..! If you mainly wanted a heavy tone, the Blackhawk could be a good bet, it has the concise top end that you will be used to with actives, without being as harsh. Specifically referring to Decapitated, I'd go for the alnico option, as their tone is a little more broad compared to a lot of death / grindcore, so the more vocal, muscular midrange might give you the bite you are after. They will also clean up to a much warmer, more 'polite' tone than the ceramics, to get you closer to something like Foals' tone from, say, 'antidotes'.