Is it possible that no one here using Painkiller pickups? Come one people,share you thought,experiences and if possible some clips! Cheers to all. :) :shock:
No fear... I use a calibrated set of PKs in my ESP NT-II, 4 conductor, coil tapped.
Straight up, the only beef I have with 'em is in coil tap mode, the neck sounds anemic. That's it that's all.
Now, onto the real gods - these pups are in a guitar full step down drop C, 11s for strings, heavy bottom EBs. The guitar is used primarily with an Uberschall TwinJet, VH4 and Hagen. The pups were an incredible addition to the guitar from its stock SD pups. What are they like? Really powerful but without too much compression (like that of the MMs, just my opinion, nothing more nothing less). I don't feel they're at all pigeonholed into the Judas Priest context of music whatsoever. I play a lot of prog metal, some finger pickin' jazzy bits, and straight up hard rock with these. They've got a real nice ceramic sounding midrange bite. In the neck position, they're rich and loud, with that warmer flutey style of tone. They really sound nice through everything, and have been employing this guitar as one of my main Axe-II guitars - the Axe-II being exceptionally sensitive to pups.
Strong mid voice, medium bottom but held very tight, excellent for chugga palm muting styles of music, ring openly with nice string distinction. In the real higher gain settings, they're still rich - not squishy and fizzed out. You can still feel the "bulk" of the tonal chords being pushed through the amp. I love their response - fast, articulate, and punchy. I was warned these were love/hate pups - in this particular guitar, they sound awesome - clear and bright, but not shrill.
Hope this helps.
V.
