Neck pickup to go with Miracle Man Bridge

[megaup987]

Hi all,

About a year ago I got a Miracle Man bridge pickup for my Ibanez RGA121 (mahogany body with maple top, bolt on maple neck with rosewood fret board, fixed bridge) and now I'm looking for something to go along with it in the neck position, though I may put the Miracle Man and the new neck pickup I'm about to get to an RG520QS (same as RGA121, except no maple top and floating trem instead of fixed bridge). I mostly play 80's thrash like Slayer, Metallica. Soundwise I'm looking for something like second solo on Slayer's South of Heaven song (Hanneman's lead). I also quite like how Hanneman's leads sound on their Decade of Aggression live album. I don't know what he was using for South of Heaven, but I believe he used an EMG (EMG85? as on his signature model?) for Decade of Aggression. I heard Miracle Man is somewhat like an EMG85, so I guess it'll be the most obvious choice, but I'd like to consider other options. I read that Cold Sweat neck is a good pair for Miracle Man bridge, but it may lack output a little and require a boost to match Miracle Man's output. I'd like to avoid that as much as possible. My current setup is really simple: Guitar - Orange Dark Terror Head - 112 Cab with Vintage 30, and I'd like to keep it this way. It would be nice if the pickup can clean up and split nicely, but it's not going to be a deal breaker if the cleans are useable at best (I don't play a lot of clean and have a single channel amp, but don't want to rule out clean tone completely). So what would you recommend in my situation? I appreciate everybody's ideas and suggestions.

Thanks.

[Kiichi]

I canīt really comment much on that Slayer tone you want, but I can attest that both the MM neck and CS neck would go along with the MM bridge nicely.
Painkiller would also work as far as I know, but I donīt know much about that sides that is is supposed to be great.

If in doubt I would even lean towards the MM. Nice and fluidly smooth, can scream, etc...

[megaup987]

Yeah. Tim also recommended Miracle Man. So I guess I'll just go the most obvious choice.

Thank you.

[ericsabbath]

get a painkiller set for the new guitar

[megaup987]

Actually the word 'djent' in 'The ultimate high output 'Djent' humbucker' just doesn't do it for me. I'm not trying to bash on the pickup as I've never tried it, but honestly, it's not too high on my "to-try" list. I have a AM in another RGA and it was really trebly, it hurt. I always heard that BKP were sensitive to positioning, but never really tried and never expected such a drastic results. But I lowered the pickup a little as well as the pole screws closer to the bridge and it tamed the highs and now I'm quite happy with it (BTW, also looking for something to go along with it in the neck position).

[EffigyForgotten]

"Djent" means nothing, its just a technique that got so popular that people actually think its a genre. The EMG 81 used on every single Slayer album and at least 90% of thrash records has even more high mids than the Painkiller, and those high mids can create a certain sound when tuned lower than B standard that can be described as "djent", of course you can just turn the mids down and BOOM no more djent.

If the AM was too trebly why not just turn the highs down on your amp?

Are you actually going to tell me SLAYERS tone ISN'T all mids/treble? In the real world, (as in not in your bedroom) the bass and oomph comes from WAIT FOR IT, THE BASS GUITAR.

The obvious choice for your guitar is the MM neck, its closest to the sound you want and will match the MM better than any other pickup.

[megaup987]

"Djent" means nothing, its just a technique that got so popular that people actually think its a genre. The EMG 81 used on every single Slayer album and at least 90% of thrash records has even more high mids than the Painkiller, and those high mids can create a certain sound when tuned lower than B standard that can be described as "djent", of course you can just turn the mids down and BOOM no more djent.

If the AM was too trebly why not just turn the highs down on your amp?

Are you actually going to tell me SLAYERS tone ISN'T all mids/treble? In the real world, (as in not in your bedroom) the bass and oomph comes from WAIT FOR IT, THE BASS GUITAR.

The obvious choice for your guitar is the MM neck, its closest to the sound you want and will match the MM better than any other pickup.

First of all, thank you for opening my eyes on what happens in the real world. I really lived under a rock and had no idea. :D Let me tell that to Tosin, he probably missed the memo too  :lol:

EMG81 was not used by Slayer until 90's. Before that they used DiMarzios (accounts vary as to what model exactly). I tried Super Distortion and found it too muddy (though the guy I sold it to loves it) in the same exact guitar I found AM too trebly. Anyways 1 minute with a hex wrench fixed it and now I don't even have to adjust the amp when I switch the guitars.

I'm not trying to nail Slayer tone exactly, more to have a hint of it and use it as a base tone.

But thanks for the suggestion anyways, I went with MM.

[ericsabbath]

well, the miracle man actually has a lot more treble than the aftermath
the AM is a little trickier to set the pickup height and screw poles, though, as it has a far more sensitive response
there's a reason the painkiller is called painkiller, and this model is older than the concept of "djent"
I like the miracle man better for modern post-diabolus in musica slayer

[megaup987]

well, the miracle man actually has a lot more treble than the aftermath

Yeah, it's true. I have 2 RGA that I swap the pickups between. In one of them I first had a MM and it was really trebly, so I put it in another rga (where it suits the guitar much better; I was looking for a neck pickup for this guitar) and put an AM in the first one. While it made the treble a bit better, it still was too bright. After tweaking a little with the screw, I'm quite happy with it.

Maybe I'm dismissing the Painkiller a bit too early, but I couldn't find much info on how it works in standard tuning, all I saw was downtuning (which I don't do at the moment). Ant the reality is I don't want to be stuck with something I don't like, as even selling Dimarzios was kind of pain in the butt, and they're much cheaper and well known. I can only imagine how difficult it'll be to sell BKP where I live.

[megaup987]

well, the miracle man actually has a lot more treble than the aftermath

Yeah, it's true. I have 2 RGA that I swap the pickups between. In one of them I first had a MM and it was really trebly, so I put it in another rga (where it suits the guitar much better; I was looking for a neck pickup for this guitar) and put an AM in the first one. While it made the treble a bit better (and the overall sound much more aggressive), it still was too bright. After tweaking a little with the screw, I'm quite happy with it.

Maybe I'm dismissing the Painkiller a bit too early, but I couldn't find much info on how it works in standard tuning, all I saw was downtuning (which I don't do at the moment). Ant the reality is I don't want to be stuck with something I don't like, as even selling Dimarzios was kind of pain in the butt, and they're much cheaper and well known. I can only imagine how difficult it'll be to sell BKP where I live.

[Zaned]

If the AM was too trebly why not just turn the highs down on your amp?

It doesn't always work like that. Sometimes a pickup and guitar just don't fit each other. If you turn down the treble to tame the highs coming from the guitar, it goes too dark at the point when you have removed the excessive brightness. I've had that happen.

Or the other way around; the pickup is too dark for the guitar. You turn up the treble, but once you have cut, there's something obnoxious in the tone. Of course, you could always use an EQ pedal (someone usually suggests that), but why bother? There are pickups that better suit that guitar.

The other thing is that I usually bring two guitars to a gig, often to rehearsals too. I like them to work with the same amp settings, so there's one less thing to $%&# up :D When the guitars sound balanced, and the output levels levels work with one another, it works. They still have a distinctly different flavour when you switch guitars. Might or might not be a difference that only you can hear though..

-Zaned

[megaup987]

Zaned,

Thank you! My exact thoughts and experiences.

[Zaned]

NP ;)

Btw, the Miracle Man neck also works quite nicely in the bridge position too, I've heard. If you ever wanna try that, I remember it was Tim's (Mills) recommandation when someone asked for a pickup in the vein of the Suhr Aldrich humbucker.

-Zaned