The Mule or Cold Sweat?

[Halation]

Hi guys, I am stuck on the final decision on what pickups to get for my Les Paul standard. It is out of the The Mule or the Cold Sweat. The Les Paul weighs 10lbs 13oz's while using a string gauge of D'addario 11-49 and tune down half a step. I would be playing it through a Orange Rockerverb 50 mk2. I play classic/hard rock, Spanish style (Anastasia from Apocalyptic Love) and pop/rock. I like the sound of the album Apocalyptic Love. In the bridge pickup I like punchy power-chords and ripping pinch harmonics and in the neck pickup I like a fat sounding vibrato, smooth speed playing and clear chords. What Pickup set out of The Mule and the Cold Sweat would you recommend?

[HTH AMPS]

They are two very different pickups you're stuck between - apples/oranges.

The Cold Sweat is very clear and fluid, I think thats what you're after from your description.  The Mule is straight up PAF and can be a little muddy imo for chords on the low strings.  Not really what I'd chose for ripping pinch harmonics either.

What are you considering for the bridge?

[Halation]

TBH I really don't know? Out of the BK range, what is the most slash sounding pickup?

[Telerocker]

Slash uses SD Alnico Pro II's. In the BKP-range I would look at Mules and Emeralds for Slash-tones, depending on the question whether your guitar has a natural dark of bright voice. If it's a bright sounding LP I wouldn't pick the Emerald-bridge.

[ericsabbath]

get the new bkp 10th anniversary set
they are alnico 2, but hotter wound than stormy mondays, so they should be more like slash pickups

but the mule does the slash job really well

in a hotter range, the abraxas should work well too

[Kiichi]

Since we donīt actually know much about the anniversary in terms of how it actually sounds I would say Mules are a great and rather save bet for Slash sounds. My neck certainly sounds pretty much there when playing the Sweet Child O mine riff.

[Slartibartfarst42]

From your original post I'd say Cold Sweats without a doubt but then you mentioned Slash and I was less sure  :? As he uses AII, Stormy Mondays, PG Blues and 10th Anniversary should all work well. If you want something hotter, I'd say the Abraxas as a hotter version of the Mule.

[dingleberry]

Getting wicked gnfnr tones out of my VH2 neck, compared to my mule which has a bit more twang to it

[Gary_Goo]

In the bridge pickup I like punchy power-chords and ripping pinch harmonics and in the neck pickup I like a fat sounding vibrato, smooth speed playing and clear chords. What Pickup set out of The Mule and the Cold Sweat would you recommend?

This sounds much more like the VHII's than Mules or Cold Sweats.
I've just put a VHII set in my Les Paul Custom. The seem to get ignored somewhat because of the Van Halen reference, but they're in no way a one trick pony that just nails one tone. The bridge is punchy sounding with good top end clarity but also still sounds big with it. The neck has a good mix of warmth and definition. You can definitely shred on it too. The VHII will do all the classic rock sounds easily, but has a little bit more output than a Mule. It has great cleans too.

The Cold Sweat bridge is hotter again than the VHII and will be easier to grab pinch harmonics because of that, but is more modern sounding, is tighter and has more top end and bottom end so sounds a bit more scooped. It can also sound quite bright in the wrong guitar and the clean tones aren't anything that special. I've never tried the neck pickup, but people seem to love it for shred and fluid tones.

For what you want I think VHII's would work really well.

[darkbluemurder]

I would go with a Rebel Yell in the bridge and a VHII in the neck.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

I would go with a Rebel Yell in the bridge and a VHII in the neck.

Cheers Stephan

That would not be the ideal Slash-set, but it will deliver punch and (easy to obtain) pinched harmonics.