Thoughts On BK Warpig VS Miracle Man VS Black Hawk?

[H3ADLY]

Hey Guys,

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of my 1st BKP purchase. So to celebrate, I'm going to buy another! :lol:
The guitar it will be going into is an Ibanez RGD420z into the bridge position. Specs are as follows;
3pc Wizard III Maple neck
Rosewood Fretboard
Basswood body
Jumbo frets
Edge-Zero II bridge w/ZPS3Fe
26.5 inch scale
Playing through a Peavey 6505 boosted with a TS9 through an Orange PPC412.

I'm playing in a Death Metal/Core (Call it what you want) band, tuned to drop A. Check http://puredeathcore666.bandcamp.com/album/enceladus which is our latest release for an idea of what we are about.

As far as describing the tone I'm after... Balls. Big tight balls! It must thump hard! I want the front row of people at my next show to headless after the first song. Clarity is also a must! Crushing, punishing, tight, clear and FAT!

I have an Aftermath in my RG7321, which I love. The clarity and tightness of that thing is spectacular! But I'm after something a bit more crushing! My thoughts at the minute lean towards the Warpig. What are your thoughts/experiences? I'll shoot Tim a message as well.

Cheers for any help!
H3ADLY

[Dave Sloven]

I have the alnico version in an Explorer, so far it sounds good but it has not even been in there a day yet so I have not got it set up yet.  My amp is a 6534+ and I have the same cab as you.

Things I have noticed so far: perceived output is less than with the highly-compressed usual high-output pickups such as the Motherbuckers I removed to fit these.  It does have a lot more dynamics though and is much more responsive to pick attack.

I haven't had the chance to tune down yet but it was recommended to me for grindcore applications by Ben at BKP.

It has a great sound for crust punk.  That much was clear off the bat.

Cleans aren't worth talking about.  I could get cleans out of it but through a Peavey (even a 6534+) this pickup is not great for cleans.  If you want good cleans get a Cold Sweat set.

I need to play around with heights yet.  I also don't have a coil split or anything like that.  These pickups make so much power though that a coil split would be very good.

You might prefer a ceramic version if going for a deathcore sound.  I specifically stated that I wanted a more organic and less clinical sound as my tastes are very much '80s grindcore and crust in terms of the downtuned stuff, for example early Terrorizer.

[H3ADLY]

Thanks for the reply and your insight man!
Cheers!
H3ADLY

[Dave Sloven]

No worries.

Check out Roboten's recordings with a C-Pig.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30222.0

[H3ADLY]

Thanks! Do you find these clips to be a good representation of the Warpig from your experience with it so far?

[Dave Sloven]

I really don't have enough experience with it so far, but the difference between the ceramic one (Roboten's) and my alnico one is roughly what I would have expected.

There is another thread where Roboten and I discuss the differences between them.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30213.0

Roboten's amp is the same as yours, a 6505.

[Kiichi]

I donīt quite know about the Warpig, Agent Orange knows much more, but it generally sounds like something that can be for you. I can only remind you that this one really has a big bottom end, so be sure that is ok with you.

Alternativly let me throw in the Miracle Man into the mix, which is know for itīs big chugs. Just something to concider.

[Dave Sloven]

Agent Orange knows much more

I've only played mine twice, and haven't taken the time to do any tweaks.

My advice for H3ADLY based on my limited experience would be the following for a Warpig set:

Put a coil split on the neck pickup

Use a parallel/series switch on the bridge

This will give you a broader palette of sounds while retaining a fatter sound on the bridge in parallel mode than you would get with a coil split.  On the other hand the coil split on the neck might just clean things up enough to get a decent clean sound on the neck pickup for those times when you need it.

The Miracle Man is something I considered carefully, and I very nearly got them.  In the end the sheer overkill of the Warpig was too tempting!

I think you will find that the C-Pig is like a gonzo version of your Aftermath with a heap more bass, some of which you might not find a use for if you find the Aftermath is doing a good job for your band already.  The alnico bridge will give you a flavour that you do not have at all with the Aftermath, big, nasty and organic while still tight but nowhere near as dry and tight as the Aftermath.

I got it because the sound I'm trying to get out of this guitar is the fat, juicy Spanish grindcore sound associated with bands like Machetazo, Looking for An Answer, and Nashgul (which all seem to tune down to B), i.e, this kind of thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVHlHJ0CWuU

Machetazo look like they are using passives in footage but the pickups look like hot rails.  Anyway I got teh A-pigs with that fat death/grind sound in mind.  It is closer to the sound of old school death metal like Autopsy than the stuff that you have been doing.

I also wanted it for Electric Wizard style doom.  I doubt that the ceramic version could really give that sludgy aspect.  If you want to experiment with those kinds of sounds I'd say get the alnico version.  If you want to stick with a drier deathcore type sound but just want something deeper sounding and higher output than your Aftermath then go for the ceramic.

[Kiichi]

Ok, I overestimated you xD Still at least you have hands on experience ;)

On the split series paralell options: I have yet to try series / parallel switchting, mabye I will wire one up in the next days if I can figure out how to combine it with an autosplit, but on the count of splitting which do often I can say that the PRS style is amazing. You basecally put a resistor between 1-2,2k (I wanne try 3k too) in series with the green and white wire going to ground. That way the coil is not entirely turned off when split mode is on. This leaves you with more power, more fatness but still the noticable change in tone you want. Basecally it compensates for one HB coil not being a true single coil.
I can only urge everyone to try it. Just get a 2,2k resi (my fav value so far) and put it in series. Works a charm!

[H3ADLY]

Thanks again guys! I love this forum, so much knowledge and insight! Interesting read about the different wiring options too!
After a couple of hours research and taking into consideration the Miracle Man, I've been partially swayed to go with that over the Warpig.
I've read the MM is similar to an EMG 81 but meatier and more organic. And it chugs like a beast but is still tight and clear! If that is true, I may have just found what I am after!
Tim also got back to me, he said the Warpig would get the job done, but also suggested the Painkiller. But I'm a bit worried about the mid spike it has. My feeling is I may find it too much. Also in my hours of sprawling over forums the general consensus was the MM sits brilliantly in Basswood guitars. I'm 90% sold! But any further info on any of these pickups would be a great help!

Thanks again guys!  :D

[Kiichi]

If you have not already have a look at my review collection here https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=30219.0
great things in there. On the MM GuitarIv and Slarti wrote great reviews.

The main thing to note about the MM is that the voicing is very different from all the other BKPs. Some call it scooped but that is not really fair. It does have mids, but it has more low mids and treble. They are there to support the tone, keep you in the mix and let things be organic and warm, but they are not the focus point as in other PUs. The focus are the lower mids giving you big chug and weight and the treble giving you the screaming harmonics and agression and additional cut while not being harsh.
This is really what makes the voice of the MM

But again, the others have writen great reviews about it.

[H3ADLY]

Thankyou so much for that Kiichi! Great idea to consolidate those reviews like that! Saving that link for future reference!
The reviews and your input pretty much have me sold! It sounds exactly what I'm looking for! I'll sleep on it tonight and then place the order tomorrow! What's your opinion on the MM's clarity and sustain?

Kindest Regards!

[Kiichi]

Dunno much about sustain, but I recon it should not be bad. The magnet is not that insane so if you donīt put it too close it should not have an extreme amount of string pull, plus the bridge position does little on that anyhow, that is mainly a neck thing.

Sides that it is on the hotter side of the BKP range so it has some compression which does help sustain too.

Basecally from what I can judge from the PUs side there should be enough sustain, but ultimatly that is something which really comes down to the axe and general level of compression from distortion (amp or pedals) and other compression. If you donīt set the neck extremely close the PU has a pretty small effect, but as far as they go I think the MM is on the good side.

Clarity is not something you will ever have problem with when using BKPs, as it is one of the trademark qualitys. Of course you can still turn them to mush with wrong settings and oversaturation, but youīll have a much harder time of it then with other manufacturers.
When someone is describing the MM clarity is often mentioned. Might not be as clear as some more open lower gain models, but the MM is not really compressed anyhow (only the Crawler can be described that way and there it is not a bad thing either imho).

[H3ADLY]

Brilliant! Getting excited now! Thank you for you insight. It's awesome to have guys like you share your thoughts and experience!
Miracle Man it is! Unless I wake up tomorrow with a change of heart... I DOUBT IT! Can't wait to have it installed and see how it compares. I'm going to setup a recording, before and after to share on the forum. Should be fun! Thanks again mate! You've been a great help!
Of course if anyone else has any more info to share, please do!
 :D :D

[Dave Sloven]

As you are based outside the EU like me you will get a pleasant surprise when you go through checkout - the 20% VAT included in the prices is dropped so the prices are 20% less than you were expecting from the UK price.  Postage is 12 pounds to Australia.

I think you will like the MM set.  You can get a wide variety of metal sounds out of it.