Hello all. I'm an extreme metal guitarist looking for a hot, versatile pickup that can handle all sorts of extremities, from modern and polished to raw and visceral. I predominantly play a groovy hybrid of death and thrash in my band, and normally handle rhythms and melodies with a few solos here and there, but operate a solo symphonic/melodic death metal band in the vein of Wintersun, and expirement with djent alot in my free time, so the death metal thing is definitely not something i want to be caged in by forever. I really want to try BKP, but the problem is i have no idea where to begin. Whats the best pickup for me?
If it helps, I have an Ibanez RG7321 (7 string) with a basswood body/maple neck and a Dimarzio Liquifire 7 in the neck position, which I'd like to hold onto for the time being. I play through a high gain solid state Randall RH200, but am planning to make the jump to one of the new Randall tube heads this summer. Being rhythm, I need a really heavy, gainy, punishing low end, but something that will cut through the mix as well when its time for a melody, with 100% clarity no matter what I'm doing. So I suppose my tone would lie somewhere between Pantera's saturated gain, Strapping Young Lad's punishing low ends, with the Soilwork/Nevermore clarity.
I've read up on a few of the pickups, and alot have said that for a basswood body, i should go with the Ceramic Warpig, but i figured I'd come to all of you kind folk for your expert opinions. The three others that caught my eye were the Painkillers, Juggernauts, and Aftermaths. So what do you think the pro's and cons of each of these pickups might be for my style?
On the topic of tuning, with the band I play in drop B, but normally don't go lower than a standard by myself.
It might also be worth noting that my lead guitarist doesn't know how to balance a mix well, and does the typical "Mids are useless, Bass almost as high as the treble with over saturated gain" metal guitar eq, So i have to try and fill out the spectrum he's left wide open. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Im sorry if this might be a pain in the ass to understand, I'm not good with my words sometimes :lol:
