Suggestions for Gibson SG + Mesa Mark V. Already tried Warpig and Black Dog.

[Telerocker]

Yes, makes even more sense when you look at the graphics in the Black Dog page. Very midrange pronounced.

Ben from BPK recommended now the VHII or Emerald. Abraxas seems like a good choice also. Cold Sweat too, but maybe it will be too agressive and bright.

I want them all!!! 

Like I said: Abraxas.Mule-neck or a calibrated Mule-set. The Mesa has tons of gain, so you don't need to have high output hb's.

[Dave Sloven]

The Cold Sweat bridge is nowhere near as aggressive as an A-Bomb in an SG, but it is still a relatively high output pickup, around the same output as an Emerald.  It will give you more bass but not as much as a Miracle Man, and it is brighter than a MM and definitely brighter than a Warpig.  I would describe the top end as 'crispy'.  It has a lot of definition and clarity and is the most organic sounding out of BKP's ceramic pickups.

[guijs]

Between the Cold Sweat and Abraxas for bridge, which one would sound more like the Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II Slash?

I have it on my Les Paul and I love it. I find it very versatile, very good for hardrock and classic rock. Not sure how it would sound in my SG. But I does not have the clarity and definition that I only heard in a Bare knuckle.

[darkbluemurder]

Between the Cold Sweat and Abraxas for bridge, which one would sound more like the Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II Slash?

The Abraxas would be closer.

Cheers Stephan

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah you probably won't get that sound out of a Cold Sweat.

[guijs]

This is the sound that made me buy the black dog without even doing a research if it would fit my SG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLjZ0m9t7No

Unfortunately it does not sound like that due to the middy nature of my SG. I will be very happy if I could get that sound out of my SG.

Will the Abraxas be able of that? I'm thinking probably yes as it have more output than the Black Dog. What about the Mule? Can it be pushed to this kind of heavy?

[ericsabbath]

the VHII sounded amazing in my SG, but it had an aggressive early 90's angus/iommi sound
not really a slashy tone, but it could work

[guijs]

Guys, now I'll look really stupid, but I noticed that the pickups height in my SG were way lower than the regular factory settings. I didn't pay attention to that when the guitar came from the luthier. I adjusted it to the Gibson recommended settings of 1.6mm for treble side and 2.4mm bass side (it was over 5mm on the bridge and about 3mm on the neck), and all that horrible middiness GONE AWAY! Now my Black Dogs FINALLY sound just like that video of my previous post, even better! I can easily go from a low gain bluesly sound, to Jimmy Page like tone and to a very agressive early 90's AC/DC, Sabbath.

I will surely keep the Black Dogs on this guitar. Sorry for all the wrong information guys. An user from another forum said "something must be wrong. The guitar is great, the pickups are great, the amp is great, it's not supposed to sound like that", and he was right.  The SG is sounding just like it should. It's ROCKING!

At least I learned a lot from most of BKP pickups! Thanks for the help!

[Dave Sloven]

LOL.  Yeah the pickup height on an SG can make a huge difference, especially with BKPs, which are very height-sensitive.

I'd seen some good comments on Black Dogs in SGs before, but nothing conclusive

[Telerocker]

Thanks for keeping us of the streets. 

[guijs]

You couldn't imagine my relief when I plugged it. Impressive how much difference the height did in my SG. It's another guitar!

[Telerocker]

You couldn't imagine my relief when I plugged it. Impressive how much difference the height did in my SG. It's another guitar!

Scatterwound are sensitive for (the right) height. Glad you started tweaking!

[ericsabbath]

height can make all the difference with BKPs
most bridge models sound thin and lifeless if set too far from strings
even a warpig sounds way better at close range

[Lucas]

So how would you describe BDs then after that slight adjusment?

Anyway, as BDs are clear and quite perccussive (not as much as VHII I suppose) would you recommend them for guitars with ebony boards?

[guijs]

On the Mark CII+ mode of the Mesa Mark V, I can get a really heavy, tight and open old-school 80's metal style, something like this video sampler, but even better: http://youtu.be/uLjZ0m9t7No

It's really a vintage tone, but it can get as heavy and powerful as you amp is capable of. Before the height adjustment I couldn't use the Ch3 (Mark CII+/IV/Extreme) of the Mark V. The more gain I used, the worse was the sound. Now it's the opposite.

With low-mid gain, you will easily nail the Jimmy Page tone. And I don't need to scoop all the way down the middle range as I was doing before. Clean tone is beautiful. Rich, open sound. Excellent for clean chords and single note soloing with the neck pickup.

Again, it's impressive the difference the height adjustment did on my SG. I was about to sell the guitar and get a rosewood board SG instead. Now it's one of the greatest guitars I ever heard!

I don't know how it would sound with an ebony fingerboard. Probably a bit different but still awesome.