les Paul 1995 standard pickup recommendation

[Telerocker]

I throw in a Holy Diver-set or a Holy Diver/VHII-neck.

[leolyonsofficial]

Does the holy diver give that tight bass on the palm mutes? What image does the vh neck embody?

[Dave Sloven]

Ceramic (e.g., Cold Sweat) will give tighter bass on palm mutes.

See this comparison of three BKPs with ceramic magnets.  I don't think the style is really what you are wanting to play (it certainly isn't what I want to play) but it demonstrates the tightness of the CS relative to two of the tightest pups in the range, the Aftermath and the C-Bomb.  Of the three the CS is the one most likely to suit your needs elsewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILpDPYKI0Tc

[leolyonsofficial]

Will these cut through keyboards?

[Yellowjacket]

The best way to 'cut through keyboards' is to break the player's left hand. 



I'm trying to remedy the problem of needlessly busy keyboard playing but there are a whole lot more busy keyboardists than there is of me.

[gwEm]

Will these cut through keyboards?

the rebel yell set was designed to cut through keyboards

[leolyonsofficial]

Lol yeah cut the left hand and apply a 100Hz cut.

Listening to the clips, the mules seem to do anything!

Cold sweats sound like active emgs or was that the miracle man?

They all sound very similar to me!

[Dave Sloven]

It's Miracle Mans that sound more like EMG replacements, although I wouldn't say that they sound just like EMGs

You might find that the sample clips sound similar after a while.  I often find it easier to make sense out of clips people post on youtube of them playing, those seem to give me a better idea of the range of the pickups


Rebel Yell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVSuYtrqzlg

Cold Sweat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff13Gj-P3FM


RY has more high mids.

CS has more bass.

Otherwise they are basically in the same ballpark

[Lucas]

CS has more bass, but generally speaking CS (bridge) would be brighter than CBomb?

in those 2 YT clips I prefer CS way better.

[Dave Sloven]

CS is cleaner, more crispy sounding than C-Bomb.  C-Bomb is aysmmetrically wound and has a lot of treble detail or 'hair', not as much maybe as the A-Bomb, but it's there. The CS is symmetrically wound and does not have that.  There's definitely plenty of high end in the CS if that's what you want.  I think the same is true of the RY.

[leolyonsofficial]

I wonder if the cold sweat will deliver the still of the night guitar sound?

However I don't like it when guitars sound too bassy or booming or conflict with keys!

I liked the cold sweat on the clips, the rebel yell sounded a bit lost in the mix.

Someone said the yell was less forgiving and which has longer sustain?

[darkbluemurder]

I wonder if the cold sweat will deliver the still of the night guitar sound?

It will.

Someone said the yell was less forgiving and which has longer sustain?

Actual sustain should be equal provided that none of the pickups are too close to the strings. Apparent sustain may be longer with the pickup that has more mids.

Cheers Stephan

[leolyonsofficial]

Ah thanks. I'm confused now if I should get a calibrated set or two different ones?

Covered or uncovered? Too many options!

What's the most popular neck/bridge combo?

[Dave Sloven]

The Cold Sweat neck is very highly regarded, being one of BKP's most popular pickups.  A calibrated set would be nice.  There are some other necks that have been used with it to good effect, such as the Holy Diver neck (from memory).  Cold Sweat bridge is generally used with the CS neck though from what I have seen.

The CS bridge will not be too bassy.  In some applications the RY does not have enough bass.  The CS is not like a Miracle Man or Warpig with respect to bottom end, and doesn't have as much as a Nailbomb for example.

Covered or uncovered is up to you.  I don't think it makes a lot of difference.  If you think you might move them between guitars maybe go for uncovered black or zebra.  Personally I like covered and I have a strong preference for chrome hardware so in all cases but one (I ordered black with black bolts for a guitar I had with gold hardware) I have ordered chrome covered.  I find that the pickups sit more snugly in the pickup rings with covers on and don't tend to tilt as you adjust the height

[leolyonsofficial]

But how does the cold sweat deal with a keys player?