Pickups for my RGA420Z?...Cbombs have failed me sadly.

[EchelonXIII]

Hey Guys,

I made a thread a while ago for pickups for my Ibanez SV5470Z, and I decided on a pair of Ceramic Nailbomb. However, I was able to buy a more then amazing RGA420Z ,my dream guitar(mahogany body, THICK flame maple top, trem, maple neck, rosewood board). And I sold the SV. Now this guitar has an inch thick flame maple top and a maple neck, so the sound is very bright, tight, and articulate. Which in itself is great, but combined with the high-tones of the Ceramic nailbomb, can be a bit...ice picky. Which I can't seem to EQ out trough my Kemper (@ nearly every high quality profile I use)

So I am looking for a set of pickups to offset the nautral brightness and mids and accentuate the natural huge-ness of the woods working together, and I've narrowed my choice down to 3 options. If I'm able to have the pickup cover a bit lower-gain stuff as well, that would be great.

Option 1: Bare Knuckle BlackHawk Alnico V: To tame the highs and bit, and let the mids sing trough while retaining a good bass-response. I could do Cermamic as well to tighten the bass, and increase the attack. But I'm affraid that the highs would cut just as much.

Option 2: Ceramic Warpig bridge & Cold Sweat Neck, to thicken the bass response while accenuating the clarity and mids of the guitar while still having an amazing neck for leads.

Option 3: Aftermath calibrated set. I had a set in a Mayones Setius which consisted of about the same woods, and it worked great for me (be it a bit of a one trick pony though)

Looking forward for input and suggestions! 

[Dave Sloven]

If it's that bright I would probably look at the Warpig set with alnico bridge.  Most of the sets you mention seem likely to have the same problem, especially with ceramic magnets.

[Telerocker]

Easier is to change capacitors and pots.

[darrenw5094]

C-bomb sounds thin and trebley in my Ibanez, i think it sounds right in mahoganey set neck guitars. The Warpig would be a right move

[EchelonXIII]

Thanks for the input guys 
Another one that I'm looking at are a pair of Juggs. I've got a set in my Setius, and I love them dearly, because they have the perfect dynamic between the attack of a ceramic, and the warmth of an AV.

So I guess it's either between a BlackHawk, Warpig, and a set of Juggs now.

[Yellowjacket]

Juggs are absolutely ridiculous.

[Slartibartfarst42]

My first thought would be a Miracle Man. It has the cut of ceramic and its scooped nature makes it ideal for guitars with a lot of maple, hence it's usually the first choice for maple neck-thru guitars. It has a strong top end but plenty of beef at the bottom and a surprisingly smooth and warm tone. I really liked mine and I don't much care for ceramic pups.

My other choice would perhaps be an A-Pig.

Although I've never liked any of the clips of Juggernauts, I can see the appeal and the potential as I just took delivery of a very similar bridge pickup that I had custom made for me but it uses A8 instead of ceramic in the middle and it's the most incredible bridge pickup I've ever used.

[EchelonXIII]

Thanks for the reply^^
I'd actually was looking at a warpig (c or a) combined with something like a Cold Sweat in the neck. The guy from "I Built The Sky" uses it in his PRS custom 22, which would be comparable in build (except for the mahogany neck) and he gets an amazing sound out it it.
Ideally im looking for something to complement the instrument and  balance out the somewhat bright and open tone. I however do like a bit of mids in my sound.
 To my ears it does bring a bit of agression that I like. I really dont know about the Miracle Man, for they are indeed scooped, and bring even more highs and less mid to the table then a Cbomb.

[Dave Sloven]

I've always wondered if a Juggernaut neck might work well with an A-Pig. Everyone just seems to default to the Cold Sweat or a calibrated set

[Slartibartfarst42]

Ideally im looking for something to complement the instrument and  balance out the somewhat bright and open tone. I however do like a bit of mids in my sound.
 To my ears it does bring a bit of agression that I like. I really dont know about the Miracle Man, for they are indeed scooped, and bring even more highs and less mid to the table then a Cbomb.

You're worrying unduly in my opinion. You're guitar is not likely to be brighter than a maple neck-thru and even if it is, it won't be by much. It's also not as scooped as you might think. The maple tends to give you upper mids more than anything else in my experience and that's where the Miracle Man is scooped a bit, which is why it's such a perfect fit for maple guitars. It has a top end for sure but it's in no way overly bright or shrill. In fact, what I noticed most of all when I had mine in a maple neck-thru was the bottom end. It has a strong bottom end and contrary to the EQ chart, it does have mids, it's just that they're focused more on the lower mids, creating a really big sound. It's smooth as opposed to the aggression you get with a Nailbomb but the ceramic magnet gives it plenty articulation and bite. I play with loads of mids in my sound and I found the Miracle Man to be fine, so much so that I often think of it as the hotter brother to the Holydiver. Actually, when I was ordering mine I asked the BKP team for a pickup that had the smooth saturation and warm organic tone of the Hiolydiver but with a bigger bottom end and great highs for solos. They had no hesitation in saying I'd described the Miracle Man and it was a great pickup. The more you've said the more I think you'll like it.

[Dave Sloven]

Miracle Man will be my next BKP.  Need to pay of my current credit card debt first though

[ericsabbath]

have you tried the c-bomb VERY close to strings?
it's one of the thickest sounding BKPs I had and definitely not among the brightest
definitely thicker and darker than the aftermath