H.S.S Set for a Jackson SL-1?

[EchelonXIII]

Hi Guys,

I would like a bit of advice a new set of pickups for my new Jackson . I have recently come across a usa SL-1. Alder body, ebony board, maple neck trough. Nice and bright/punchy when played unplugged. just how I like my tone. Now while it has Duncans in it (a JB humbucker, and 2 stacked classic single coils), the sound is a tad too vintage for my taste, and I'm thinking on swapping out the pickups for a set of BKP's. Now while I've gotten a pretty good idea on the humbuckers, and have had fantastic experienced with either Aftermaths, Blackhawks, and Juggs, I am looking for a H.S.S set that performs very well in an alder body, and has a modern tone, while retaining a fair amount of versatility. I'll mainly be in Drop C, but I wont rule out the occasional E-standard periods

At the moment I am looking at 2 sets. Either the Blackhawk x Cobra set, or Warpig x Sinner set. I play mainly metal(core) ish type music, and I'm looking for a pickup that can cover tones among the lines of Killswitch Engage, to Haunted Shores (both clean and distorted). With a good amount of punch, but the possibility to clean up well.

I'll be playing trough my Kemper mainly, so I can do some insane EX cuts-boosts...so I guess this is about the character of the pickup the most.

[Slartibartfarst42]

With that guitar the alder body doesn't have too much impact on the tone. It's the maple that drives the characteristics of the guitar due to its neck-thru construction and for any maple neck-thru guitar, you really can't go wrong with a Miracle Man in the bridge. The slightly scooped nature of the pickup perfectly compliments the middy nature of the guitar. It's tight enough to do Metal yet also surprisingly warm and organic for a ceramic pickup. The JB was absolutely horrible in comparison in my SL3, though I loved it in a Dinky. For the single coils, Trilogy Suites work really well if you want to retain the single coil tone or Sinners if you want something more ballsy. I tried both in mine and both worked well with the Miracle Man, though the Sinners I used were bridge models with baseplates fitted for a REALLY ballsy sound 

[V-volant]

Here here for the Miracle Man in the bridge, it does well in E standard to C standard in maple neckthroughs for metal. Has a really great voicing for rhythm and solo work. If you want to experiment, I would recommend an Alnico Blackhawk with cobras. From what I can tell, they will be very versatile when you clean up, and their full throttle metal tones are very contemporary - tight, focused, cut through, no vintage fizz, and growling. Really good for the genres which need belly hitting palm muting and chord separation in high gain settings.

If you like using boosts, a Holydiver will fit the bill. I have had some very good experiences using a tube screamer clone into my D std maple neckthrough guitar (and Drop C on occasion) to get really tight and heavy tones. You can get really bassy when you need it, the maple allows it to cut through the mix, and it has delicious lead tones. The Holydiver also has a nice clean tone in the bridge. Trilogy Suites will work well with this combo as well as the Miracle Man.

Overall, the three mentioned combos will excel as they have clear contemporary characteristics. However, in terms of vintage characteristics in the pickups, the most are found in the Holydiver+TS, then less in MM+TSs, and least of all BH+Cobras.

[EchelonXIII]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've tried Miracle Mans in a likewise guitar before (A Caparison) and it really wasn't my cup of tea. I'm mainly looking for dynamics, tightness, and the ability to clean up quite a bit. Think of the dynamic overtones of a Holy Diver, mixed with the roar of a Black Hawk. I've had astonishing results with the pickup before, but that was with a mahogany/maple bodied bolt on...and I dont know how they would respond to a neck trough.

So I guess my shortlist would still be:
1: Blackhawk with 2 Cobra's
2: Warpig with 2 Sinners (plated)
3: Ceramic Nailbomb with Triology Suites (plated)

Another problem are the single coils. Because I am mainly looking for single coils that have the ability, and output of a humbucker, but can handle ''stratty stuff'' as well. I'm mainly looking at either sinners or cobra's for that one.