Looking for a sharp neck pickup

[GuitarIv]

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking about ordering a neck BKP that will accompany the Miracle Man Bridge in my DK2M. In regards of sound I found my ultimate reference: the EMG 60.

Now what appeals to me the most is the sharp and cutting lead sound you get with it, yet it still retains the fuller character of a neck pickup when doing sweeps and fast legato runs. Any ideas? I've been thinking about the Painkiller since it's the only neck BKP with a ceramic magnet and might mimic that feature. I'm no expert on neck models by Bareknuckle and only own a Coldsweat so far, so anyone with a tad more knowledge might chime in here and help me out 

Cheers

[ericsabbath]

the neck nailbomb is pretty sharp sounding

from some videos I've seen earlier today, the neck blackhawk seems like it has a sharp character too

[FELINEGUITARS]

Go for a Cold Sweat neck or if you don't mind a little more gain try a Pinkiller neck as it's the only ceramic neck pickup in the range and it wll give very defined bass like the EMG60 even though the 60 is actually a bit more laid back.

[GuitarIv]

I won't consider the Blackhawk unless I decide on getting a full set, the non uniform look would drive me nuts haha
Painkiller it is then. Thanks guys!

[gwEm]

The EMG60 is actually a mini-humbucker under the hood, which are well known for a cool sharp neck tone.

As an experiment I actually got some cheap magnetic field viewing film and you can easily see the poles of the 60 are close together like a mini humbucker.

Feline is right that the EMG60 is one of the more laid back EMGs. I even use one in the bridge position myself and its not nearly so compressed as an 81, though it still has the active sound, and I believe you can clearly hear its a mini-humbucker.

I like the 60 in both positions. Inspired by the EMG60 and Adrian Smith I decided to try neck mini humbuckers. I have one in a Les Paul where is fitted nicely by PhilKing, and one in a Flying V where I hacked it in myself in a rather ugly way.

On eBay you can find special rings to fit mini humbuckers into fullsize humbucker routs. Then you can get a minihumbucker of some kind.

I love the neck miniHB tone myself. But I also like strat neck pickups, or parallel wired full sized humbuckers in the neck. The Miracle Man neck has enough omph to sound good wired in parallel and it still balances with the bridge.

[GuitarIv]

The MM neck would be worth considering I'm sure, especially since I read more than once here on this forum that you can use it as bridge pickup as well. I guess I'll know when the time to order comes. I'll do some research on the mini HB thing. Thanks mate! 

[ericsabbath]

the mm neck is one of the least sharp sounding neck models (on humbucker mode, of course)
it has more of a tonezone kind of voicing, but medium high output

[gwEm]

the mm neck is one of the least sharp sounding neck models (on humbucker mode, of course)
it has more of a tonezone kind of voicing, but medium high output

That is correct. It's warm and fat wired serially. If you did that, I think you would be disappointed.

[m t soule]

I'm not sure about how sharp a CS is in the neck.
The vhii is definitely attack heavy and brighter.

Heres a thing
Hope this helps.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EOIQuanO12I

[Yellowjacket]

I'm not sure about how sharp a CS is in the neck.
The vhii is definitely attack heavy and brighter.

Heres a thing
Hope this helps.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EOIQuanO12I

WOW!  The VHII is such a strange animal.  It's so warm and mellow when clean, but the more gain you pour onto it, the more aggressive it gets.  It has a great bite in the treble!!

The Cold Sweat is brighter when clean, but it starts to get really rounded and fluid under gain.  Sounds like it would be miraculous for shredding.

[m t soule]

Yes its nuts!!
The way both pick ups respond to how i pick is surprising too ( i never demonstrated in the vid really). The vhii is the beast and beauty out if the pair for just how articulate it is and how fierce at the same time, even tho the Cs is louder and punchier the vhii if attacked will pierce even when clean. I pulled out a Ry bridge because the vhii neck just out classed it volume/punch/presence wise in the context i needed, i put the Hd in instead. (Rebell yell was awesome btw)