Lead Tone Heavyweights - HD Vs Crawler VS MM Vs ?

[fdesalvo]

When you think about rich and chewy midrange, singing and fluid feel, notes that decay into harmonic overtones, and just enough high end - which pickups do you think of?

I've had this type of experience with the Crawler in my tele and while I did have a Holy Diver in that same space, I ended up returning it because I lost the vintage tone of the Abraxas.  The Crawler went back too.  It was over-compressed, but damnit, what a fun all around pickup.  Now that I've accepted that it's ok to own more than one guitar, I'm going to have my damn cake and eat it, too. 

I've recently been very impressed by the Miracle Man - this is no one trick pony!  It does the heavies like no one's business - but with lower gain settings, it does an outstanding job of clear and powerful rock tones.  I am sort of blushing here about this pickup in the bridge spot.  I have been playing leads on it nonstop all day (haha this tele was intended for rhythm, so it's wearing 11s!  No matter, leads are still fun with this pickup!).  It continually surprises me with pinch harmonics where I least expected them and screaming bends and overtones.  Maybe this is it??

Now, remember how I said I got rid of the Crawler and HD due to their level of compression?  Well that's no longer an issue in this next guitar.  I can't emphasize how astounding the Crawler is for lea work - in fact, it's like the MM in that way.  It just does everything heavy and rock-oriented right!  It was not overly-rounded in my mahogany tele.  It was fat with a big, rich midrange that extended into the treble frequency range, where the highs ended in a powdery and smooth finish.  Not sharp and bright - just juicy and cutting in the smoothest way.  And the one word I'd use to describe that one is chewy.  Just a ton of fun to play.  Maybe this is it??  I think it might be??

Then there's the HD.  I don't think I gave it a fair shake, but if that's the case, I treated the Crawler the same way and still left impressed and torn over it.  But there was nothing redeeming about the HD for me at the time and I know everyone says how ideal this one is for what I do with my instrumental music. 

I might have found myself in a strange void between the MM and Crawler.  I know this for sure - now that I've got another guitar to equip, I know how devastating that MM is in my Tele.  It can pull lead or rhythm duties with zero compromise as far as I am concerned.  I think I need another Crawler for my Ibby.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I was surprised I liked the Miracle Man as much as I did because generally I really don't like ceramic pickups; they just don't have the tone of alnico magnets. Nevertheless, the Miracle Man always felt surprisingly like an alnico pickup to me and it remains my favourite ceramic pickup. Would I buy it again? Possibly. I have another pickup now that does a similar job but does it a bit better, though the Miracle Man retains a strong draw for me.

The Crawler takes some beating in my book; it's just absolutely sublime. Fortunately I don't like pickups super tight, just articulate and the Crawler is just that. There were certainly styles I couldn't get to with the Crawler but in a guitar with a bit of snap and bite to it, you're into major levels of gain before that happens. Leads were thick, smooth, articulate and rich. I absolutely LOVED this pickup and as a versatile option, it's probably the best pickup I've ever owned. Would I buy this one again? In a heartbeat!

The Holydiver is similar to the others in many respects as it is pretty thick, smooth and rich. There's no doubt in my mind that this is an excellent pickup, equally at home with either rhythms or leads and pretty flexible as to which guitar it will work in. Alder Strat? Perfect. Mahogany Les Paul? Superb. Would I buy it again? No. The pickup is superb in every respect and it did a really good approximation of the eighties Metal tone I was after but it wasn't exactly that tone as it was a bit too modern. I found the perfect pickup elsewhere but that's not to put the Holydiver down at all. My requirements were very specific in that I wanted eighties Metal tones but if you're looking for something that has a strong element of that tone with a more modern flavour, the Holydiver is ideal.

The pickup I would add to your list is the Abraxas because I see the Abraxas, Crawler, Holydiver and Miracle Man as all connected so they represent the spine of the BKP range that I would generally stick to. You might include the Black Dog in there too but I don't think the connection is quite as obvious there. The Abraxas is a pickup I KNOW I'd like and is the pickup in the BKP range I'd most like to own at the moment but I just don't have a guitar for it at the moment. The only chance I see on the horizon of incorporating it is to turn my SSS Strat into HSS. At the moment I have it with a DiMarzio Virtual Solo, Area 58 & Area 61 set, which is really, really good but bridge singles are just never as satisfying to play as humbuckers so I suspect that in time the Virtual Solo will go in favour of a humbucker that splits well and has a strong PAF element to it. For me, that's the Abraxas.

[fdesalvo]

Thanks for weighing in, Slarti.

At one point in time I had 2 guitars loaded with Abraxas bridges.  I'm down to one to reduce overlap and that one sits in my HSS strat.  As you suspected, the Abraxas is just a beautiful pickup if splitting is imperative.  It does so many things right and in the 4 different guitars I've had it sitting in, it never disappointed (mahogany, alder, chambered mahogany, chambered alder, trem, fixed, and wraparound bridges alike).

That said, I will certainly experiment with the MM in this Ibanez S540LTD if the Dimarzio's don't cut it, but I feel that I'll likely end up with a Crawler bridge at the very least.  I like what I've heard of the Gravity Storm neck online.  Actually, I like what I hear of the bridge, too; I've just become a bit of a BK snob over time.  Whatever inspires will find a home there.

Cheers,

[Slartibartfarst42]

I understand the snobby bit for sure as once I found BKP, it was years before I started to move away and try other things. I find I'm a bit more flexible now. The first time it happened it was because BKP had stopped doing custom builds and as I'd already tried most of what really interested me in the range, it seemed logical to experiment with other hand winders that were smaller and could therefore make something to my specifications. In fairness, it was only because of the years I've spent on this forum, learning about pickups, that I felt confident enough to pay for something built to my own specifications. I think I've got to the stage now where I know what I like and I know the sort of specifications needed to make it a reality. I ended up with DiMarzios in my Strat simply because Tim won't do noiseless singlecoils. His argument is that they end up neither singles or humbuckers and I respect that view but in my Strat, I didn't want humbucker tones and I didn't want true single tone either so the VS-58-61 set suits me very well. They were VERY expensive in my view compared to BKP singles, given that DiMarzio is a mass manufacturer so if Tim had done what I was after, I'd have bought from him in a heartbeat.

[Serratus]

Just to throw a curveball in there, the Stockholm has a huge sound!

(have a listen here, you can hear that it's fatter than most of the humbuckers! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecekLV4yps )

[fdesalvo]

You mean sledgehammer lol. Yeah I'm going for a blend of beauty and aggression. That's Stockholm is a war machine!

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I have the P-90 version of the Stockholm in my SG Junior.  It's not for the faint-hearted