Pickups for ESP Eclipse I: BKP vs EMG

[kufojohn]

Hello everyone o/

I am waiting for an ESP Eclipse I to arrive, mahogany body and rosewood fret.
By default the EMGs 81/60 are installed, but given that I have them already installed to an other guitar, was thinking of getting something else.

My experience so far (25 years) are the above mentioned EMGs (81/89 to be precise). I see that many people say the worst about actives, and that when you have a good guitar it is better to use passives, for more character, organic sound and expression.
So I am either picking the newer EMGs 57/66 set or some BKP combination. First thought was for Holy Diver B/Emerald N.

I play and listen every kind of music. From Blues to Black Metal. Truth is that I like Metal a lot, old fashioned though, power-thrash-black up to late 90's.
So I am looking for a versitile setup, that will give me the power and fatness and "huge" sound for when playing rythm metal (lots of palm mute), but also the full and sweet sound of a neck solo, or sweet cleans. Is it possible you think? :P

I am new to the pickup evaluation, so please enlighten me.

Thanks in advance, George

[Dave Sloven]

For the styles you mention and the kind of guitar you are getting what I expect would work well is a Cold Sweat set.  It will give you the palm mute thing you are looking for and the bridge pickup has enough treble to do a good job of black metal.

That said you can play black metal with Warpigs if the guitar they are in is bright enough to compensate for the bassiness of the pickup.  I do a lot of black metal style chorused trem octave chords with my Warpig equipped SG.

[kufojohn]

Will definitely check both. What troubles me is that as i said i do play metal, but not only metal, so I was wondering how flexible would be a high output pickup like the Pigs. For example, I checked some videos on youtube that compared various BKPs and I was devastated by the ceramic Nailbombs :D

What I was wondering also, as I am new to the pickup research, is how crucial is it finally to get the perfect pickup. I mean, with all the distortion or equaliser options we have, isnt it easy to fix whatever we dont like? Like high mids, or thin sound, or low output etc?

[Yellowjacket]

If the guitar is warm and dark sounding, the Alnico Nailbomb set is capable of a lot of tones, especially when you roll down the volume pot for more vintage tones and output.

The A-Bomb bridge lends itself more to rhythm playing though.  I prefer the Rebel Yell and Juggernaut set for lead / solos. 

[darkandrew]

I have 3 Eclipses - two ESP Eclipse 1s and an LTD Elite (now marketed as E2) Eclipse also. The 2 ESPs are kitted out with an Alnico Nailbomb set and a Crawler set while the LTD Elite has the EMG 57/66 set. I have also tried a Mule set and a Rebel Yell set in the 2 ESPs but have now had the Crawler and Nailbomb sets installed for a couple of years without changing them. The Crawler set in the Eclipse thickens and fills it out nicely and is excellent for a wide range of rock, pop and alternative, while the Nailbomb set is perhaps  a little less versatile but is a lot better for heavier rhythm stuff. The 57/66 set is also quite versatile and sits somewhere between the other two in tone but with more output (comparing to BKP clips - the nearest it sounds to is the Holy Diver) - I now have this guitar permanently tuned to D standard with a slightly heavier set of strings to keep the string tension the same and in this role it has done pretty well but be warned - they are very punishing of sloppy technique. Comparing the Nailbombs to the Rebel Yell set, I liked the sound of the RYs on their own but the Nailbombs just sit so much better in mix when you listen back to it. Similarly, comparing the Mules to the Crawlers, the Mules were really sweet and when given lots of gain had a nice crunch to them (think Billy Idol's White Wedding) but were just not powerful enough and eventually made way for the Crawlers which are nowhere near as nice or sweet but are a lot more powerful and are still very useful, being able to cover a lot of ground. If you've got any specific questions, please feel free to message me.

[kufojohn]

Thank you very much for the answers.
And thanks Darkandrew, will pm if i get too confused :D

[Dave Sloven]

I have an A-Bomb in my Explorer and would recommend it except you put some emphasis on solo ability, which I think it lacks to a large degree.

The Warpig is probably too much for you.  I was just mentioning it to show that it is largely a function of how the pickup interacts with the guitar.  When the Warpig was in the Explorer it sounded like Masters of Reality Sabbath 24/7, very dark and sludgy.

The Miracle Man might be one you should consider rather than a Nailbomb.  Very good on palm mutes, very good on leads, with a tonality similar to the Holy Diver but with less mids and more highs and lows (typical of a ceramic pickup).