Looking at upgrading a new Les Paul that was an impulse buy. It has the 57/57+ set that isn't too terrible for lots of stuff but most of what I enjoy playing there is a little to be desired. With the gain up it's really thin and the bottom end is flubby with a shrieking top end. I'm playing into a Mesa Mark V:25 and a vertical 2x12 that is typically full of oomph, so much so that I'm looking at at a 1x12 to tame things for times when I want to disturb a few less people. I also have a Gibson Explorer with 496R/500T that really gets things moving and I want to get the LP closer but still leave it to be quite versatile.
Sent an email off and got a few suggestions and with a phone call settled on the Black Dog Bridge and Riff Raff neck in my 2017 LP Classic (9 hole weight relief).
I hope to cover classic rock, alt rock, punk rock, and approach some classic metal sounds. My ideal metal sound would be Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth. Punk tone by way of The Offspring, Pennywise, NOFX, and Bigwig. Pennywise being the only one to not use a Mark amp (recto) so I feel my bases are surely covered there. Classic rock would be Pink Floyd/Gilmour, Led Zeppelin, and so on which aside from the Gilmour clean seems to be the least demanding though I could be wrong. Classic metal like Iron Maiden, UFO, and the like are also desirable. To muddy the water a bit the wildcard sounds I love are Tool and the Scorpions, both using German amps that have a distinct sound but still requiring kinda the same thing, I feel, of the bottom end (tight, precise).
The initial suggestion was a Nailbomb or Nailbomb/Cold Sweat combo. In talking and my browsing it did seem that the Black Dog might offer me more towards the brunt of what I want sound wise and leaves room to toss Nailbomb C/Cold Sweat, or Nailbomb C set in the Explorer as those do sound really killer.
Ben was killer on the phone and almost makes me want another guitar just to get another set. Anyone have anything to add before I pull the trigger?
In addition to the V:25 I have a Dual rec and run a few distortions for different flavors as needed. I have a Buffalo FX Patriot which is unreal for the Pulse era Gilmour dirt sound and a JHS Angry Charlie V3 that gets me the Brit bite, or enough of it, to satisfy that.