So, not to long ago, I bought an aftermath for the bridge position (the position I mainly use). I play drop C metal and I listen to a lot of bands that play EMGs. Because I don't like EMGs, I bought an aftermath for being really tight and it delivered. Was impressed.
But, I was really interested in Black Hawks, so I ordered a set. Installed it yesterday and played it for a couple of hours.
Bridge
So, to start off with, they are really different all the other passives I've tried. Clairity with this pickup is INSANE (even compared to aftermath). It also sound clear in pretty much any tuning you throw at it. High-end isn't ice picky like aftermath is, but it's bright in a different way. It doesn't have that insane midrange push aftermath has. It has a lot more low-end. Chart on the website is a bit off IMO (it makes you think it's a tiny and trebly sounding pickup with too much mids).
Aftermath is significantly tighter though, but black hawk is NOT lose by any means, it just has much more bass. Aftermath cleans up better, even though it seems like it has highter output. Black hawk is more compressed and sounds really "even" on all strings. For playing power chords, balck hawk definetly has a lot more balls.
While aftermath does that super tight metal/djent thing, it's not as versatile. I doesn't sound that great in higher tunings and can be a little sharp on the higher notes. Black hawk is definetly more versatile.
Single notes jump out differently than with the other passives, that's where the pickup shows it's active vibe.
While aftermath is a bit bright ran celan, black hawk has this a little compressed thing going on. Defintely sounds darker than the aftermath.
Neck
So, I'm not much of a neck pickup guy, I use neck pickup for some leads and sometimes clean, but I prefer the neck pickuk to the stock gibson pickup that was in my les paul previously. It has more output, which makes leads sound juicier. Not to bad clean. The previous pickup was OK for what I'm doing, but I got a set purely because of the looks (mismatched black hawk/zebra set? no thanks).
Conclusion
For what I'm doing, black hawk is doing pretty well. I wish it had more of the aftermath tightness to it, but aftermath trades off a lot of versatility by being tighter. I will keep this set in my les paul and put aftermath in another guitar.
