Brighten up a dark ESP Eclipse: Black Dog/Rebel Yell?

[Tubeing]

Hi guys, first of all I'm Stefano from Italy. I play since I was 18 but I'm still playing like when I was 18 
I bought an ESP Eclipse II and I changed the EMGs for a SD Distortion Mayhem set because I already have EMGs on another guitar and I wanted to play the neck pu splitted. The guitar is tuned in D.
But it's tooooo dark sounding! The neck pu is almost unusable as is and I have now a 470nF cap in series with the neck pu's out! The bridge is ok though.
I need to switch from heavy riffs (bridge) to crystal clear cleans (neck splitted) and I'm looking for that bell-like attack that single coils are known for. I range from metal to soft rock, so versatility is a must. At the same time I'm looking for some rich overtones and something with a bit of grunt in the low mids/ mids (for the bridge). Am I asking for the moon? 
Maybe the Distortion cannot work well with low tuning and heavy strings (11-54), so I'm looking for something else.
I own a BKP Aftermath (B) and Rebel Yell (N) that I really love, they are mounted on a 7 string guitar: I don't want to duplicate the set, so I'm asking a suggestion about:
- Black dog set
- Black Dog (B) + VHII (N)
- Rebel Yell set
- Some modern HB combo?
Any other suggestion is appreciated!
Thanks
Stefano
 

[Dave Sloven]

Did you change the pots when you installed the passives?  If you still have 25K pots in there that would explain why it is so dark

[Tubeing]

Hi Dave, yes. Now I use 500k pots.
Thanks
Stefano

[Dave Sloven]

Well in that case the Black Dog / VHII combo might be a sensible option, as would the RY set.  Both have a good reputation with low tunings.  The Impulse set is another option.  The neck is especially good split and has a lot of that single coil character that you are looking for, even if not a classic Strat quack

[Tubeing]

Ok, thanks. I'm wondering if a vintage hot pu could be better to cover both worlds (super cleans and heavy riffs).
I have only hi output pickups and they all seem to lack a bit of crispness and attack...
Anyway, I look for more infos about the Impulses.
Thanks again.
Stefano

[Dave Sloven]

No worries.  The Impulse set is not high-output, at least no higher than say a Rebel Yell or Cold Sweat set.

Here's a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-5Ysauhjw4

[Telerocker]

Wen you're used to high output pickups, I think a Black Dog set will give you a different voice and could be inspiring to play different (things). From the vintage(hot) pickups the BD is the tightest due to the polysol wire.

[Tubeing]

I was thinking about the same idea...trying something new to play something new.
In the end, following the suggestion from the BKP team, I ordered a Rebel Yell+VH II, but I'd like to try the BD set: maybe in the next future...VHII is a "vintage hot" and the rebel yell, for what I can hear is quite close to a vintage voiced rock pu but with a higher output, so this set should be a good compromise for me.
Thanks guys!
Stefano

[Telerocker]

I was thinking about the same idea...trying something new to play something new.
In the end, following the suggestion from the BKP team, I ordered a Rebel Yell+VH II, but I'd like to try the BD set: maybe in the next future...VHII is a "vintage hot" and the rebel yell, for what I can hear is quite close to a vintage voiced rock pu but with a higher output, so this set should be a good compromise for me.
Thanks guys!
Stefano

Well, RY + VHII-neck will be a great rockset. The RY closes the gap between vintage and modern, and I think the RY kills in guitar with a slighty darker voice than average.

[darkbluemurder]

Out of the models chosen I would not go with the Black Dog for the bridge together with the VHII neck. For one, the VHII neck is quite high output for a neck pickup whereas the BD bridge is not that high output. I believe the Rebel Yell would balance better with the VHII neck.

Just saw that this was the combo you ordered.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

My first though is that their Black Dog is middy, not bright
I'd rather buy a Rebel yell, true grit or even a riff raff

[Tubeing]

Thanks guys, I'm still waiting for the pickup to arrive, I hope they will arrive soon so I'll have time to install everything during the Xmas holidays!
In the meantime I'm testing a lot of are fx patches 

[Telerocker]

Keep us informed. We could learn something..

[Tubeing]

Ok, finally arrived.
My impressions after a few days of playing the ESP :
- RY is ROCK! Full of overtones , harmonics...it's screaming all the time, with that mid that is not nasty at all (I usually hate pickups with pushed mids) but invites you to play bad and gnarly riffs! Not as tight as my aftermath, less "controlled" and dirtier than the AM.
- VHII is quite vintage voiced. Lower output than what I'm used to, so I need to play a bit more to learn how it responds. Splitted is beautiful with pushed cleans, as an HB I like it for some soulful solos. Better with less gain than with a lot of gain, where it looses a bit of clarity, IMHO.
Much much much better than the SD Distortion Neck. Now the terrible low end has gone and the pickup sound balanced.

I disconnected the tone pot, the guitar sounds better this way...and I never use the tone knob!

I think that the ESP equipped with RY (bridge) and VHII (neck) is now a real rock machine while the 7 string custom with the Aftermath (bridge) and RY (neck) is much more oriented towards modern stuff, both for cleans and hi gain sounds. With "only" two guitars I can cover almost every genre, but (maybe) jazz.   

Stefano

[Telerocker]

Good to hear this combo makes a big improvement. Have fun!