P-90 (supermassive) and Humbucker match

[varlogtim]

Hello,

I recently acquired a 2006 Gibson Les Paul BFG and I would like to replace the pickups. The guitar has a P-90 in the neck and a humbucker in the bridge (reportedly a burstbucker 3). The body is a chambered mahogany with a maple cap. Neck is mahogany as well.

Why do I want to replace the pickups?
 - It sounds OK clean, but I can't seem to get great heavy tones, and I think it could sound better
 - I purchased a mule set a year ago for another guitar and I was shocked at how ... rich yet open they sounded.
 - Support handmade, quality products.

What I am looking for?
 - I have a mule set in another guitar but I would like something more percussive/modern I think.
 - I plan to mostly use the P-90 in the neck for clean tones. The Supermassive sounds best to me in the sound clips and is what I am leaning towards.
 - I plan to use the bridge pickup for high gain stuff (over driven tube and fuzz)
 - I would like great pick attack and clarity in the bridge pickup.
 - I am really interested in how to pickup feels to play, if that makes sense.

Can you wise folks here recommend a good pickup to pair with the P-90 Supermassive? Or any other pairs that you feel may be good?

Also, do I need somewhat matched resistances/output levels for the pickups bridge and neck pickups?

-----

Questions/Thoughts about "modern" pickups.

I can see how a lot of people are of the opinion that bigger is better in "high gain" situations. But gain is easy to increase, pedals, amps, etc... I am curious what the other effects are of winding a pickup to be higher gain.

I am guessing that as the gain increases that the higher frequencies increase with proportion to the low frequencies because the low frequencies, which are naturally of higher amplitude,  approach a theoretical max output and get naturally compressed?

Or, are modern pickups intentionally wound in such a way to cause better response in the higher frequency range? This somewhat makes sense to me as I have noticed with certain pickup/amp combinations that I get a better very-high gain tube tone by using an EQ pedal before the amp to pull out a lot of the bass.

I guess I am just curious about and technical details which cause a pickup to be modern vs. vintage ... like, what is happening inside?

... thanks for reading my rantings! :)

[Dave Sloven]

The Cold Sweat bridge might be a good match for a Supermassive and give the more percussive sound you want

[NochaaMatt]

Hey bud,

Funnily enough I have almost the exact same set-up! I recently installed a Supermassive HSP90 into a 2018 BFG model (midern weight relief opposed to the chambered 2006 model). The pickup kills! It's clean tone is the sound I've had stuck in my head all these years, and it screams when you ramp up the gain. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with that one!

I'm using it with an A-Nailbomb in the bridge and the 2 are killer together. The combo can cover just about any genre you can imagine. The A-Nailbomb is full and beefy but still really clear and cuts through. They also match up really well output wise.

Before I switched to this combo I had a Nantucket HSP90 in the neck and a Black Dog in the bridge. They didn't quiet cut it for me, both really great pickups but just lacked the power I was after.

The Black Dog might suit your needs but as you already have a guitar with Mules I'd seriously consider the A-Nailbomb for the modern edge as you can still get nice classic sounds from it.

[Dave Sloven]

The alnico Nailbomb would have been my second recommendation.