Black Hawk 7 Alnico V vs Ceramic

[Blackrypt]

Hi all,

I’ve seen many times the video made by Nolly for the Black Hawk Alnico V vs Ceramic. I have a Mayones Duvell Gothic 7, and due to the pickup routing I’m either stuck to 2 options : A Black Hawk 7 or an open BKP 7 any other model. I’m intrigued by the Black Hawk 7 as it is a pickup that could sound closer to what I play (Doom/Death) and looking for (Compression and Note Definition). But the only shop in the US that has a set only have 3 options available :

Black Hawk 7 set (both Alnico V)
Ragnarok
Nailbomb (Ceramic bridge, Alnico V neck)

The body of the guitar is Mahogany and the top is Ash, 25.5” scale.

What would you recommend to buy ? Or should it be a good idea to order a Ceramic Black Hawk 7 ?

Best Regards

[Dave Sloven]

I play blackened death doom and I have two Schecters with the Black Hawk set, both with the alnico bridge magnet.  The sound of the A-Hawk is much like the one in the comparison video made by Nolly, so I am assuming that the ceramic clip is very accurate too.  They are six-strings tuned to C standard.  We recorded our new album with it, I should be able  to release it on Bandcamp some time in the next couple of weeks.

The Stiletto 6-FR is a mahogany body with a thin lacewood veneer, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, with a Gotoh GE1996T tremolo (with the standard Gotoh brass block)

The C-1 Blackhawk ATX is a mahogany body with a mahogany set neck.  On the album it still had the factory TonePros pretend locking tune-o-matic bridge, which has since been replaced with a Gotoh 510FB true locking tune-o-matic (I highly recommend both Gotoh bridges).

Both guitars have 550K CTS pots,  0.022uf Jensen PIO caps, Switchcraft jacks, and CRL three-way switches, all from BKP.

I am extremely happy with both guitars, I think the richer mids, more rolled-off top end and slight bloom on the palm mutes really suit our genre and style.  Although the pickup is alnico it is at least as tight as my Cold Sweat bridge and Miracle Man bridge, which are both ceramic, and slightly tighter than my alnico Nailbomb bridge.  It is tighter than my alnico Warpig for sure.

The Black Hawk neck is one of the nicest pickups I've ever used, with a distinctive vocal quality

I have no qualms with recommending the alnico Black Hawk for doom metal or black metal.  I play a bit of death metal and for the stuff I play it is certainly adequate, although I don't play the really technical stuff, more like Asphyx and other old school stuff.



Both guitarists used my guitars on our album.  I used the Stiletto for the rhythm guitar in the left speaker, Josh used the C-1 for the rhythm guitar in the right speaker, as well as the leads.  He prefers it infinitely over his own stock C-1 Hellraiser with the EMG set.  In fact he was not in the habit of using the selector switch on the Hellraiser, as he hated the EMG neck pickup so much, but learned to use it with mine and recorded most of his solos with the neck or middle position.

[Blackrypt]

Thanks for the information, it helps me a lot. Not a big fan of 7 strings myself, just bought it to try something similar to Paradise Lost last few records.

Usually play 6 strings (My Dying Bride, early Anathema). Will give a shot to the Black Hawk ceramic.

I play blackened death doom and I have two Schecters with the Black Hawk set, both with the alnico bridge magnet.  The sound of the A-Hawk is much like the one in the comparison video made by Nolly, so I am assuming that the ceramic clip is very accurate too.  They are six-strings tuned to C standard.  We recorded our new album with it, I should be able  to release it on Bandcamp some time in the next couple of weeks.

The Stiletto 6-FR is a mahogany body with a thin lacewood veneer, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, with a Gotoh GE1996T tremolo (with the standard Gotoh brass block)

The C-1 Blackhawk ATX is a mahogany body with a mahogany set neck.  On the album it still had the factory TonePros pretend locking tune-o-matic bridge, which has since been replaced with a Gotoh 510FB true locking tune-o-matic (I highly recommend both Gotoh bridges).

Both guitars have 550K CTS pots,  0.022uf Jensen PIO caps, Switchcraft jacks, and CRL three-way switches, all from BKP.

I am extremely happy with both guitars, I think the richer mids, more rolled-off top end and slight bloom on the palm mutes really suit our genre and style.  Although the pickup is alnico it is at least as tight as my Cold Sweat bridge and Miracle Man bridge, which are both ceramic, and slightly tighter than my alnico Nailbomb bridge.  It is tighter than my alnico Warpig for sure.

The Black Hawk neck is one of the nicest pickups I've ever used, with a distinctive vocal quality

I have no qualms with recommending the alnico Black Hawk for doom metal or black metal.  I play a bit of death metal and for the stuff I play it is certainly adequate, although I don't play the really technical stuff, more like Asphyx and other old school stuff.



Both guitarists used my guitars on our album.  I used the Stiletto for the rhythm guitar in the left speaker, Josh used the C-1 for the rhythm guitar in the right speaker, as well as the leads.  He prefers it infinitely over his own stock C-1 Hellraiser with the EMG set.  In fact he was not in the habit of using the selector switch on the Hellraiser, as he hated the EMG neck pickup so much, but learned to use it with mine and recorded most of his solos with the neck or middle position.