Hope you're all well. I like to leave these reviews as a reference point for people in the forums and people googling.
I'll try and keep this short but I thought I'd comment on this pickup and guitar combination as it's only been recommended on rare ocassions but never talked about in terms of sound......as far as i'm aware. FYI i've had cold sweats, miracle mans, riff raffs and juggernauts in an SG and all sounded great apart from the juggernauts when I played them in a band situation.....just clashed in a really weird way!
Some background info and then i'll crack on. This is now my second SG and my other has riff raffs which are perfect for what they are. I have a Les Paul Custom with Rebel Yells and a Stormshadow super strat with VHII/Irish Tour....as a metal head first and foremost it occured to me I didn't have an outright extreme metal guitar! Long story short I came by a free Gibson SG that needed a full refurb and refret.....Feline guitars did this for me and they've done a perfect job. I wanted to leave a review as I think I have a different take to this pickup set than other people have left.
CleansVery modern sounding 'metal' cleans. Imagine that pristine, processed clean sound and I mean that is a positive way as these are metal pickups. Not as high output as you'd think so no massive breakup or biting when played clean. GREAT!
LeadsEverything I wanted I got. To me these are THE BKP pickups for high gain shred. This is the 2nd time i've had an aftermath neck pickup and it's my favourite for all out shred. It has a modern metal Les Paul tone without having a les paul.
What really makes me happy is how the leads high up the neck on the bridge cut through but have a 'smooth' high end.....smooth could be a misleading term but basicially it's not shrill and doesn't 'bite' like the painkiller does on leads on the bridge. GREAT!
RYTHMSThis is where the Aftermath does what it says on the tin. This is the tighest pickup i've played other than a EMG 81 but what I prefer over the EMG is the bigger and nastier sounding low mids and also (Here comes the cliche) the organic sound!
It's true though Aftermaths sound more 'real' but it's just different to EMG's. Whilst I think BKP are better than all other passives in my opinion I have a special place in my heart for EMG's they just do what they do perfectly.
Anyway they've got the blance perfect as far as im concerned a super tight mega fast bass, mega aggressive low mids and I guess big centre mids....hard to tell in a SG but it does go well with the SG. The high end is perfect to my ears and tastes.
What i'll say is if you're a metal head then these pickups are incredible. The only thing you have to consider is the ''small bass' and the big dose of tight and aggressive low mids when matching them up with your guitar and amp.
Yes these are suited to modern metal but I you could get King Diamond, Iron Maiden or Deicide tones out of these too. I'd say Death/Chuck Schuldiner too but the Painkiller does have the edge over the afttermath there!
I'd say you could do heavier 80's hair metal bands like Motley Crue or Skid row if you really wanted BUT if that was your main aim other pickups would be better.
Just one more thing to add that like all the Bare Knuckle range these pickups have THAT clarity over other pickups. If you know you know
Hope this review helps someone!
