Thanks for the reply! Nice to hear some input from Tosin, and thanks for the links too. I don't really have a clearly defined lead tone in mind that I'm looking for, but I'm not hearing anything I don't like from your samples. Taking into account what you and Tosin said, it sounds like I made the right choice: I decided to try the Silo's first after talking with a Bareknuckle rep. I'd say my 7-string sounds darker compared to my Les Paul, so that's supporting my decision too.
Ultimately, my gut tells me that the Abasi pup's are would be the better choice, but I'd rather not have to get a separate axe right now and I don't feel like routing out my guitar's cavity to fit a battery container. I'll report back in after I've got them installed and try to report my findings.
One thing I'm still curious about is your experience with the Fluences: my understanding is that the main difference between them and the Abasi's is the clean tones. Apart from that, can you describe their compression? One of my beefs with my Cold Sweat's is how much harder I have to attack the strings than compared with my Les Paul if I want a similar output. I don't use a lot of force in my pick attack, and I've read that the Fishman pup's are more compressed.
They do have backplate and control cover battery packs for Fluence but it's difficult to say if they have anything that would fit your instrument.
I am not an expert when it comes to Fishman pickups although I've played them once or twice. I think the big thing I noted as being different from traditional pickups was the feel.
I really liked the Fishman Classics but I didn't care for the modern ones.
There is this tonal 'quality' about them that reminds me of their under saddle pickups for acoustic guitars. It's hard to put into words.
It's just a DIFFERENT kind of a thing There is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!! less hum than even with a humbucker, and the sound is almost a bit sterile.
It doesn't have the 'warmth' and responsiveness' (feel?) that you associate with a traditional HMB. But, then the cleans are also very bold, clear, high fi, and sparkling. It's a great clean, but also a different clean.
It's not good. It's not bad. It's different. It's a new technology and frankly, I like them better than EMGs.
For my money, I'd get a classics set but the Abasi set looks interesting for other reasons. Namely, it's really cool that you can get 'single coil tones' but at the same output as the humbucking tones.
For me personally, I like having different output levels because it means different levels of gain saturation. I like that split coils have less push. BUT. This doesn't work for what Tosin is doing.
Anyhow, BKP are top tier pickups so you can't go wrong with the Silo set. With a super dark guitar, I would have been inclined to try something like a Rebel Yell set, since these pickups have a very wide and even harmonic response with a tight, clear and tapered low end. Perfect for very dark instruments. But, ya. I think the Silo set is the right choice for you out of the BKP line up. If you need more clarity and less bass, you can raise the pole pieces and lower the pickup height.
For wiring options, I really like the Ibanez 2 humbucker wiring with Series neck, parallel neck, Series B N, inner coils, and Series bridge.
Anyway, one day you'll want to get a guitar with active pickups that you can put the Abasi set in. I have multiple instruments since they all cover unique tones: One instrument can't ever be everything to one player.
