# 6 string pickup shootout. No bull, no frills.



## KnightBrolaire

Same idea as my 8 string thread. Same guitar, same amp, same pedals, same riffage (or as close as I can get it). Guitar is my PRS mike mushok (27" scale, all mahogany body/neck, ebony fretboard).
Just like in the 8 string thread I'll be adding clips/impressions as I test pickups. Once I figure out how to make DIs I'll include those as well.
*
Parallel Axis Distortion:* Very warm cleans, borders on muddy at times. Quite high output, percussive/tight and has a good kind of metallic grinding sound with a good amount of cut. Works really well for early CoC, Clutch, Mastodon and Gojira/Morbid Angel. It can do Priest/Maiden too. Not the most versatile pickup overall but I really dig the voicing for metal.

(sorry about the flubs/feedbacking)
more clips: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u3iw7thzq6423at/AAA4wBW5BKbnfzG23JX0B_kVa?dl=0


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## KnightBrolaire

*Dragonfire Screamers:* 1. Dirt cheap 2. They sound really good, especially for the price 3. They really do scream. I was surprised by how much I liked these pickups, I was expecting garbage given the price and the fact that budget metal pickups tend to sound like ass but these are relatively clear and feel surprisingly tight. The bridge feel nice and muscular in the mids while staying tight on the low end. The bridge voicing has a bit of a snarl to it but not to the same extent as say an omega or black dog. The neck is awesome imo, warm but still pretty clear, fluid sounding, and able to get screaming lead tones and warmer eric johnson esque violin/flute like tones.


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## KnightBrolaire

*Super Distortion 3 .* The SD3 is a very beefy pickup that excels at hard rock/sludgier metal tones imo. It can do more modern tones like Lamb of God but isn't the best choice for a super cutting djenty tone or death metal tone. It cleans up really well and has a nice warm jazzy sound if you roll of the volume knob. It's not the most fluid sounding bridge pickup and feels a bit stiff for sweep picking or other techniques that rely on a liquid-like sound, though with some reverb/delay it'll do the job just fine.


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## KnightBrolaire

tentative list of pickups I'll be testing *eventually *:
d-sonic
bkp impulse
guitarmory patriots
guitarmory atlas
liquifire
elysian hellfires
railhammer chisel
railhammer anvil
oil city black knight
oil city scrapyard dog plus
bkp a-bomb
bkp miracle man
bkp supermassive hp90
blk/tri crone
lace finger burners


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## KnightBrolaire

d-sonic: I really like this pickup. it's very beefy sounding in this guitar. It's tight on the low end and still has a pretty clear midrange/high end for how thick it sounds. It has more than enough cut to play stuff like gojira or morbid angel, while being thick enough for down/crowbar/sludgier riffage. I've currently got the bar towards the bridge so it's bright but not horribly so in this guitar. video will be up tomorrow.


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## Alex79

I found the D-Sonic a bit soulless, too processed and smooth. It really reminded me of Linkin Park a lot, ironically.


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## KailM

KnightBrolaire said:


> d-sonic: I really like this pickup. it's very beefy sounding in this guitar. It's tight on the low end and still has a pretty clear midrange/high end for how thick it sounds. It has more than enough cut to play stuff like gojira or morbid angel, while being thick enough for down/crowbar/sludgier riffage. I've currently got the bar towards the bridge so it's bright but not horribly so in this guitar. video will be up tomorrow.



Looking forward to hearing this clip. I sold a Les Paul and the D-Sonic I had in it a long time ago -- and regret it. I loved that pickup for Lamb of God-style riffing in drop-D/D Standard.


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## KnightBrolaire

D-sonic video is up!


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## Bearitone

Do you prefer the Parallel Axis Distortion to the standard Distortion? What differences do you notice?


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## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> Do you prefer the Parallel Axis Distortion to the standard Distortion? What differences do you notice?


It's more rounded off on the high end and feels like it has a little bit more balanced eq. Still a pretty high output pickup with a good grinding tone, but the voicing is slightly different. Great for death metal or sludgier stuff. I'd say the parallel axis version is closer to the black winter in feel/tone than anything else duncan makes.


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## neotronic

D sonic sound good to me.

I am looking forward to hearing the a-bomb. I have it in one my favorite guitar. I wonder how it sounds in yours.


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## KnightBrolaire

next up is the bkp impulse set. Should have em installed tomorrow, will report back with initial thoughts on the tones.
updated list of pickups I'm going to try :
bkp black dog
bkp ragnarok bridge
bkp blackhawk
guitarmory patriots
guitarmory atlas
elysian hellfires
liquifire
railhammer chisel
railhammer anvil
oil city black knight
oil city scrapyard dog plus
bkp a-bomb
bkp miracle man
bkp supermassive hp90
blk/tri crone
lace finger burners


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## elkoki

How do you think the D sonic and Crunch Lab compare? I have a Crunch Lab right now in an alder body, it's not bad in there.


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## KnightBrolaire

elkoki said:


> How do you think the D sonic and Crunch Lab compare? I have a Crunch Lab right now in an alder body, it's not bad in there.


I haven't used the crunch lab so I can't really compare them. From what I've read the d-sonic has slightly less output and tends to be brighter, with more midrange grind and a cutting sound while the crunch lab is rounder and slightly more flat across the eq, with warmer cleans.


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## KnightBrolaire

Initial thoughts on the impulse set: Both the neck and the bridge stay suuuper clear and have excellent dynamics/response to how hard you pick. The low end is nice and tight/percussive like the d-sonic in this guitar. Chords have a nice big thick growl to them regardless of if I use a tubescreamer with em or not. Basically think of the song "A dying god coming into human flesh" by Celtic Frost and how massive the rhythm guitars sound in that. That's kind of what the impulse feel like but tighter. The neck pickup has a nice vintage esque chime to it and sounds quite nice when sweep picking or doing legato. It can go from a relatively smooth bluesy sound to ripping pinch harmonics just by digging in a little bit harder. It has a slight vocal quality/strat like spank to it and the low end is a fair bit darker/rounder than the bridge. Video will be up tomorrow.

next up is the bkp ragnarok bridge.


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## Marked Man

KnightBrolaire said:


> *Parallel Axis Distortion:* Very warm cleans, borders on muddy at times. Quite high output, percussive/tight and has a good kind of metallic grinding sound with a good amount of cut.



I'd say the PATB2 does more than border on being muddy! I always have to adjust my amps (reduce lows) to compensate for using it. It is very wooly! But I must say that it makes me feel like a hero for leads! It makes me feel like I'm a better player because everything just flows out of the guitar! Very hot, full lead sound that can pummel even a mildly goosed amp into overdrive. I wouldn't pick this one for very fast/technical metal due to the low end being a bit soft compared to the regular Distortion. But that hot/fat sound is what makes it so inspiring for leads. 

For technical metal, I think it's hard to beat the BKP C-Bomb. It's like a next gen regular Distortion---tighter, quieter, and a bit more hi-fi sounding. Some of the tightest tracking I've ever heard in a passive. The lead sound could be a little fatter, but it definitely cuts through the mix!


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## KnightBrolaire

Marked Man said:


> I'd say the PATB2 does more than border on being muddy! I always have to adjust my amps (reduce lows) to compensate for using it. It is very wooly! But I must say that it makes me feel like a hero for leads! It makes me feel like I'm a better playing because everything just flows out of the guitar! Very hot, full lead sound that can pummel even a mildly goosed amp into overdrive. I wouldn't pick this one for very fast/technical metal due to the low end being a bit soft compared to the regular Distortion. But that hot/fat sound is what makes it so inspiring for leads.
> 
> For technical metal, I think it's hard to beat the BKP C-Bomb. It's like a next gen regular Distortion---tighter, quieter, and a bit more hi-fi sounding. Some of the tightest tracking I've ever heard in a passive. The lead sound could be a little fatter, but it definitely cuts through the mix!


Personally i didn't really like the PATB that much for anything other than metal riffage. I found it held up fine for fast trem picking and other fast/technical riffs but the clarity and output of the pickup isn't to my tastes, at least through my guitar/setup. I agree that it's got a lot of output that pummels the front end of an amp. I'll look into the a-bomb and c-bomb at some point. Always good to hear other experiences .


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## KnightBrolaire

BKP Impulse video is up, these pickups kick serious ass:


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## KnightBrolaire

Initial thoughts on BKP Ragnarok bridge: Has a somewhat similar voicing to the juggernaut (ie that distinct vocal/cocked wah sound) though it's not quite as present and is easier to dial out than it is with the jugg imo. I find myself having to pick pretty hard/crank the gain a bit more to really get it to the level of distortion I prefer. It doesn't really feel like a high output pickup, even with the pickup quite close to the strings and the gain pumped up, it still stays very clear. Clarity is really great and the low end is percussive/tight. It makes sense given lightbulb's preferences for sound and his picking technique but I find it at odds with what I like. After running it through some profiles on my kemper (krank rev1, prs archon, peavey 5150, dv mark triple 6, mesa dual recto rev f and triple recto) I can say that I prefer the sound of it with the archon and triple recto. It obviously sounds good with the 5150 (which the invective has some dna from) but it's a little bit more metallic and bright with that particular sound (regardless of if i boost it or not). It has plenty of cut even through darker sounding amps like the krank or rectos. It's a great choice if you want a punchy modern sounding pickup that can take an absolute fuckton of gain before distorting and didn't really dig the juggs or the aftermath's very specific voicings.


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## KnightBrolaire

Ragnarok vid is up. Blackhawk bridge is up next


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## Coryd

KnightBrolaire said:


> Ragnarok vid is up. Blackhawk bridge is up next



Looking forward to the Blackhawk vid!!!


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## KnightBrolaire

Initial thoughts on the blackhawk: I don't know if this is the alnico or ceramic version bridge but I know I like it. Just like its modded cousin the impulse this pickup has a nice beefy midrange while still being percussive on the low end. Highs are present but not overly so. The overall voicing plays well with a variety of differently voiced amps/profiles (d-moll, jvm410, archon, triple recto, Mark V, powerball). The clarity is quite good in drop B on this guitar and the output is medium-high. Cleans are solid. The overall sound is a bit darker than the impulses in this guitar but not significantly so. It works really well for a number of styles as far as I can tell, though there is a slight bump in the low end that might make it a bit harder to use for more super technical stuff. Video should be up shortly.


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## RustInPeace

Those Ragnaroks sound super disappointing. I hate that cocked wah midrange found in modern metal pickups so much. Blackhawks sound more like what I'd go for.


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## KnightBrolaire

RustInPeace said:


> Those Ragnaroks sound super disappointing. I hate that cocked wah midrange found in modern metal pickups so much. Blackhawks sound more like what I'd go for.


yeah I tried 2 ragnarok bridges and they were both surprisingly low output. Ragnarok is kind of like a less annoying juggernaut. Blackhawks and impulses are awesome pickups. They're my favorites besides the D-sonic. Next up is the black dog.


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## Bearitone

Do you like the D-sonic more than lundgrens?


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## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> Do you like the D-sonic more than lundgrens?


D-sonic is different than the lundgren m8 (only one I currently have experience with). I really liked the low end and growl that the m8 had but I think the voicing of the d-sonic just works better through my setup. I can't comment on the m6 currently since I haven't tested it yet. Both have tight low ends but the lundgren tends to be borderline stiff/a bit darker sounding on the low end. It has more of a growling midrange while the d-sonic is more snarling/screaming midrange (though not as pronounced of an effect as say painkillers or the omega). Both have pretty present high ends and have been accused of being too bright/harsh by other people (though that depends on your setup and guitar). Obviously through this particular guitar/setup the D-sonic isn't too bright for my tastes and the lundgren would probably be in the same boat. The d-sonic has a bit of a grinding almost duncan distortion esque vibe but with significantly more clarity. The d-sonic and m8 both have fine cleans, though I'd say the lundgrens feel a bit colder due to the overall voicing.


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## IGC

Did you do a "dimebucker" review? Probably one of my favs.


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## KnightBrolaire

IGC said:


> Did you do a "dimebucker" review? Probably one of my favs.


I have not tested the dimebucker in this guitar.


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## KnightBrolaire

adam made me some sweet real carbon fiber tops for my elysian hellfires.


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## Shoeless_jose

IGC said:


> Did you do a "dimebucker" review? Probably one of my favs.



why do you need a review if you know it's one of your favs??


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## KnightBrolaire

I installed the bkp black dog and should have the demo up later today. I've talked a lot about how much I love this pickup, it's my favorite bkp besides the impulse set or the coldsweat neck, and is easily one of my favorite pickups I've ever used (besides the elysian goliaths or the omega). It's a relatively mid output pickup so you can push a ton of gain through it without losing clarity. The voicing is probably my favorite aspect: It has a relatively tight bottom end, but it's not as percussive as say the d-sonic or black winter (but still has enough tightness for good chugs/trem picking). It has a snarling midrange which makes it sound quite mean through my boogie f30 and most of my kemper profiles. The high end is present, and in the wrong guitar can be a bit too bright, but through my setup it's pretty manageable. That snarling midrange and present high end really gives it a nice aggressive cutting voice that more than suffices for most subgenres of metal. When paired with a ts style boost or marshall voiced amp the pickup sounds even more ferocious. It also cleans up very well due to having medium output and works quite well for bluesy riffage as well as jazzy runs if you roll the tone knob down a bit to round off the high end. Shreddy lead work is doable with the pickup but I can't really comment much about that since my preference has always been towards using a neck pickup for leads. The black dog can more than handle downtuning or baritone scales (since this guitar is in drop b and has a 27" scale).


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## IGC

Dineley said:


> why do you need a review if you know it's one of your favs??



Other people might be curious.


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## IGC

Oh yeah, kind of curious to see how it sounds in his rig too, So kind of a request.


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## KnightBrolaire

black dog video is up, next up is the nailbomb.


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## capac

Nice. I really dig holy divers in drop B (normal scale length).


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## KnightBrolaire

capac said:


> Nice. I really dig holy divers in drop B (normal scale length).


holy divers are up after the nailbomb. I've heard a lot of good things over the years about the holy diver.


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## capac

They are pretty thick sounding but still amazingly tight. I was shocked after hearing how tight they sound in drop B.


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## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on alnico nailbomb: these have great clarity in this guitar/through my setup. there's a decent amount of low end and it offers a thick/chunky sound with relatively percussive chugs. Has a slight wah/vocal like midrange (kind of like the JB but not as obnoxiously vocal as say the juggernaut). The midrange cuts through the mix really well, but doesn't seem to play as well with brighter voiced amps. highs are very present but not say icepicky like the painkiller can be in the wrong guitar/setup. It's not exactly a warm pickup on the high end. Pinch harmonics are extremely easy with it and this pickup screams. It cleans up quite well and can do a variety of genres if need be. It wouldn't be my first choice for jazzy stuff due to the high end being kind of bright, but other than that it works well with all of my usual riffs. It'd be a good choice for a darker sounding guitar/setup just due to balancing the high end more.


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## capac

Pretty much my thoughts on nailbomb. Diver is a better pickup IMO.


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## BrutalRob

Could someone explain to me what " vocal" means when referring to the ragnaroks tone? Or cocked?


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## capac

Cocked means it has that annoying midrange, kinda like wah.

Btw, just recorded a few seconds long clip with divers in drop C...

https://soundcloud.com/user-160854270/quick-bkp-holydiver-tone-test


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## KnightBrolaire

BrutalRob said:


> Could someone explain to me what " vocal" means when referring to the ragnaroks tone? Or cocked?


did you watch the video? it makes the cocked/vocal quality really apparent, especially when compared to the other pickups I've tested.


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## capac

I do find it kinda annoying... not sure how long I'd be able to use juggs or ragnaroks.


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## KnightBrolaire

capac said:


> I do find it kinda annoying... not sure how long I'd be able to use juggs or ragnaroks.


in the ragnaroks it's a lot more mild of an effect than the juggs. they're a lot more cocked in comparison. Personally I didn't like either set because of the wah midrange and how hard I have to pick to get the kind of sounds I want (I'm a pretty light picker most of the time).


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## capac

Rags sounded pretty "cocky" in you vid.

I've heard good tones out of juggs, but they would annoy me in my own guitar.


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## KnightBrolaire

Alnico Nailbomb vid is up.


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## Bearitone

Anyway you could make Railhammer Chisels your next set after the Holy Divers? 
Dying to get a review


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## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> Anyway you could make Railhammer Chisels your next set after the Holy Divers?
> Dying to get a review


I'm going to cycle through all the other pickups I have already have on hand before I get the railhammers. It might be a while.
tentative list is :
holy diver bridge
lundgren m6 bridge
duncan custom 5 bridge
entwistle nemesis bridge
entwistle hdn bridge
elysian hellfire set
guitarmory patriot set
guitarmory atlas set


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## USMarine75

Please add some Gibson 496R/500T and be pleasantly surprised.

I love my BKP Impulses in my Regius 7 when drop tuned, but I really did not like it all when tuned up to standard. Conversely, I thought the BKP Juggs were actually great in standard tuning on my Regius 6, which I did NOT expect!


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## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on holy diver bridge*: has a nice big thick and tight low end with really good percussive chugs/trem picking. seems clearer than the nailbomb. Has a nice muscular midrange kind of like the black dog but with less snarl. good amount of high end in this pickup so this pickup can scream if need be. The high end might be a bit much in brighter setups/guitars. pick harmonics are super easy with it, they just pop off the fretboard with ease. cleans are quite solid but nothing special imo. Seems to play well with a number of differently voiced amps (jvm410, triple recto, 5150, archon, mark v, alchemy, xtc). I really like how big and chunky the chugs and chords feel with it, reminds me of the black winter or impulses in that aspect. Works well for a number of genres, but especially ones that utilize a massive sounding rhythm section (ie gojira or mastodon). Just like the nailbomb it wouldn't be my first choice for jazz due to the brighter high end, but otherwise it held up really well with all of my different riffs.


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## capac

I run it in mahogany and yes, it could be much in an even brighter guitar. My fav pickup at the moment.


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## KnightBrolaire

capac said:


> I run it in mahogany and yes, it could be much in an even brighter guitar. My fav pickup at the moment.


I think the high end of the holy diver would be a nightmare in a brighter guitar like my dc600. I used to have painkillers in the dc600 and they were wayyy too bright and icepicky sounding in that guitar so I'd expect the holy diver to be obnoxiously bright in it as well. I am digging the holy diver in this guitar, that big tight low end is awesome, especially with the kind of growly midrange


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## capac

PK is kinda like HD with a ceramic magnet anyways.


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## KnightBrolaire

holy diver video is up. lundgren m6 is next.


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## elkoki

I'm curious about those entwistle 7 string pickups.


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## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on the lundgren m6:* I have experience with the m8 and the main thing these 2 pickups share is the relatively chunky/tight low end and a good amount of high end. they both have growling midranges but the m8 has significantly more chunk/growl to it. The m6 can get very single coil spanky/tight at times, though that depends on the amp. It's an awesome rhythm pickup and a subpar pickup for leads imo. the stiffness makes it feel like sweeps and fast runs are fighting you every note. It's excellent for trem picking and chugging/chords and has a ton of clarity (unlike the m8 which is a bit too dark on the low end and muddies up when playing extended chords). It works well for modern metal (duh), 80s metal,hard rock and anything that requires a tight low end and powerful chugs. The m6 cleans up well but don't expect sparkly cleans from it.
Probably the closest 6 string pickup I can compare it to would be the d-sonic. both are perfect for br00tz and chugz but kind of suck for other stuff.


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## KnightBrolaire

M6 video is up.


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## KnightBrolaire

thinking about doing some magnet swaps with the bkps I have sitting around after I test the rest of the pickups I have. 
Alnico 8 black dog should be fun


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## BigViolin

Curious what you would choose as a do everything set in a standard/drop d tuned 6?

Also what set or combo for drop C or lower. I've read most of your posts but was wondering what you might choose if you could have just one combo for say an average to bright guitar. 

Damn, you've tested a lot of pickups. Thanks for sharing this!


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## KnightBrolaire

BigViolin said:


> Curious what you would choose as a do everything set in a standard/drop d tuned 6?
> 
> Also what set or combo for drop C or lower. I've read most of your posts but was wondering what you might choose if you could have just one combo for say an average to bright guitar.
> 
> Damn, you've tested a lot of pickups. Thanks for sharing this!


My current favorites are impulse, black dog, holy diver and the m6. Holy diver would work well in a brighter guitar and is the most versatile imo, plus it would sound good in standard. Might be a tad bright on the high end but that's easy to mitigate with a different capacitor value on your tone pot/amp settings.


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## capac

HD is pretty tamable IMO.


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## capac

HD is pretty tamable IMO.


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## BigViolin

Nice. I've wanted to try an HD for awhile now and finally ordered one through Nick a few days ago, really looking forward to it.


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## KnightBrolaire

BigViolin said:


> Nice. I've wanted to try an HD for awhile now and finally ordered one through Nick a few days ago, really looking forward to it.


I think you'll dig it, it's a great sounding pickup.


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## capac

KnightBrolaire said:


> I think you'll dig it, it's a great sounding pickup.



Couldn't agree more.


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## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on the duncan custom 5:* I think this is the lowest output pickup that I've tested so far. The impulse neck pickup has more output than the custom 5. I have to really crank the gain and turn up my vol boost by about 5 db to get it to a level that I like. The plus side to this low of output is the clarity is excellent for every riff I threw at the custom 5. The pickup has a surprisingly spanky feel to it in this guitar. The high end is a tad bright for my taste. Chords have a nice meaty/chunky sound to them, with a bit of growl in the midrange as well. It's a surprisingly aggressive pickup once you get it boosted to an acceptable level. The tracking on trem picking and chugging is pretty quick. The overall voicing kind of reminds me of the black winter or Parallel axis distortion, where it has a hint of metallic character to individual notes, but not in an obnoxious way like the aftermath. The best way to describe the sound (when clean boosted) is think of Gojira's rhythm tone: big, mean, cutting and just a hint of that metallic flavor.
I was definitely not expecting to like this pickup for metal, but it does surprisingly well for most subgenres imo. it works quite well for bluesy/jazzy riffing too. I quite like it for slide guitar.


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## KnightBrolaire

Custom 5 video is up. next up is the entwistle nemesis.


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## KnightBrolaire

change of plans, I'm swapping a ceramic mag into the custom 5 and testing that before the entwistle nemesis.


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## Zoobiedood

The Custom 5 isn't that low of output actually...it is a high output pickup. Putting a ceramic magnet in there won't change the output level but will turn it into a Custom.


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## KnightBrolaire

Zoobiedood said:


> The Custom 5 isn't that low of output actually...it is a high output pickup. Putting a ceramic magnet in there won't change the output level but will turn it into a Custom.


 I read the specs on Duncan's website, I know it's supposed to be high output, but compared to having the m6 or some of the other pickups I put in there it feels lower output.


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## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on duncan custom:
bit more output than the custom 5, also has slightly more bass and high end. overall it retains a similar sound/feel to the custom 5.


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## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on entwistle nemesis: *I'm surprised that this pickup is relatively clear sounding given that a lot of the cheap pickups I've tried are horribly muddy. It's a higher output pickup for sure, but it cleans up decently. The lows are relatively tight and seem to track well when trem picking or chugging. There's a bump in the low end but not enough to make the pickup sound flubby. There is a hint of metallic tone like the parallel axis or custom 5 . The pickup seems to have a decent amount of high end in this guitar, though it's not harsh or overly bright on the higher strings/frets. The midrange is kind of snarly and gives this nice aggression to power chords and rhythm riffs.
For the money this is a very solid pickup, easily comparable to anything duncan or dimarzio offers imo.


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## capac

Man are those things cheap. Pretty impressive.


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## KnightBrolaire

capac said:


> Man are those things cheap. Pretty impressive.


the nemesis sounds pretty damn good for the price too. kind of reminds me of the bkp blackhawk's low end but with a snarlier midrange and warmer high end.


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## KnightBrolaire

Nemesis demo is up, next up is the entwistle HDN.


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## KnightBrolaire

bonus clip of the nemesis. It works quite well for Ratt esque riffs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgWy01agz77/?hl=en&taken-by=knightbrolaire


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## KnightBrolaire

Updated list of pickups I'm going to test: 
Entwistle HDN (currently in guitar)
Warman quadrail
Warman Dominator
railhammer chisel
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen
Elysian Hellfire set
guitarmory atlas set
guitarmory patriot set
suhr aldrich
dimarzio evo
bkp stockholm hp90
bkp rebel yell
bkp coldsweat bridge
blk/tri yeti (if I can ever find one)

*Initial thoughts on Entwistle HDN:*
This pickup has a neodymium magnet, relatively high output and a savage tone. It has a beefy yet quite percussive/tight low end similar to the d-sonic. The upper mids and decent high end give the pickup a great amount of cut. The sound when you hit power chords sounds like you always have a tube screamer turned on. Sharp, cutting and tiiight, with a little bit of a snarling midrange. It's not as though the midrange is obnoxiously upfront like say the juggernaut, though more like the nailbomb or d-sonic. It's a fucking mean sounding pickup, perfect for most hard rock or metal, though it works better for stuff like tech death/death metal than say doom. It has a hint of metallic character to individual notes. Chugs/trem picked notes are percussive/cutting even through a thicker/darker sounding amp like my boogie. pinch harmonics are ridiculously easy with this pickup. it works well for lead work, though it's not going to get you into super smooth liquidy solo territory, think more of a warren demartini or george lynch esque cutting solo.
given how cheap the hdn and the nemesis are (seriously they ran me about 30 usd a piece) I'd say they're on par with the quality/sound of pickups I've tried from other more expensive brands like dimarzio/duncan/bkp. At that price point they're more than worth trying out.


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## KnightBrolaire

HDN demo is up.


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## KnightBrolaire

skipping the warman quadrail for now because I have to fix the mounting bracket holes. warman destroyer is installed already.


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## KnightBrolaire

Warman Destroyer thoughts:
a solid and affordable choice for most metal genres. Has pretty good cleans. The low end is big, but tight enough for good trem picking/chug response, though it's not exceptionally tight feeling like say the black winter, m6, holy diver, dsonic or the hdn. There seems to be a bump in the mids somewhere that gives it a rawer voicing kind of like the nailbomb or black dog, but with more upper mids (which adds to the aggression). The high end is present but not spiky in this guitar/setup. Clarity is great across the board. Works quite well for more old school rock, metal and death metal tones ie Toto, Ram Jam, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Ratt, Morbid Angel, though it definitely works for Devildriver/Lamb of God/Behemoth/Gojira/Mastodon style riffs. Wouldn't be my first choice for periphery/tesseract esque riffs though. lead work is totally viable on this pickup, though it's not going to give you sweet mellow jazz tones unless you roll off your volume/tone knobs quite a bit.

Railhammer chisel is up next!


----------



## Flappydoodle

I have a custom 5 in an ESP Horizon, and I love it! It's great for Killswitch Engage-type riffs with lots of mid-range crunch, tight but chugging bass etc. And I agree with you that it isn't high output at all.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Flappydoodle said:


> I have a custom 5 in an ESP Horizon, and I love it! It's great for Killswitch Engage-type riffs with lots of mid-range crunch, tight but chugging bass etc. And I agree with you that it isn't high output at all.


I thought maybe mine was defective since it was quite low output compared to most of the other pickups I've tried. Nothing wrong with it being lower output, I just was expecting it to be hotter than it was. The custom 5 and custom are pretty great pickups for metal, though they need a bit more tweaking than others I've tested before they really rip.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

current lineup:
railhammer chisel
bkp stockholm hp90
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Elysian Hellfire set
guitarmory atlas set
guitarmory patriot set


----------



## KnightBrolaire

current lineup:
railhammer chisel (currently installed)
bkp stockholm hp90 (should have it by tomorrow, demo up by sun-mon if it's delivered on time)
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Elysian Hellfire set
guitarmory atlas set
guitarmory patriot set
slightly underwound motor city afwayu bridge pup 

initial thoughts on railhammer chisel: 
pickup has plenty of clarity for drop b and this particular guitar/amp. output is high but not like say duncan distortion high. low end is big but still tight, works great for tight chugs/percussive trem picking and tracks really well for technical riffing. the mids give chords a kind of growl similar to the d-sonic or entwistle hdn. pinch harmonics are extremely easy with this pickup and can be coerced from basically any fret under high gain. the high end is present but not overwhelming through my setup. It's not exactly warm on the high end but it's not shrill either. The chisel works well for basically any metal subgenre, though I think the voicing is more suited towards anything with a preference for a thick sound like death metal (ie carcass/cannibal corpse) or sludgier mastodon/baroness esque riffs. lead work is easy with this pickup, though it's not going to give you a smooth sound under high gain.


----------



## Bearitone

KnightBrolaire said:


> current lineup:
> railhammer chisel (currently installed)
> bkp stockholm hp90 (should have it by tomorrow, demo up by sun-mon if it's delivered on time)
> Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
> Elysian Hellfire set
> guitarmory atlas set
> guitarmory patriot set
> slightly underwound motor city afwayu bridge pup
> 
> initial thoughts on railhammer chisel:
> pickup has plenty of clarity for drop b and this particular guitar/amp. output is high but not like say duncan distortion high. low end is big but still tight, works great for tight chugs/percussive trem picking and tracks really well for technical riffing. the mids give chords a kind of growl similar to the d-sonic or entwistle hdn. pinch harmonics are extremely easy with this pickup and can be coerced from basically any fret under high gain. the high end is present but not overwhelming through my setup. It's not exactly warm on the high end but it's not shrill either. The chisel works well for basically any metal subgenre, though I think the voicing is more suited towards anything with a preference for a thick sound like death metal (ie carcass/cannibal corpse) or sludgier mastodon/baroness esque riffs. lead work is easy with this pickup, though it's not going to give you a smooth sound under high gain.



So stoked to finally have an in depth review of this pickup!!
You like this or the m6 more?
Elysian still your favorite after trying all these pups?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> So stoked to finally have an in depth review of this pickup!!
> You like this or the m6 more?
> Elysian still your favorite after trying all these pups?


This is a very different feeling pickup from the m6. the m6 has a really stiff feel to it, which is why it's a fucking amazing rhythm pickup for metal, and is horrible for lead work. this pickup has a bit better cleans, isn't anywhere near as stiff feeling, and is pretty viable for lead work. The chisel is also a bit thicker sounding than the m6. The m6 has a really unique growling midrange that I haven't really found replicated in another pickup.

Elysians are still my favorite for ERGs, but there's so many good options for 6 strings, especially from the bunch that I've tested so far that it'd be easier to say which ones I don't like (parallel axis distortion, super distortion 3, ragnarok, entwistle nemesis). Granted, I still have to test the hellfires, and haven't tried most of elysian's 6 string lineup other than the vintage hot wind I have in my dc600 or the hot moderns in my jazzmaster.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Railhammer Chisel video is up


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*Initial thoughts on the stockholm hp90:* Output feels relatively high. It can easily do metal from any subgenre, though the hum is annoying (it's not a lot but it's more than most of the humbuckers I've tested). It's surprisingly easy to get a good 80s metal tone like Maiden's the Trooper or Where eagles dare, or Sabbath's Heaven and hell/Crue's Livewire/Ratt's Out of the Cellar tones. The stockholm can djent, give you gojira/behemoth esque tones or pretty much anything you throw at it. 
Clarity is excellent even when I tune down to G#F#BEG#C# . The low end has a fast enough response that chugs/trem picking/palm mutes sound huge and tight. The snarling mids remind me of the black dog, they really make this pickup sound mean as hell under gain. The high end is present but not overly bright through my setup/guitar. Cleans are excellent and chimey. leads are easy enough on it, same with pinch harmonics.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Stockholm HP90 vid is up.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on elysian hellfires: they've got a lot of output but manage to stay quite clear no matter how much gain I throw at em. The bridge is very responsive and muscular, with tight percussive chugs that rival the m6, dsonic or black winter bridge. The bridge has a cutting sound that's perfect for death metal, etc due to the snarling midrange/upper mids. The closest approximation would be the d-sonic's midrange. The highs are present and offer extra cut without being overly bright through my setup/guitar. The bridge is nowhere near as stiff feeling as the m6, so it works well for lead work, especially if you want a more cutting solo sound. Sweeps are easy though not as smooth sounding as they are with the neck. Chugs/trem picking is a breeze with this pickup.
The warmth and liquidy smoothness of the neck pickup makes it great for lead work like sweeps/legato, etc. The neck is bassier than the bridge pickup (partially due to location) and equally as responsive/tight. It can get an almost flute like quality depending on the riff played. Lows are big, mids are smooth and not spiky, the high end is warm but not muddy in my setup/guitar.
Both pickups clean up well, with the neck offering warmer jazzy cleans if you roll off the volume knob in this guitar and the bridge offering brighter almost single coil like tones. both pickups together overwhelms the neck pickup and you end with a very slightly warmer version of the bridge pickup sound.
If you're looking for a set of pickups that absolutely destroy anything in their path, these should be right up your alley.

Adam put real carbon fiber tops over the bobbins for me and they look so killer:











20180331_124735 by al b, on Flickr


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Hellfire video is up.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

current lineup:
balaguer feral/evergreen set
guitarmory atlas set
guitarmory patriot set
dominger rider bridge
bill lawrence l500xl bridge
motor city afwayu (underwound)
darkmoon nemesis bridge
dimarzio illuminator bridge
dimarzio imperium bridge
duncan full shred bridge
duncan sh16 59/custom hybrid
bkp brute force bridge


----------



## KnightBrolaire

bonus clip of the elysian hellfires:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhG_S0WgtX_/?hl=en&taken-by=knightbrolaire


----------



## metallifan3091

Any plans to do any Mojotones or the DiMarzio Imperium?

EDIT: Derp. Just saw the Imperium on your list. Looking forward to that as I love Dave's guitar tones with Revocation.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

metallifan3091 said:


> Any plans to do any Mojotones or the DiMarzio Imperium?
> 
> EDIT: Derp. Just saw the Imperium on your list. Looking forward to that as I love Dave's guitar tones with Revocation.


yeah I'm looking into trying either the pw hornet or the black magic pickups. it'll be a while, gotta get through a pile of other pickups first


----------



## gunch

Your take on the hellfires sounds really appealing to me can’t wait for the vid 

I have dragon fire screamers in my ec1k right now based on your recommendation


----------



## KnightBrolaire

silverabyss said:


> Your take on the hellfires sounds really appealing to me can’t wait for the vid
> 
> I have dragon fire screamers in my ec1k right now based on your recommendation


I posted the hellfire video like 2 weeks ago 
Glad you like the screamers, I really love the neck pickup from them.


----------



## gunch

KnightBrolaire said:


> I posted the hellfire video like 2 weeks ago
> Glad you like the screamers, I really love the neck pickup from them.



Whoops I thought it was coming_ after_ the stockholm video wow I'm dumb I didn't even scroll up to see it there embedded on the page


----------



## KnightBrolaire

thoughts on illuminator bridge:
Muscular, responsive low end. It tracks really well, no flub, though I could see how some people find it thin with non-mesa amps. Chugs/trem picking is super easy with it. Mids are growly in my setup (kind of similar to the impulse or d-sonic). Highs are definitely present and this pickup fucking screams if you want it to. Pinch harmonics are super easy. it works for leads and sweeps but it's a bit harsh for sweeps imo. cleans are great, with a bit of high end chime. 
It works quite well for thrash/ black metal/iron maiden/hair metal and whatever else you want to throw at it. The overall voicing definitely reminds me of the d-sonic, but I prefer the more cutting tone that the d-sonic has.

Anyways here's the demo vid. Sorry about the flubs, I should have warmed up before shooting this.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some extra clips of the illuminator bridge:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1o52a5lh648hxie/AAB0yhn-emi2tzIBpLgk9qfua?dl=0


----------



## KnightBrolaire

got a deal on a dimarzio dominion so I installed it today.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on *dominion* bridge
It's an excellent pickup for rhythm work and is tight/responsive enough for tech death or such but not so tight that you can't play other stuff like some doom/blues if you want. 
it's a bit thicker sounding than the illuminator and has more mids, but it's still a tight and relatively clear pickup. Lead work is totally viable with it, pinch harmonics are super easy to hit with it, chugs/palm mutes are tight and percussive. I put my guitar in G#F#BEG#C# (basically mastodon tuning scheme but lower) and every note was still clear through the mk4. the f30 and kemper also handled it really well. Low end is very responsive and tracks really well. mids are pretty snarly and the pickup is pretty aggressive sounding under high gain. It's not as cutting as say the d-sonic but the high end is definitely cutting through my rig/guitar. The high end isn't super warm. 
the cleans are pretty good and rolling off the volume knob cleans up the pickup quite well. 
The very mid centric voicing might not work with some rigs but damn does it work with a boogie.


----------



## KnightBrolaire




----------



## Bearitone

Any plans to try the Darkstar ND from Entwistle? Really curious as to how it would stack up against the HDN


----------



## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> Any plans to try the Darkstar ND from Entwistle? Really curious as to how it would stack up against the HDN


nah, not really. I've got stacks of cheap pickups that I can't even get rid of already, don't need to add more to the pile


----------



## Bearitone

KnightBrolaire said:


> nah, not really. I've got stacks of cheap pickups that I can't even get rid of already, don't need to add more to the pile


 understandable


----------



## KnightBrolaire

kindsage said:


> understandable


if you're in the market for pickups, hit me up


----------



## BigViolin

Nice, I've got a Dominion on the way and your thoughts on it make me think it will work well for me, especially the comparsion to the Illuminator, which I have in a 7 and like.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

BigViolin said:


> Nice, I've got a Dominion on the way and your thoughts on it make me think it will work well for me, especially the comparsion to the Illuminator, which I have in a 7 and like.


I was expecting the dominion to be thicker/muddier like the super distortion 3 (since mark from LoG doesn't exactly have the most cutting tone). I was very pleasantly surprised by it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on the guitarmory patriot set:
bridge*: This pickup rips. It's got a bigger low end, but it tracks really well and has an excellent chunk/percussive sound to chugs/trem picking. The midrange reminds me of the black winter bridge or impulse, where it has some snarl and some growl present instead of accentuating one area of the mids excessively. The high end is cutting but not too bright in my guitar/rig. Pinch harmonics are an absolute breeze, legato and smooth sounding sweeps are doable but not this pickup's forte imo. The patriot bridge excels at cutting/aggressive soloing. 
*neck:* It has a spanky kind of coil split/single coil feel to it that works really well for chicken pickin/funky rhythms. Sweeps/legato/lead work have a smooth kind of flute like quality almost like the dragonfire screamer neck. It's a very pleasant and musical sounding neck pickup. It doesn't seem to mesh with the bridge pickup volume wise though, and it needs a fair bit of gain to really saturate.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Patriot bridge demo is up. Neck pickup will get a demo at a later time since it wasn't working correctly for filming.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

made some extra patriot clips. the bridge just crushes with my mkiv and kemper
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cu1nwtvqiu2pysz/AADUcNGk-0uK-9PCCNMGCZlya?dl=0


----------



## KnightBrolaire

current lineup:
PRS metal \m/ bridge and dimarzio liquifire neck (currently installed)
dominger rider bridge
motor city underwound afwayu bridge
duncan distortion bridge
balaguer feral/evergreen set
elysian hot modern set
I'll post my thoughts on the metal/liquifire after I spend some more time with them in this guitar.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*initial thoughts on the PRS metal bridge/liquifire neck: *
The \m/etal is pretty high output with a good amount of bass so it sounds massive, but it's responsive enough to not flub out through my rig. The low end is tight/percussive enough that you can chug and trem pick with no problem on it. Pick harmonics spring from every note if you want them to. The mid range has a bit of snarl similar to say the nailbomb and works well for 70s/80s metal and even more modern stuff (boosting it gives it extra snarl to help cut through the mix). It's a bit too dense sounding for super technical riffing imo, but it more than holds up for most other genres I threw at it. Lead work is viable with it, but it'll be kind of cutting, so if you're really looking for a bridge pickup that's got smooth leads I'd suggest looking elsewhere. 
It really excels for big thick butt rock chords or doomy/sludgy stuff due to the slightly bigger low end. The midrange and high end offer enough cut to really get a great 80s metal/thrash tone too.
Cleans are surprisingly good. The crunch tones are great for slide guitar/blues/some ac/dc or other classic rock. The high end is a bit bright in my rig, so I wouldn't really want to try this pickup in a brighter sounding guitar (it'd probably be icepicky). Rolling of the vol/tone knob helps with mitigating the brightness. It has good overall clarity though it slightly smears chords due to the thicker voicing. Controlling the bass could be a problem with some amps.

The liquifire is one of my favorite neck pickups next to the cold sweat. It's oh so smooth under high gain and gives me a nice round/liquidy tone when sweeping/doing legato/etc. It's warm through my boogies, but I would guess that in even darker amps or guitars it'd be considered muddy. The cleans are good for mellow jazzy stuff or if you need a warmer flute-like blues sound (ie eric johnson). It's got a fair amount of output since it holds up well against the \m/etal bridge. I find the two of them pair quite well and can cover a lot of ground if need be.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

PRS metal/liquifire demo is up. I'll have some extra clips up later in the week


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*underwound motor city afwayu bridge is installed. Initial thoughts on it:* the pickup has a beefy low end with great response/percussiveness. It's not super tight/stiff like the m6 or aftermath, but it's as least as tight on the low end as the black winter imo. there's a nice bloom to the low end when doing trem picking/chugs (which are very easy with this pickup). The midrange is growly, with some nailbomb like very mild wah vibes popping up on chords (it's not unpleasant like the juggernaut's wah voice is though). The high end is very cutting in this guitar, and the overall voice feels aggressive and BIGGG (think Jerry Cantrell's tone on Stone). It's a bit dense sounding for super technical stuff, but does well for most everything else I've tried besides super modern tones like Monuments or periphery stuff. Pinch harmonics fly off the fretboard with this pickup. Lead work is very viable and can range from a nice mellow almost flute like sound (if you roll of the vol/tone knobs a decent amount) to brash cutting Lynch esque leads. Clarity is excellent even in drop b or lower. Given the price point for the pickup, I'd say it more than competes with BKP or other boutique brands.


----------



## Ji Sung

Have you thought about trying Lollar Imperials?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Ji Sung said:


> Have you thought about trying Lollar Imperials?


Not really, I have a backlog of pickups to get through already.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I filmed the afwayu demo but I think the tubes are going in my f30.
I'll reshoot it once I change out the tubes,


----------



## KnightBrolaire

one of the tubes wasn't properly seated, but I think I'm going to have to replace them anyways.
the demo will give you a little bit of an idea how they sound through my rig. I'll post up some kemper clips later.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

had to change out a preamp tube as well, which finally showed up. I'll have a proper demo of the afwayu up later.


----------



## MatiasTolkki

KnightBrolaire said:


> d-sonic: I really like this pickup. it's very beefy sounding in this guitar. It's tight on the low end and still has a pretty clear midrange/high end for how thick it sounds. It has more than enough cut to play stuff like gojira or morbid angel, while being thick enough for down/crowbar/sludgier riffage. I've currently got the bar towards the bridge so it's bright but not horribly so in this guitar. video will be up tomorrow.



How do you think the D sonic would sound playing good old traditional metal/power metal?


----------



## MatiasTolkki

KnightBrolaire said:


> initial thoughts on elysian hellfires: they've got a lot of output but manage to stay quite clear no matter how much gain I throw at em. The bridge is very responsive and muscular, with tight percussive chugs that rival the m6, dsonic or black winter bridge. The bridge has a cutting sound that's perfect for death metal, etc due to the snarling midrange/upper mids. The closest approximation would be the d-sonic's midrange. The highs are present and offer extra cut without being overly bright through my setup/guitar. The bridge is nowhere near as stiff feeling as the m6, so it works well for lead work, especially if you want a more cutting solo sound. Sweeps are easy though not as smooth sounding as they are with the neck. Chugs/trem picking is a breeze with this pickup.
> The warmth and liquidy smoothness of the neck pickup makes it great for lead work like sweeps/legato, etc. The neck is bassier than the bridge pickup (partially due to location) and equally as responsive/tight. It can get an almost flute like quality depending on the riff played. Lows are big, mids are smooth and not spiky, the high end is warm but not muddy in my setup/guitar.
> Both pickups clean up well, with the neck offering warmer jazzy cleans if you roll off the volume knob in this guitar and the bridge offering brighter almost single coil like tones. both pickups together overwhelms the neck pickup and you end with a very slightly warmer version of the bridge pickup sound.
> If you're looking for a set of pickups that absolutely destroy anything in their path, these should be right up your alley.
> 
> Adam put real carbon fiber tops over the bobbins for me and they look so killer:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20180331_124735 by al b, on Flickr



Would you call these heavy hitters that are a jack of all trades kinda pup? Did the bridge have nice boomy low end?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

MatiasTolkki said:


> How do you think the D sonic would sound playing good old traditional metal/power metal?


it can definitely do old school metal. I guess you didn't watch my demo.


MatiasTolkki said:


> Would you call these heavy hitters that are a jack of all trades kinda pup? Did the bridge have nice boomy low end?


watch my demo. no, definitely not a boomy low end.


----------



## MatiasTolkki

KnightBrolaire said:


> it can definitely do old school metal. I guess you didn't watch my demo.
> 
> watch my demo. no, definitely not a boomy low end.



I watched part of both of them, so many pups i got interested in that I wanted to jump around and get quick snippets of all of them  Also, Youtube compresses the hell out of videos so having a direct response from the person in the room works better imo. That's why I asked 

Those entwhistle nemesis budget pups interested me as well.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

MatiasTolkki said:


> I watched part of both of them, so many pups i got interested in that I wanted to jump around and get quick snippets of all of them  Also, Youtube compresses the hell out of videos so having a direct response from the person in the room works better imo. That's why I asked
> 
> Those entwhistle nemesis budget pups interested me as well.


youtube does compress the vids, but since I used the same guitar/strings/amp settings/riffs (for the most part) for all of em, it's about as good of an objective baseline comparison as I can give. The written descriptions I give were my impression of them in the room.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

another preamp tube seems dead. afwayu demo is on hold til I get another preamp tube in it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

an afwayu clip with my mk3. 
https://app.box.com/s/ocdxwds7n7vk5t4oybelamuci9so0wfw


----------



## KnightBrolaire

another afwayu clip. Listen to that growl and grind mmmmmm
https://app.box.com/s/8drmzrpgxwp9qgt9c0qcdtos19rft3og


----------



## KnightBrolaire

still waiting on the amp to be repaired. If there's any interest I can start providing MK3 DIs with every demo from now on.

tentative demo list:
MCP afwayu bridge
duncan distortion bridge
dominger rider bridge
BLUSA L500xl bridge
Warman Quadrail bridge
oil city blackbird bridge
bkp true grit bridge
balaguer feral/evergreen set
guitarmory atlas set
mojotone tomahawk/hornet set
dunable grizzly set
bkp cold sweat set


----------



## Kyle Jordan

Lundgen Black Heavens in 6 or 8 would be awesome too.

Speaking of Lundgren, mind if I ask you a couple of questions? I'm trying to make sure I have a bit of a backup plan in place in case the Open Core 8s don't work out the way I want. With you having played the M8, how would you say it compare to the Fluence Classics for clarity and definition? Tightness is appreciated, but I've found that it's far easier to tighten up a pickup/guitar than it is to get it clearer and more defined with other gear.

I also dug your Elysian 8 sting demos.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Kyle Jordan said:


> Lundgen Black Heavens in 6 or 8 would be awesome too.
> 
> Speaking of Lundgren, mind if I ask you a couple of questions? I'm trying to make sure I have a bit of a backup plan in place in case the Open Core 8s don't work out the way I want. With you having played the M8, how would you say it compare to the Fluence Classics for clarity and definition? Tightness is appreciated, but I've found that it's far easier to tighten up a pickup/guitar than it is to get it clearer and more defined with other gear.
> 
> I also dug your Elysian 8 sting demos.


i want to check out the black heavens at some point.
for 8 strings i've yet to find anything clearer than the elysian trident/goliath sets besides the lace xbar. i haven't tested the fluence classics yet. the m8 is a great pickup for most metal rhythm work, but doesn't quite hold up clarity wise for big extended chords. if you're not doing much of those, it's a great pickup.


----------



## Kyle Jordan

Excellent. I was thinking of going with Lundgrens as the first backup, but I think I'll drop Elysian an email and see what he recommends for my criteria.

Thank you for the feedback.


----------



## BrutalRob

Really curious for when you check out the guitarmory atlas and share your thoughts about them.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

BrutalRob said:


> Really curious for when you check out the guitarmory atlas and share your thoughts about them.


It'll be a while before I test those, but I've heard good things about that set. supposedly it's based off the duncan black winter, but we'll see.


----------



## BrutalRob

Well the more interested i am in how you would compare them to the patriots, iirc you found them to be somewhat similar to the black winters, too.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

BrutalRob said:


> Well the more interested i am in how you would compare them to the patriots, iirc you found them to be somewhat similar to the black winters, too.


The patriot isn't super similar to the black winter, they share some characteristics like both have pretty tight low ends and relatively balanced midranges, but the patriot growls a bit more whereas the blk winter snarls a little bit more. The patriot bridge also has more low end and high end which can make it harder to tame. The black winter bridge is more balanced eq wise imo. 
The black winters also had slightly better cleans and worked better for medium gain stuff imo. 
I have a black winter bridge sitting around that I took out of my dc600, so I'll throw up a demo of that at some point and let you hear the difference yourself.


----------



## Carl Kolchak

Any chance of demoing a Gibson pup or two?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Carl Kolchak said:


> Any chance of demoing a Gibson pup or two?


maybe, but it'll be quite a while before i do.
I'm going to look into the 500t or the 498t


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Finally got the amp back from the tech. I'll have the MCP afwayu demo up later tonight.


----------



## DudeManBrother

KnightBrolaire said:


> Finally got the amp back from the tech. I'll have the MCP afwayu demo up later tonight.


What was the issue with the amp?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> What was the issue with the amp?


tech said there were some cold solder joints (which I never saw) and that all of the tubes I installed tested way below what they should be at, so he put in some new power and preamp tubes.


----------



## DudeManBrother

Shitty. That’s what I find too with most of the Boogies. I just touch up every damn joint I can find when they cut out like yours was. Also sucks about the new tubes being garbage. It would be nice if a decent modern tube tester was available in the $150 range. At least it’s sorted though


----------



## KnightBrolaire

mcp afwayu demo is up, either I'm going crazy or the tech didn't fix shit


----------



## DudeManBrother

Yeah it still shorting to ground somewhere. Something is barely brushing a ground path from the sound of it, or he missed the cracked solder joint. I’ve scratched my head on a few old Mesa’s trying to track this fault.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> Yeah it still shorting to ground somewhere. Something is barely brushing a ground path from the sound of it, or he missed the cracked solder joint. I’ve scratched my head on a few old Mesa’s trying to track this fault.


I pulled apart the amp and saw some oxidizing connections on the input jack and a few other places but no cold or cracked solder joints..The tech gave me a 3 month warranty if I had any issues, so I might have to drop it off with him again


----------



## DudeManBrother

Yeah I refloat all of those. I’ve fixed most of them that way. I’ve never actually seen the cracks, but once I go through and float every browned spot, and the main ground that runs across the pots, it usually fixes the issue. Good thing it’s under warranty though. Let him sort it out haha


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> Yeah I refloat all of those. I’ve fixed most of them that way. I’ve never actually seen the cracks, but once I go through and float every browned spot, and the main ground that runs across the pots, it usually fixes the issue. Good thing it’s under warranty though. Let him sort it out haha


 I'm kind of pissed that he had the fucking amp for a month and didn't fix the main issue. It's only on the high gain channels which makes me think it's something to do with the pots or something.


----------



## DudeManBrother

KnightBrolaire said:


> I'm kind of pissed that he had the fucking amp for a month and didn't fix the main issue. It's only on the high gain channels which makes me think it's something to do with the pots or something.


Shitty. I bet it sat untouched for the whole month, and he finally pulled it out and looked at it for 1 hour. 

I had a 50 cal once that cut the lead channel out completely. The clean worked perfectly, but when you pulled the pot for lead channel nothing would happen. I ended up touching up a bunch of solder joints, did a cap job, and replaced a few resistors that were getting overheated from being on the board, still didn’t fix it. Touched up the ground that runs across the pots and bam, worked like a champ. Same thing with a DC5; I hit that ground first and it fixed it. 

It’s obviously not always the fix, but finding reliable schematics with accurate values for those old Boogies is difficult, so the issues can be a bitch to trace. And its stupid how tough those boards can be to get out haha.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> Shitty. I bet it sat untouched for the whole month, and he finally pulled it out and looked at it for 1 hour.
> 
> I had a 50 cal once that cut the lead channel out completely. The clean worked perfectly, but when you pulled the pot for lead channel nothing would happen. I ended up touching up a bunch of solder joints, did a cap job, and replaced a few resistors that were getting overheated from being on the board, still didn’t fix it. Touched up the ground that runs across the pots and bam, worked like a champ. Same thing with a DC5; I hit that ground first and it fixed it.
> 
> It’s obviously not always the fix, but finding reliable schematics with accurate values for those old Boogies is difficult, so the issues can be a bitch to trace. And its stupid how tough those boards can be to get out haha.


I just tested the amp in a different outlet to see if the voltage was a problem (which it shouldn't be, I used that outlet for years without any issues). I also tested another guitar through it and it's still getting the volume fade. Back to the fuckin tech it goes, he better fix this shit.


----------



## matrx10503

Hello, OP (great thread) and all.
Quick face value question, which Entwistle pickup is "closest" to SD Blackouts.
The Dark Star ND or HDN?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

matrx10503 said:


> Hello, OP (great thread) and all.
> Quick face value question, which Entwistle pickup is "closest" to SD Blackouts.
> The Dark Star ND or HDN?


I haven't tried the dark star, and my experience with blackouts is pretty limited. Personally from what little I've played with the original blackouts, they sound absolutely atrocious. Very high output with terrible clarity. They sounded like mud city.
The HDN is nothing like that, besides the high output portion. It has very good clarity and is relatively versatile sounding. The cleans aren't amazing but they're more than serviceable.


----------



## matrx10503

KnightBrolaire said:


> I haven't tried the dark star, and my experience with blackouts is pretty limited. Personally from what little I've played with the original blackouts, they sound absolutely atrocious. Very high output with terrible clarity. They sounded like mud city.
> The HDN is nothing like that, besides the high output portion. It has very good clarity and is relatively versatile sounding. The cleans aren't amazing but they're more than serviceable.



Without giving a full page of backstory of why I'm looking for a Blackout alternative...

This was my basic standard of judgement of why I was leaning toward the Blackout sound. When listened in sequence.
Overall Custom 5 is my most favorite, but I don't need another "all around" pickup. I have a similar pickup in my Ibanez, which is my all around/all genre guitar.
I don't care for particularly for cleans, as I'm turning my Jackson into a full shred/metal guitar so it will play light leads/rhythm mostly.

I look at the Blackouts like this. It is built off the foundation of the most famous metal active, EMG 81. But has a different and a more modern focus sound (more compressed, articulate, powerful but not as raw analog sterile unhinged as EMGs.)

I figure the HDM will give me most of my desires like the Blackouts but added sounds benefits. powerful rhythm, note articulate, can go low enough and stay tight enough, chuggy enough to play modern, proggy melodic metal, and thrash-esque. And regular Sabbath like heavy metal stuff.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

matrx10503 said:


> Without giving a full page of backstory of why I'm looking for a Blackout alternative...
> 
> This was my basic standard of judgement of why I was leaning toward the Blackout sound. When listened in sequence.
> Overall Custom 5 is my most favorite, but I don't need another "all around" pickup. I have a similar pickup in my Ibanez, which is my all around/all genre guitar.
> I don't care for particularly for cleans, as I'm turning my Jackson into a full shred/metal guitar so it will play light leads/rhythm mostly.
> 
> I look at the Blackouts like this. It is built off the foundation of the most famous metal active, EMG 81. But has a different and a more modern focus sound (more compressed, articulate, powerful but not as raw analog sterile unhinged as EMGs.)
> 
> I figure the HDM will give me most of my desires like the Blackouts but added sounds benefits. powerful rhythm, note articulate, can go low enough and stay tight enough, chuggy enough to play modern, proggy melodic metal, and thrash-esque. And regular Sabbath like heavy metal stuff.



In that case, I'd still grab the HDN. Hell, grab an HDN and a darkstar, they're cheap pickups but entwistle makes pickups that punch far above their pricepoint imo. Worst case you're only out 30$ or so.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

here's the big folder full of MCP Afwayu clips and DIs: 
https://app.box.com/s/fhma1bfyl0e7rp8azu91xubjrsw6nqt4

Once I get my F30 back from the tech I'll post up the video from that just to keep things consistent with the other pickups I've tested.


----------



## SpherE22

@KnightBrolaire what would you recommend for 7 string slanted pickups in a custom build? I reeeeeallly want the alpha omega's but duncan can't make them slanted. They're perfect for me aside wanting for a touch more output on the bridge.

I'm looking at the nailbomb as my alternative because they seem to have similar output and eq curves from their websites. Hate fluences and active pups. Makes looking for slanted pickups alot harder...

What would you recommend as a lover of the A/O's yourself?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

SpherE22 said:


> @KnightBrolaire what would you recommend for 7 string slanted pickups in a custom build? I reeeeeallly want the alpha omega's but duncan can't make them slanted. They're perfect for me aside wanting for a touch more output on the bridge.
> 
> I'm looking at the nailbomb as my alternative because they seem to have similar output and eq curves from their websites. Hate fluences and active pups. Makes looking for slanted pickups alot harder...
> 
> What would you recommend as a lover of the A/O's yourself?


nailbomb is nothing like the ao set in terms of the midrange. The Omega is more growly/snarly, the nailbomb is more vocal/almost cocked wah esque instead of snarly. The low end of the nailbomb is pretty substantial compared to the omega ime, but the ceramic version would likely mitigate that...
If you want to stick with BKP then I'd recommend the black dog or impulse. The black dog has a snarly midrange and it's lower output, which gives it better cleans/split sounds. It still sounds very aggressive through a high gain amp, so don't let the output fool you. I find with 7+ strings that lower-medium output pickups tend to deliver the best results for across the board clarity. The only quibble I have with the black dog is the low end is a bit less responsive than I normally like.
If you really want a higher output pickup then maybe go with the impulse set. It has a more growly midrange with a touch of snarl (not to the extent of the black dog though) and does a number of tones well (from modern metal/death metal to blues/jazz if need be). They're fantastic pickups imo.

6 string vid of black dog:
6 string vid of impulses: 
6 string nailbomb vid: 
8 string clips of black dog:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bgf0cqqoevxi46/BlkDogMishmash.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kile6q5nypv7k7m/Black Dog Medley.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d1fw42rqz69lgy7/AABiCZfo-RrGWMThJVrXPaQwa?dl=0

Email the guys at bkp to see what they think as well, but I feel like the nailbomb is not what you want for that snarl/growl in the midrange.


If you want the absolute closest you can get, get an overwound pegasus with a ceramic magnets/hex bolts. That would put you super close to the sound of the omega. Hell, even just a ceramic pegasus is pretty close. Here's an 8 string comparison test of the pegasus/ceramic pegasus/omega I did:
http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/ceramic-pegasus-vs-omega-comparison.322708/

If none of those options interest you, I can recommend some other brands/pickups.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Tentative order of pickups I'm going to demo. All demos henceforth will have DIs (guitar straight into interface/DAW) using standardized riffs to make comparison easier.
MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit bridge
Oil City Blackbird b
Lundgren Black Heaven set
Dominger Rider b
Rautia Ratbucker b
Elysian Trident I set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set


----------



## diagrammatiks

Is motor city pickups still winding? They have no dealers anymore it seems? Are they only direct order now


----------



## KnightBrolaire

diagrammatiks said:


> Is motor city pickups still winding? They have no dealers anymore it seems? Are they only direct order now


he's still making pickups, but it's direct order through his website now. that's how I got my afwayu. I got the dragon suit off reverb


----------



## BigViolin

Woo Hoo! Black Heavens coming up!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Updated testing list (now including the 59/Custom hybrid and the nazgul):
MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit bridge
Oil City Blackbird b
Lundgren Black Heaven set
Dominger Rider b
Rautia Ratbucker b
Elysian Trident I set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set


----------



## diagrammatiks

How do the brute force compare to the regular bkp pups? Any they are closest too?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

diagrammatiks said:


> How do the brute force compare to the regular bkp pups? Any they are closest too?


zimbloth told me the brute force is warpig esque


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Updated testing list (now including the dimebucker set and alnico warpig):
MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit bridge
Oil City Blackbird b
Lundgren Black Heaven set
Dominger Rider b
Rautia Ratbucker b
Elysian Trident I set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set


----------



## KnightBrolaire

updated zip folder with all the afwayu clips, DIs included:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ceq7qpvme3vt7ee/fyuclips.zip/file


----------



## Iron1

Are all the vids on your YouTube channel? I can only find a handful, then a pile of gamer vids...


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Are all the vids on your YouTube channel? I can only find a handful, then a pile of gamer vids...


yep, either go scroll through the thread to the individual vids, or all of my demo vids (including stuff that's not part of the shootout) can be found in the gear demo playlist on my youtube page.


----------



## gunch

So do you have like a top 4-5 that you absolutely would recommend?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> So do you have like a top 4-5 that you absolutely would recommend?


top 4 (currently):
MCP afwayu
Elysian Hellfires
bkp impulses
lundgren m6

Honestly I could recommend more, but those have been pickups that I know for a fact that I'm going to keep.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> top 4 (currently):
> MCP afwayu
> Elysian Hellfires
> bkp impulses
> lundgren m6
> 
> Honestly I could recommend more, but those have been pickups that I know for a fact that I'm going to keep.




Are you planning one forte Elysian Tridents & Trident IIs?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Are you planning one forte Elysian Tridents & Trident IIs?


yeah I'll have demos of the trident I and II sets at some point


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I'm sick of waiting for my F30 to get out of the shop, so all future clips will be with my mk3/fsm/100p/UL. I'll take pics of my current settings and will keep them the same throughout the duration of the shootout. DIs will be provided as well. This isn't ideal as I'd hoped to be able to continue this shootout with the same amp as previous iterations, but this way you guys will get a better idea of the overall voicing of the pickups and see how they react to multiple amps.

Updated testing list (now including Elysian Trident II ceramic set):
MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit bridge
Oil City Blackbird b
Lundgren Black Heaven set
Dominger Rider b
Rautia Ratbucker b
Elysian Trident I set
Elysian Trident II ceramic set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> Updated testing list (now including Elysian Trident II ceramic set):



Looking forward to that one.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Welp the amp tech still has my fuckin f30, so here's some MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit DIs in the mean time: https://www.mediafire.com/file/geihcpo8bk7bizl/dragonsuit.zip/file


----------



## MAJ Meadows SF

You're completely mad. Too many pickups . LOL. For the Black Winters are you doing magnet swaps? I ended up ordering/acquiring separate pickups for 7 string comparisons. I'm still loving the AV the most. It just sounds pleasing to me. Probably because it suits the white limba bodied guitar it's in; it's definitely a darker pickup. I bought a KM7 just to do pickup swaps, but it's a bitch to solder that push/pull switch. I need to swap that pot. I quite after one change, which was the A8 BW. It's out of control, and I don't know if swamp ash suits it best. Still need to get the Ceramic BW in there too. The custom BW SD made for the Daemoness build is a BE with some Nazgul voicing, not a full hybrid. I've never been 100% happy with it but it's so unique I just leave it in there (plus the look with the covers is essential to the build). It is awesome, basically all the BW character with some added mids and highs that almost thin out the upper strings. Almost out of balance but too good in the low end and riff department to swap. I remember your input on the A8; love to hear all three!

I got another one to add to your list: Avedissian Railsplitter. I have it in the Chuck Stealth and haven't changed it in two years. It does early 90s OSDM perfectly and various forms of Doom. If it's good enough for Pallbearer it's good enough for me. It's way smoother and more balanced than the X2N, so it adjusts to whatever genre of metal and rock much easier, IMO. Super high quality pickup, and worth a shot for sure. As if you don't have enough to do.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

MAJ Meadows SF said:


> You're completely mad. Too many pickups . LOL. For the Black Winters are you doing magnet swaps? I ended up ordering/acquiring separate pickups for 7 string comparisons. I'm still loving the AV the most. It just sounds pleasing to me. Probably because it suits the white limba bodied guitar it's in; it's definitely a darker pickup. I bought a KM7 just to do pickup swaps, but it's a bitch to solder that push/pull switch. I need to swap that pot. I quite after one change, which was the A8 BW. It's out of control, and I don't know if swamp ash suits it best. Still need to get the Ceramic BW in there too. The custom BW SD made for the Daemoness build is a BE with some Nazgul voicing, not a full hybrid. I've never been 100% happy with it but it's so unique I just leave it in there (plus the look with the covers is essential to the build). It is awesome, basically all the BW character with some added mids and highs that almost thin out the upper strings. Almost out of balance but too good in the low end and riff department to swap. I remember your input on the A8; love to hear all three!
> 
> I got another one to add to your list: Avedissian Railsplitter. I have it in the Chuck Stealth and haven't changed it in two years. It does early 90s OSDM perfectly and various forms of Doom. If it's good enough for Pallbearer it's good enough for me. It's way smoother and more balanced than the X2N, so it adjusts to whatever genre of metal and rock much easier, IMO. Super high quality pickup, and worth a shot for sure. As if you don't have enough to do.


Hahha yeah, I started this thread because I was fucking sick of seeing "comparisons" with different guitars, different settings, etc. I just wanted to minimize variables as much as possible and help other people make a slightly more informed choice when buying pickups. But really I just wanted to try a shitload of pickups in the same guitar 
I've tested/posted before about the A5 and A8 versions of the black winter over in the BW worship thread before, but I wanted to do an updated comparison of them against the other pickups I've tried. The Skadi (A5) BW was my favorite version in a bright guitar since it reduces some high end and the hair that can develop in the high end with the ceramic mag. I might try an A2 version of the BW at some point. After that I might contact the custom shop about a custom5/BW hybrid or something.
This is an old comparison clip of the regular BW (unboosted then boosted with a TS) vs A8 (unboosted then ts boosted) vs A5 (unboosted then ts boosted):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tmbv3a7aqr0o4jw/kaijiujitsu_a5_a8_ceramic mag comparison.mp3?dl=0
Old demo vids of the Nuclear winter/Skadi



Avedissian makes good pickups. I had the Avedissian scythe in my 8 string. Pallbearer were using the scythe for quite a while iirc. It was a bit squishy feeling in the low end for my taste, but was great for doom/sludge riffage, just not as tight or clear as I'd like for techy/faster death metal imo. I'll check out the railsplitter once I get through all these other pickups


----------



## LeviathanKiller

KnightBrolaire said:


> Updated testing list (now including Elysian Trident II ceramic set)



I just got these and they're absolutely killer


----------



## KnightBrolaire

LeviathanKiller said:


> I just got these and they're absolutely killer


yeah they are.


----------



## Iron1

LeviathanKiller said:


> I just got these and they're absolutely killer





KnightBrolaire said:


> yeah they are.



Can ya share some recordings? Video or otherwise?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Can ya share some recordings? Video or otherwise?


I don't have any 6 string clips of them currently, but I do have 8 string clips of them over in my 8 string shootout thread.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

On another note the ceramic Dragon Suit from Motor City pickups is a neat pickup, but it's pretty damn bright in this guitar.
Low end is definitely leaner than the afwayu, and is quite responsive/tight for chugs/fast riffage.
Mids have more of the typical JB vocal/wah quality, but with a dash of growl, whereas the afwayu is much grindier and growlier.
High end is very spanky and airy, almost like a single coil. Sounds great clean for jimi hendrix type riffs, or dirtied up slightly for slide riffs. Only downside is there's a fair bit of hair, just like the painkiller or the JB, so it's not a good choice if you want super pristine high end.
It still does a great job for basically any genre I've thrown at it just like the afwayu.
It can definitely deliver heavy pummeling riffage just like the afwayu even though the voicing is a bit less aggressive sounding overall.
more clips of the Dragon Suit to come in the next couple of days.


----------



## LeviathanKiller

Iron1 said:


> Can ya share some recordings? Video or otherwise?


I will soon. It's on my to-do list.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> ...I do have 8 string clips of them over in my 8 string shootout thread.



Link? I couldn't find it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Link? I couldn't find it.


shootout link was in my sig
https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/elysian-tuned-aperture-8-bridge-pickup


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> shootout link was in my sig
> https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/elysian-tuned-aperture-8-bridge-pickup



Ha, the one place i didn't look. Thx!


----------



## lurè

Is the Trident II just an higher output Trident or it has some tonal differences?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

lurè said:


> Is the Trident II just an higher output Trident or it has some tonal differences?


it's higher output, but also has even more mids so it sounds more snarly. It also has more lows and highs if you get a ceramic version versus the alnico.
elysian's website explains the differences as well


----------



## KnightBrolaire

updated testing list now includes dimarzio satchur8, evolution and duncan full shred.

currently installed:MCP Ceramic Dragon Suit bridge
Oil City Blackbird b
Lundgren Black Heaven set
Dominger Rider b
Rautia Ratbucker b
Elysian Trident I set
Elysian Trident II ceramic set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some clips of the ceramic dragon suit through my FSM and Revv 100p:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/6nzs7dm7zmbhs2n/dragonsuit1.zip/file
I'll post mk3 clips in a couple of days.


----------



## BrutalRob

Looking forward to your review of the Elysian Trident ii.
I got both the Hellfire and the Trident ii for both 6 and 7 string guitars. Really great stuff. Don´t regret selling my Lundgrens and Bare Knuckles for them at all.


----------



## Iron1

BrutalRob said:


> Looking forward to your review of the Elysian Trident ii.
> I got both the Hellfire and the Trident ii for both 6 and 7 string guitars.



I'm looking forward to those too.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Some clips I made with my Mesa MK3 and the MCP Ceramic Dragon:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ql2fl9x4r1vgalk/dragon2.zip/file

Also my F30 is finally out of the fucking shop, so I can include some "in the room vids" if people still want those.


----------



## DudeManBrother

Did he actually find the problem with the F30?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> Did he actually find the problem with the F30?


 I'll ask him what exactly he did when I go pick up the amp on Monday. He actually wanted to hang onto it for a few more days and put it through the wringer to make sure it's up to snuff. Last I talked to him he said he had to get some replacement parts from Mesa, though he didn't really specify what. He also mentioned that when he checked the signal with an oscilloscope that the waveform was cut in half or something.


----------



## DudeManBrother

Must’ve been diodes in the rectification circuit or something. I can’t really think of anything else that would cut the wave in half. Well, if you ask I’d be curious to get an update. I occasionally like to grab old malfunctioning Boogies on the cheap, and clean them up to sell for fun; so it’s always nice to hear about fixes incase I (or anyone reading) run into something similar. Glad it’s finally (hopefully) fixed though.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

A brief in the room demo (aka shitty phone demo according to gmork) of the Ceramic Dragon Suit. I can do a more in depth one if anyone's interested, otherwise I'll be moving onto the Blackbird.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Thought I'd add one more Dragon Suit clip that I made running the f30 direct with my captor/wall of sound.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kzlyvdudxr8svz2/Cdragon_F30_1.flac/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

One more off the cuff vid with the F30, using alternative more cutting settings


----------



## KnightBrolaire

"blackbird sitting in a window sill" 






You have no idea how long I've waited to make that shitty joke .

Anyways Blackbird bridge is in as you can see above, and from my quick initial test, sounds pretty good. Very clear sounding across all strings, even with stupid spider finger jazz chords. Pretty good output level since it can keep up with the liquifire easily. I'll talk about the sound more after I spend some serious time with the pickup.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Thoughts on the Oil City Blackbird bridge: It feels a bit lower output than the dragon suit though still does a great job for extreme metal riffage (and other genres). Where it beats the dragon suit is in the cleans and mid gain tones. The cleans are really nice with this pickup, there's a bit of sparkle to the high end. There seems to be a low mid nice growl similar to the afwayu or dragon suit, but with a tiny bit more upper mids and highs as well.
For djentyboiz there's good spanky sounds to be had with it as well, and you don't even need to coil split the pickup. For people not chasing djenty tones, the pickup still delivers those with ease imo. I could get some pretty tasty 80s thrash/hair metal tones and modern death metal tones out of the pickup. Hell I even got a pretty nice slide tone at one point. It's a neat pickup, hopefully the clips/DIs will convey that.

DIs/other clips will happen sometime next week, then onto the black heavens.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Blackbird DIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/4d31rfdch7baeyp/BlkbirdDIs.zip/file
half assed vid demo:

more clips to come later.


----------



## khm

KnightBrolaire said:


> Blackbird DIs:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/4d31rfdch7baeyp/BlkbirdDIs.zip/file
> half assed vid demo:
> 
> more clips to come later.




Thanks for that man, been wanting to check out the blackbirds for a while.


----------



## Choop

Thanks for doing these videos. I really liked your representations of the Duncan Custom 5 and the BKP Nailbomb quite a bit. Looking for a pickup to drop into my SG bridge position, and the Custom 5/Custom had always been an option...maybe even a Custom 8. I have a 498t in the bridge in there now that I swapped the A5 for an A8 magnet and while it did make an interesting change, I still am not super content with it in that guitar, especially compared to my V and Explorer which both have a 500t and are pretty gnarly sounding.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Choop said:


> Thanks for doing these videos. I really liked your representations of the Duncan Custom 5 and the BKP Nailbomb quite a bit. Looking for a pickup to drop into my SG bridge position, and the Custom 5/Custom had always been an option...maybe even a Custom 8. I have a 498t in the bridge in there now that I swapped the A5 for an A8 magnet and while it did make an interesting change, I still am not super content with it in that guitar, especially compared to my V and Explorer which both have a 500t and are pretty gnarly sounding.


Custom 5 is a great pickup imo, especially if you have an amp that already has a good amount of midrange, which counters the slight notch in the midrange. It unfairly gets a rep as a super scooped pickup (it's really not) and a rep as being flubby on the low end (it's not). I think it's one of the most versatile bridge pickups that seymour duncan makes by far. I can go from playing thrashy 80s type riffage to Gojira/modern death metal tones to stoner/doom/rock/whatever genre of riffage I can throw at it. 
If you want to see another custom 5 demo, here's another I made with my charvel star:


----------



## Choop

KnightBrolaire said:


> Custom 5 is a great pickup imo, especially if you have an amp that already has a good amount of midrange, which counters the slight notch in the midrange. It unfairly gets a rep as a super scooped pickup (it's really not) and a rep as being flubby on the low end (it's not). I think it's one of the most versatile bridge pickups that seymour duncan makes by far. I can go from playing thrashy 80s type riffage to Gojira/modern death metal tones to stoner/doom/rock/whatever genre of riffage I can throw at it.
> If you want to see another custom 5 demo, here's another I made with my charvel star:




Thanks for the reply! I think the Custom 5 sounds hella good! It sounds less scooped than the regular Custom. I use a Mesa Mark III and Dual Recto, so the amp choice isn't all that far off either. I'm leaning toward trying a Custom 5, and potentially just making it a Custom 8.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Choop said:


> Thanks for the reply! I think the Custom 5 sounds hella good! It sounds less scooped than the regular Custom. I use a Mesa Mark III and Dual Recto, so the amp choice isn't all that far off either. I'm leaning toward trying a Custom 5, and potentially just making it a Custom 8.


 Just try the standard custom 5 and see how you like it first. the alnico 8 mag adds in more lows and highs, which really isn't necessary, especially if you have a mark 3 and a recto lol.
I've made some custom 5 clips with my mk3 in the past, so I'll post those up as well to give you a better idea of how it plays with that amp


----------



## Choop

Yeah for sure! I guess I'd just be more curious about the C8 than anything, since the dudes at that Seymour Duncan forum say it's pretty great in SG guitars. But I do think the Custom 5 should be adequate. It would definitely be cool to still see your videos using the Mark 3!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Choop said:


> Yeah for sure! I guess I'd just be more curious about the C8 than anything, since the dudes at that Seymour Duncan forum say it's pretty great in SG guitars. But I do think the Custom 5 should be adequate. It would definitely be cool to still see your videos using the Mark 3!


Here's the MK3 clips
https://www.mediafire.com/file/173fsqqnpcm8ee1/custom5_mk3.zip/file


----------



## Choop

KnightBrolaire said:


> Here's the MK3 clips
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/173fsqqnpcm8ee1/custom5_mk3.zip/file



Wow thanks! Sounds killer, and pretty balanced on the Mark with it's midsy qualities. I'm sold on it I think as far as a SD pickup option for the SG. A Custom 5+Pearly Gates neck would probably make for a really cool combo.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Choop said:


> Wow thanks! Sounds killer, and pretty balanced on the Mark with it's midsy qualities. I'm sold on it I think as far as a SD pickup option for the SG. A Custom 5+Pearly Gates neck would probably make for a really cool combo.


Glad to help 
I've never tried the pearly gates neck.
I really enjoy the 59 neck paired with the custom 5. It's a nice kind of mellow/warm pickup that works great for shreddy leads or lead work in general. An alnico ii pro or a liquifire would also work well since they're in a similar vein imo.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Blackbird bridge medley. I used my Mesa Mk3 for it.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/3t3m4fqtdx9vgy7/blkbird_mk3_medley.flac/file
some random clips I did with fortin nameless:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/91wvt59b72cqkac/blkbird_nameless.zip/file
I might include some clips with my archon/revv if there's interest, otherwise I'm moving onto the black heavens.


----------



## Xaeldaren

KnightBrolaire said:


> Blackbird bridge medley. I used my Mesa Mk3 for it.
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/3t3m4fqtdx9vgy7/blkbird_mk3_medley.flac/file
> some random clips I did with fortin nameless:
> http://www.mediafire.com/file/91wvt59b72cqkac/blkbird_nameless.zip/file
> I might include some clips with my archon/revv if there's interest, otherwise I'm moving onto the black heavens.



I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the black heavens; it might decide what I go for for my next guitar between those, juggernauts, black dogs, and impulses.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Black Heavens are installed. I only messed with them briefly but they're very interesting. The bridge feels nowhere near as stiff as the m6 and has much better cleans. It's a lot more versatile of a bridge pickup from my initial tests/noodling. The neck pickup is very mellow/warm/smooth sounding and works wonderfully for lead tones. The M series neck always felt kind of meh to me, as it feels "colder", especially on the cleans. The middle position is the best position as it gets some chime/jangle that neither pickup really possesses. Probably the best non-split middle position I've heard from humbuckers tbh.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

black heaven DIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/2wclszr9v8ur9mi/blackheavenDIs.zip/file
some random riffage with my Mesa mk3:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/pl5477tzgu2osz6/blkhvn.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

updated Black Heaven/Mesa Mk3 clips:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/a3olq1lmehvaoj1/blkhvn.zip/file


----------



## Xaeldaren

Thanks for the test clips! The clean sounds absolutely lovely. I love the growl at arounjd 2:40 in the brootz clip. 

I'm considering the black heaven for Schecter 7-string in G# (ash body, neckthru maple/walnut/padouk), and I want something tight, very clear, medium-ish output, and very dynamic. I'm kind of stuck between this, the impulse, juggernaut, black dog. What do you think would suit that application the best? I've got the ragnaroks in a similar guitar, and I like them a lot, but I want to try something different.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Xaeldaren said:


> Thanks for the test clips! The clean sounds absolutely lovely. I love the growl at arounjd 2:40 in the brootz clip.
> 
> I'm considering the black heaven for Schecter 7-string in G# (ash body, neckthru maple/walnut/padouk), and I want something tight, very clear, medium-ish output, and very dynamic. I'm kind of stuck between this, the impulse, juggernaut, black dog. What do you think would suit that application the best? I've got the ragnaroks in a similar guitar, and I like them a lot, but I want to try something different.


I'd say go impulse. 
Impulse is the most balanced set in terms of eq and can cover a metric ton of sounds. They stay tight, have quite nice cleans, and they have a nice growl in the midrange like the black heavens as well. 
Black Heaven and Black dog sets might be too bright in that guitar, plus the black dogs are the least tight of all the options.
Juggernauts are very responsive to picking changes but the voicing is kind of weird. It has a vocal/cocked wah esque midrange and some extra low mids that can make it feel bloated in the wrong guitar. Since you already have ragnaroks I'd say skip the juggs, rags are like a tweaked hotter voicing of the juggs.


----------



## Xaeldaren

Sick. I've been going back and forth on the impulses in my head for a while, but that's really helpful. Thanks a tonne!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Xaeldaren said:


> Sick. I've been going back and forth on the impulses in my head for a while, but that's really helpful. Thanks a tonne!


no problem, I'm sure you'll enjoy the Impulses. They're great pickups.


On another note, if anyone is interested I can include some clips with my other amps using the black heavens. Otherwise I'm just going to do the F30 vid for uniformity purposes and then move onto the Dominger Rider bridge.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some black heaven riffage with my FSM.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/cib495ggnmy8ged/blkhvn_fsm_recto57+califrecto122_2.flac/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Finally did a half assed black heaven yt vid:
that fresh g string really fucked me over a few times during filming


next up is the Dominger Rider bridge.


----------



## lewis

@KnightBrolaire dont suppose somewhere in this sick thread - you have tried a dimbucker and got clips?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

lewis said:


> @KnightBrolaire dont suppose somewhere in this sick thread - you have tried a dimbucker and got clips?


nope, not yet


----------



## DudeManBrother

Everytime I hear your “clean” riff it makes me hum “loving you is easy cuz you’re beautiful dudu dudu dudu” 

Those pickups sound super tight and uncompressed. Are they alnico V? Seems like they’d rule for low tuning


----------



## KnightBrolaire

DudeManBrother said:


> Everytime I hear your “clean” riff it makes me hum “loving you is easy cuz you’re beautiful dudu dudu dudu”
> 
> Those pickups sound super tight and uncompressed. Are they alnico V? Seems like they’d rule for low tuning


they're the alnico version of the black winters, and yes they do rule for low tunings, considering that guitar is in BEADF#B and I regularly drop it to A or F# lol


----------



## DudeManBrother

Oh shit. I need to step up my pickup knowledge game haha. Well they sounded great dude. Thanks for the video


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> they're the alnico version of the black winters, and yes they do rule for low tunings, considering that guitar is in BEADF#B and I regularly drop it to A or F# lol


edit: meant black heavens


----------



## DudeManBrother

That makes way more sense haha. I was thinking that was pretty wild for Duncan to let Lundgren use his design, but hey anything’s possible.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

dominger rider bridge is installed. From initial tests it seems higher output than the black heaven bridge and has a "crispy" high end with more of an upper mid accentuation. Clarity is quite good from initial tests. cleans are solid, but not pristine. I'll write more after I've used the pickup for a while.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some random noodly clips with the dominger rider bridge through my revv 100p.
DIs will be up later this weekend
https://www.mediafire.com/file/p2wyda43x0o7xi1/domRDR_revv_rectoverx2+57x2.flac/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> some random noodly clips with the dominger rider bridge through my revv 100p.
> DIs will be up later this weekend
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/p2wyda43x0o7xi1/domRDR_revv_rectoverx2+57x2.flac/file


alternate version with different speaker setup
https://www.mediafire.com/file/cepqwwk84f8v99u/domRDR_revv_britvintcX2_57X2.flac/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

another dominger rider clip with my 100p:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/8hch9aur68dg9cx/domRDR_revv_recto57x2_medley.flac/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

final thoughts on the dominger rider bridge:
It's a more medium output pickup compared to the black heaven bridge. Cleans are actually really really nice if you just barely roll off the volume knob. Not as sparkly as the blackbird or spanky as the MCP afwayu/dragon suit but still probably one of the top 5 cleans of all the pickups I've tested. The high gain tone is a tad grittier compared to the black heaven though the aforementioned upper mid emphasis isn't anywhere as abrasive as say something like a Painkiller. It has a bit of hair on the high end but not in a really nasty way like the painkiller. The low end is pretty responsive/tight and tracks pretty quickly.  It's a cheaper less known pickup that can cover a metric ton of tonal ground, which anyone who follows this shootout knows is one of my favorite things. I love pickups that can do basically whatever you want them to do from blues to jazz to pummeling death metal.
DIs: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rnbpig3md3gwzfg/DomRdrDI.zip/file

And now onto the Rautia Ratbucker


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> final thoughts on the dominger rider bridge:
> It's a more medium output pickup compared to the black heaven bridge. Cleans are actually really really nice if you just barely roll off the volume knob. Not as sparkly as the blackbird or spanky as the MCP afwayu/dragon suit but still probably one of the top 5 cleans of all the pickups I've tested. The high gain tone is a tad grittier compared to the black heaven though the aforementioned upper mid emphasis isn't anywhere as abrasive as say something like a Painkiller. It has a bit of hair on the high end but not in a really nasty way like the painkiller. The low end is pretty responsive/tight and tracks pretty quickly. It's a cheaper less known pickup that can cover a metric ton of tonal ground, which anyone who follows this shootout knows is one of my favorite things. I love pickups that can do basically whatever you want them to do from blues to jazz to pummeling death metal.
> DIs: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rnbpig3md3gwzfg/DomRdrDI.zip/file
> 
> And now onto the Rautia Ratbucker


The belated Dominger Rider yt vid. Enjoy the shitshow lmao


----------



## KnightBrolaire

current lineup: 
Rautia Ratbucker b *Installed*
Elysian Trident I set
Elysian Hades Trident II ceramic set
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Frost Giant
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors


----------



## Adieu

KnightBrolaire said:


> The belated Dominger Rider yt vid. Enjoy the shitshow lmao




Lol @ that "landmine defusal" face while adjusting pots on the amp by like a hair.

F series Mesa, off by a milimeter & hearing MIGHT come back in a couple days....maybe?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Adieu said:


> Lol @ that "landmine defusal" face while adjusting pots on the amp by like a hair.
> 
> F series Mesa, off by a milimeter & hearing MIGHT come back in a couple days....maybe?


yeah they have a super sensitive master volume, I've definitely jumped out of my skin a couple times when I wasn't wearing hearong protection playing it. I run it loud since the amp sounds better that way. All the mesas I've had are the same way, they need to run loud.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> The belated Dominger Rider yt vid. Enjoy the shitshow lmao



a couple extra Dominger Rider clips I forgot to post.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7by8hb9cbwa5k0f/domingerRider_revv100p_lowend.flac/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/lew5fpi3vveuene/domingerRider_PVxxx_medley1.flac/file


----------



## akinari

@KnightBrolaire Top 3 favorites in the Mushok thus far? I have Entwistle HDNs in mine, but the bridge pickup is too thin and crispy sounding for the F standard tuned ubersludge I use that guitar for. The mids sound super dry and washed out and I want something with a fuller, chewier low end and less grinding, more open highs. I was thinking a 59/Custom hybrid or a Dominion might get me there.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

akinari said:


> @KnightBrolaire Top 3 favorites in the Mushok thus far? I have Entwistle HDNs in mine, but the bridge pickup is too thin and crispy sounding for the F standard tuned ubersludge I use that guitar for. The mids sound super dry and washed out and I want something with a fuller, chewier low end and less grinding, more open highs. I was thinking a 59/Custom hybrid or a Dominion might get me there.


my current top 3:
afwayu
black heavens
blackbird 

If you want a thicker/fuller sound, dominions are very good for that. same with the super distortion 3 or parallel axis distortion.


----------



## akinari

KnightBrolaire said:


> my current top 3:
> afwayu
> black heavens
> blackbird
> 
> If you want a thicker/fuller sound, dominions are very good for that. same with the super distortion 3 or parallel axis distortion.



Do the Dominions maintain a lot of clarity for stupid chords?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

akinari said:


> Do the Dominions maintain a lot of clarity for stupid chords?


yeah they have pretty good clarity. They're basically like a warmer/less sterile feeling titan/d-activator.


----------



## gunch

If you ever got your hands on one would you ever test the Cepheus 6 passive just to see how it compares to a M6


----------



## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> If you ever got your hands on one would you ever test the Cepheus 6 passive just to see how it compares to a M6


sure, but it'd be a while before I get to it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some rautia ratbucker clips.
through my peavey xxx:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/sx1wuie8yt3m8tt/ratbucker_PVXXX_br00t1.flac/file
through my archon:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/5vitvwuegypq741/ratbucker_archon_cln1.flac/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ptwmj94j9f2nu3e/ratbucker_archon_br00t1.flac/file
DIs will prob be up tomorrow.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Got busy with work/the holidays but here's the ratbucker DIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/64tq3lbpv9wcyma/ratbucker_DI.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

finally made the yt vids of the ratbucker bridge. There's 2 parts because my cat was meowing at me the whole time I tried to do the standard riffage, so I had to reshoot it


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*Current lineup *
Elysian Hades Trident II ceramic set *currently installed*
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Frost Giant
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Thoughts on the Elysian Hades Trident II pickups : Anybody who's been on here for a while knows that I absolutely love Adam's pickups. He makes super high quality pickups that offer some really unique voicings with a lot of clarity on tap. The import line is definitely on par with the custom built stuff, as they retain the excellent clarity found in the custom line. The neck pickup is very smooth and mellow, which makes it great for doing shreddy leads or jazzy riffage or anything where the bridge is too biting. It's not quite capable of the flute like Eric Johnson type lead sounds I could get out of the cold sweat or dragonfire screamer neck, but then again very few pickups are good at that particular sound. 
The Trident II bridge is capable of doing basically anything from dirty blues/70s hard rock/80s hair metal and thrash all the way up to modern death metal/djent/whatever you need. The middle position isn't anything to write home about, but the set is overall very tonally versatile imo. 
The low end on the bridge pickup is full but still quite responsive, so you can chug and trem pick to your heart's content without having to worry about flub. The neck pickup is definitely thicker and much rounder sounding, but still stays responsive as well. The mids of the bridge have a nice growl to them almost reminiscent of lundgren M series, but with more upper mids as well. The high end of the bridge is present but not sparkly/piercing so even stupid extended chords/weird spider finger jazz chords ring out clearly. In terms of output the set isn't that hot compared to the afwayu, ratbucker or blackbird.

DIs/Bonus Archetype Nolly clip of the Trident IIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/yg6t00t3j38i7el/Elysian_Hades_Trident_II_DIs.zip/file
YT Demo of the Trident IIs:

I'll probably throw up a couple more clips with my other amps when I feel like it. 


*Current lineup (BKP VHII and BLK/TRI Wildman added to list)*
Elysian Hades Trident II ceramic set *currently installed*
BL USA L500xl b
Warman Quadrail b
Guitarmory Atlas set
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman
BLK/TRI Frost Giant
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> Thoughts on the Elysian Hades Trident II pickups



Too funny you posted this last night, I just came looking to see if you had yet yesterday morning. Thx! 

Given the choice between one of these and a Black Winter, which would you choose for OSDM/Doom/Extreme metal?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Too funny you posted this last night, I just came looking to see if you had yet yesterday morning. Thx!
> 
> Given the choice between one of these and a Black Winter, which would you choose for OSDM/Doom/Extreme metal?


Depends on what kind of sound you want. These can definitely get thick and gnarly if you want them to, but they have better clarity in the mids/highs compared to the blk winter and clean up better.
They feel a lot lower output than the blk winter set so you can throw a lot more gain at them before they get mucky.
The Blk winter bridge feels thicker and a bit hairier in the high end from the start so they work really well for Doom/ODSM/At The Gated or Entombed esque riffage. The blk winter neck is woodier/far less smooth comparatively.

Both are excellent sets for metal in general, but the tridents can cover a lot more tonal ground ime.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> Depends on what kind of sound you want. These can definitely get thick and gnarly if you want them to, but they have better clarity in the mids/highs compared to the blk winter and clean up better.
> They feel a lot lower output than the blk winter set so you can throw a lot more gain at them before they get mucky.
> The Blk winter bridge feels thicker and a bit hairier in the high end from the start so they work really well for Doom/ODSM/At The Gated or Entombed esque riffage. The blk winter neck is woodier/far less smooth comparatively.
> 
> Both are excellent sets for metal in general, but the tridents can cover a lot more tonal ground ime.



Thanks for the info. This is a good example of what I write:

The Breaking (on Soundcloud)

_Although this was recorded using my HD500x and I've since graduated to a Helix Stomp which gives the guitars a much clearer sound. _

I've always been incredibly curious about the BWs and the Elysians, but only need one. And, I'm sure I could get most of, if not all, my money back out of a BW if I decided to sell it. Not so sure there would be a buyer for a used Elysian anytime soon... but, I tend to lean more towards the Elysian...


----------



## Emperoff

This fuss about the Trident IIs is making me want to swap the magnets on mine. Alnico 8 Tridents have too much mids and not enough sparkle for my taste. Maybe I'll put A5 or Ceramics and see how they behave.

They're very fat and clear pickups, and sound fantastic for leads. Very versatile set, like a Sentient/Pegasus. With a very consistent sound from string to string. The A8s should slay on ash bolt-on guitars though. A5s should theoretically be more scooped.


----------



## BrutalRob

I absolutey love my 7 String tii with ceramic magnet. Nice cutting highs, growly mids, but no mud. Also got several other sets from elysian. Great stuff


----------



## akinari

Would love to hear the L500XL and 59/Custom Hybrid next.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> This fuss about the Trident IIs is making me want to swap the magnets on mine. Alnico 8 Tridents have too much mids and not enough sparkle for my taste. Maybe I'll put A5 or Ceramics and see how they behave.
> 
> They're very fat and clear pickups, and sound fantastic for leads. Very versatile set, like a Sentient/Pegasus. With a very consistent sound from string to string. The A8s should slay on ash bolt-on guitars though. A5s should theoretically be more scooped.


Ceramic mag would bump everything up, so I 'd say go down to A5.


akinari said:


> Would love to hear the L500XL and 59/Custom Hybrid next.


Well you're in luck, the L500XL is literally next on the list that I posted 
It'll be a while for the 59/custom though.


BrutalRob said:


> I absolutey love my 7 String tii with ceramic magnet. Nice cutting highs, growly mids, but no mud. Also got several other sets from elysian. Great stuff


Yeah all the variations of tridents are great, especially in 7+ string guitars.


----------



## akinari

KnightBrolaire said:


> Well you're in luck, the L500XL is literally next on the list that I posted



Oh I had no idea they were written in order haha. Any chances you might try a Dimarzio Norton in the future? Very curious how that would sound in a baritone.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

akinari said:


> Oh I had no idea they were written in order haha. Any chances you might try a Dimarzio Norton in the future? Very curious how that would sound in a baritone.


ehh maybe. I have a lot of pickups to get through first.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's some clips of the trident IIs through my mk3 and archon:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/wqrynlrp6cg8txh/Trident_II_amp_clips.zip/file


----------



## DudeManBrother

Trident II is such a great pickup set. I am liking the Fokin Buffalo set in my newest Padalka, but the Elysians are a notch above in sound to me. I might have to get another custom set built...


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> Here's some clips of the trident IIs through my mk3 and archon:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/wqrynlrp6cg8txh/Trident_II_amp_clips.zip/file



Sounds good - just bought a Black Winter, figuring if I don't get on with it, I can sell it for about what I paid and then buy a Trident II...


----------



## KnightBrolaire

BL USA L500XL DIs/ Archetype Nolly clips:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/l0dcyfzh16xebom/L500XL-DIandclips.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Some halfassed L500XL clips with my Revv, MK3, F100, XXX, and Archon. Clean riffs are a mix of the L500XL with the Trident II neck, but it should be pretty obvious to tell which is which (trident neck is very warm/mellow).
I'll try to get the F30 demo up later today. 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/hur1xft7ism3wfl/L500XLclips.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

L500XL demo is up:

Next up is the Warman Quadrail.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> The low end on the bridge pickup is full but still quite responsive, so you can chug and trem pick to your heart's content without having to worry about flub. The neck pickup is definitely thicker and much rounder sounding, but still stays responsive as well. The mids of the bridge have a nice growl to them almost reminiscent of lundgren M series, but with more upper mids as well. The high end of the bridge is present but not sparkly/piercing so even stupid extended chords/weird spider finger jazz chords ring out clearly. In terms of output the set isn't that hot compared to the afwayu, ratbucker or blackbird.



How would you compare the TII bridge to the Black Winter bridge?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> How would you compare the TII bridge to the Black Winter bridge?


much clearer, lower output, more upper mids and snarl, less grind and hair. better cleans.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> much clearer, lower output, more upper mids and snarl, less grind and hair. better cleans.



Nice. Thanks. Ordering my TII this week.


----------



## Bearitone

Wow that L500XL sounds pretty fuckin good. 

How do you like it? What stands out about it to you?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Bearitone said:


> Wow that L500XL sounds pretty fuckin good.
> 
> How do you like it? What stands out about it to you?


It has way better cleans than I remember it having. Not as good as some boutique pickups I've tried, but for the pricepoint it kicks ass. I'll post up my detailed thoughts about the overall sound later


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> It has way better cleans than I remember it having. Not as good as some boutique pickups I've tried, but for the pricepoint it kicks ass. I'll post up my detailed thoughts about the overall sound later


 The L500XL has a relatively bright high end with a spanky almost single coil feeling at times. Low end is big but not muddy or unresponsive. It more than holds up for faster more technical riffage or looser doomy riffs if need be. Overall the mids tend to lean more towards a JB esque spike (giving that slight cocked wah sound/vowel sound for single notes) but there is a tiny bit of growl/grind as well like the afwayu . Output is I'd say medium output compared to other pickups I've run in this guitar. Clarity is excellent, even down to drop A. There is barely any muddying of extended chord voicings under high gain. It's a surprisingly versatile pickup. I could play the gamut from dirty blues/classic rock all the way to thrash/doom/sludge/death metal with it no problem.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Warman Quadrail DIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/3ka5uwrlvxq2edj/QuadrailDIs.zip/file

*Current lineup (Dimarzio Transition added)*
Guitarmory Atlas set *up next*
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
dimarzio Transition b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid
Duncan Nazgul
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
Entwistle Dark Star ND set
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman
BLK/TRI Frost Giant
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Quadrail :
This pickup is longer than other pickups I've demoed so I couldn't adjust it to where I normally set the pickups in this guitar. It's also a surprisingly low output feeling pickup with a relatively thicker sound. I had to REALLLLLLY dig into the strings to get decent distorted tones with my standard settings on my F30.
Cleans are pretty good, but nothing amazing imo. Low end is relatively thick feeling with a slower response than the L500XL. It can definitely do fast techy riffs once you pump enough gain into it, but it smears lower notes a tad. Midrange is kind of JB esque with a slight upper mid/vocal quality. High end is present and helps the pickup cut through the mix, but not in an icepicky way like say a painkiller. Overall it's a very solid pickup for the pricepoint, but I think the L500XL and Dominger Rider are better options if you're on a budget and looking for a versatile bridge pickup.


*The AMT VT drive adds high end hair to the overall sound in the demo. Personally I really like the quadrail into the VT drive and through my high gain amps like my XXX, but it just isn't a good fit for going into my F30 unboosted. If there's any interest I'll post the non-VT drive video as well.


Atlas set is up next. Probably won't be able to do a vid demo of it for a few weeks since I have to go on a business trip.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Current lineup (Dimarzio Fortitude/BKP Silo set/BKP emerald/Duncan P-rail/Guitar Madness Dirty Digit set/GM Dualpro hexrail set added)
*Guitarmory Atlas set *up next**
dimarzio fortitude b
dimarzio evo b
dimarzio satchur8 b
dimarzio Transition b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set


----------



## gunch

Your top 3 still the afwayu, trident and impulse?

Edit: I can’t read the afwayu, blackbirds and black heavens 

Maybe a different question then, if I’m going to hang out in D, C#, C and B land and not go super low would ultra modern pickups be overkill?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> Your top 3 still the afwayu, trident and impulse?
> 
> Edit: I can’t read the afwayu, blackbirds and black heavens
> 
> Maybe a different question then, if I’m going to hang out in D, C#, C and B land and not go super low would ultra modern pickups be overkill?


pretty much every pickup I've tested besides the parallel axis distortion works in B (since that's what I keep the mushok in generally) or lower. It's more a voicing/output thing rather than modern vs old school pickups. Lower output pickups with less low mids/bass tend to hold up really well for super low tunings.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> *Guitarmory Atlas set *up next**
> dimarzio fortitude b



Do you already have the Fortitude? Very curious about that one. Still waiting on my Trident to arrive, but the Fortitude might be my next one.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Do you already have the Fortitude? Very curious about that one. Still waiting on my Trident to arrive, but the Fortitude might be my next one.


Yep, just got it a few days ago.


----------



## Iron1

Have you tried one of these RailHammers yet?


----------



## Emperoff

Did you test the BKP Silos yet?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> Did you test the BKP Silos yet?


no.


Iron1 said:


> Have you tried one of these RailHammers yet?



I tested the Railhammer Chisel a while back. vid/impressions are earlier in the thread.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> no.
> 
> I tested the Railhammer Chisel a while back. vid/impressions are earlier in the thread.



Cool. I'll check it out. 

Got my custom Elysian Trident II yesterday. Haven't quite dialed it in, either height or amp-wise, but right out of the box it blows away the Black Winter it replaced. Part of my decision to buy it was your rec, so thx!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Cool. I'll check it out.
> 
> Got my custom Elysian Trident II yesterday. Haven't quite dialed it in, either height or amp-wise, but right out of the box it blows away the Black Winter it replaced. Part of my decision to buy it was your rec, so thx!


Glad to hear they're working out for you.
The tridents work really well if you pull some mids out of the amp's eq, especially with more midforward amps .


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> Glad to hear they're working out for you.
> The tridents work really well if you pull some mids out of the amp's eq, especially with more midforward amps .



I have it dialed in right now thru my HX Stomp>Uber>CaliV30 with a slightly scooped EQ. Made the guitar (finally) come to life.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Atlas set is installed.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Atlas set is installed.


Initial impressions: 
I was expecting these to be much higher output than they are. In fact, they feel lower output than the quadrail. I have to crank the gain on my Revv 100p to absurd levels (considering how much gain it has on tap) to get the kind of sound I like. The bridge pickup is very midrangey and bright with an almost single coil esque spank and pronounced upper mids for shitloads of pick attack. The neck pickup feels very warm and mellow comparatively with an almost flute like sound to lead work. The middle position is awesome though. It gives this thick and punchy sound with a dash of spank. 
Cleans are verrrry clean sounding. No sparkle or chime to them but they're comparable to the trident IIs clean or the L500xl cleans.
I'll write up more after I spend some extra time with them.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Atlas set
DIs/some amp and archetype nolly clips:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/m2k2coap1py2k2o/atlasDIsandclips.zip/file
I'll try and put up the vid demo later tonight.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Atlas demo is done. Trying something different by direct recording the f30 with my torpedo reload and using some greenback IRs. Let me know if you guys still want an in the room demo.

Part 2 with my Revv will be up tomorrow probably


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Atlas demo is done. Trying something different by direct recording the f30 with my torpedo reload and using some greenback IRs. Let me know if you guys still want an in the room demo.
> 
> Part 2 with my Revv will be up tomorrow probably



part 2 is up.


----------



## Iron1

Question: What's the noticeable difference between the Elysian Hades Tridents and the regular Trident IIs?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Question: What's the noticeable difference between the Elysian Hades Tridents and the regular Trident IIs?


not much. the hades have slightly less detailed high end. it's a pretty minute difference ime. 
as far as trident ii vs i, the ii has more output, more low end and more high end, but feels more even across the spectrum imo.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> not much. the hades have slightly less detailed high end. it's a pretty minute difference ime.
> as far as trident ii vs i, the ii has more output, more low end and more high end, but feels more even across the spectrum imo.



Thanks - considering buying a set of the Hades ones for my KM6... it has Schecter Apocalypse IVs in it, and they aren't bad, but there're not on par with the Tridents IMO.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Fortitude bridge is installed. 
DIs/neural omega clip:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/53fkojlidxeec2u/fortitudeDIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Fortitude bridge is installed.
> DIs/neural omega clip:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/53fkojlidxeec2u/fortitudeDIs.zip/file


fortitude though the nolly 5150 model:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/0165uyuxveai96b/fortitude_nolly_broot.flac/file


----------



## Xaeldaren

I'm excited to hear these when I get home for work - really looking forward to your thoughts.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

As far as my thoughts on the pickup go, I quite like it. It has a big chunky low end, but it's still responsive enough for trem picking/death metal wankery. There is a low mid bump combined with a scoop in the 600hz range (according to Dimarzio's site), which gives the pickup a muscular throaty growl, almost like the MCP Afwayu (but less grindy). It feels thick yet not bloated, even in lower tunings. Highs are very present, which further helps cut through the muck. It's not quite icepicky high end though. My mushok is a relatively bright guitar but the high end of the fortitude doesn't feel fatiguing to my ears, unlike the painkiller I had in this guitar which was horrendously sharp/icepicky.

Cleans are good but nothing to write home about imo. Then again most people aren't going to give a shit about cleans if they're buying this pickup 

*Verdict:* Overall I think it's a great muscular sounding pickup that excels at hard rock and sludge/death metal tones (among many others). It can do pretty much anything I wanted it to do. I particularly enjoyed the muscular growl of the voicing for playing slide guitar and sludgy Baroness/Mastodon type riffs.

Demo vid of the Fortitude with my Revv 100p. I love how this amp just accentuates the growl of the pickup even more.
If there's any interest I'll put up the F30 vid.


----------



## Iron1

Good stuff. Why the move away from your Mesa?


----------



## USMarine75

I saw you did a review of the Railhammer Chisel... have you tried the Anvil?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

USMarine75 said:


> I saw you did a review of the Railhammer Chisel... have you tried the Anvil?


nope, figured it wouldn't sound too drastically different from the chisel. I did buy a huevos p90 bridge to demo though


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Good stuff. Why the move away from your Mesa?


It's not really a move away from the mesas, I just happened to record all the riffs with the Revv yesterday.


----------



## USMarine75

KnightBrolaire said:


> nope, figured it wouldn't sound too drastically different from the chisel. I did buy a huevos p90 bridge to demo though



I did love this from Railhammer lol... can it be too tight? 

*Note:* We generally do not recommend the Chisel Bridge for carved top solid body guitars (e.g., Les Paul, ESP Horizon). Carved-top solid bodies are already tight and midrangy sounding due to their body shape/construction. Chisels are also tight and midrangy, and combining them with this type of body can result in too much tightness and midrange.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

USMarine75 said:


> I did love this from Railhammer lol... can it be too tight?
> 
> *Note:* We generally do not recommend the Chisel Bridge for carved top solid body guitars (e.g., Les Paul, ESP Horizon). Carved-top solid bodies are already tight and midrangy sounding due to their body shape/construction. Chisels are also tight and midrangy, and combining them with this type of body can result in too much tightness and midrange.


some of the hokum that pickup manufacturers post cracks me up. 
I will say that "too tight" exists. It's the titans and aftermaths for me. They just feel anemic on the low end compared to other stuff I've tried.


----------



## Emperoff

USMarine75 said:


> I did love this from Railhammer lol... can it be too tight?
> 
> *Note:* We generally do not recommend the Chisel Bridge for carved top solid body guitars (e.g., Les Paul, ESP Horizon). Carved-top solid bodies are already tight and midrangy sounding due to their body shape/construction. Chisels are also tight and midrangy, and combining them with this type of body can result in too much tightness and midrange.



Oh, it definetely can. I happen to have a very thick carved top guitar with maple board that it's as tight as it gets whatever you put on it. It came stock with EMG 81s and sounded absolutely dreadful. Even the Juggernauts are too tight on it, so go figure.



KnightBrolaire said:


> some of the hokum that pickup manufacturers post cracks me up.
> I will say that "too tight" exists. It's the titans and aftermaths for me. They just feel anemic on the low end compared to other stuff I've tried.



I agree. Aftermaths were like everything was exploding whenever you picked a note. Cool for *that* sound, but nothing else.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> I agree. Aftermaths were like everything was exploding whenever you picked a note. Cool for *that* sound, but nothing else.


My issue with the aftermaths more stemmed from the metallic/clanky midrange they seemed to have. I wouldn't have minded the thinner low end if they hadn't felt so harsh in my 8 string. I think they work much better in a big warm sounding guitar like the NW44 eclipse I tried. It seems to bring back the low end and smooth out some of that nasty midrange.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Fortitude demo with F30. it's thiccccc sounding


moving on to the Evo next.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

USMarine75 said:


> I did love this from Railhammer lol... can it be too tight?
> 
> *Note:* We generally do not recommend the Chisel Bridge for carved top solid body guitars (e.g., Les Paul, ESP Horizon). Carved-top solid bodies are already tight and midrangy sounding due to their body shape/construction. Chisels are also tight and midrangy, and combining them with this type of body can result in too much tightness and midrange.



That makes it sound like it's the perfect pickup for me.


----------



## BigViolin

KnightBrolaire said:


> Fortitude demo with F30. it's thiccccc sounding



Apparently it's based on the 36th, have you tried one of those? How's the clarity? I was going to try a 36th but when this came out I wondered if this might be the "PAF for metal" that we've always wanted lol.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

BigViolin said:


> Apparently it's based on the 36th, have you tried one of those? How's the clarity? I was going to try a 36th but when this came out I wondered if this might be the "PAF for metal" that we've always wanted lol.


haven't tried the 36th. Clarity is excellent, since I used it in BEADF#B and Drop A, but it'll definitely hold up with my super low mastodon esque tuning (F#EADF#B). Check out the revv video earlier in the thread if you want to hear it really shine.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

EVO DIs will prob be up later today.
anyways here's a vid of the evo bridge through my MK3:


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Evo bridge DIs with a bonus nolly clip.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/exh9rbx9jezafzl/EvobridgeDIs.zip/file
Thoughts on the Evo bridge: Most of you are likely familiar with the EVO set in the context of Vai's playing. I had an EVO2 set back in the day and hated it for what I was doing at the time. I actually really enjoy the Evo for metal though. The low end is chunky but still responsive, midrange has a bit of grind/growl to it (which is surprising). galloping style riffage and chugs feel great with that slight upper midrange bump too. High end is present but not shrill by any means. Clarity is great even down to F# on the low string but not exceptional compared to other pickups I've used. I'm very surprised by how thick and meaty this pickup sounds. I was expecting it to sound thin, shrill and super mid heavy since that's usually how Vai makes it sound imo. 
Cleans are solid. Definitely not bad, but not exceptional either. 
Lead work with it is pretty viable (as shown by Vai's far more capable hands). 
Overall a very good pickup choice for pretty much any genre/subgenre, though I think it would excel at sludgier/90s DM type sounds/ or anything where you don't mind a bit of thickness to the rhythm tone.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*Railhammer Huevos p90 added*
dimarzio satchur8 b *Up next*
dimarzio Transition b
Blades Sorcerer b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Also added Duncan Hot P-rails bridge/neck. Guess I better add in some switching options to my mushok lol


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands

KnightBrolaire said:


> Also added Duncan Hot P-rails bridge/neck. Guess I better add in some switching options to my mushok lol



These are the ones I'm most curious about. I've yet to hear a single proper review.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> These are the ones I'm most curious about. I've yet to hear a single proper review.


It'll be a while before I get to them.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Evo bridge DIs with a bonus nolly clip.
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/exh9rbx9jezafzl/EvobridgeDIs.zip/file
> Thoughts on the Evo bridge: Most of you are likely familiar with the EVO set in the context of Vai's playing. I had an EVO2 set back in the day and hated it for what I was doing at the time. I actually really enjoy the Evo for metal though. The low end is chunky but still responsive, midrange has a bit of grind/growl to it (which is surprising). galloping style riffage and chugs feel great with that slight upper midrange bump too. High end is present but not shrill by any means. Clarity is great even down to F# on the low string but not exceptional compared to other pickups I've used. I'm very surprised by how thick and meaty this pickup sounds. I was expecting it to sound thin, shrill and super mid heavy since that's usually how Vai makes it sound imo.
> Cleans are solid. Definitely not bad, but not exceptional either.
> Lead work with it is pretty viable (as shown by Vai's far more capable hands).
> Overall a very good pickup choice for pretty much any genre/subgenre, though I think it would excel at sludgier/90s DM type sounds/ or anything where you don't mind a bit of thickness to the rhythm tone.


Here's the Evo bridge vid w my F30.


Satchur8 is up next


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Satchur8 DIs.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/6z94g9wpfokyyou/satchur8DIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Satchur8 bridge thoughts: Stupid name, but it's a pretty neat pickup. Low end is thick and chunky but still relatively responsive, like say the Afwayu. There's a nice growl to the mids like the Afwayu or Blackbird as well, but clarity isn't as good as those pickups (still pretty good though). High end is present but not overly so. It's not a shrill pickup but *puts on Doug Marcaida voice* it'll cut. Output is relatively high, at least on par with the EVO. Cleans are quite solid, but nothing particularly amazing imo. I quite like this pickup for metal, especially sludgier riffage. It does really well at that AIC "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" type tone or say The Sword's Age of Winters/Apocryphon. It can definitely do tech death/black or 90s dm like Carcass/Morbid Angel, but in the case of tech death/thrashier riffs that awesome low end chunk kind of hurts it clarity wise. It's not as clear as the Fortitude but still works well fine to Drop A and F#. Overall it's a great pickup that can cover a good amount of tonal ground, I just can't recommend it specifically for metal over a Illuminator/Fortitude/Dominion/Evo (if you're looking at dimarzio).


F30 vid will be up tomorrow.
Have some wanky MK3 and FSM clips to tide you over in the mean time:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/cpdf7nn1tol1b4s/satchur8clips.zip/file


*
Elysian HP90s, Fokin Spectrum/Equilibrium added*
dimarzio satchur8 b **installed*
Elysian HP90s up next*
dimarzio Transition b
Blades Sorcerer b
Railhammer Huevos p90 b
Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Dimebucker set
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan SHPR2B and SHPR2n
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B


----------



## Spicypickles

Patiently awaiting that Alt-8 demo


----------



## Purelojik

Im curious on your take of the HSP90 from adam. Love those in my Hinnant Guitar


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Purelojik said:


> Im curious on your take of the HSP90 from adam. Love those in my Hinnant Guitar


I asked him for a higher output ceramic bridge, so it should bring the gnar


----------



## Purelojik

KnightBrolaire said:


> I asked him for a higher output ceramic bridge, so it should bring the gnar


hell yea man,

remember raise the pup to the strings and then adjust pole pieces higher , the baseplates are thick so you'll need to increase higher than you'd think originally for the best response but you'll feel that sweet spot and know it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Satchur8 demo is done.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

transition is installed. Initial impression is that it's significantly lower output compared to the satchur8 or fortitude or evo. I'll post more detailed thoughts after I spend some time messing around with it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> transition is installed. Initial impression is that it's significantly lower output compared to the satchur8 or fortitude or evo. I'll post more detailed thoughts after I spend some time messing around with it.


Transition: It's kind of cocked in the mids, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your taste (and it's not super easy to dial out the cocked quality without a 10 band eq). There is a bit of growl hidden below that "vocal"/cocked wah quality though. Low end is very lean and responsive. High end is very present in this pickup, which gives the cleans a nice chimey quality. It can be quite fatiguing under high gain though, and with the wrong amp it could be a nightmare as far as mitigating that high end. Clarity is excellent, with no muddying of chords or that borderline mushiness that the satchur8 had with my f30. This pickup needs a lot of help gain wise if you want a metal/hard rock esque tone, so I don't recommend using it with lower gain amps unless it's boosted. Once you get enough gain into the pickup it chugs quite well and would work wonderfully for old school thrashier tones. 

TLDR: great pickup for classic rock, but can definitely do whatever subgenre of metal you want provided you have enough gain available and are willing to work around the pickup voicing. Cocked voicing doesn't agree with some amps and setups. Can be very bright in the wrong guitar. 

DIs:https://www.mediafire.com/file/6cwgm1pt17k10vq/transitionDIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

made a vid of the mk3 and fsm clips of the satchur8


----------



## MAJ Meadows SF

KnightBrolaire said:


> made a vid of the mk3 and fsm clips of the satchur8




Damn that’s a real ball ripper! Definitely the most intense Satch pickup to my ears. I really like low to mid output pickups with A8 magnets, and I’m adding this to that list. First DiMarzio I’ve heard in years that made me say “I want to buy that”.


----------



## Emperoff

MAJ Meadows SF said:


> Damn that’s a real ball ripper! Definitely the most intense Satch pickup to my ears. I really like low to mid output pickups with A8 magnets, and I’m adding this to that list. First DiMarzio I’ve heard in years that made me say “I want to buy that”.



If you fancy med output pickups with A8 magnets, definetely try the A8 Elysian Trident IIs. I'd recommend them in ash guitars, though, as they have a truckload of mids.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> If you fancy med output pickups with A8 magnets, definetely try the A8 Elysian Trident IIs. I'd recommend them in ash guitars, though, as they have a truckload of mids.


trident iis have worked well in alder, ash and mahogany for me. 
I just dial out some of the mids on my amps to counter their midrange


MAJ Meadows SF said:


> Damn that’s a real ball ripper! Definitely the most intense Satch pickup to my ears. I really like low to mid output pickups with A8 magnets, and I’m adding this to that list. First DiMarzio I’ve heard in years that made me say “I want to buy that”.


yeah if you're into thicker sounding higher output pickups it's a great option.


----------



## Emperoff

KnightBrolaire said:


> trident iis have worked well in alder, ash and mahogany for me.
> I just dial out some of the mids on my amps to counter their midrange



Alnico 8 Tridents?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> Alnico 8 Tridents?


ceramics but a8 is pretty similar ime


----------



## Emperoff

KnightBrolaire said:


> ceramics but a8 is pretty similar ime



I don't find A8s anything at all like ceramics. They're tonally opposite to me.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> I don't find A8s anything at all like ceramics. They're tonally opposite to me.


opposite? 
ime A8 mags still have the highs and lows of a ceramic, just less output.


----------



## Emperoff

KnightBrolaire said:


> opposite?
> ime A8 mags still have the highs and lows of a ceramic, just less output.



I stripped an old pickup to swap the A8 on the Trident for a ceramic. They were nothing alike. We've got very different perceptions of magnets tone, then.

Also, tweaking an amp won't help pickup balancing. If I tweak my amp to match the bridge A8, the neck A5 loses the mids it requires to sound as amazing as it does. But then I'm in the minority of people who uses the bridge pickup for soloing most of the time, and cares about balancing when switching to the neck position.

Adam himself has an A8 Trident II in his main axe, which is an ash bolt-on guitar. Couldn't think of a better fit for it. I don't know what voodoo he did on the A5 neck, though. It's the sweetest neck pickup I've ever played yet never muddy.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Transition: It's kind of cocked in the mids, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your taste (and it's not super easy to dial out the cocked quality without a 10 band eq). There is a bit of growl hidden below that "vocal"/cocked wah quality though. Low end is very lean and responsive. High end is very present in this pickup, which gives the cleans a nice chimey quality. It can be quite fatiguing under high gain though, and with the wrong amp it could be a nightmare as far as mitigating that high end. Clarity is excellent, with no muddying of chords or that borderline mushiness that the satchur8 had with my f30. This pickup needs a lot of help gain wise if you want a metal/hard rock esque tone, so I don't recommend using it with lower gain amps unless it's boosted. Once you get enough gain into the pickup it chugs quite well and would work wonderfully for old school thrashier tones.
> 
> TLDR: great pickup for classic rock, but can definitely do whatever subgenre of metal you want provided you have enough gain available and are willing to work around the pickup voicing. Cocked voicing doesn't agree with some amps and setups. Can be very bright in the wrong guitar.
> 
> DIs:https://www.mediafire.com/file/6cwgm1pt17k10vq/transitionDIs.zip/file


Addendum: So I decided to run the transition through a bunch of my amps back to back today, and surprisingly it felt very thin and weak with my mk3, but my revv and archon thickened it up a bit. The archon gave it a basically djenty vibe with my typical settings, where it felt kind of dry and clanky/cocked.
The pickup does not like to saturate some of the other ones I've tried do but it does feel very dynamic as far as being able to get clean/mid gain tones by just softening my pick attack. If you have a super heavy pick attack this is probably a good option. In my case I have REALLLLY dig in to get the tones I prefer.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Addendum: So I decided to run the transition through a bunch of my amps back to back today, and surprisingly it felt very thin and weak with my mk3, but my revv and archon thickened it up a bit. The archon gave it a basically djenty vibe with my typical settings, where it felt kind of dry and clanky/cocked.
> The pickup does not like to saturate some of the other ones I've tried do but it does feel very dynamic as far as being able to get clean/mid gain tones by just softening my pick attack. If you have a super heavy pick attack this is probably a good option. In my case I have REALLLLY dig in to get the tones I prefer.


No vid for this one. 
F30/Archon clips of the transition: 
https://www.mediafire.com/file/63ilxr7koskkjd1/transition_clips.zip/file

elysian hp90s are already installed. DIs and clips prob tomorrow.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> No vid for this one.
> F30/Archon clips of the transition:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/63ilxr7koskkjd1/transition_clips.zip/file
> 
> elysian hp90s are already installed. DIs and clips prob tomorrow.


Elysian HP90 DIs/nolly clips:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/nxjkjg7crtmnpf7/ElysianHP90sDIs.zip/file

Thoughts: P90s are awesome. The bridge pickup is ceramic mag and relatively high output. The neck pickup comparatively is alnico and feels lower output and smoother all around. The bridge pickup has a big low end but manages to stay responsive. Chugs feel MASSSIVE. The midrange has some really nice grind to it like the Trident series (also has that nice separation from the low mids to prevent it from getting bloated). The high end is very present and cleans are excellent. They have that great sparkle and jangle of a good single coil, or Elysian's Javelin neck pickup. 
The neck pickup is much warmer sounding overall. It has a very smooth mellow vibe in terms of cleans and dirty tones, which makes it work well for lead work imo. The low end is more subdued compared to the bridge pickup, and the midrange is much less grindy or prominent. 
The middle position gives a really nice blend of the high end smoothness of the neck pickup with the edge of the bridge. 
The set as a whole is great at covering pretty much anything modern djenty tones to death metal/doom along with 70s/80s hard rock/thrash, etc. The cleans and lower gain tones would work well for blues/country/jazz riffage. A great set that can cover all of the standard riffage/genres I use to test pickups.

The only quibble I have is the inherent noise of P90s (and single coils in general). Under a good amount of gain they suffer from a fair bit of noise but that's par for the course ime. A good noise gate will mitigate that so it's not really a big deal imo.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Elysian HP90 DIs/nolly clips:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/nxjkjg7crtmnpf7/ElysianHP90sDIs.zip/file
> 
> Thoughts: P90s are awesome. The bridge pickup is ceramic mag and relatively high output. The neck pickup comparatively is alnico and feels lower output and smoother all around. The bridge pickup has a big low end but manages to stay responsive. Chugs feel MASSSIVE. The midrange has some really nice grind to it like the Trident series (also has that nice separation from the low mids to prevent it from getting bloated). The high end is very present and cleans are excellent. They have that great sparkle and jangle of a good single coil, or Elysian's Javelin neck pickup.
> The neck pickup is much warmer sounding overall. It has a very smooth mellow vibe in terms of cleans and dirty tones, which makes it work well for lead work imo. The low end is more subdued compared to the bridge pickup, and the midrange is much less grindy or prominent.
> The middle position gives a really nice blend of the high end smoothness of the neck pickup with the edge of the bridge.
> The set as a whole is great at covering pretty much anything modern djenty tones to death metal/doom along with 70s/80s hard rock/thrash, etc. The cleans and lower gain tones would work well for blues/country/jazz riffage. A great set that can cover all of the standard riffage/genres I use to test pickups.
> 
> The only quibble I have is the inherent noise of P90s (and single coils in general). Under a good amount of gain they suffer from a fair bit of noise but that's par for the course ime. A good noise gate will mitigate that so it's not really a big deal imo.


here's the 6 amp comparison vid I made with the ceramic HP90 as well. 

I'm still working on the f30 vid but that'll prob be up later today.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Elysian HP90 DIs/nolly clips:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/nxjkjg7crtmnpf7/ElysianHP90sDIs.zip/file
> 
> Thoughts: P90s are awesome. The bridge pickup is ceramic mag and relatively high output. The neck pickup comparatively is alnico and feels lower output and smoother all around. The bridge pickup has a big low end but manages to stay responsive. Chugs feel MASSSIVE. The midrange has some really nice grind to it like the Trident series (also has that nice separation from the low mids to prevent it from getting bloated). The high end is very present and cleans are excellent. They have that great sparkle and jangle of a good single coil, or Elysian's Javelin neck pickup.
> The neck pickup is much warmer sounding overall. It has a very smooth mellow vibe in terms of cleans and dirty tones, which makes it work well for lead work imo. The low end is more subdued compared to the bridge pickup, and the midrange is much less grindy or prominent.
> The middle position gives a really nice blend of the high end smoothness of the neck pickup with the edge of the bridge.
> The set as a whole is great at covering pretty much anything modern djenty tones to death metal/doom along with 70s/80s hard rock/thrash, etc. The cleans and lower gain tones would work well for blues/country/jazz riffage. A great set that can cover all of the standard riffage/genres I use to test pickups.
> 
> The only quibble I have is the inherent noise of P90s (and single coils in general). Under a good amount of gain they suffer from a fair bit of noise but that's par for the course ime. A good noise gate will mitigate that so it's not really a big deal imo.


Here's the F30 video:


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Railhammer Huevos p90 is installed.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Railhammer Huevos p90 is installed.


initial thoughts: The Huevos p90 is thicker and less responsive on the lower end versus the elysian hp90. Will it chug? yes, but I think it works better for doom/sludge rather than super tight riffs. That's not to say it can't do tight riffage, but rather that it needs a bit of sculpting to really do well at that sound. Mids are kind of growly, though noticeably less so than say lundgrens, blackbird, or the afwayu. High end is very clear and feels a bit too sharp in this guitar for shreddy riffs without rolling down the tone knob imo. Not a big deal as very few bridge pickups do what I want them to do in terms of that liquidy/shreddy vibe. Cleans are solid but nothing exceptional tbh. The proprietary humcutter design is pretty nifty and does significantly cut down on the hum/noise compared to a regular p90 design. 
It's a solid, muscular sounding pickup that works great for beefing up a brighter guitar on the low end. 
I'll add in more thoughts as I play with it more.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> initial thoughts: The Huevos p90 is thicker and less responsive on the lower end versus the elysian hp90. Will it chug? yes, but I think it works better for doom/sludge rather than super tight riffs. That's not to say it can't do tight riffage, but rather that it needs a bit of sculpting to really do well at that sound. Mids are kind of growly, though noticeably less so than say lundgrens, blackbird, or the afwayu. High end is very clear and feels a bit too sharp in this guitar for shreddy riffs without rolling down the tone knob imo. Not a big deal as very few bridge pickups do what I want them to do in terms of that liquidy/shreddy vibe. Cleans are solid but nothing exceptional tbh. The proprietary humcutter design is pretty nifty and does significantly cut down on the hum/noise compared to a regular p90 design.
> It's a solid, muscular sounding pickup that works great for beefing up a brighter guitar on the low end.
> I'll add in more thoughts as I play with it more.


some wankery through my Mk3: 
https://www.mediafire.com/file/b69huo9vev5lzlh/huevosmk3.zip/file
DIs will be up later today.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Huevos P90 bridge DIs and bonus Nolly track:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/plciw86wpqjyh1x/huevosp90DIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

F30 demo and Archon wankery with the huevos bridge.
you can clearly tell where I changed the amp eq in the f30 demo.
Basically the pickup sounds verrry fat and thick through the f30 if I didn't bump up the treble and cut a bunch of bass.
The archon wankery is the same way. The initial sound is verrry thick but once I bumped up the treble and flipped the bright switch it sounded better imo. 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/an0yhuw71lf46ku/huevosF30+Archon.zip/file


Next up is the Blades Sorcerer.


----------



## elkoki

KnightBrolaire said:


> F30 demo and Archon wankery with the huevos bridge.
> you can clearly tell where I changed the amp eq in the f30 demo.
> Basically the pickup sounds verrry fat and thick through the f30 if I didn't bump up the treble and cut a bunch of bass.
> The archon wankery is the same way. The initial sound is verrry thick but once I bumped up the treble and flipped the bright switch it sounded better imo.
> 
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/an0yhuw71lf46ku/huevosF30+Archon.zip/file
> 
> 
> Next up is the Blades Sorcerer.


Theres literally a brand of pickups called huevos ?


----------



## Merrekof

KnightBrolaire said:


> some of the hokum that pickup manufacturers post cracks me up.
> I will say that "too tight" exists. It's the titans and aftermaths for me. They just feel anemic on the low end compared to other stuff I've tried.


There you have it..tastes differ. 
The Aftermath and Titans are some of my favourite pickups. The Aftermath is especially great in the neck imo.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

elkoki said:


> Theres literally a brand of pickups called huevos ?


no it's a Railhammer pickup.


----------



## Spicypickles

You haven’t made it to the alt-8 yet, have you?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Spicypickles said:


> You haven’t made it to the alt-8 yet, have you?


nope


----------



## Spicypickles

Looking forward to that one, I recall seeing it in your list. It’s hard to find anything concrete about it.


----------



## Emperoff

elkoki said:


> Theres literally a brand of pickups called huevos ?





KnightBrolaire said:


> no it's a Railhammer pickup.



Just read this. In case you guys don't know, "huevos" doesn't refer to "eggs" (although that would be the literal translation). It's the spanish equivalent of "balls", word used twice on the description


----------



## elkoki

Emperoff said:


> Just read this. In case you guys don't know, "huevos" doesn't refer to "eggs" (although that would be the literal translation). It's the spanish equivalent of "balls", word used twice on the description


Oh I know what it means lol. I speak spanish . It still sounds stupid .. I would've gone with cojones instead


----------



## KnightBrolaire

elkoki said:


> Oh I know what it means lol. I speak spanish . It still sounds stupid .. I would've gone with cojones instead


aww but then he couldn't call the neck pickup the Nuevo and get the cutesy rhyme scheme.


----------



## diagrammatiks

Merrekof said:


> There you have it..tastes differ.
> The Aftermath and Titans are some of my favourite pickups. The Aftermath is especially great in the neck imo.



too tight doesn't exist man.

aftermath through a pittbull ul is like knightbro's living nightmare though.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

diagrammatiks said:


> too tight doesn't exist man.
> 
> aftermath through a pittbull ul is like knightbro's living nightmare though.


 get out of my thread you heretic.




UPDATE:

I decided to skip the blades sorcerer because 
1. I have to jury rig a way to fill the drilled out baseplate holes.
2. I wanted to mess around with the PW Hornet bridge/Tomahawk neck since there's basically zero clips out there.
3. I was feeling lazy


----------



## diagrammatiks

KnightBrolaire said:


> get out of my thread you heretic.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> UPDATE:
> 
> I decided to skip the blades sorcerer because
> 1. I have to jury rig a way to fill the drilled out baseplate holes.
> 2. I wanted to mess around with the PW Hornet bridge/Tomahawk neck since there's basically zero clips out there.
> 3. I was feeling lazy



also out of topic but is that billy blades amps?
I remember way back when he was blowing up the forums.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

diagrammatiks said:


> also out of topic but is that billy blades amps?
> I remember way back when he was blowing up the forums.


yeah it's a pickup he supposedly made/wound. I didn't know anything about him/his drama when I bought it off reverb. After reading up about him I'm glad I got the pickup used.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*updated list with Manlius Asphalt and Suhr Aldrich added.*

Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n *(Currently installed)*
GFS Power Rails bridge
Kent Armstrong Grinder b
Suhr Aldrich
Dimebucker set
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Manlius Asphalt
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set


----------



## diagrammatiks

KnightBrolaire said:


> *updated list with Manlius Asphalt and Suhr Aldrich added.*
> 
> Mojotone Hornet b/Tomahawk n *(Currently installed)*
> GFS Power Rails bridge
> Kent Armstrong Grinder b
> Suhr Aldrich
> Dimebucker set
> Duncan P-rail b
> Duncan Alpha/Omega set
> 59/Custom Hybrid b
> Duncan Nazgul b
> Duncan Alt 8 b
> Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
> Duncan Distortion b
> Duncan full shred b
> BKP Silo set
> BKP Cold Sweat set
> BKP VHII b
> BKP Alnico warpig
> BKP Miracle Man b
> BKP Rebel Yell b
> BKP True grit b
> BKP Brute Force b
> BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
> BKP emerald b
> Entwistle Dark Star ND b
> Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
> Dunable Grizzly set
> BLK/TRI Wildman b
> BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
> Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
> Manlius Asphalt
> Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
> Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
> Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set



manlius is good stuff. tried all his pickups way back when he first started.


----------



## KnightBrolaire




----------



## KnightBrolaire

Hornet Bridge: Lower output versus the huevos, which isn't an issue if you have an amp with a ton of gain on tap. I actually prefer lower output pickups because you can push them a lot harder than higher output ones, and they almost always clean up better. Cleans are very jangly, spanky and brighttt. Actually the voicing is just bright in general through this guitar.
The low end is very snappy and responsive. Midrange is very present and can give a cocked wah feel with certain amps/gear. It plays really well with darker voiced amps like my Archon (which makes sense since Paul uses a dual rec). Emphasis seems to be more in the upper mids which gives it a ton of cut and grind. Treble is quite high and is a double edged sword. On the one hand it affords the clarity and great cleans of the pickup, on the other hand it makes this pickup better suited to darker voiced amps/guitars rather than a pickup you can swap willy nilly into a guitar. Given the schizophrenic and varied types of riffs that BTBAM play, it's definitely a versatile pickup, though not quiiite as versatile as some others I've demo'd imo.

Tomahawk neck: Again, surprisingly lower output than what I was expecting. Like the hornet bridge it still has a ton of clarity on tap even under tons of gain. It's a much rounder and smoother pickup in comparison. Low end is still responsive and mids aren't spiky at all, treble has the extreme highs smoothed off which makes it great for jazzy lines or high gain shred. I'd say it's comparable to a duncan 59 neck. You know, where it smooths out if you play softly and slices through more as you dig in. It's not as buttery smooth as say a liquifire or coldsweat but then again I've yet to find pickups that do that same kind of sound as well as those pickups. 

The real fun is combining the two in the middle position. You get this nice chimey and almost flute like high end that works really well for beefing up clean tones or for a different voicing under high gain. 

Archon clips:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/g6b3rrv1wtotc0u/hornet+thawk_archon.zip/file

DIs will be up later.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Hornet Bridge: Lower output versus the huevos, which isn't an issue if you have an amp with a ton of gain on tap. I actually prefer lower output pickups because you can push them a lot harder than higher output ones, and they almost always clean up better. Cleans are very jangly, spanky and brighttt. Actually the voicing is just bright in general through this guitar.
> The low end is very snappy and responsive. Midrange is very present and can give a cocked wah feel with certain amps/gear. It plays really well with darker voiced amps like my Archon (which makes sense since Paul uses a dual rec). Emphasis seems to be more in the upper mids which gives it a ton of cut and grind. Treble is quite high and is a double edged sword. On the one hand it affords the clarity and great cleans of the pickup, on the other hand it makes this pickup better suited to darker voiced amps/guitars rather than a pickup you can swap willy nilly into a guitar. Given the schizophrenic and varied types of riffs that BTBAM play, it's definitely a versatile pickup, though not quiiite as versatile as some others I've demo'd imo.
> 
> Tomahawk neck: Again, surprisingly lower output than what I was expecting. Like the hornet bridge it still has a ton of clarity on tap even under tons of gain. It's a much rounder and smoother pickup in comparison. Low end is still responsive and mids aren't spiky at all, treble has the extreme highs smoothed off which makes it great for jazzy lines or high gain shred. I'd say it's comparable to a duncan 59 neck. You know, where it smooths out if you play softly and slices through more as you dig in. It's not as buttery smooth as say a liquifire or coldsweat but then again I've yet to find pickups that do that same kind of sound as well as those pickups.
> 
> The real fun is combining the two in the middle position. You get this nice chimey and almost flute like high end that works really well for beefing up clean tones or for a different voicing under high gain.
> 
> Archon clips:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/g6b3rrv1wtotc0u/hornet+thawk_archon.zip/file
> 
> DIs will be up later.



DIs are up:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1yc27sh6q5a4sl0/hornetb+thawkn_DIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

F30 demo of the Hornet bridge/Tomahawk neck is up.


next up is the GFS power rails.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on GFS Power Rails: Much more low end on tap versus the Hornet bridge. It's a much thicker sounding and higher output pickup comparatively. I slapped on some new strings so the tone is going to be relatively bright for a while, so I can't really comment on the normal high end of the pickup at this time. Cleans through the archon and f30 are solid, nothing amazing imo. The pickup is hot enough that it'll overdrive cleans depending on how hard you hit the strings, so rolling off the volume knob is a must for actual cleans.
Distorted tones are also solid with the aforementioned thick low end and a bit of hair on the high end. Mids are present but sit well with both the f30 and Archon (not cocked like the Hornet can feel with the same settings on the archon). I think it's a very solid choice for sludgy/doom stuff from Sabbath up to say Pallbearer/High on Fire/Mastodon. It would also work pretty well for 90s dm type tones (Carcass/Immolation/Death specifically) imo. It's a bit too thick for a really good thrash/hair metal tone through the Archon, but we'll see how it handles those tones through other amps.
For a cheap OEM/Artec pickup it sounds a whole lot better than I remember it sounding.
DIs and audio assault clips: http://www.mediafire.com/file/aav74nclgrnqx34/powerrailsDI.zip/file
Archon clip: http://www.mediafire.com/file/b0df9tqzobpdzx2/powerrails_archon+clip.flac/file


----------



## Shask

KnightBrolaire said:


> initial thoughts on GFS Power Rails: Much more low end on tap versus the Hornet bridge. It's a much thicker sounding and higher output pickup comparatively. I slapped on some new strings so the tone is going to be relatively bright for a while, so I can't really comment on the normal high end of the pickup at this time. Cleans through the archon and f30 are solid, nothing amazing imo. The pickup is hot enough that it'll overdrive cleans depending on how hard you hit the strings, so rolling off the volume knob is a must for actual cleans.
> Distorted tones are also solid with the aforementioned thick low end and a bit of hair on the high end. Mids are present but sit well with both the f30 and Archon (not cocked like the Hornet can feel with the same settings on the archon). I think it's a very solid choice for sludgy/doom stuff from Sabbath up to say Pallbearer/High on Fire/Mastodon. It would also work pretty well for 90s dm type tones (Carcass/Immolation/Death specifically) imo. It's a bit too thick for a really good thrash/hair metal tone through the Archon, but we'll see how it handles those tones through other amps.
> For a cheap OEM/Artec pickup it sounds a whole lot better than I remember it sounding.
> DIs and audio assault clips: http://www.mediafire.com/file/aav74nclgrnqx34/powerrailsDI.zip/file
> Archon clip: http://www.mediafire.com/file/b0df9tqzobpdzx2/powerrails_archon+clip.flac/file


Have you tried the Crunchy Rails also?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Shask said:


> Have you tried the Crunchy Rails also?


nope


----------



## Zhysick

Yeah, I had the PowerRails quite a few years ago and I subscribe every of your words. Actually I put those pickups in the bin because were too bass heavy for me so I put a Duncan Distortion in its place. Much better and tighter low end... but I see it working very very great for Sludge or slower kinds of metal but for the kind of fast riffing I was back then (mainly Iced Earth) it was too bass heavy and didn't track fast enough. Good pickups for the price thou specially if the guitar is bright and you need to thicken it up.


----------



## Shask

KnightBrolaire said:


> nope


Sounds like it is suppose to be tighter and more focused than the Power Rails. I have always wondered about them. It sounds like it would be the better one for modern metal out of the two.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Shask said:


> Sounds like it is suppose to be tighter and more focused than the Power Rails. I have always wondered about them. It sounds like it would be the better one for modern metal out of the two.


venmo me 30$ and I'll demo them lol

Yeah I read the description for the crunchy. I'd be interested in trying it but I have way too many other pickups to get through first.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Power Rail vid is up:



bonus clip with v30 IRs instead of my standard greenback IRs:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/311d7o57sezyaw3/file


----------



## Bearitone

Any plans to try some humbucker sized TV Jones pickups or Filtertrons?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Bearitone said:


> Any plans to try some humbucker sized TV Jones pickups or Filtertrons?


no


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*Up next: *Kent Armstrong Grinder b
GFS Crunchy Rails b
Dimebucker set
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan SHPR2B and SHPR2n
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Power Rail vid is up:
> 
> 
> 
> bonus clip with v30 IRs instead of my standard greenback IRs:
> http://www.mediafire.com/file/311d7o57sezyaw3/file



Whooops. I just realized that I had a crunchy rail in the bridge this whole time, not a power rail. I even wrote CRUNCHY RAILS on the bottom of the pickup so I could identify it lmao. I even bought another crunchy rails because I thought the one in my guitar was a power rails. When I went to open it I saw that the rails were the same size as the ones on the pickup in my guitar, and the writing on the bottom. Man I'm a dumbass 






Guess I can skip testing it again lol


Anyways... initial thoughts of the Kent Armstrong Grinder bridge:
Has a good amount of output but doesn't feel as thick as the crunchy rail. Much more upper mid focused which gives chugs and palm mutes a ton of attack. Low end is pretty responsive even down to F#. High end is quite clear and cutting in this guitar. I wouldn't recommend it for lead work without some softening of the highs via the tone knob/an eq as it feels a bit too "pointy" for lack of a better word.
Cleans seem pretty good but I need to do more testing and run it through my other amps. I was having a blast earlier this morning testing it through my Revv.
I'll post more about it after I use it for a few weeks.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Whooops. I just realized that I had a crunchy rail in the bridge this whole time, not a power rail. I even wrote CRUNCHY RAILS on the bottom of the pickup so I could identify it lmao. I even bought another crunchy rails because I thought the one in my guitar was a power rails. When I went to open it I saw that the rails were the same size as the ones on the pickup in my guitar, and the writing on the bottom. Man I'm a dumbass
> View attachment 84492
> View attachment 84493
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Guess I can skip testing it again lol
> 
> 
> Anyways... initial thoughts of the Kent Armstrong Grinder bridge:
> Has a good amount of output but doesn't feel as thick as the crunchy rail. Much more upper mid focused which gives chugs and palm mutes a ton of attack. Low end is pretty responsive even down to F#. High end is quite clear and cutting in this guitar. I wouldn't recommend it for lead work without some softening of the highs via the tone knob/an eq as it feels a bit too "pointy" for lack of a better word.
> Cleans seem pretty good but I need to do more testing and run it through my other amps. I was having a blast earlier this morning testing it through my Revv.
> I'll post more about it after I use it for a few weeks.


clip using the grinder through reamp studio's be100 model: http://www.mediafire.com/file/itipp62edl4frlm/file
DIs will be up later today


----------



## Carl Kolchak

@KnightBrolaire Do you have any experience w/ the BKP P90 Warpig?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Carl Kolchak said:


> @KnightBrolaire Do you have any experience w/ the BKP P90 Warpig?


nope, just the regular warpig.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> clip using the grinder through reamp studio's be100 model: http://www.mediafire.com/file/itipp62edl4frlm/file
> DIs will be up later today


Kent Armstrong Grinder DIs:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2y9aj7c1vooejv5/grinder+DIs.zip/file
reamp studio SLO100 clips:
creamback version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6hm0fkrw0omok95/file
v30: http://www.mediafire.com/file/itipp62edl4frlm/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Kent Armstrong Grinder DIs:
> http://www.mediafire.com/file/2y9aj7c1vooejv5/grinder+DIs.zip/file
> reamp studio SLO100 clips:
> creamback version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6hm0fkrw0omok95/file
> v30: http://www.mediafire.com/file/itipp62edl4frlm/file


new link for updated DI folder:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/5b2r2xxi4y2mbm9/grinder+DIs.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Kent Armstrong Grinder vid is up:


next up is the Dimebucker set.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Kent Armstrong Grinder vid is up:
> 
> 
> next up is the Dimebucker set.



revv 100p clip of the grinder:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/8f845qwqcptj8wr/grinder_revv100p_grnbak.flac/file


----------



## gunch

Brolaire what's a cool midrange (not bonkers expensive but not like Artec rebrands) HH set you would rec for a mahogany neck/body Gibson scale guitar (my AXS32). Thinking about having my NK be active (the EMG 57 and HX I already own) and my AXS32 be passives. Before I do something nutty like magnet swapping a duncan designed


----------



## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> Brolaire what's a cool midrange (not bonkers expensive but not like Artec rebrands) HH set you would rec for a mahogany neck/body Gibson scale guitar (my AXS32). Thinking about having my NK be active (the EMG 57 and HX I already own) and my AXS32 be passives. Before I do something nutty like magnet swapping a duncan designed


depends what you want the pickups to do. Used duncans and dimarzios are always plentiful in the market if you don't want to drop a ton of cash.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*Just added: Instrumental Sfty4 set
next up: Dimebucker set*
Duncan P-rail b
Duncan SHPR2B and SHPR2n
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B


----------



## KnightBrolaire

took some BLUSA L500XL clips I had sitting around and put them into a video.


----------



## Dumple Stilzkin

KnightBrolaire said:


> took some BLUSA L500XL clips I had sitting around and put them into a video.




Have you done any EMG’s yet, curious about the 81.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Dumple Stilzkin said:


> Have you done any EMG’s yet, curious about the 81.


nope. No plans to do actives either.


----------



## Dumple Stilzkin

KnightBrolaire said:


> nope. No plans to do actives either.


How about Duncan Distortion?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Dumple Stilzkin said:


> How about Duncan Distortion?


yep. look at the list a few posts up


----------



## Dumple Stilzkin

KnightBrolaire said:


> yep. look at the list a few posts up


Right on. Looking forward to it.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Dimebucker set initial thoughts: 
I really enjoyed the L500XL bridge, but this is a very different beast. The bridge is very "squawky"/cocked sounding in the mids, but with enough upper mids to make it feel different from djentyboi pickups. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just different. The high end is pretty cutting in this guitar. Low end is very responsive and delivers nice meaty chugs. The djent kiddies should snatch these up because they do that shit with ease. Conversely I was able to get some less modern tones by scooping the amp's midrange which let it work well for thrash/hair metal/death metal. My only minor complaint is that the low end smears a bit more than I personally like, but that's a very minor quibble. Rolling off the volume cleans it up significantly and takes it from chaotic and out of control (on full blast) to more refined in the high end. 

The middle position has a really nice chime to it, that works exceedingly well for adding ambiance/texture to riffs. 

The neck pickup is very smooth and rounded overall. Verry mellow sounding compared to the brash and cutting sound of the bridge. Works great for lead work wheedly wheedlys or riffs that need a bit more subtlety than the bridge can deliver. 

I'll post up DIs and some vid clips of it in a few days.


----------



## akinari

Very curious about the Alt8 and P-rail sets. General consensus seems to be that the Alt8 solves a lot of "problems" the JB has while keeping a fairly similar voice.


----------



## gunch

akinari said:


> Very curious about the Alt8 and P-rail sets. General consensus seems to be that the Alt8 solves a lot of "problems" the JB has while keeping a fairly similar voice.



that and magnet swapping a distortion to a alnico 8


----------



## Spicypickles

I’ve been waiting on the alt-8 one. I have plans to get a “custom” set made in zebra with gold pole pieces to go in my prs.


----------



## Emperoff

Q-Tuner 2.0 are the pickups that have me intrigued the most. Not much about them on the internet.


----------



## IronSean

If it’s the traditional dimebag signature set, the “neck” pickup is a sd ‘59 bridge. You could give that a go while you already have it in hand. Mark Morton put 59s in his signature guitars until he created the dominions. They’re pretty vintage output thought.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Dimebucker set DIs:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/40zf4afxiqnmpw9/dimebuckerDIs.zip/file
I'm slowly working on a multi-amp vid comparison of the pickups like I did with the L500xL. It won't be super in depth but it'll give you guys a pretty good feel for how the pickup interacts with the amps.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I'll have the F30 demo up in a day or two. In the meantime here's a vid of the dimebucker set through my Archon.


----------



## Obed1224

Yo @KnightBrolaire I've seen you post about the Elysian Trident II's and after listening to some sound clips I talked to Adam and got a set for my Schecter reaper 7. Beautiful guitar but the decimator pickups that come with it kinda sound like ass. Super muddy and meh. Hopefully the Trident II's give it that "oomph" I'm looking for, especially in that low end. How would you compare them to the DiMarzio Titans?

Cheers!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Obed1224 said:


> Yo @KnightBrolaire I've seen you post about the Elysian Trident II's and after listening to some sound clips I talked to Adam and got a set for my Schecter reaper 7. Beautiful guitar but the decimator pickups that come with it kinda sound like ass. Super muddy and meh. Hopefully the Trident II's give it that "oomph" I'm looking for, especially in that low end. How would you compare them to the DiMarzio Titans?
> 
> Cheers!


titans are warmer on the high end, they have a tighter drier more compressed feel overall. Trident IIs have more midrange snarl and a bit bigger low end that still tracks really well. High end is much sharper and clearer. Clarity in general is excellent with the tridents. 
If you need some heft and chunk to palm mutes, they definitely do that. 
Tridents are a lot more tonally versatile imo.

Neither set are overly high output so you can throw a heaping amount of gain at them before the sound suffers.


----------



## Iron1

Obed1224 said:


> Yo @KnightBrolaire I've seen you post about the Elysian Trident II's and after listening to some sound clips I talked to Adam and got a set for my Schecter reaper 7. Beautiful guitar but the decimator pickups that come with it kinda sound like ass. Super muddy and meh. Hopefully the Trident II's give it that "oomph" I'm looking for, especially in that low end. How would you compare them to the DiMarzio Titans?
> 
> Cheers!



I had a set of Titans in my KM6 and ultimately swapped them for a Trident II set - best move I ever made. The Trident IIs are far more responsive, more "live" and get a tone that just crushes what I was getting with the Titans. In the end the Titans weren't bad, but they don't touch the Trident IIs, for my money at least. YMMV... And, Adam is the man.


----------



## Iron1

Obed1224 said:


> Yo @KnightBrolaire I've seen you post about the Elysian Trident II's ...
> 
> Cheers!



This is all Trident II:

https://soundcloud.com/iron1/spear-point-3-0-1


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Alright, I finally got around to doing the Dimebucker demo vid with the F30.


Onto the P-rail set with the triple shot wiring.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

*currently installed: Duncan P-Rail *
Duncan SHPR2B and SHPR2n
Duncan Alpha/Omega set
59/Custom Hybrid b
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B
Instrumental SFTY4 set
Lundgren The One set


----------



## KnightBrolaire

P rail bridge is weird. There's a huuuge volume difference between the coils. the rail pickup isn't balanced with the p90 side at all. The single coil does deliver a stratty quack but you won't be quick swapping back and forty between it and the p90 due to the volume issue.
As far as the humbucker voicing it feels kind of like a slightly chunkier custom 5. Good meaty responsive low end, plenty of upper mids too, clarity is great in BEADF#B.
The triple shot switching is neat but it's a bit cumbersome to stuff into the pickup cavity and the pcb lead is too short to run into the control cavity.

I'll talk about the sound in depth/put up some clips after I've spent more time messing around with the PRail bridge.


----------



## TheBolivianSniper

Well I gotta say the Bill Lawrence USA L500XL sounds exactly like you said it would. That fucker is painfully tight and djents hard af, didn't think I'd like it considering I hate the single coil twang under gain. Sounds insane though, so painfully overpowered for everything and it clips my interface just playing. Not hotter than an X2N (that thing is painfully strong) but it pimp slaps EMGs. Digging it for sure.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

TheBolivianSniper said:


> Well I gotta say the Bill Lawrence USA L500XL sounds exactly like you said it would. That fucker is painfully tight and djents hard af, didn't think I'd like it considering I hate the single coil twang under gain. Sounds insane though, so painfully overpowered for everything and it clips my interface just playing. Not hotter than an X2N (that thing is painfully strong) but it pimp slaps EMGs. Digging it for sure.


It's really not that high output compared to a lot of the other pickups I've tried. 
It's a great pickup imo. Does basically anything you need it to.

Your interface prob has a shit buffer (the 1st gen scarletts had that problem) which just makes pickups clip when going direct. The 2nd gen on up fixed that. Running through a di box and xlr cable to the interface helps mitigate it as well.


----------



## diagrammatiks

KnightBrolaire said:


> P rail bridge is weird. There's a huuuge volume difference between the coils. the rail pickup isn't balanced with the p90 side at all. The single coil does deliver a stratty quack but you won't be quick swapping back and forty between it and the p90 due to the volume issue.
> As far as the humbucker voicing it feels kind of like a slightly chunkier custom 5. Good meaty responsive low end, plenty of upper mids too, clarity is great in BEADF#B.
> The triple shot switching is neat but it's a bit cumbersome to stuff into the pickup cavity and the pcb lead is too short to run into the control cavity.
> 
> I'll talk about the sound in depth/put up some clips after I've spent more time messing around with the PRail bridge.



ya the prail sounds great in theory. I think the hotter one is a bit better unless that's the one you got.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

diagrammatiks said:


> ya the prail sounds great in theory. I think the hotter one is a bit better unless that's the one you got.


I have both, just testing the less hot one first.


----------



## noodlechicken5

Is the top 3 still the same?


----------



## Phlegethon

KnightBrolaire said:


> P rail bridge is weird. There's a huuuge volume difference between the coils. the rail pickup isn't balanced with the p90 side at all. The single coil does deliver a stratty quack but you won't be quick swapping back and forty between it and the p90 due to the volume issue.
> As far as the humbucker voicing it feels kind of like a slightly chunkier custom 5. Good meaty responsive low end, plenty of upper mids too, clarity is great in BEADF#B.
> The triple shot switching is neat but it's a bit cumbersome to stuff into the pickup cavity and the pcb lead is too short to run into the control cavity.
> 
> I'll talk about the sound in depth/put up some clips after I've spent more time messing around with the PRail bridge.



Considering the P90 side is significantly larger than the 'strat' side this makes sense. Sure, design/testing can come up with less of a volume difference, but the laws of physics can only be bent so far. Since I'd only screw around with the 'strat' side and not take it into consideration if doing more serious things with a p rail set? It's mostly a non issue for me.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

noodlechicken5 said:


> Is the top 3 still the same?


new top 3=
afwayu
black heaven
fortitude


There's tons of good pickups out there, those are just the ones that really meshed with me


----------



## KnightBrolaire

some wankery with the P-rail bridge through my MI Beta. I'll have some DIs up tomorrow morning.
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-mi-audio-beta-wankery

I get why John Browne used these for quite a while. The bridge can get super djenty.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Finally installed the neck p-rail and triple shot as well. Initial thoughts are that it's much better at balancing the sound between the coils. The single coil and p90 modes are both actually useful. The neck has a lot of clarity except for on the very high end, where it rolls off a tad. It's solid for lead work though I think it really shines for cleans/chordal stuff. 

The middle position is where the magic happens ime.

The bridge has a biiig volume difference between the single coil and p90 modes, and it's just as noticeable with series vs parallel modes for the humbucker setting. In fact the parallel mode is louder than the series, which makes absolutely no sense. I'm not sure what the issue could be, but I guess I'll have to troubleshoot it.

I'll go into much more depth after spending more time with the set.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> some wankery with the P-rail bridge through my MI Beta. I'll have some DIs up tomorrow morning.
> https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-mi-audio-beta-wankery
> 
> I get why John Browne used these for quite a while. The bridge can get super djenty.


same clip but with different IRs. Sounds a bitt better imo.
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/mi-audio-beta-dv77-linear906
DIs:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/x0s941n3dng1gwc/Duncan+P-rail+DIs.zip/file
Running the dirty riffs DI through Neural Omega with Dv77 IRs:
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-neural-dsp-omega-granophyre


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> same clip but with different IRs. Sounds a bitt better imo.
> https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/mi-audio-beta-dv77-linear906
> DIs:
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/x0s941n3dng1gwc/Duncan+P-rail+DIs.zip/file
> Running the dirty riffs DI through Neural Omega with Dv77 IRs:
> https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-neural-dsp-omega-granophyre


Did some quick wanky riffage with the p-rail through my Peters Bodyhammer. Used Kohle's Dv77 linear IR. This pickup is like insta-djent. but listen to that grind tho mmmmm
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/p-rail-bodyhammer


----------



## moonbox

KnightBrolaire said:


> new top 3=
> afwayu
> black heaven
> fortitude
> 
> 
> There's tons of good pickups out there, those are just the ones that really meshed with me



Given that you've got experience with them, do you think that the black heaven would fit the bill for what I'm describing here: https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/looking-for-recommendations-for-new-pickups.345886/


----------



## KnightBrolaire

moonbox said:


> Given that you've got experience with them, do you think that the black heaven would fit the bill for what I'm describing here: https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/looking-for-recommendations-for-new-pickups.345886/


hmm you're asking a lot of any pickup set. They'd definitely fit the bill in terms of cleans and clarity/dynamics with the roar bit. They're not what I would call staccato or super tight (lundgren m7, dimarzio titan and bkp aftermath come to mind) but they hold up just fine for fast technical bits imo. 

If the nazgul/sentient isn't giving you the right amount of saturation then black heavens likely won't. 
Also a thing to keep in mind is both the M7 and Black heavens have a certain low mid growl that you might not like. Not the same as the nasal/congested quality of the nazgul in some guitars but that low mid emphasis can muddy up stuff if you're not careful. 

I'll post some clips of the M7 through amp sims over in your recommendation thread in a bit. Should give you a taste of what the set can do. 
As far as the black heavens I have a bunch of clips/videos and DIs earlier in the thread if you haven't checked em out yet. Might be worth running the DIs into your DAW/through the amp sims to see if you like the vibe of the black heavens.


----------



## moonbox

KnightBrolaire said:


> hmm you're asking a lot of any pickup set. They'd definitely fit the bill in terms of cleans and clarity/dynamics with the roar bit. They're not what I would call staccato or super tight (lundgren m7, dimarzio titan and bkp aftermath come to mind) but they hold up just fine for fast technical bits imo.



I figured as much. The m7 is also on my short list, I just like the tone of the black heaven more from what I've heard in clips online. I haven't seriously considered the titan. I'll give it a look. I don't care for the aftermath. In terms of tightness, I would say that the SD Omega is tight enough for me. I'm not a fast enough player to need meshuggah level tightness.



KnightBrolaire said:


> If the nazgul/sentient isn't giving you the right amount of saturation then black heavens likely won't.



I think saturation might not be what I thought it was. I'm pretty sure I'm abusing that word. I meant roar and sustain. I prefer a tight, dry tone as long as it has roar and sustain.



KnightBrolaire said:


> Also a thing to keep in mind is both the M7 and Black heavens have a certain low mid growl that you might not like. Not the same as the nasal/congested quality of the nazgul in some guitars but that low mid emphasis can muddy up stuff if you're not careful.



From all the clips I've heard, I actually really like the sound of both. Any idea what frequency range it's around?



KnightBrolaire said:


> I'll post some clips of the M7 through amp sims over in your recommendation thread in a bit. Should give you a taste of what the set can do. As far as the black heavens I have a bunch of clips/videos and DIs earlier in the thread if you haven't checked em out yet. Might be worth running the DIs into your DAW/through the amp sims to see if you like the vibe of the black heavens.



Thanks! That would be awesome. I actually tried to pull the DIs earlier from one of your youtube videos, but the download speeds were throttling or something.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I'll try and slap together the F30 demo with the P-rail bridge and SHPR2 neck tonight, but for now, here's another wankery laden clip through my Peters FSM. I used a slight variation from my typical greenback IR setup. 
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-set-peters-fsm


----------



## Obed1224

Hey @KnightBrolaire! I just installed the Trident II's on my Reaoer-7 but I cant get that nice growl Ive heard out of em. I admit Im using real low tunings so I dunno if thats the problem. Anyways I wanted to ask what pickup height you'd recommend for these to see if I can get a better sound. Thanks!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Obed1224 said:


> Hey @KnightBrolaire! I just installed the Trident II's on my Reaoer-7 but I cant get that nice growl Ive heard out of em. I admit Im using real low tunings so I dunno if thats the problem. Anyways I wanted to ask what pickup height you'd recommend for these to see if I can get a better sound. Thanks!


Tuning shouldn't be a problem as far as the growl. What's the rest of your rig? If you really want that growl emphasized you may have to use some eq tweaks or adjust some parts of your rig sound. Not all gear is going to produce the same results.

I don't have a specific recommendation for pickup height tbh. It's very much a personal preference, you have to play around with the height and see what works for you. I tend to start pretty close to the strings and back down bit by bit til I find a good spot.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

quick clip running through some of p-rail tones. Used my VHT CL100 with my typical greenback 4x12 IRs.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ac5doqej897hr58/P-rail_VHTCL100_grnback57+160.flac/file

I'm just going to consolidate all the P-rail pickups into one video. Should be out by this weekend.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Soooo I'm just going to do the SHPR1 and SHPRN in one vid, and make a separate one for the SHPR2. It'll be too long if I consolidate them tbh. 
Here's a fun mastodon type riff through the f30 with the SHPR1 bridge. 
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/duncan-p-rail-mesa-f30


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's the SHPR1b/SHPR1n video. SHPR2b gets installed tomorrow.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> Here's the SHPR1b/SHPR1n video. SHPR2b gets installed tomorrow.



nvm


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> nvm


I deleted the other video inadvertently, here's the reuploaded version. 


SHPR2b bridge is installed and it balances MUUUUUCH better with the neck pickup. The bridge rail coil is actually useful in lower gain settings now, and the humbucker mode balances better too. The SHPR1b was really mismatched with the p90 and rail coils. The P90 side dominated the sound until you gave the rail coil enough volume and gain.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Made a quick vid of an old guitarmory Atlas clip through my peavey XXX.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

SHPR2 and SHPR1N DIs. Tried to use all the triple shot options for the cleans and some of them for the first bit of the high gain riffs. They always start with bridge pickup (SHPR2b) in series, then parallel, then p90, then rail. Same thing for the neck pickup parts.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1mptap6dpzdxyh7/SHPR2+1n+DIs.zip/file


----------



## Iron1

Ever comp'ed the Seymour Duncan vs their Duncan Designed counterpart?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Iron1 said:


> Ever comp'ed the Seymour Duncan vs their Duncan Designed counterpart?


no and I have no plans to do so. I'm sure some people on the duncan forums have done comparisons though.


----------



## Iron1

KnightBrolaire said:


> no and I have no plans to do so. I'm sure some people on the duncan forums have done comparisons though.



Actually there’s a ton of misinformation on the Duncan forums. A few guys have a handle on the real deal, but a lot of people reposting rumors and 5th hand info... thought it might be a good viewer post for you.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I made a playlist on YT with all of the shootout vids in this thread using the f30. 
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1cDdImmCkO9Rh3A72dNY1_mjwmLvKNPX


----------



## KnightBrolaire

KnightBrolaire said:


> SHPR2 and SHPR1N DIs. Tried to use all the triple shot options for the cleans and some of them for the first bit of the high gain riffs. They always start with bridge pickup (SHPR2b) in series, then parallel, then p90, then rail. Same thing for the neck pickup parts.
> https://www.mediafire.com/file/1mptap6dpzdxyh7/SHPR2+1n+DIs.zip/file


SHPR2 and SHPR1N Demo vid is done. I wasn't planning on this demo being this fucking long but I figured I may as well showcase the tripleshot and p-rail combo as much as possible.

Anyways, onto the Alpha/Omega set. I'm going to keep using the tripleshot from here on out too. 

If there's any interest I can post up a v30 version of the demo as well.


----------



## Marked Man

Bill & Becky Lawrence L500XL. In my Charvel San Dimas with natural ash body, maple neck, and ebony board. It is already a bright guitar, and this is further emphasized by the 500, which undoubtedly has something cool going on in the upper frequencies, although the low end and midrange seem a little light in comparison. This can of course be compensated with EQ. My only complaint is that out of dozens of guitars in my collection, the 500 is one of the few that squeals easily in close quarters with high gain, although again, adjustments can be made just for this pickup to make it manageable. 

It's no wonder to me that both Dime and Nuno used this pickup + the Duncan '59 in their top o' the line sig models. Amazing ability to pierce a dense mix and has a bit of twang that I like. The 500 and '59 sound very different from each other and also clean up well together. Can't say the 500 is necessarily a sound I'd want every day, but I'm glad it's in my arsenal. The cut and clarity make it great for lower tunings.


----------



## Marked Man

Dimarzio Deactivator set. Meant to have the positives of actives, but the feel of passives in a passive set. I'd say they nailed it, sounds killer through my Quad. Both of these pickups have a lot of personality. By DiMarzio's method, the bridge is quite hot (470 mv) and the neck for that matter (385 mv), but they don't seem overly hot and neither gets unwanted feedback through my rig. Both are brighter than your average Dimarzio high gain HB. Some think the neck is overly bright, but I dig it. This set is perfect for my B.C. Rich Legacy Bich neck through (a GREAT although hard to find new MIK series). The bright EQ helps them clean up extremely well for such powerful pickups. My hands involuntarily start playing riffs and leads from the first Metallica and Megadeth albums and other '80s metal every time I pick the Bich up, as if guided by spirits. 

Now if only I could convince B.C.R. to make some 25.5" or at least 25" versions of their classics.


----------



## Neon_Knight_

Marked Man said:


> Dimarzio Deactivator set. Meant to have the positives of actives, but the feel of passives in a passive set. I'd say they nailed it, sounds killer through my Quad. Both of these pickups have a lot of personality. By DiMarzio's method, the bridge is quite hot (470 mv) and the neck for that matter (385 mv), but they don't seem overly hot and neither gets unwanted feedback through my rig. Both are brighter than your average Dimarzio high gain HB. Some think the neck is overly bright, but I dig it. This set is perfect for my B.C. Rich Legacy Bich neck through (a GREAT although hard to find new MIK series). The bright EQ helps them clean up extremely well for such powerful pickups.


I have D Activators in my Ibanez Xiphos (also a neck through) and an RG. I love them! There seems to be a misconception that they were designed for really modern extreme metal, but in reality they're perfectly voiced to nail the tones of all the '80s metal bands that used EMGs. They also do a great job of down-tuned death metal (I've found them perfect for Death, Carcass, Necrophagist etc.), but there are definitely better pickups for djenty tones (which I have no interest in playing).
I'm about to order another set to use for an RG in Eb tuning - looking for an '80s power metal vibe (Helloween, Blind Guardian etc.). I wanted to try something different this time, but after months of deliberation I've come full-circle back to D Activators.

Although they're brighter than most DiMarzios, I think the bridge has a very even EQ. It just sounds bright because it doesn't have the boosted bass or low-mids that a lot of other high/medium output humbuckers have (Super D, Tone Zone etc.). The neck is definitely bright, but without sounding thin or harsh (more like a Super 2 than a Humbucker from Hell)...I find Air Norton and Liquifire too dark for my taste, so the brightness is a good thing.



Marked Man said:


> My hands involuntarily start playing riffs and leads from the first Metallica and Megadeth albums and other '80s metal every time I pick the Bich up, as if guided by spirits.


My hands gravitate to playing Tornado of Souls every time I pick mine up.


----------



## Emperoff

(patiently waiting for the BKP Silos turn)


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> (patiently waiting for the BKP Silos turn)


I thought you bought some already lol


----------



## Emperoff

KnightBrolaire said:


> I thought you bought some already lol



Well, if they take the same time to arrive at my hands like the juggernauts did, I still have quite some waiting time ahead...

Not the fastest dealer, but the cheapest so I can't complain


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Alpha/omega set is installed.
Unlike the p-rails the a/o set split sounds aren't as pronounced, even with the triple shot wiring. The split sounds are much harder to really discern from the core series sound. Parallel mode is good if you need to clean stuff up.
Clarity is excellent..Low end is a bit leaner through my pittbull and cab, but with my FSM the low end is very chunky and kills for palm mutes/quick stops. Mids are very snarly/upper mid centric (and djent friendly). All I have to do is dial out some mids on the amp to get it to a more balanced/ less modern place. High end is pretty cutting through my 2x12 with jensen stealth 80s. I'll have to try it through some other stuff to confirm that it's just from the pickups though. Split coil tones are solid (but not anywhere near as good as the P-rails), inner coil gets that nice strat quack but outer coil is meh. 

Neck pickup is eh. I've never been a big fan of the alpha tbh. It's great for cleans and doomy riffage imo. low end is still relatively lean (especially compared to the p-rail neck). Mids are pretty present but not as much as the bridge. The high end is bright and sharp, so I have to roll off both the volume and tone knobs to get useful lead tones versus with the p-rail it had that very nice flute like/eric johnson esque high end that required less fiddling around. Split sounds are fine, nothing exceptional on their own. 

The middle position split tones are where the split sounds shine imo . Combining the bridge inner coil with the neck's outer coil give some nice clucky tones that work great for cleans/more vintage inspired riffage. 

I'll try to get DIs and some clips out sometime next week.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

bumpity. I got distracted by other shit but here's some A/O clips:
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolaire/sets/duncan-alphaomega-set
I'll make some DIs this weekend, and try to slap together an f30 demo vid.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's the Alpha/Omega DIs. Not all of my usual riffs (since that would take fucking forever with all the different modes) but enough to give you a good sense of how the pickups feel. F30 vid will be up on saturday probably.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/j6f0f4x8rr0j4g0/AlphaOmegaDI.zip/file


----------



## gunch

Did you have problems with microphonics when you had the L500XL installed? I'm thinking of making my AXS single hum w/ one chug-monster pickup, maybe even wired direct to jack. Candidates are M6, L500XL, D-Activator or a Hades Trident II


----------



## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> Did you have problems with microphonics when you had the L500XL installed? I'm thinking of making my AXS single hum w/ one chug-monster pickup, maybe even wired direct to jack. Candidates are M6, L500XL, D-Activator or a Hades Trident II


No, no issues with microphonics with the l500xl. Some of the clips get noisy because of how close my amps are to where I record. 
Any of those are good options for a single hum chug monster tbh. Personally I'd go L500XL or Hades. They can chug hard and can still cover a lot of ground, which is what I'd want out of a single hum setup. The m6 and dactivator are good for chugs/riffage but suck for cleans/lower gain tones imo.


----------



## gunch

Dime time


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## KnightBrolaire

clip of the omega through ML Amped Roots (free 5153 plugin) with a diezel k100 IR. 
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolai...diPOnSWyo?si=4b2cff0febdd4f8c8ced1e2018894dc0
demo vid will be out this weekend. or not lol


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Some clips of the AO set through my Kustom Double Cross. Mostly trying to showcase all the tripleshot options. 
https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolai...ble-cross?si=3cf604b0ea4c453799ed0ec244e2351f


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## Legion

KnightBrolaire said:


> Some clips of the AO set through my Kustom Double Cross. Mostly trying to showcase all the tripleshot options.
> https://soundcloud.com/knightbrolai...ble-cross?si=3cf604b0ea4c453799ed0ec244e2351f


This sounds fucking outstanding.


----------



## Xaeldaren

Hey man, what would you recommend if the Ragnaroks are too much for me? I've been using them for over a year and tbh I love their clean and lead tones, but I just pick too hard for them to be that useful for me for rhythm. I'd like to let the amp do more of the heavy lifting for gain, so I'm open to lower output options.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Xaeldaren said:


> Hey man, what would you recommend if the Ragnaroks are too much for me? I've been using them for over a year and tbh I love their clean and lead tones, but I just pick too hard for them to be that useful for me for rhythm. I'd like to let the amp do more of the heavy lifting for gain, so I'm open to lower output options.


I'm guessing you want something pretty modern flavored based off your rag clips. PRail set is great for modern stuff (john browne used them a bunch). Dimarzio transition is super low output but would also give you some killer toes.


----------



## Xaeldaren

Thanks! That's really helpful, and I know Browne loves the P-Rails. I physically can't lower the bridge pickup because of a routing issue, but I'm going to have a luthier I trust sort it out. If I can't get what I need out of them after lowering the pickups a good bit, I'll give the P-Rails a shot. They seem fun as hell with all the options!


----------



## cmpxchg

speaking of P-Rails, is the SHPR2 discontinued? I put some SHPR1s in a strat where I hated the pickups and wanted to mess around, but I think I'd much prefer the 2 in the bridge. Does it not exist anymore or what?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

cmpxchg said:


> speaking of P-Rails, is the SHPR2 discontinued? I put some SHPR1s in a strat where I hated the pickups and wanted to mess around, but I think I'd much prefer the 2 in the bridge. Does it not exist anymore or what?


I don't know tbh. I found both the shpr1 and shpr2 nib on reverb.


----------



## Legion

Yo @KnightBrolaire you had the chance to test out the Jupiter 6 Rails yet?
I have a a guitar that I think might benefit from blade style buckers, and I'd be curious to see what you think.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Legion said:


> Yo @KnightBrolaire you had the chance to test out the Jupiter 6 Rails yet?
> I have a a guitar that I think might benefit from blade style buckers, and I'd be curious to see what you think.


nope


----------



## Legion

:sad:


----------



## IronSean

Legion said:


> Yo @KnightBrolaire you had the chance to test out the Jupiter 6 Rails yet?
> I have a a guitar that I think might benefit from blade style buckers, and I'd be curious to see what you think.



They're pretty tight, the low end response feels a lot like there's already an overdrive on tightening up the playing. And good clarity with a bit of an upper-mid grind.


----------



## BrutalRob

I also think they are very tight and bright. Compared to my other guitars/pickups, i have to reduce treble on my amp whenever i play them. Should work really well for lower tunings (right now i am only down to C#).
Got myself some A6, A8 and A9 magnets for them and will try them during holidays. Should thicken the sound up nicley.


----------



## littlebadboy

If you can, would you please also try out the budget pickups from Guitar Madness? Just wondering how they would fare in your kind of playing and if they could catch up with the branded ones.


----------



## jco5055

Did you ever demo the dark moon nemesis? I’ve been dying to find clips of it


----------



## KnightBrolaire

jco5055 said:


> Did you ever demo the dark moon nemesis? I’ve been dying to find clips of it


nope.


----------



## jco5055

KnightBrolaire said:


> nope.


Do you have plans to or nah? I’ve gotten no response from them at all when I’ve asked about it multiple times.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

jco5055 said:


> Do you have plans to or nah? I’ve gotten no response from them at all when I’ve asked about it multiple times.


Nah, I'm still working through my list of pickups. I'm kind of done buying boutique pickups for a while.


----------



## Emperoff

KnightBrolaire said:


> Nah, I'm still working through my list of pickups. I'm kind of done buying boutique pickups for a while.



The price of your list probably increased a 300%


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Emperoff said:


> The price of your list probably increased a 300%


good thing i bought most of em precovid then


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Took some of the A/O clips from earlier in the thread and made a demo of it. 
I don't know if I'll bother with doing my typical f30 demos anymore, as the reception for them outside of this thread has been outright negative or lukewarm at best.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

I'm slowly taking some of my clips from this thread and migrating them to youtube (since I have finite soundcloud space and people seem to hate downloading shit lol). I'll also be revisiting some of my personal favorite pickup sets like the black heavens/impulses/afwayu as I think I didn't do them justice in my non-f30 clips. 

Anyways here's an old clip of the Kent Armstrong Grinder bridge through my Revv Generator 100p :


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's a quick off the cuff clip vid of the Omega bridge through the F30 with the KSR Eros being used as a clean boost. I'm editing the A/O f30 demo still but it should be up later tonight. Then I'll get around to the 59/custom hybrid bridge.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's the full F30 demo:


----------



## KnightBrolaire

59/Custom hybrid bridge is installed. 
Initial thoughts: 
Seems to have a more muscular low end than the Omega bridge, which I'm attributing to the custom side, as that's in line with my experiences with the custom and custom 5 in the past. It's still responsive but more full sounding versus the omega. The mids aren't quite as forward as the Omega and feel broader overall. There is that characteristic uppermid spike that the custom/custom 5 have. High end is smoother than the omega, but clarity overall is still quite good. It'd be a good option for thickening up a brighter or thinner sounding guitar.


----------



## Legion

KnightBrolaire said:


> 59/Custom hybrid bridge is installed.
> Initial thoughts:
> Seems to have a more muscular low end than the Omega bridge, which I'm attributing to the custom side, as that's in line with my experiences with the custom and custom 5 in the past. It's still responsive but more full sounding versus the omega. The mids aren't quite as forward as the Omega and feel broader overall. There is that characteristic uppermid spike that the custom/custom 5 have. High end is smoother than the omega, but clarity overall is still quite good. It'd be a good option for thickening up a brighter or thinner sounding guitar.


My experience with the 59/C Hybrid was very very different.
It had this really twangy, quacky BKP Aftermath-like midrange to it in my MIM Strat (for reference, I had a stock Ibanez Tone Zone in there before and it sounded monstrous). Low end didn't feel "muscular", it was actually quite subdued, but not so much as to feel anemic. It had a sparkle to the top end that made big crunchy chords REALLY pop. I quite liked the pickup, but ended up giving my strat away to my brother.


EDIT: 

Fun fact: it was this pickup that started me down the rabbit hole of hybrid pickups, and boy am I glad that happened, because that rabbit hole eventually culminated in my convo with @Purelojik and then Adam Bath that resulted in my Elysian Hybrids.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Legion said:


> My experience with the 59/C Hybrid was very very different.
> It had this really twangy, quacky BKP Aftermath-like midrange to it in my MIM Strat (for reference, I had a stock Ibanez Tone Zone in there before and it sounded monstrous). Low end didn't feel "muscular", it was actually quite subdued, but not so much as to feel anemic. It had a sparkle to the top end that made big crunchy chords REALLY pop. I quite liked the pickup, but ended up giving my strat away to my brother.
> 
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> Fun fact: it was this pickup that started me down the rabbit hole of hybrid pickups, and boy am I glad that happened, because that rabbit hole eventually culminated in my convo with @Purelojik and then Adam Bath that resulted in my Elysian Hybrids.


Yeah I don't get twangy or quacky sounds from it unless I coil split it. It's still early on, so we'll see how it interacts with my other amps. I'll be able to give a better assessment of it then.

I was considering grabbing a rail hybrid from Adam but then he had to go and move


----------



## KnightBrolaire

An in the room clip of the 59/custom. The recording makes it seem a lot thinner sounding than it actually is in person.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Here's some 59/custom hybrid clips through the f30. Clips always go series, parallel then south coil split, then north coil split. I'll try to get DIs out later this week


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Some 59/custom clips with the Double Cross.


----------



## KnightBrolaire

59/custom clips through the Revv


----------



## KnightBrolaire

59/custom DIs:


https://www.mediafire.com/file/akvhadyvc653zgj/59customDi.zip/file


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Quick little riffs with the VHT 100CL and the 59 custom:


I'll try and slap up the f30 video sometime this weekend.
After that then it's on to  the nazgul. 

Updated list if anyone cares:
*59 custom hybrid (currently installed)*
Duncan Nazgul b
Duncan Alt 8 b
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B
Instrumental SFTY4 set
Lundgren The One set


----------



## Legion

@KnightBrolaire 


KnightBrolaire said:


> Quick little riffs with the VHT 100CL and the 59 custom:
> 
> 
> I'll try and slap up the f30 video sometime this weekend.
> After that then it's on to the nazgul.
> 
> Updated list if anyone cares:
> *59 custom hybrid (currently installed)*
> Duncan Nazgul b
> Duncan Alt 8 b
> Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
> Duncan Distortion b
> Duncan full shred b
> BKP Silo set
> BKP Cold Sweat set
> BKP VHII b
> BKP Alnico warpig
> BKP Miracle Man b
> BKP Rebel Yell b
> BKP True grit b
> BKP Brute Force b
> BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
> BKP emerald b
> Entwistle Dark Star ND b
> Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
> Dunable Grizzly set
> BLK/TRI Wildman b
> BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
> Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
> Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
> Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
> Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
> Fokin Spectrum b
> Fokin Equilibrium B
> Instrumental SFTY4 set
> Lundgren The One set





May I ask how you mic these clips? Like throw an SM57 in front of a cab, or something else (camera audio, shotgun mic in room, loadbox+Impulse response....)?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

Legion said:


> @KnightBrolaire
> 
> 
> 
> May I ask how you mic these clips? Like throw an SM57 in front of a cab, or something else (camera audio, shotgun mic in room, loadbox+Impulse response....)?


loadbox and IRs typically (Torpedo Reload/Wall of Sound with greenback IRs)


----------



## KnightBrolaire




----------



## jyym

What’s the new top 3?


----------



## KnightBrolaire

jym said:


> What’s the new top 3?


my personal favorites as of now:
Blackbird
Fortitude 
59 Custom 


I'm going to be revisiting the black heavens/afwayu eventually, so we'll see if they can reclaim their spots.


----------



## jyym

KnightBrolaire said:


> my personal favorites as of now:
> Blackbird
> Fortitude
> 59 Custom
> 
> 
> I'm going to be revisiting the black heavens/afwayu eventually, so we'll see if they can reclaim their spots.


Thanks. I read your comments about the alnico vs ceramic bridge for the black heavens. Will you eventually try the ceramic? The people want to know!


----------



## KnightBrolaire

jym said:


> Thanks. I read your comments about the alnico vs ceramic bridge for the black heavens. Will you eventually try the ceramic? The people want to know!


No. I have too many other demos I want to do. Magnet swaps are easy enough that other people can do them if they're curious


----------



## KnightBrolaire

The 59 custom + revv 100p clips are now in yt format:


----------



## KnightBrolaire

F30+ 59 custom hybrid video is up:



I'm going to skip the nazgul and move onto the alt 8. I think we all know what a nazgul sounds like by this point


----------



## KnightBrolaire

alt 8 is installed


----------



## KnightBrolaire

initial thoughts on the Alt 8: Low end is a bit bigger than the 59 hybrid, mids are relatively broad, high end is a tad mellower. It's higher output versus the 59 hybrid but actually has quite nice cleans, and the split tones are very nice and chimey.
Here's a quick clip through the f30:


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## youngthrasher9

KnightBrolaire said:


> initial thoughts on the Alt 8: Low end is a bit bigger than the 59 hybrid, mids are relatively broad, high end is a tad mellower. It's higher output versus the 59 hybrid but actually has quite nice cleans, and the split tones are very nice and chimey.
> Here's a quick clip through the f30:



That sounds awesome, man. I think it’s a little less articulate than your clips of the 59/C, but man it sounds awesome. I think I like it a little better actually.


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## KnightBrolaire

youngthrasher9 said:


> That sounds awesome, man. I think it’s a little less articulate than your clips of the 59/C, but man it sounds awesome. I think I like it a little better actually.


Thanks! To be fair to the alt8, I was using the contour channel for this clip (which adds a bunch of gain/low end and mids/gnarliness), whereas I typically use the crunch channel of the f30 for the final clips (which is much more tame overall). Not a total apples to apples comparison.
Here's some off the cuff mesa mk3 clips of the alt 8 :


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## BrutalRob

Woat? No elysians amongst your top 3?
Haven't been through the whole thread lately so help me out pls, what brands were the fortitude and blackbird?


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## Xaeldaren

BrutalRob said:


> Woat? No elysians amongst your top 3?
> Haven't been through the whole thread lately so help me out pls, what brands were the fortitude and blackbird?



Dimarzio Fortitude: https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/medium-power/fortitude-bridge
Oil City Blackbirds: https://www.oilcitypickups.co.uk/product-page/blackbird


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## KnightBrolaire

BrutalRob said:


> Woat? No elysians amongst your top 3?
> Haven't been through the whole thread lately so help me out pls, what brands were the fortitude and blackbird?


It's just about which pickups I enjoyed the most in this particular guitar. 
I still really like Elysians though. I have 4 guitars loaded with them right now lol


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## KnightBrolaire

I've run the Alternative 8 through my F30, Revv 100p, Mesa Mk3, Kustom Double Cross so far.
These are the characteristics that pop through regardless of amp/speakers/IRs I use:

A bit chunkier than the 59 hybrid on the low end. Still decently responsive/tight though. Mids and highs can get uber djenty/spiky in the split coil positions. North coil in particular is grindy and spanky af, almost like a p90. Parallel mode is where it's at with this pickup. It still retains the muscular voicing but with much better overall clarity compared to series mode.
If you like modern grindier/more aggressive feeling tones but not at the expense of good cleans/split tones, this is a very good choice. The 59/custom hybrid is a bit more tonally versatile but both are going to be substantially better than say a black winter bridge or nazgul ime.




Here's a ton of Double Cross clips:


and here's more Mesa MK3 clips:

I always start the clips on series, then move to parallel, then south coil, then north coil.


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## KnightBrolaire

A bunch of Megalith Beta clips. High gain stuff is riff6-riff1. cleans are the rest. 

I'll throw the DIs and f30 vid up later.


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## KnightBrolaire

I forgot to post the Alternative 8 F30 vid and DIs when I made them so here they are. 



https://www.mediafire.com/file/aa76h8x2qa1mk3d/Alternative8DIs.zip/file


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## KnightBrolaire

Updated list if anyone cares:
*Duncan Alt 8 b (currently installed)*
Duncan Black Winter/Nuclear Winter/Skadi (mag variations of blk winter) b
Duncan Distortion b
Duncan full shred b
BKP Silo set
BKP Cold Sweat set
BKP VHII b
BKP Alnico warpig
BKP Miracle Man b
BKP Rebel Yell b
BKP True grit b
BKP Brute Force b
BKP Ceramic nailbomb b
BKP emerald b
Entwistle Dark Star ND b
Balaguer Feral/Evergreen set
Dunable Grizzly set
BLK/TRI Wildman b
BLK/TRI Frost Giant b
Avedissian Railsplitter bridge
Lace Dissonant Aggressors set
Guitar Madness Dirty Digits set
Guitar Madness Dualpro Hexrail set
Fokin Spectrum b
Fokin Equilibrium B
Instrumental SFTY4 set
Lundgren The One set


I made a poll asking what pickup you want to see next:









Have your say: What pickup should I demo next?


Voice your opinion on the poll: What pickup should I demo next?




take.quiz-maker.com


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## runbirdman

I also love the Fortitude. I have it in my Jp15 and it will be in my Cutlass soon.

I'd like to see one of the higher output Wolfetones like the Fenris or Blisterbucker demoed. The Marshallhead is one of my favorite sets but I've never gotten around to trying any of the overwound stuff.


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## Purelojik

I just swapped out my Fortiude with my Elysian Trident II/Hellfire hybrid bridge and man I realized while the fortiude is a great pickup in its own right, its just too...flat? maybe too predictable. Dont know if I'm saying it right but its just not a very inspiring pickup. its got all the great marketing buzzwords like super clear and tight and everything but I just don't jive with it. I remember I messaged alex about it on IG when I first got them and didn't care for them then they grew on me a bit but it was only until I swapped it out first with the Oil city blackbird and then again for the Elysian Hybrids did I realize what I was really missing.


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## Gmork

Any humbucker drop ins for a squier classic vibe jazzmaster?


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## KnightBrolaire

Gmork said:


> Any humbucker drop ins for a squier classic vibe jazzmaster?


You'd have to go with a smaller builder or custom. 





LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You


For all those people who find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than to Google it for themselves.




lmgtfy.app


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## KnightBrolaire

looks like next up is black winter and its mag variants. I probably won't go quite as in depth with this demo (one or two clean riffs and then some high gain stuff). I'll do the standard black winter first, then move down to alnico 9, alnico 8 (aka the nuclear winter), alnico 5 (aka skadi).


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## BrutalRob

Curious to see the alnico 9 as i love that magnet for some time. But I would guess, too bright/tight in the BW, but let´s see what results you get


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## gunch

The skadi will probably rule ass


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## KnightBrolaire

gunch said:


> The skadi will probably rule ass


It's a lot cleaner sounding than the standard black winter. It's my favorite version of the black winter tbh. the 8 and 9 will be pretty similar to the standard ceramic unless i remove the flanker magnets.


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## Tree

@KnightBrolaire do you have any isolated clips of the Dragonfire Screamers? IIRC you had them installed at some point, but searching I can’t find anything, so maybe I’m mistaken. A lot of the demos online are ass quality, so I can’t tell if it’s the nature of the pickups or the person’s bad setup/recording.


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## KnightBrolaire

Tree said:


> @KnightBrolaire do you have any isolated clips of the Dragonfire Screamers? IIRC you had them installed at some point, but searching I can’t find anything, so maybe I’m mistaken. A lot of the demos online are ass quality, so I can’t tell if it’s the nature of the pickups or the person’s bad setup/recording.


nope, I had those before I started doing decent isolated clips.


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## Tree

KnightBrolaire said:


> nope, I had those before I started doing decent isolated clips.


Damn, alright. Am I right in thinking they have kind of a cocked wah thing going on?


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## KnightBrolaire

Tree said:


> Damn, alright. Am I right in thinking they have kind of a cocked wah thing going on?


I don't recall it ever being "cocked wah" but it's definitely more mid present than some of the other options I've tried.


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## KnightBrolaire

Black winter bridge is here. I also have the a4, a5,a8 and a9 mags ready to go. I also bought a neodymium bar magnet just for shits and giggles. The magnet swap shootout shit will probably be a separate thread. I'll record my standard riffs and DIs with the stock black winter first, then I'll move onto the mag swapping.












you get the idea


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## KnightBrolaire

some clips showcasing the parallel and split sounds of the BW through my 100CL (all clips start series, then go parallel then south coil, then north):


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## KnightBrolaire

Black winter DIs are up:


https://www.mediafire.com/file/kjqwkh139x0s489/BlackWinter6mushokDI.zip/file


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## KnightBrolaire

Used the mushok for messing around with ML Labs' new IIC+ plugin:




I'll have the F30 vid and some other stuff finished up this weekend.


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## Tree

KnightBrolaire said:


> Used the mushok for messing around with ML Labs' new IIC+ plugin:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'll have the F30 vid and some other stuff finished up this weekend.



Man, I don’t know if it’s just my bias for the BW but all of these clips sound fantastic. Were you using built in IRs from the plug-in?


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## KnightBrolaire

Tree said:


> Man, I don’t know if it’s just my bias for the BW but all of these clips sound fantastic. Were you using built in IRs from the plug-in?


thanks. I used ownhammer's dzl 4x12 k100 and v30 IRs. I can slap some stock IR clips up later.


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## KnightBrolaire

black winter 6 + IIC+ stock IR clips:


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## Tree

KnightBrolaire said:


> thanks. I used ownhammer's dzl 4x12 k100 and v30 IRs. I can slap some stock IR clips up later.


Shit, I forgot how sick Diezel’s cabs can sound. It’s been forever since I’ve played out of one or used any IRs. I may have to snag that OwnHammer pack. Thanks! 

I’ll peep the stock IR clips when I’ve got my headphones handy.


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## youngthrasher9

I have yet to hear someone post a clip using that new IIC+ plugin where it doesn’t sound fucking great. I might have to whip out the missus laptop and an interface again to give it a shot.


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## KnightBrolaire

Black winter demo is up:


Onto the magnet shootout. I'll have a separate thread for that.


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## TheBolivianSniper

just wanted to drop a +1 for the accuracy of this thread, lundgren m6s (in my case m7s) sound EXACTLY like he says they do

it's a really niche sound but I totally understand what everyone means by cold with lots of bass, it's just such an odd tonality and I'd be more hesitant to recommend them after dropping a set in 

gonna post a thread sometime this week comparing them to the Javier set bc hoooooly shit


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## KnightBrolaire

distortion bridge is in. clips/DIs will be up in the next few days.
initial thoughts: It's been like 10 years since I've had a distortion in a guitar. It sounds a lot like the black winter, but slightly less broad mids and a bit clearer in the low end. Also feels a bit more relaxed in terms of responsiveness. Slightly lower output from what I can tell. Similar high end character, with a bit of hair on top. Split sounds are unremarkable, whereas the black winter has pretty solid splits. Cleans are serviceable.


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## KnightBrolaire

an interesting trend I'm noticing with all the duncan pickups I've tried, is that many of them sound better in parallel mode imo. The omega, distortion and black winter all open up much more when run in parallel. The distortion in particular sounds more aggressive in parallel and a tad more responsive too.


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## jyym

Do you have access to an old Jackson pickup : https://www.axebition.com/pickup/jackson-j-50bc ? I realize this is best paired with the onboard preamp in the Charvels, but I was curious if you have an opinion on a fully passive pick up that can get a similar sound.


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## KnightBrolaire

jyym said:


> Do you have access to an old Jackson pickup : https://www.axebition.com/pickup/jackson-j-50bc ? I realize this is best paired with the onboard preamp in the Charvels, but I was curious if you have an opinion on a fully passive pick up that can get a similar sound.


nope. never used those


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## KnightBrolaire

I think this distortion bridge is defective or something. It sounds weak as shit output wise. I'm going to grab another distortion just to verify that this one is defective. In the meantime, I'll prob swap to the full shred bridge.


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## MuttBunch

I swapped out the stock bridge pup in my SubZero rogue VI for a Fortitude and I like it. Unsurprisingly, it's a little too much on the Gojira/Mastodon side for me. It's full, clear, balanced, dynamically responsive...but a little warm, almost too perfect if that makes sense. I think I'm searching for something filthy and aggressive, not so polite. Since I'm in the Detroit area and you've spoken so highly of it I'm thinking of seeking out the Afwayu.

Edit: the SubZero 30" and is tuned to drop F#


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