6 string pickup shootout. No bull, no frills.

[KnightBrolaire]

here's a quick little VHII bridge clip through my crate gx130c:


I'm working on the f30 vid and it should be up later today.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

VHII bridge with the F30 is up:

 

[KnightBrolaire]

VHII bridge final thoughts:
The more I use this particular pickup, the more I like it. Dare I say I like it more than the Silo bridge, which I REALLLY liked. It's big and chunky on the chugs, but tighter than the silo bridge and very responsive overall. It's clearer than the cold sweat bridge in the lows/low mids and holds up wayy better in lower tunings. It is not squawky in the mids like I claimed in my initial thoughts. The midrange is very nicely balanced overall. Highs are definitely on the more cutting side but not icepicky like say the Painkiller bridge. The cleans are very good. The split tones are nice and spanky for single coil djentyboi/country riffage/whatever. It's not quite as sparkly or dynamic as the Silo bridge but it's still very fun to play with. It pairs quite nicely with the cold sweat neck I still have installed in my guitar too.

quick medley of VHII riffage through my Krank rev 1+




Here's the VHII through my Crate GX130C. The cleans in particular are quite nice.

 

[gunch]

looking forward to the apig testing, should just be a silo but hotter

 

[KnightBrolaire]

VHII bridge final thoughts:
The more I use this particular pickup, the more I like it. Dare I say I like it more than the Silo bridge, which I REALLLY liked. It's big and chunky on the chugs, but tighter than the silo bridge and very responsive overall. It's clearer than the cold sweat bridge in the lows/low mids and holds up wayy better in lower tunings. It is not squawky in the mids like I claimed in my initial thoughts. The midrange is very nicely balanced overall. Highs are definitely on the more cutting side but not icepicky like say the Painkiller bridge. The cleans are very good. The split tones are nice and spanky for single coil djentyboi/country riffage/whatever. It's not quite as sparkly or dynamic as the Silo bridge but it's still very fun to play with. It pairs quite nicely with the cold sweat neck I still have installed in my guitar too.

quick medley of VHII riffage through my Krank rev 1+




Here's the VHII through my Crate GX130C. The cleans in particular are quite nice.

One more VHII medley through the Krank Rev1+. I had it in drop A, BEADF#B and F#EADF#B. the tuning changes are marked.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

One last VHII bridge clip through the BluGuitar Amp1 Iridium (on modern mode).



Warpig gets installed today

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Alnico Warpig is installed.

Initial thoughts: I don't remember the warpig being this noisy, or this modern sounding. It does the squawky djentyboi tones with no effort whatsoever. Currently series mode is very noisy (like on par with the coil split tones), which is unusual imo. I've already rechecked and refloated the soldering points once today and I really don't want to have to do it again
Low end is big but still pretty responsive. Midrange is a interesting mix of low mid growl and grind with that typical squawk endemic to djent/"modern" tones. There is plenty of high end on tap and it feels a bit sharper than the VHII bridge's high end. Cleans are pretty good. Split tones are very spanky and single coil esque.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Some more high gain Amp1 Iridium/A-pig clips

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Alnico warpig+ Krank Rev1+

 

[KnightBrolaire]

more Krank Rev1+ and warpig

Working on DIs and the F30 vid right now.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

more Krank Rev1+ and warpig

Working on DIs and the F30 vid right now.

DIs are done. DM me if you want them.
Here's the DIs into NDSP Omega Granophyre:

F30 vid will be out by sunday.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

 

[murat]

Alnico Warpig is installed.

Initial thoughts: I don't remember the warpig being this noisy, or this modern sounding. It does the squawky djentyboi tones with no effort whatsoever. Currently series mode is very noisy (like on par with the coil split tones), which is unusual imo. I've already rechecked and refloated the soldering points once today and I really don't want to have to do it again
Low end is big but still pretty responsive. Midrange is a interesting mix of low mid growl and grind with that typical squawk endemic to djent/"modern" tones. There is plenty of high end on tap and it feels a bit sharper than the VHII bridge's high end. Cleans are pretty good. Split tones are very spanky and single coil esque.

How do you compare it with illuminator? I'm considering alnico warpig or illuminator set for RGA121, will probably use it for Drop B and C with 10-52 strings. Which one do you think would be better for modern metal?

 

[KnightBrolaire]

How do you compare it with illuminator? I'm considering alnico warpig or illuminator set for RGA121, will probably use it for Drop B and C with 10-52 strings. Which one do you think would be better for modern metal?

Illuminator was more balanced eq wise and versatile from what I remember. For modern metal I'd pick the warpig tbh. The mid spike on the warpig is more djenty/modern sounding imo.

 

[murat]

Illuminator was more balanced eq wise and versatile from what I remember. For modern metal I'd pick the warpig tbh. The mid spike on the warpig is more djenty/modern sounding imo.

Do you find alnico warpig too saturated or too dark? In some comments people say that but I like the grunt of it. Haven't heard it in real life yet that's why I'm asking. And out of curiosity, what would you pick for rga121 from all the pickups you've tried.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Do you find alnico warpig too saturated or too dark? In some comments people say that but I like the grunt of it. Haven't heard it in real life yet that's why I'm asking. And out of curiosity, what would you pick for rga121 from all the pickups you've tried.

It is a hot/saturated pickup, but rolling off the volume cleans it up a fair amount. It definitely has a lot of low end /low mids that can muddy it up in the wrong tunings or in darker sounding guitars. At drop C it wouldn't be a problem.

I can't help with the rga121 question since I haven't played one of those in years. Choose a pickup based off of what you're trying to fix with the current pickups.

 

[youngthrasher9]

@KnightBrolaire

What would you compare the trident 1 and 2 to, from the world of Dimarzio/duncan?

I’m trying to decide on a passive bridge pickup available in an active housing for my Jackson 7 and it seems the options are fairly limited. My favorite pickups are D-Activators, Titans, ‘59/custom hybrid, and the black winter. As I understand it the SD shop floor custom option isn’t a thing anymore for soapbar mounted stuff.

I don’t really want to drop a bare knuckle in this thing, after shipping the pickup would cost more than the guitar.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

@KnightBrolaire

What would you compare the trident 1 and 2 to, from the world of Dimarzio/duncan?

I’m trying to decide on a passive bridge pickup available in an active housing for my Jackson 7 and it seems the options are fairly limited. My favorite pickups are D-Activators, Titans, ‘59/custom hybrid, and the black winter. As I understand it the SD shop floor custom option isn’t a thing anymore for soapbar mounted stuff.

I don’t really want to drop a bare knuckle in this thing, after shipping the pickup would cost more than the guitar.

mmm maybe a mix of black winter and the 59/custom flavor from Duncan. The Trident bridges have that kind of chunky grindy quality of those two but they're generally cleaner sounding. Low end is more responsive than the 59/custom. Low mids aren't quite as thick as the black winter. High end isn't as unruly as the black winter (more in line with the 59/custom). Overalll feel is a bit stiffer/drier than either of those


The trident I are lower output while the II is slightly hotter. They're not a great choice if you like to slam the front of your amp with a super hot pickup. The Hellfire is a better option if you like doing that.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Currently Installed:
BKP Alnico warpig

Upcoming:
BKP Pig90
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
Bootstrap Skookum HP90 set
Sunset Pickups A8
Manlius Asphalt

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I'm skipping the Pig-90 for now. I bought a SD Parallel Axis Dyad and already installed it
I'll post clips/thoughts later in the week once I've spent more time playing with the pickup.