Recommendations Upgrade Bridge Pickup in Agile LP

[cGoEcYk]

Hello I have an Agile 3000 series. For $300 (years back) it has been an awesome guitar to chug around with. It has stock "Cepheus" PAF style pickups. I play in drop B with heavy strings and was considering possible upgrade to the bridge pickup to tighten up the low end a little. I'd love to have just a little clarity/note separation. Any idea? I dont want to spend a fortune haha.

I wired my setup the other day (after not playing for months) and riffed it up recorded with E906. Tremoverb with Maxon, no mixing.

 

[cGoEcYk]

Narrowing it down maybe Black Winter or Nazgul/Sentient

 

[gunch]

Nazgul or Pegasus might work

 

[budda]

Have you already tried adjusting pickup height and pole piece height?

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I would go Nazgul over the Black Winter if you're looking for tightness. The BW isn't overly bassy or anything, but the Nazgul is tailored more for attack/articulation. I prefer the BW neck over the Sentient overall, though.

I've had both sets in the same Schecter Blackjack C1 tuned to drop Bb. Not quite a LP style like yours, but it's at least "ballpark" similar with a mahogany body, set neck, and TOM bridge. This clip is old, but it shows off both sets: for each riff, the BW set comes first and the Nazgul/Sentient is second

However, if you like the overall PAF type of voicing and just want some extra focus/tightness, you might also check out the DiMarzio PAF Pro

 

[owlexifry]

Duncan Distortion.

 

[lost_horizon]

I've always found the Duncan Custom SH5 great for any riffing.

Nazgul is a little hotter and great for classic rock and downtuned. It's like the SD Crunchlab.

String separation the best? SD Alternative 8. Hard to hunt down a used version of it. I got a used one with a gold cover that someone had in a Les Paul.

 

[cGoEcYk]

This clip is old, but it shows off both sets: for each riff, the BW set comes first and the Nazgul/Sentient is second

Great playing and good example. It's pretty subtle but the Nazguls sound like they have a little more high end output almost like a TS boost. The Black Winters a little more low mid chunk less top slice.

 

[cGoEcYk]

Have you already tried adjusting pickup height and pole piece height?

Like try lowering the pickup a little?

 

[Neon_Knight_]

DiMarzio:
D Activator
Titan

Seymour Duncan:
Black Winter
Distortion
Pegasus
Nazgul

D Activator, Black Winter and Distortion are pretty high-output aggressive options.

Titan, Pegasus and Nazgul are slightly lower output. Titan and Nazgul have high-mid bumps in the EQ, while the Pegasus has a (more subtle) low-mid bump.

 

[budda]

Like try lowering the pickup a little?

Lower, raise, balance string volume with pole pieces.

 

[SubsonicDoom99]

I have an Agile AL-3000 baritone that I tune down to B.
I thought the Cepheus pickups were okay actually, better than I'd anticipated.
But I was definitely needing something with a bit more clarity and note separation like you are.
Tried a few different pickups before settling on Black Winters. They work perfectly in that guitar with that tuning.
Tight bottom end and actually cleans up pretty well too.
A buddy I jam with has an Agile too and he put Titans in his, and it also sounds great.
But I'm pretty satisfied with my Black Winters so those are staying in there for now.

 

[Yul Brynner]

Duncan Distortion.

This

 

[Mathemagician]

EMG’s. Pick your flavor but for a bridge in particular an 81/85 or 57 would work great for clarity.