Pickup help

[Mr.Doh]

Hi there. First time poster here Anyway, i got a question, i really appreciate if anyone could help I am buying a discontinued and on sale Epiphone Les Paul Nightfall. Its specs are:

Body mahogany
Neck Hard maple, Hand-set,
Scale 24.75”
Fingerboard rosewood with inlay on 12th fret
Fingerboard Radius 12”
Nut Width 1.68”
Pickups EMG HZ-4, HZ-4A
Controls Neck Volume, Neck Tone, Bridge Volume, Bridge Tone
Tailpiece Floyd Rose Special
Machine Heads Grover®

As you can see, quite a good guitar spec wise. However, i'd like to switch the pickup to something else. I already have an ESP LTD V300 fitted with EMG 85 on the bridge and 81 on the neck, so something else non-EMG would be nice. I mainly play metal, prefer my tone to have a beefy but tight low end, throaty mid and soaring high (basically, just do everything well enough) but also it need to be articulate, versatile and can clean up when not in hi gain mode. Currently i have two option, either buy a Bill Lawrence L500XL as a bridge and maybe a 59 or a JB on the neck (the cheap option) or i could buy a set of Black Winter (the more expensive option). What should i choose? Is there any other set or pick up i should look at instead?

Thanks

[Archer250]

Re: Pickup help

Nice mids, highs, articulation, gain... basically, you want a Full Shred set?

[Mr.Doh]

Re: Pickup help

Nice mids, highs, articulation, gain... basically, you want a Full Shred set?

I am unimpressed from what i've heard with the Full Shred, compare to Black Winter, for example. But maybe i should take a look at them again. Thanks

[Archer250]

Re: Pickup help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryzie8mham8

While the scale length is indeed different, this body wood is the same. This will give you and idea of what different pickups sound. The problem is "metal" is too wide a genre to generalize. There's power metal, neoclassical metal, NWOBHM, glam, thrash, speed, doom, sludge, stoner, death, black, and various variants and crossover nonsense.

[Rockstar216]

Re: Pickup help

I say go ahead with that L500. I'm referring to the Bill and Becky version just to clarify.

[Mr.Doh]

Re: Pickup help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryzie8mham8

While the scale length is indeed different, this body wood is the same. This will give you and idea of what different pickups sound. The problem is "metal" is too wide a genre to generalize. There's power metal, neoclassical metal, NWOBHM, glam, thrash, speed, doom, sludge, stoner, death, black, and various variants and crossover nonsense.

Ah, my genres are thrash, death, black, deathcore and groove. And sometimes i like to try various other genre hence the need to be able to play clean and articulate

I say go ahead with that L500. I'm referring to the Bill and Becky version just to clarify.

Any neck pickup you'd recommend with that?

[Rockstar216]

Re: Pickup help

Either a L500R or the L90

[Gibson 1964]

Re: Pickup help

Any neck pickup you'd recommend with that?

L500R

I would go with the black winter myself as an unashamed fanboy of that pickup. But the L500 set works well together too.

[Mr.Doh]

Re: Pickup help

Ah thanks. So it is either the Bill Lawrence set or the Black Winter set. Anyone have both? How's the Black Winter stack up against Bill Lawrence's ?

[Gibson 1964]

Re: Pickup help

I have both. I like the Black Winter better. I can't exactly quantify why. The BW set seems to just be more enjoyable for me to play. You will not go wrong with either, but IME, the Wilde l500xl can be picky. I also despise the BLUSA version. It sounds very hollow and thin comparatively.

[Archer250]

Re: Pickup help

The BW has adjustable pole pieces, and that's why I'd go for it.

[Mr.Doh]

Re: Pickup help

I have both. I like the Black Winter better. I can't exactly quantify why. The BW set seems to just be more enjoyable for me to play. You will not go wrong with either, but IME, the Wilde l500xl can be picky. I also despise the BLUSA version. It sounds very hollow and thin comparatively.

From my research the BL is very sensitive to playing and woods and such so it can be a pain in the ass if the guitar is not good or the playing is not tight then it can be a real *****. I am still a sort if beginner so idk if i can handle it lol. But it is a powerful pickup though (and cheap, too).

As for the BW, does it have a signature "voicing"? While it does seem to be even across, it sounded like its sound is purposely saturated in the style of black metal.

[Archer250]

Re: Pickup help

Yeah, sometimes a good-sounding set requires a good-sounding player. This is why I use a JB/Jazz set: to improve my dynamics and technique.

[Mr.Doh]

Re: Pickup help

Hmm, decision. I am based in Australia, so i got really strangled by price. Over here a set of Black Winter is 250+ dollars in Ebay Australia, which compare to the 179 US dollars in Amazon even taking the currency into account is nothing short of robbery. While with the Bill Lawrence Wilde L500XL and L500R only cost 120 US dollars (not taking into account shipping) which is about 127 Australian dollars. Hmm. For the best bang for the buck factor, would you guys choose the L500 set over the BW set? That's the choice i am learning at.

[Archer250]

Re: Pickup help

Hmm, decision. I am based in Australia, so i got really strangled by price. Over here a set of Black Winter is 250+ dollars in Ebay Australia, which compare to the 179 US dollars in Amazon even taking the currency into account is nothing short of robbery. While with the Bill Lawrence Wilde L500XL and L500R only cost 120 US dollars (not taking into account shipping) which is about 127 Australian dollars. Hmm. For the best bang for the buck factor, would you guys choose the L500 set over the BW set? That's the choice i am learning at.

250+ vs 120? No brainer.