Ideas for my LP studio. . . PATB 2a ? BKP? Railhammer Chisel?

[Pyroponic]

I can't stand the honky old school blues oriented tones from the stock pickups on my les paul studio. I'm replacing them a.s.a.p. I have been thinking about trying out the new Railhammer Chisel pickups, or a PATB 2a or some sort of Bareknuckle pickup (painkiller?). I want something modern sounding, that can handle a tight focused punchy metal tone. . . black metal or death tone not nu metal or djent. I am considering duncan pickups since reading Adam Jones uses them but I don't think the SH-4 JB is what I want, it sounds a little too classic rock sounding. Would the PATB 2a be a good match for a mahogany les paul or would that put out too much mids and wash out the highs? What is the ideal bareknuckle model for a les paul for the sound I want? Anybody tried the Railhammer Chisel, or the Anvil? I was pretty impressed by the sound Reeves Gabrels was getting with his Chisels while playing with the Cure in a live show I saw on TV but of course that doesn't represent how aggressive for metal they can be. I wish Duncans had the same return policy as DiMarzios where you can return them if you don't like how they sound but I have to choose wisely because I'm on a budget the first shot has to be something I will live with for a while. I hate my les paul and its short scale length but if I sold it I would have to come up with another 300 bucks to get a decent guitar so I figure replacing the pickups might make it sound better and let me be happy with it for now.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Ideas for my LP studio. . . PATB 2a ? BKP? Railhammer Chisel?

Duncan has a 30 day return/exchange policy so you can definitely return them.

I don't know about how they work in Les Paul's, but I have a PATB-2 in my Jackson and it is a fantastic pick up. (It's a mahogany body /maple top so maybe tonally closer to an LP than a regular Jackson) For metal, simply awesome. It even cleans up nicely despite the output rating that it has.

 

[Despair]

Re: Ideas for my LP studio. . . PATB 2a ? BKP? Railhammer Chisel?

JB doesn't always sound classic rock by any means, it's extremely popular for 80s hair metal. But it doesn't reliably sound right in warmer shorter scale instruments.

PATB-2 is probably my favorite gonzo metal pickup. But I don't have any experience [and haven't really sought it out, given the price for US orders] with BKP.

PATB-2 is in between the Invader and Distortion for sound [best parts of both, IMO] with a bit of JB thrown in for sweeter soloing. Daemon barbeque used it in a shorter scale mahogany guitar and it sounded great. Search the forum for links to his soundclick & myspace pages, he contrasts the PATB-2 Parallel Axis Distortion and the SH-6 Distortion in one of them.

For punchy, an SH-5 (or TB-5, depending on string spacing) Custom might do what you want, too. Lower output (though considerably hotter than vintage), but an evil chunk. If your preamp doesn't need the extra push of a really hot pickup, might be another good option.