I play metal, prog metal, some classic rock, and some blues, but I would like it to be versatile enough to play most genres. I will mostly be using it for clean tones and some high gain leads. As for tones, think the clean section of master of puppets and you'll know the direction I'm aiming. As for amps I'm running through bias on the jc120 setting for cleans, and the c+ setting for leads although I primarily use my bridge pickup for leads. The bridge pickup will most likely be a custom 5 if that makes any difference. Also, any other models you might recommend? Perhaps the pearly gates, the 59, or other? What do you think?
These both will sound quite different in 24 fret necks than 22, where I think they do the best. My thought is that Alnico II is warmer...so it really depends on what you are going for here.
According to the internet (I wasn't there) Hetfield in Master of Puppets used Duncan Invaders (before his switch to EMG) in his Jackson King V Custom. Look at Baby Hetfield in the pic below.
While the Invaders look very aggressive and have ceramic, the neck one is actually warm so I would go with the Alnico II Pro of the two you suggest. It happens to be one of my all time favorite pickups as well [emoji4]