Bridge pickup for ESP Horizon NTII

  • Thread starter Thread starter MourningEngine
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People recommending the JB should probably rethink that as the Holydiver is a JB pretty much, only with improved tightness and a more 'sweet' singing lead character. Tim based it off an 80s JB. If you don't like the HD you won't like the JB either, as the JB has an even looser, woofier bottom end.
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I haven't ever tried the old JB, but in my experience the new sh4 is not even remotely close to the HD.
 
The Axe Palace":3p6yrwia said:
MourningEngine":3p6yrwia said:
Hello everyone,

I am still searching for the right pickup for my ESP Horizon NTII. So far I've tried

  • BKP Holy Diver: too much bass, too fat, not tight enough, not enough high mids, not enough high end
  • BKP Rebel Yell: still not tight enough, sounds a bit like "Hit the pot"
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Hey Markus. Sorry you're not digging the Rebel Yell anymore. For those who don't know, I have the Holydiver and Rebel Yell in two of my guitars. I agree the HD is a bit dark but it also has excellent attack and definition through every amp I've tried it through. The Rebel Yell I also found to be the tightest alnico pickup I've ever tried. I can't help but wonder if there's something off. I know the Herbert is pretty low-mid heavy but I got great results with those pickups thru the Herbert here.

That said, both of those ARE alnicos and if you're after maximum tightness, clarity, and upper midrange crunch, you should be looking at their ceramic models. The Painkiller and Cold Sweat models come to mind as ideal candidates. They're two of the tightest pickups on the market, supremely defined and great harmonics. The ceramic Nailbomb is good too but it also is a little dark.

The Painkiller is what I'd recommend. Tight as balls and a huge upper midrange 'snarl' to it. It's ideal in warm guitars or bass heavy rigs. I have had no problems with the Rebel Yell or HD with my rig, as I use a good boost in front of the amp and half-stack is super tight as is... but the ceramics are definitely going to be the best bet.

People recommending the JB should probably rethink that as the Holydiver is a JB pretty much, only with improved tightness and a more 'sweet' singing lead character. Tim based it off an 80s JB. If you don't like the HD you won't like the JB either, as the JB has an even looser, woofier bottom end.

Peter Diezel recommended the Duncan SH6, which is the Distortion model. That model is super tight, bright, and clear but I've found that pickup to have a very 'honky' midrange and a thin/harsh high-end. Super compressed. I think the Painkiller model from BKP has the good qualities of the SH6 but with a more organic, full tone.

Just my two cents.
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Hey Nick,

thanks for participating in this thread. I always appreciate your oppinion :).

Well, it is not that I completely dislike the Rebel Yell but strangely it still hasn't enough high-end clarity for my taste and the mids sounds strage. I don't know how to describe it. And on top of that it could be a bit tighter aswell.

You mentioned a very important point regarding boosting. When I play thru a boost (Bodenhammer Bloody Murder) the low end and high mids change to where I want them. But the signal gets too compressed and saturated, aswell. So boosting my signal is (unfortunately) not an option for me. I am looking for a pickup that gives me the sound I want without a boost.

Having said that, I just ordered a Painkiller from Tim to try it out. Maybe I like it better out of the box.

I will, however, continue to try different pickup heights with the Rebel Yell. Who knows, maybe I'll keep it eventually.

Concerning the JB. I had one installed when I bought the guitar and removed it because I didn't really like it at the time. So I am bit sceptical about going back to it.

Also I want to mention than none of the Bare Knuckle pickups I tried sounded really bad. It's criticism on a high level.
 
nbarts":2gnw1uw1 said:
People recommending the JB should probably rethink that as the Holydiver is a JB pretty much, only with improved tightness and a more 'sweet' singing lead character. Tim based it off an 80s JB. If you don't like the HD you won't like the JB either, as the JB has an even looser, woofier bottom end.
Click to expand...

I haven't ever tried the old JB, but in my experience the new sh4 is not even remotely close to the HD.
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There's an old and new version of the JB (SH4)?
 
Well, people say the old one sounded different. I don't know if anything changed in production.
 
Here, DI, totally out of tune, but I'm not embarrassed. :lol: :LOL: Hopefully it will help you a little.

LP-RY C tunning 11s
HorNT-cbomb C tunning 11s
HorFR-cpig C tunning 11s
HorNT-JB D tunning 10s
MII-cbomb C tunning 11s

 
nbarts":z7pmhziz said:
Here, DI, totally out of tune, but I'm not embarrassed. :lol: :LOL: Hopefully it will help you a little.

LP-RY C tunning 11s
HorNT-cbomb C tunning 11s
HorFR-cpig C tunning 11s
HorNT-JB D tunning 10s
MII-cbomb C tunning 11s

Click to expand...

Hey man, you rock :rock: Thanks for taking the time to record this for me.
 
Update: I just played a bit with the pickup height and found a very nice spot where I enjoy the sound.

Let's see if I still like it tomorrow ;)
 
I should be receiving my Motor City Solution soon. The solution is supposed to be really tight and clear, I ordered mine with an alnico magnet and hopefully that wasn't a mistake.

I personally don't like the JB at all. It's dark and probably has the most pronounced duncan "honk" I've heard from their pickups. I have an SH12 screamin demon also and it's better than the JB, a little tighter and brighter, but still that duncan sound.
 
nbarts":1c94o4ar said:
Here, DI, totally out of tune, but I'm not embarrassed. :lol: :LOL: Hopefully it will help you a little.

LP-RY C tunning 11s
HorNT-cbomb C tunning 11s
HorFR-cpig C tunning 11s
HorNT-JB D tunning 10s
MII-cbomb C tunning 11s

Click to expand...

Dude, you rule... You've always got serious quality and substance to your posts. Even though I'm not the one asking, this helped me too as I'm playing through an NT-II and a FR-II (amongst various other axs) and am tinkering with changing up pups. So thanks.

V.
 
I was actually surprised how much more output the nailbomb had over the rebel yell, a big difference. Recorded the nailbomb shows slightly more volume than the warpig, I guess all that extra output gets lost in bottom end.

I just swapped the 11s on the cbomb horizon to 10s D tunning, so I can now actually compare the 2. cbomb sounds so much bigger than the JB, but JB is so much tighter than the nailbomb. Go figure. :confused: I'd say cbomb for ch2 user & JB for ch3.
 
RJF":hy02re0z said:
I personally don't like the JB at all. It's dark and probably has the most pronounced duncan "honk" I've heard from their pickups.
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All true & that's why it's so cool.
 
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