Bareknuckle Black Dog or Painkiller?

parlopower

Inspired
It's to replace the bridge pickup of my newly bought PRS Mike Mushok baritone. Mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard, set neck, 27.7'' scale, I tune it DGCFAD / sometimes CGCFAD.

Music: somewhere around from normal to heavy rock, say, My Chemical Romance to Breaking Benjamin.

Which would you pick? I spoke to Bareknuckle already, of course they did not make that decision for me; they said however, the Black Dog is their most popular pickup for the Mike Mushok. But listening to the demos, I wonder if the Black Dog will have enough oomph and smack, which the Painkiller seems to have in spades; I also wonder if the Painkiller is also good for the low to mid gain range which I also need a lot and of which there are not many demos available for this pickup. Sadly it's not so easy to just order both and return the one you like less, since Bareknuckle builds everything to order.

I only need the bridge pickup, neck is already decided (DiMarzio Humbucker from Hell).

Anybody got experience with one or both of the pickups, especially in that tuning on an extended scale guitar?

Oh, errr, yes, of course it will run into an Axe Fx II, if you ask what amps I have...
 
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You can't really go wrong with either...
If a BD isn't enough, and an Aftermath or Juggernaut is too much, then a PK should be about right. Or Nailbomb/Rebel Yell if you want more of a super hot PAF tone.
Tough to beat a PK/Cold Sweat combo if you rethink your neck pup.

Or... Railhammer Anvil?

Or... Blackwater Neo Modern???
 
I have that same guitar with a pair of Black Dogs as my C standard guitar. I love it. I was curious about the Black Dogs but only pulled the trigger when I found some locally for an absurdly cheap price. I have no experience with other BK pickups, so I can't comment on how they compare to Painkillers, but they suit this guitar for my purposes. I have the 4 conductor versions and they split nicely for super clean stuff. Not overly hot, which I really like. Still enough grunt, and they never feel underpowered to me with the Axe-Fx.
 
I have the painkiller 7 in my '99 Ibanez RG7241 tuned to B Standard. It's mean as hell, but can be difficult to tame at first. Its a very tight sounding pickup, I'd imagine the black dog might be more versatile in that respect, but a painkiller would be great if you wanted a straight up metal machine. It'll tame the low end like no ones business when using it for high gain tones, its very mids focused. Again though its very surgical sounding in its attack/response due to that.

TBH I personally prefer my Alnico Warpig in my Skervesen tuned to drop G# out of all the BK pickups I've tried. I've tried about 5 so far. That pickup is allows you to get a really powerful low end saturation without loosing definition. If dialed in right you can definitely get a tight sound ala the painkiller but the way it saturates is just nicer to my ears. People call it dark but thats just in comparison to the the painkiller and aftermath which I feel can sometimes sound a bit sterile. Maybe it just works well with my particular guitar.
 
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FWIW I recently put Nailbombs in my PRS CU22 rosewood neck which is tuned to C# or D standard and haven't been disappointed as I now get the low end crunch while maintaining the defintion the guitar always lacked especially after I started down tuning it. The neck is also what I wanted for a smooth lead tone with plenty of sustain.
 
Thanks for all the comments - they are quite 50:50 for each of the pickups, so it does not help me yet at all, lol!

Since I cannot do returns to Bareknuckle (only solicited returns and a 15GBP restocking fee, ouch), I have decided to first try a few standard stock pickups you can order anywhere with a "normal" return policy and try out if there is one that I like. First on the list is the EVH Wolfgang bridge pickup. I have an EVH Wolfgang Special and LOVE its sound. But it is basswood body, maple neck+fretboard and bolt-on, quite the opposite of the PRS MM, I am looking forward to see how the construction influences the sound!

Any other good suggestions from companies like Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio? I might add - the reason why I want to change the stock MM pickups is because I find them too scooped and they have not as much output as I am used to from the EVH. So i want good output, but keep in mind, I am not in Dent territory. And I want a rich mid range.
 
Thanks for all the comments - they are quite 50:50 for each of the pickups, so it does not help me yet at all, lol!

Since I cannot do returns to Bareknuckle (only solicited returns and a 15GBP restocking fee, ouch), I have decided to first try a few standard stock pickups you can order anywhere with a "normal" return policy and try out if there is one that I like. First on the list is the EVH Wolfgang bridge pickup. I have an EVH Wolfgang Special and LOVE its sound. But it is basswood body, maple neck+fretboard and bolt-on, quite the opposite of the PRS MM, I am looking forward to see how the construction influences the sound!

Any other good suggestions from companies like Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio? I might add - the reason why I want to change the stock MM pickups is because I find them too scooped and they have not as much output as I am used to from the EVH. So i want good output, but keep in mind, I am not in Dent territory. And I want a rich mid range.

Where are you ordering from? I got mine here in the US from Axe Palace and I'm pretty sure they said I could return them and try another set if I wasn't satisfied. It would take awhile, because they get them made to order from GB and don't generally have much of an in-stock selection.

That said, I've been satisfied with their recommendations in way too many of my guitars over the last year, so I haven't had to take them up on that. I generally contact Nick prior to ordering and get advice from him for the specific guitar I'm putting them in. Started with Nailbombs in an Agile LP, and have put in Emeralds in a Brian Moore, Holy Divers in a swamp ash Strat, and War Pigs in my Ibanez V for the drop-tuned Djent guitar. They have all matched up nicely for the guitars I put them in, and I really think in general that Bare Knuckles have a clarity that a lot of other pickups I tried don't have. (Thought I haven't tried the ones you are looking at, I hope this helps some.)

Not much direct experience with Dimarzios, but have had Duncan JBs in two of my guitars and hated them. They just sounded flat and overly peaky in a certain midrange tone that annoyed me. Tried out friends guitars with different Duncans and never really liked them all that much either. The only pickups other than Bare Knuckles that I have that I'm keeping are Tom Anderson's in an HSS Strat and my old SG which has a Suhr Alrich in the bridge and a Duncan Cool Rails in the neck (the only Duncan pickup I ever quite bonded with, as it works well in this application.)
 
Hi, was away for quite a while... I have finally made up my mind and ordered a Painkiller. Looking forward to trying it out and telling you how it is! :)

Apart fro ordering the Painkiller, I have already exchanged the neck humbucker for a DiMarzio Humbucker from Hell, and it sounds VERY good on this guitar. Exactly my taste, very happy with it!
 
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