Humbucker for a brighter/tighter high gain

Kittyfrisk

If you have narrowed down the decisions to a specification, then you could do a lot worse that trying to find a pickup that matches your choice from Alan Entwistle's range. Something from the Modern or Modern/Hot ranges seems about right.
They are well made, very affordable & might just help you to find what you are looking for without going 'boutique' with all the costs that follow.
https://entwistlepickups.com/alan-entwistle-humbucker-guitar-pickups/
If you like them that's great & you're sorted. If not, you haven't spent a small fortune in finding out that you don't like a particular flavour that works on the page, but not in the guitar.
Just a thought & not throwing shade at any other pickup makers, particularly those that frequent here & help so much 

Lestratcaster

If you drop tune to play metal then the BKP Aftermath is one of the best I've played. It's super tight on chugs and clear.

Not sure if you want to go down the active route but EMG 81 always a tried and trusted.

Elwood

@Kittyfrisk thank you, that is a good idea. 

@Lestratcaster I'd really like to try an 81, but the wiring etc presents more of an issue than something passive. They are also a bit tricky to direct mount - though I am considering installing a pickup ring for the bridge. 

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone

Moloch

Elwood said:

Moloch said:

ICBM said:

In my opinion you really need a ceramic magnet for tightness - there are many great higher-output pickups with alnico magnets, some of which are bright, but none of them have the same focused tightness in the bottom end as something like the Evo.

Agreed. My choice for the same job was the Bare Knuckle Ragnarok and ooooooooooooooooh boy, that thing slices!

Looks great, though £195 for a single humbucker is very expensive!

Yeah, I got very lucky. Picked it up for £70 second hand.

Dave_Mc

Kittyfrisk said:

If you have narrowed down the decisions to a specification, then you could do a lot worse that trying to find a pickup that matches your choice from Alan Entwistle's range. Something from the Modern or Modern/Hot ranges seems about right.
They are well made, very affordable & might just help you to find what you are looking for without going 'boutique' with all the costs that follow.
https://entwistlepickups.com/alan-entwistle-humbucker-guitar-pickups/
If you like them that's great & you're sorted. If not, you haven't spent a small fortune in finding out that you don't like a particular flavour that works on the page, but not in the guitar.
Just a thought & not throwing shade at any other pickup makers, particularly those that frequent here & help so much 

Yeah the Entwistles are very good for the money- the ones I've tried, at least, I much prefer to the Irongears and Toneriders I've tried while costing quite a bit less, and to my ears/fingers are almost as nice as the high end stuff. I also prefer them to Duncans and probably Dimarzios too. (I thought the build quality was a little iffy on the neodymium single coil I had, though.)

The HVX is basically bang-on for the specs @OilCityPickups suggested and which I agree with (though I have a soft spot for good quality PAF or slightly hot PAF alnico 5 pickups which will also do it I think, but ceramic is probably the safer bet in terms of definitely being the right tool for the job), and findinstruments still has them for about £17 I think (though you'd also have to pay postage I think).

There's also a ceramic one which is also more or less bang-on spec for the bridge pickup, the HV75 I think, but I haven't tried it. Or the Nemesis, which I also haven't tried. (I'm assuming they're 43AWG with a resistance between 12-14k.)

fastonebaz

+1 for evolution

Check out BKP Riff Raff too.  The demo video sounds great

Elwood

Cols said:

Bill Lawrence L500XL, as favoured by Nuno and Dimebag.  

https://www.wildepickups.com/products/l500?variant=32504736120894

Be warned, it could take your head clean off.

Much obliged for all the suggestions. Are these available in the UK? 

imalrightjack

Bareknuckle Ragnarok would likely do the job very well. 

grungebob

Seymour Duncan Nazgûl. Ace pickup for tight metal

Elwood

Thanks gents.

@grungebob that is a great call - I hadn't heard of that before. Thank you