Viking Pickups: Berserker Bridge & Neck Review

I've been using a set of Berserkers which is part of the Odin series from Viking Pickups for just over a month now and they have made a very welcome addition to my setup amongst the likes of Bulldog, Entwistle & EMG pickups.


They have filled a major gap that I have in my collection with is a serious lack of pickups that use Alnico magnets. To some people this may seem like utter insanity but I have never managed to find any that I liked after flirtations with the Duncan JB & the Bare knuckle Nailbomb. Neither of these suited me at all. They both suffered from a soft flubby low end which just wont cut it for the music that I play.


This is the key point where the Berserkers differ. The low end is very controlled and focused which is a bit of an odd trait for an AV pickup but it's definitely something that I like.


The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output clocking in at 16.6k on the bridge pickup and 8.6k on the neck so they aren't exactly what you would consider a straight up PAF I'd say more a hotrodded PAF and even that is downplaying the power.

They have a good solid amount of upper mids which is complimented by a healthy amount of highs that doesn't fizz out or go really scratchy. The Low end as i said earlier is very focused and precise. These three points added together make for a nicely balanced tonality across the whole TMB spectrum.


They seem to soak up gain in a very pleasant way without getting ultra saturated so you still hear all of the notes ringing out in the chords yet you can still chug away like James Hetfield on them. Add to this the midrange detail and you have a recipe for disaster!


The bridge provides a present and clear clean sound that some may describe as spiky but to me it is more of an in your face biting clean sound which is what most players look for when looking at bridge pickup clean sounds. The neck pickup is where the soft smoother clean sounds are for those delicate passages.

The Look
The Berserker comes in a selection of different metal covers that look like well used pieces of weaponry. The colour choices are Black, Bronze & Silver. Pictured below is the Black set.

Summary & Soundclips
As I said at the top of this review these pickups have filled a gap in my collection and I can't see them changing for anything else any time soon. They provide a wide range of sounds that I could get with my other guitars but it would always sound a bit forced due to the Ceramic & Neodymium magnets with the Berserkers it sounds very thick & natural.


I would highly recommend these to anyone who is tired of the same old choices that we've been given all of these years and want something a little different and special.


The Price for a set is £82.45 which is an absolute bargain especially when paired with the fantastic customer service and sales support from the guys at Viking Pickups.


To purchase or enquire further about Viking Pickups contact Stefan on the link below.


http://www.vikingpickups.com/

EMG James Hetfield Signature Pickups (Het Set) Updated with audio sample.

I've had this set for just over a week now so I feel that I can give a fairly fair review of them.

First of all i'll get it out of the way that these aren't just the standard 81 & 60 in some flashy covers as most people expect them to be. I wanted a set of these for quite some time being a massive Metallica fan. Especially after hearing some newer live clips where James Hetfield has sounded amazing and cut through really well. From here on we can go into the main bulk of the review.

The Sound
These pickups have a fairly high output which is to be expected as they are designed exclusively for metal and of course they are EMG pickups.

They have a great helping of upper mids which was a pleasant surprise with just the right amount of grind going on there. They also have a touch more low end than than the standard EMG pickups but it is still very tight and precise with absolutely no excess flub. The high end is very upfront but isn't grating in any way and doesn't fizz out.

These pickups don't dissapoint for clean sounds either. The bridge provides that classic james hetfield clean sound, think of the Master of Puppets interlude or the intro of Welcome Home. The neck pickup is even nice r and delivers some very soft yet punchy clean sounds that work really well for things such as fade to black or the intro to and justice for all.

Clearly Metallica tones are very easily achievable with these pickups as are tones from any of the 80's metal bands. If this is what you are looking for then you will not be dissapointed with these pickups.

The Look
These pickups look very slick with a very nice black nickel finish with individual ceramic polepieces on the neck pickup and steel poles for the bridge pickup.

Summary & Soundclips
Overall I am extremely happy with these pickups. I play Thrash metal primarly and these pickups can cover everything I throw at them with ease from Metallica right up to modern Exodus. Usually when I swap pickups out I have some bad points that really niggle at me which is why I left this review for a while and so far i can't find a single fault.

Entwistle HDN - High Definition Neodymium Pickups. Updated with a clip!

Well i've been playing these for around a week now and I didn't want to write this up straight away as I wanted to get familiar with the pickups and tweak the heights/polepieces to get them spot on.

And now a week later I am still completely impressed with them. Firstly there's the fact that they are high output and ultra tight in the low end, usually to have this kind of clarity and tightness you would have to sacrifice your cleans completely with say a ceramic pickup... But not with these you get those thick palm mutes and the pinches just really leap out at you going hand in hand with a great midrange grind. Then you switch over to the clean channel and get incredible bell like cleans that have a piezo like quality to them.

The neck pickup is just as impressive as the bridge its higher output than I am used to from my other guitars with Bare Knuckles in but it still retains that same clarity that the bridge had but with extra fluidity with is amazing for legato work and the cleans again are excellent being warmer and fuller than the bridge and very clean and crisp sounding.

Now onto tunings. I have used these pickups in tunings ranging from E Standard right down to B standard and the same qualities remain throughout the tunings and have even outshined the other pickups I own in some of these tunings.

In short these pickups are a metal guitarists dream come true but it doesn't stop there either.
If you knock the gain back on the amp you get into that 80s rock territory that many people crave.

The HDNs also react extremely well using an overdrive pedal which results in even more tightness and cut (not that they needed it) But all in all it makes for an extremely versatile set of pickups for the rock or metal guitarist.

I have a seven string coming my way this week too and i'm not even considering any other brand or type of pickups so far if Entwistle can provide the goods again.

Now you can buy these excellent pickups from here.

http://www.boyesamplification.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52