Seymour Duncan SH-13 BLK

I don't get what people are moaning about in certain reviews, this pickup is great.
It does exactly what it says it does, remove some midrange, add some bottom-end and top-end, you get all the gain you'd ever need and pinch harmonics & squeals are easier than ever before, not only that but they last forever as well!
It sounds a bit weak on the clean tones, to my ears; but that's what you have the neck pickup for, right!?

The chugs and stops are killer, chugs are crisp and clear, and the stops are completely quiet, there's no hum or static noise (This will obviously vary from rig to rig) when doing a stop; it's quiet when you want it to.

I give this a 10/10 for Metal use; because that's what it's intended for.
Not so much on the cleans or crunch, sure, crunch it can do, but you might want to set your selector to bridge&neck at the same time, as it does sound slightly weak with just crunch.

The high gain tones are powerful and very nice though. :)

If you're looking for a tight, high output pickup then look no further. One thing to be aware of with this pickup is that it will show up all your mistakes. Personally I see that as a bonus since it forces me to play better. If you can keep this thing under control then you'll find harmonics will be jumping out of nowhere. This pickup is based on the Bill Lawrence L500 XL which is actually what I wanted but they're a pain to get hold of in Europe so I decided to give this a try. It's not exactly the same but it's close enough, a bit of eq will get you 99% of the way there. It can be a little harsh on the high end and it doesn't clean up as well but you can get around that with the coil split.

To sum up it can be the best pickup or the worst. It's simply a case of you get out what you put in. As unforgiving as it can be, it's very rewarding when things come together and this pickup springs to life.