Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Neemo on December 20, 2005, 06:12:23 PM
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Hi, I'm new here and trying to decide on which pickup to buy for the bridge.
My guitar is a ESP SV Standard (rhoads) with neck-thru joint, alder wings, maple neck with ebony fretboard. And of course with a floyd.
For reference, I'm looking for a Children of Bodom -type guitar sound, very hot with a lot of mids. I'm play lead and solo quite a bit so I want a very articulate sound with huge harmonics, I currently have DM Megadrive but it seems to have quite weak harmonics and bit muddy sound to it. I also don't do detuning so I think Warpig is off the list? I was thinking about the Nailbomb but it doesn emphasize on mids that much, I just love the mid grind with a tube amp. The Miracle Man however, seems to fit best for its voicing, but does it have enough output?. Oh and I rarely use clean sounds and I have DM Humbucker from Hell for those.
Any suggestions/opinions are welcome.
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Welcome, Neemo.
Miracle Man, without a doubt.
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Or a Cold Sweat...less output and lets the amp open up a bit.
And welcome!
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Or a Cold Sweat...l
For doing CoB, I would think that the CS is too clean.
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Probably...it's good to have a few choices!
The cold sweat mid is lower than the Miracle Man, it's just that it's my new pickup and I really like it! :lol:
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The ole Nailbomb has to be a contender in the mid crunch stakes!!
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I would choose the Nailbomb, Its got a very full mid range. The Miracle Man doesn't have the Mid crunch you are looking for. If you want to go higher output check out the Warpig for an alternative.
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How easily do the harmonics come off with Nailbomb vs Warpig?
I'm looking for a really In-Your-Face kinda mid-emphasized pickup, how's the Painkiller coming up? I read that it has the mid grind taken to the extreme, something I'd like to my hands on.
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I also think the Miricale Man would be the way to go. I don't think Alexi's tone has a lot of mids. Actually I can't think of any pickup that would probably get his tone better then the MM. He uses a really sh1tty pickup (I had the one he uses now) and uses effects and stuff to make it sound the way it does.
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I also think the Miricale Man would be the way to go. I don't think Alexi's tone has a lot of mids. Actually I can't think of any pickup that would probably get his tone better then the MM. He uses a really sh1tty pickup (I had the one he uses now) and uses effects and stuff to make it sound the way it does.
I'm after the tone he had when he still had his jackson (which was stolen) that had a J-50C. It was a quite mid-heavy pup.
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Most Jackson's are equipped with a JB (or a BJ as we call it here :lol: ). In that case, I'd go for a Nailbomb.
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Harmonics come from the Nailbomb very easily. They are a bit easier to get on the Warpig but I think the Nailbomb would better suited to your needs.
The Painkiller won't be available for a little while yet as it is still being voiced.
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Actually I can't think of any pickup that would probably get his tone better then the MM. He uses a really sh1tty pickup (I had the one he uses now) and uses effects and stuff to make it sound the way it does.
Actually, Alexi is using a Jackson J50BC humbucker (the B stand for Bridge
and the C for Ceramic) in addition to an onboard preamp called the Je-1000.
The J50BC humbucker was basically the Ceramic version of the Jackson PAF hum and reads about 8.6 Kohm. This pup was also partly designed to "go along" with the Je1000.
This combination is actually pretty good sounding, far better than an EMG81 if you ask me... MUCH more alive.
As for the Je1000, it's in fact a volume pot with a variable gain switch (something like up to +15dB) that you "set and forget" (a trim pot) and, THE secret to the j50bc+Je1000 sounds, a simple 3 peak selector (think about a simple 3 band EQ) with Low Mid and High.
Now the question is : what settings did Alexi Laiho/Roope Latvala used until now, i mean, on this peak selector... my guess is Low:off Mid:on High:on or something like that.
If i had to duplicate the CoB sound with BKP, i'd go for a VHII + any kind of SUPER clean gain boost (SD1 or EMG PA).
From what i've heard of the VHII it seems enough trebly to emulate the original power of the pickup (8.6k on the J50BC) AND the Je1000 hypothetical EQ.
A gain boost is or course needed to reach a CoB kind of distortion, even through a 5150 or a VHT whose have a sh**load of gain.
My second guess would surely be a miracle man though... possibly more simple :lol:
But anyway, keep in mind that those two guys don't use a raw and rough type of distortion "LPthruMarshall" style a la Zakky. Their sound is much more 80s oriented in its root : They usually goes thru a GP1000 Lee Jackson (Class A) tube preamp and a Peavey, VHT (or ENGL for Sinergy) poweramp. And that the fundamental principe of their tone is that they drives the preamp section of the amp like crazy 8)
Well i hope that helps ! :wink:
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I've almost forgot to ask something to Tim and Steve :
Knowing all of this, could it be possible for you to make a VHII with a ceramic magnet ? What are the pros and cons ?
With any kind of gain boost, perhaps it could turn into a great 80s/Trash machine pickup...while retaining the incredible articulation and sweetness of a low output PAF... i don't know :roll:
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I've almost forgot to ask something to Tim and Steve :
Knowing all of this, could it be possible for you to make a VHII with a ceramic magnet ? What are the pros and cons ?
With any kind of gain boost, perhaps it could turn into a great 80s/Trash machine pickup...while retaining the incredible articulation and sweetness of a low output PAF... i don't know :roll:
The miracle man already fills that bill I think. Same for the Cold Sweat and the Painkillers it seems. There's always a volume pot on the guitar, and the MM is already amazingly articulated.
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I was aware of the JE-1000, though that cleared a lot of details. Do you where I could get one, it seems that jackson doesn't have it available anymore even in custom guitars.
Possibly a BKP can deliver the goods by itself, just that this comparing between Miracle Man, Nailbomb and Warpig is driving me crazy. But I think I'll wait for the Painkiller, it seems to fit the bill that I'm looking for.
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The Painkiller seems pretty exciting indeed ! I mean, in that range of tone your looking for.
As for the J50BC+Je1000, there's one place like always, eBay :)
You can get a j50BC for around 40$, they come up very often.
But, for the Je1000, that's a different story... they are quite rare... and sometimes you can get them for around 30-40$ too.
But i think it'll be far more interesting for you to try to duplicate its sound with BKP, the quality is sooo better than any others production pickups, it's almost scary 8)
Again, if you do not want to wait for the possible Painkiller, get yourself the Miracle Man, it will do the trick just fine.
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Tim, throw us a bone here! :lol:
What's the painkiller going to be like? And when will it likely be available?
I just listened to Dio for the first time, Holy Diver (who had guessed? :) ), the solo part... THAT is the tone I'm after, maybe a bit hotter (active booster...?). Man, this just keeps getting more difficult to pick a pickup.
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Well,
I just ordered a Nailbomb, I just couldn't wait for the painkiller. I think it has the tone I'm looking for. Will surely let you know soon!
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Excellent - we look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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Hey there
I got a nailbomb recently which replaced a JB 4. Now whilst I still like the sound of the JB I'm gonna stick with the Nailbomb. The nailbomb is most definately a higher output and more gain pickup. It sounds very tight, so when playing fast alternate picking all the notes come out very clearly.
I think the nailbomb is a modern hi-gain pickup, for music like in flames, children of bodom, death/black metal etc
I'm really fussy when it comes to my tone but I think I have the best sound for what i like at the moment. I have high hopes for the Rebel Yell when that is released which I will definately be getting.
Anyway I would like to hear what you think about the nailbomb for COB like tone, by the way what happened to children of Bodom lately? 3 great albums and then they got really awful almost NU.
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Hey there
I got a nailbomb recently which replaced a JB 4. Now whilst I still like the sound of the JB I'm gonna stick with the Nailbomb. The nailbomb is most definately a higher output and more gain pickup. It sounds very tight, so when playing fast alternate picking all the notes come out very clearly.
I think the nailbomb is a modern hi-gain pickup, for music like in flames, children of bodom, death/black metal etc
I'm really fussy when it comes to my tone but I think I have the best sound for what i like at the moment. I have high hopes for the Rebel Yell when that is released which I will definately be getting.
Anyway I would like to hear what you think about the nailbomb for COB like tone, by the way what happened to children of Bodom lately? 3 great albums and then they got really awful almost NU.
Honestly mate, when i see em next week, hopefully it will be extreme!!!
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Im happy with my Miracle Man pickups i'd suggest them..
They've got that EMG81 agression, the DiMarzio Evolution ceramic chacter with that ultra tight bass responce that makes u seem a n00b if u cant pick well lol.. but with it's completely own open and dynamic character.. fantastic if u ask me.
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i'd say nailbomb for the mids and output. the nailbomb has incredible mids.
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Recieved my NB today, all the way from UK to Finland in 5 days, amazing!
First impression of the pickup was great, the mid-range which the DiMarzio Megadrive lacked was there in spades. Also the displeasant over-spongy distortion sound was gone, now it's all about note definition and tight crunch. I've only had a chance to try it out with my practice amp cube30, still I could notice a huge difference (for the better of course). I'll probably get to see what the 'bomb is all about in rehearsals next sunday.
Peavey Rockmaster + VHT 2/90/2 + Bogner Uberschall 412 = Sonic Domination
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Hi Neemo, I think thats your Nailbomb in the gallery... last picture.
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it is! :P
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update:
I somehow found a JE-1000, or actually a clone of it called MM04 from a local music store here in finland. Musamaailma which got Alexi Laiho his endorsement deal installs them on all alexi signature models. So as the JE-1000 were discontinued, Musamaailma started making their own called MM04.
Here's a few pictures:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/puppet/MM04/
You'll notice that it has 4 dip switches instead of 3, this is a optional upgrade. I installed it into my rhoads with Nailbomb on it and now I can use half the gain on the amp that before, but now with the same amount of distortion the guitar is SO light to play due the powerful pickup signal. I also noticed that this has a 1/10 amount hiss that EMG PA2 had. I have the switches set [off-on-on-off] giving it a nice mid boost, sounds very cool and mean :twisted:.