Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: braintheory on December 07, 2010, 07:31:23 PM
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I currently have a Dean CFH with a set of Painkillers and I already ordered an Aftermath bridge to replace the Painkiller Bridge. For now I'm keeping the Painkiller neck pu because I love it. It's very articulate, punchy, and I think its cleans are amazing although most people probably don't. Anyway, I was wondering what the Aftermath neck pu was like because I might replace the neck pu as well. Will the Aftermath neck be as clear, punchy, and clean up as well? To me the PK neck has a glassy clean sound that reminds me a little of a singe coil, but it still has its own unique sound and these cleans are especially great for Metallica type cleans. So how will the Aftermath compare?
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The Aftermath neck isn't as hot as the Painkiller (11k < 14k). Stock with Alnico V as opposed to the Painkiller's Ceramic magnet. It's fatter, really powerful and punchy like the Aftermath bridge, and warmer. If you really like the Painkiller's singlecoil vibe you can ask Tim about getting Aftermath neck with a ceramic magnet. That's what I have and I love it. I haven't used the Painkiller neck, but I'd assume the Aftermath with a ceramic magnet is more dynamic in comparison and cleans up faster, more punchy and pick-attack-y.
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Are any of the other high output bk neck pu's similar to the aftermath neck?
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So how would a ceramic Aftermath neck compare to my Painkiller neck?
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The chances are no one, not even Tim, knows for sure what a ceramic necj aftermath wll sound like, with any confidence.
But youre getting too hung up on the specs of the PK neck. Its an exception to prove the rule. A ceramic neck that can be very aggressive and very clear and clean up well. Its not normal. The AM neck is not as hot but its quite capable of shred/high output metal and the singly cleans tha tyou like will come much more easily from it.
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"The chances are no one, not even Tim, knows for sure what a ceramic necj aftermath wll sound like, with any confidence."
Well apparantly FriskyLemur says he knows what a ceramic Aftermath neck sounds like and loves it, unless I read his response incorrectly.
Also, will the Aftermath neck have that great sparkle that the Painkiller neck does on the cleans?
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why are you replacing the painkiller neck if you love it so much :?:
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why are you replacing the painkiller neck if you love it so much :?:
I still don't know yet wether I'll replace it or not yet, but that's why I made this post, to see if it's worth replacing or at least trying the aftermath neck. The aftermath neck might work better with with aftermath bridge, but I hope I don't lose too much of what I liked in the Painkiller neck.
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The chances are no one, not even Tim, knows for sure what a ceramic necj aftermath wll sound like, with any confidence.
I have one. :P
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I think you might be overthinking things a tad. everyone on this forum "mismatches" pickups. just because there's such a thing as an aftermath calibrated set, it doesn't mean that the aftermath neck and bridge are better than a painkiller neck and aftermath bridge for YOUR tastes.
unless you chill in the middle position a lot, you're probably someone that uses his bridge pickup for certain things and the neck pickup for certain things. if you dont like the bridge, but you like the neck, just switch the bridge.
fyi, a popular combo is painkiller neck and cold sweat bridge, and another popular combo is cold sweat neck and painkiller bridge (pretty lol imo). Tim just names the pickups as he sees them fitting together, but if YOU found something you like in the neck but not the bridge, just switch the bridge.
EDIT: forgot to mention to just switch the bridge pickup ;)
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As you've not mentioned anything about the Painkiller neck that you don't like, I can only suggest that you keep it and save the money. Certainly in terms of power there's no reason why an Aftermath bridge and Painkiller neck can't go together.
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I have to agree there. There's no real reason to change it. They'll work very well together in terms of character and output.
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The chances are no one, not even Tim, knows for sure what a ceramic necj aftermath wll sound like, with any confidence.
I have one. :P
Oh. Errrrr....why?
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The chances are no one, not even Tim, knows for sure what a ceramic necj aftermath wll sound like, with any confidence.
i think he just asked for it when the AM was first released. I'm sure i remember a thread on it and Nolly mentioned that the prototype for it was a ceramic neck & bridge
I have one. :P
Oh. Errrrr....why?
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Oh. Errrrr....why?
I was talking to Nolly in the days following the Aftermath's formal release, and I mentioned that I liked the Painkiller's lead tone. He said that he'd had one of Tim's rejected neck-Aftermath models that had a ceramic magnet and sounded similar to a Painkiller, but with even more Pick-Attack and hollow-midrange and an even more open dynamic. As it turns out, upon asking Tim about it he said it was just the production Aftermath but with a ceramic magnet and that he'd make one. :D
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He said that he'd had one of Tim's rejected neck-Aftermath models that had a ceramic magnet and sounded similar to a Painkiller, but with even more Pick-Attack and hollow-midrange and an even more open dynamic. As it turns out, upon asking Tim about it he said it was just the production Aftermath but with a ceramic magnet and that he'd make one. :D
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This is why I'm considering swapping out the PK neck. This description makes it sound like ceramic aftermath neck has what I like about the PK neck and more.
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That being the case, then, since I have a pre-production AM neck, by quite a few months, then I also have a ceramic aftermath neck :lol:
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i think we all learned something today...
seriously tho, i would still be wary of dropping a chunk of cash to replace something you already like. i guess you'll never know if you'll like the aftermath neck better until you try it. *shrug*
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That being the case, then, since I have a pre-production AM neck, by quite a few months, then I also have a ceramic aftermath neck :lol:
IIRC yours is a still older AV prototype that is quite different from the current incarnation.
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Frankly I'm not sure any more. I'm 70% that its ceramic. It was nameless at the time, and I asked later what pickup it was/was going to be and tims best guess was that it was what became the aftermath.
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you can check the magnet side (assuming it's an uncovered pup)
ceramic is usually dark graphite grey and alnico V is usually metallic grey on the sides
but I guess you already know that 8)
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Yeah, I'm just not that fussed tbh - I have this here pickup, that may or may not be an aftermath and if it is it may be ceramic or alnico...but its awesome so who cares?
The only reason I want to know really is so I can give halfway decent advice on here, which, while I do my best isnt exactly a driving force in my life - you've gotta draw the line somewhere :lol:
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Whatever you have, MDV, it's a unique pickup. Finding out what magnet is in it might destroy the allure and mystique.
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I just got my aftermath bridge installed and got push pull knobs for both the Aftermath Bridge and Painkiller neck. The Aftermath is Un-$%&#ing-believable. The only bridge pick up I played that I thought was in the same league was the WCR Godwood (I know I'm not supposed to mention other brands on this forum, but the Godwoods were realy great), but that pu had a completely different sound and is not comprable to an Aftermath. It is like others have said the tightest, clearest, and most aggressive bridge pick up I've tried and has a touch of dryness that makes it very edgy in a goodway. For me, it destroys the Painkiller bridge in every aspect and doesn't have that annoying boxiness or bloated midrange and cleans up better. Now I I'm considering replacing the Miracle Man in my Les Paul because I prefer the Aftermath to that also. However, the most impressive part was how well these two pick ups split, particularly the PK neck. I'm now for sure never removing that pick up but I would still love to try the Aftermath neck. The split sounds with these pickups are really gorgeous and well balanced eq-wise with a well defined bottom end.