Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Piplodocus on February 27, 2014, 12:04:45 PM
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Hello!
I was toying with swapping my Seymour Duncan JB bridge and Jazz neck with something else for a change. I tend to play a big mix of styles with this guitar. I often want the bridge for big fat hard rock/metal. I'm more a heavy grunge/blues type metal I guess (think Tool, Alice In Chains, Helmet, Deftones) than a thrash kinda real Speed metal kinda player. So it's gotta do big meaty, quite biting fat rock. Also my music tends to have lots of chilled blues or jazzy clean bits. Usually the JB does the rock bit, the jazz does a nice warmer jazz (although due to song changes I can use any for either). I also use my coil splits quite often as sometimes I want more if a twang, either for clean jazzy stuff or for that kinda post-rock/grunge single coil through a high gain amp or just to get more of a nastier biting blues than the warmer sound. Also they gets used for more lower gain classic rock Pearl Jam kinda levels of gain. Anyway, after assorted head-scratching and reading descriptions I was thinking a Nailbomb Alnico bridge and a Mule neck might be a nice pairing for me. I have very little to go on though by way of comparison. How would you folks compare the sound, output levels and flexibility of those to my current JB/Jazz combo?
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Hi and welcome!
To make good recommendations we could use more info on the guitar.
However I would already say the Nailbomb and Holydiver would work well for the bridge, my favorite being the HD even. Very versatile, meaty and warm rock and metal sound, without being as 90s abrasive as the NB.
The Mule neck is great, but might be a bit of an output missmatch. I would rather say Abraxas as a more powerful Mule or the Emerald, which pairs wonderfully with the HD and sings warmly.
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Holydiver would be great for the bridge position, no doubt.
For the neck there are many options. I have used the Cold Sweat neck with success together with the Holydiver in the bridge, and also the VHII which matched well with the Holydiver in a 24-fret guitar. I think the Emerald or Abraxas would work well, too.
Cheers Stephan
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Cheers for the replies. How do those others compare on output to the Jb/jazz. I'm just aware that at the moment I can get the full beautiful channel 1 clean on my Diezel Herbert with the volume knob on full, still with decent picking dynamics. If they get too hot it starts to break up unless I roll the volume pot down; this isn't always doable if I go straight from heavy to clean though or want repeatable volume every time. I'm no pickup expert though so I don't know how much hotter you have to go vs how much you start pushing the front of the amp.
The guitar is a Parker Fly Mojo (yeah, I know it won't take the pickups without a mod!). So all mahogany, very solid neck so very resonant and "alive", fat sounding, but with a brighter resonant tone. Someone said Parker's seem to have lots of low bass, but less mid-bass once. Dunno how true that is, but if anyone knows that might be helpful. Definitely a different beast than my bolt-on alder Nitefly though. I'm shitee at describing sound. Can you tell? ;)
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Well I do not know how they compare really, but I recon BKPs as always are less hot, meaning less compressed and more open. That combined with their clarity always seems to eat away some gain (this is a good thing, trust me). This now is just a guess, but if you play like that, yeah you might actually have a good time with the Mule neck after all. Just for most people and how they like their balance the drop might be too big, but for you that might just be what you want then.
However not that BKPs are all really dynamic to begin with so that alone makes huge difference to duncans. So yeah, hard to say. In light of this the Mule might work. Cause they are so dynamic the abraxas and Emerald would work too, but maybe not as good for your style after all. I am really not sure.
You actually do a very good job of describing, I am suprised. Just stay away from what other people say. But the rest gives a good idea. All of the necks mentioned would certainly do a good job and the HD would be very much at home too for what you describe.
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All good calls here. The OP will be pleased with a Holy Diver/Emerald- or VHII-neck.
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How do those others compare on output to the Jb/jazz.
I cannot say anything about the jazz since I have never played one. The Holydiver will have about the same level of output than the JB - maybe a little less - but have a lot more articulation and definition. The JB to me was always a compressed mid-muddy mess.
Cheers Stephan
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Looking like the holy diver is a good call then. Still pondering the differences between that and the nailbomb.
Regarding the mule or higher output emerald/abraxas it's an interesting one. According to SD's website the jazz does seen to be labelled as moderately low output and is in the "vintage output" range, when compared to the JB being a "slamming" output in the high output section. So maybe I wouldn't think the mule mismatched to the other. I don't tend to play with both bum*uckers on at once tbh so maybe I would if they were a better "match"? I probably only use both simultaneously with the split on for a more nasally twang. Do you guys tend to use both simultaneously much? Maybe one of the most popular pickup pairings are actually a poorly matched pair for better versatility? I'm far from a pickup expert. The added versatility and previous comments are making me think maybe the mule again though! I'd like them similar output levels though to my current ones I guess. :D
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Emerald neck with Holy Diver bridge is a highly-regarded pairing. If the HD would suit your guitar in the bridge I'm sure the Em would be fine in the neck slot. Most guitars are much less picky regarding the neck pickup you install than they are regarding the bridge.
One of our regulars swears by this combo and while I haven't heard the HD in real life I installed a Emerald set in a friend's Les Paul and man does that neck pickup sound sweet. Has that vintage edge too.
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I now have my friend who's had a selection of a few BKPs in different guitars saying the Nailbomb is his go to pickup and you can't go wrong with it, it has great mids! He's never had a Holy Diver though, he's had nailbombs, painkiller, warpig, and irish tour SCs (wasn't too keen on the painkiller or warpig but loves the others). :roll:
Now I'm thinking maybe Nailbomb and Emerald!
I best start doing some measuring and working out what mods this guitar would need...
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HD is a less hot JB, i changed the JB in my MIJ Charvel San Dimas for a HD and that is the first thing i noticed. The Nailbomb would be closer to the JB in hotness but has a more modern edge and has more bass. The mahogany body would compensate the lack of bass in the HD though and would be a better all round pup.
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Now I'm thinking maybe Nailbomb and Emerald!
This might work ... I have a Nailbomb set myself, and the Nailbomb tends to fit well with a brighter neck pickup. Of the pickups I considered to match the A-Bomb in my Explorer the ones I considered with the Nailbomb, Stockholm (HSP-90), and Rebel Yell.
I had a Cold Sweat neck paired with the A-Bomb in my SG, but I didn't like that combo there. To me the CS sounded smooth and dark while the A-Bomb sounded very hairy and aggressive. In the Explorer it is less like that but keep in mind that if your guitar is quite middy the A-Bomb can result in mids overkill. If the guitar is very middy try the C-Bomb, which has a mids scoop.
There is no one 'go to' pickup that works in all guitars. If the pickup is a poor match for the guitar what tends to happen is that the usable range of the pickup narrows and you find it isn't as versatile as you expected. That's what happened with the A-Bomb in my SG. Basically everything sounded like 'as covered by Poison Idea' or 'as covered by Ratos de Porao' ...
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There is no one 'go to' pickup that works in all guitars. If the pickup is a poor match for the guitar what tends to happen is that the usable range of the pickup narrows and you find it isn't as versatile as you expected.
+1000!
Cheers Stephan
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I have a Nailbomb/Rebel Yell combo in one of my guitars (LP Custom) and looking at the styles you are after I think that they would work really well for you.
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There is no one 'go to' pickup that works in all guitars. If the pickup is a poor match for the guitar what tends to happen is that the usable range of the pickup narrows and you find it isn't as versatile as you expected.
+1000!
Cheers Stephan
Exactly. The Crawler is fab in my strat, but would smoother my mahogany St. Blues Bluesmaster. Therefore it carries Mules.
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Probably the safest BKP bridge pickup in an all-mahogany guitar is the Cold Sweat.
The Nailbomb, Crawler, Painkiller, and Holy Diver will all work in most mahogany guitars but not in some. Depending on the mid-range EQ of your instrument it could be good, or it could be really horrible. Not sure about the Juggernaut, haven't heard enough reports yet. Miracle Man and Warpig can sometimes be too dark if a guitar is already very bassy.
If you like the sound of the Cold Sweat set I'd suggest that without really knowing any more about what your guitar sounds like, but without being more familiar with your guitar model I'd be cautious in recommending anything