Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: WhiskyPenguin on June 13, 2017, 04:17:34 PM

Title: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: WhiskyPenguin on June 13, 2017, 04:17:34 PM
I've got a set of Holy Diver (bridge)Alnico Nailbomb (neck) on order to put in a PRS 24 Custom.  Has anyone heard this combo? 


I'm trying to get a strong mix between screaming, smooth solos and tight bass with the option to warm things up a bit when I want.

Edit:  This will be played through a Mesa/Boogie Mark V with a 1x12 Mesa Rectifier Cabinet. 
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: ericsabbath on June 13, 2017, 11:05:12 PM
main difference between the neck nailbomb and neck emerald (probably the most common pair to the holy diver in the last few years) is that the emerald  has a smoother top and a little more mids
the neck nailbomb is quite sharp and stratty sounding, more like the bridge emerald, but a bit more scooped sounding
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: Dave Sloven on June 14, 2017, 10:06:36 AM
In terms of screaming, smooth solos I would have thought the Rebel Yell neck might be a better choice than the Nailbomb neck.  The Holy Diver will probably give you want you want
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: WhiskyPenguin on June 15, 2017, 06:06:02 AM
I really should have pointed out that it was the A-Bomb for the neck and not the C-Bomb.  I felt like the A-Bombs had a warm tone in their demos.
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: Dave Sloven on June 15, 2017, 06:44:51 AM
The A-Bomb is a bridge pickup

The Nailbomb necks are all the same, all alnico, but not featured prominently in the demos, and many of the videos of the Nailbomb set only feature the bridge, or only give cleans of the neck

The following video is very brief but you get to hear a Nailbomb calibrated set.  It starts with the ceramic bridge Nailbomb and then at 0.15 it switches to the Nailbomb neck pickup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOIHdXsTNU

This one shows you a bit of the Nailbomb neck as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URdwGi1vbnU
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: darkandrew on June 15, 2017, 06:37:16 PM
I feel that the Nail Bomb neck is one of the most under-rated pickups on here. It's one of my favourites for the neck position and is the reason why I've kept onto my Nail Bomb way after I fell out of love with the bridge pickup. In fact, as I am writing this I am thinking about keeping the Nail Bomb neck and pairing it with something different in the bridge. If I were to do that, I'd probably pair it with a Cold Sweat in the bridge - I've actually got a Cold Sweat set on order for another guitar, so I'll probably pop that in with my Nail Bomb neck just to see how well they pair up before I put it in its permanent home.
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: Dave Sloven on June 16, 2017, 03:47:57 AM
Yes I have a Cold Sweat bridge laying around and I've contemplated trying it in my Explorer with the Nailbomb neck
Title: Re: Holy Diver & Nailbomb
Post by: WhiskyPenguin on June 27, 2017, 06:52:08 AM
The more I listen to the Nailbomb neck pickup and the Holy Diver bridge, I'm confident that I made the right decision for a truly flexible and rocking tone.