nailbombs

[braintheory]

I was wondering what the nailbomb has going for it, purely for high gain, that the other BK high gain pick ups don't.  I understand that this pick up is supposed to be the most versatile, but for strictly high gain it doesn't look like it has anything that the other bk high gain pu's don't.  For example, the warpig is known to have a massive bottom end and the most output, while the painkiller is known to have tons of tightness and clarity.  But what does the nailbomb have?  For high output pickups I currently have a miracle man, painkiller, and a zinc plated sinner.  For purely high gain will the nailbomb cover anything that my current pickups won't?  (Again for this post I am not interested in nailboms cleans or medium gain)  This is my first post and I know this might seem like a stupid question. 

[Transcend]

I was going to say it may cover cleans and mid gain tones better then i realised that is crossed off your list.

Erm i found the Nailbomb to be a far bit middier than the Miracle Men & Warpigs i've tried no idea about the the painkiller as im still to try one.

[Loud Black Guitars]

Ive got a set of Nailbombs and they are amazing. They bury the ceramic pigs I had. Tim described them to me. He said that obviously Nailbomb is a Max Cavalera project, and he was really trying to capture that aggression in his style and tone when voicing the pickup. It absolutely kills. Im curious as to how a ceramic one would sound...

[ericsabbath]

I found the nailbomb to be the least middy model of the contemporary line
it's very punchy and has a ton of high end edge, like the miracle man, but the miracle man has a bit more lower mids
it has that modern alnico 5 PAF hollowness on the mids, but with a ton of output
the bridge model is not exactly scooped (the neck is very scooped), but it doesn't have a full midrange like most of the other models
it's hard to describe its tone cause it's right between most of the other models
sounds more organic and versatile than the ceramic models, but not as smooth, round and fat as the holy diver
sounds tighter, brighter, louder, more focused and aggressive than the holy diver, but not as much as a miracle man or cold sweat
it is punchier than the cold sweat, but not as punchy as a miracle man
it's not as compressed and grindy like the alnico warpig, but I found it to be at least as powerful in output
but it's definitely a metal oriented pickup
not some electro acoustic radio pop rock
don't buy it to play oasis or something  :lol:

I loved that pickup, but I couldn't live without some midrange bump

[Loud Black Guitars]

Well the RG Ive got them in is a neck thru with ash wings, so its bright to begin with. I have no issue with the mids..

[braintheory]

What exactly about the nailbomb did you prefer over the ceramic warpig?   

[pagan7]

Im curious as to how a ceramic one would sound...

I have a set of ceramic nailbombs on an ibanez rgt (normally with a calibrated set the neck has an A5 magnet , but I asked Tim for ceramics in both, so he fitted them with the same magnets as used in the painkiller set)
To my ears and in drop C tuning with a set of 12s, they have tones,dynamics and rich harmonics halfway between a set of A5 nailbombs and a set of painkillers (I've tried both these sets in the same guitar).
They have some of the breathy organic sounds of A5 bombs and some of the tighness and clarity of painkillers and out of the 3 sets, they are the ones that suit this guitar most - highly recomend them.

[Loud Black Guitars]

What exactly about the nailbomb did you prefer over the ceramic warpig?   

Well I didnt try them in the same guitar, so its tough to compare there, but I have a similar RG that I A/B'd a bunch of pickups in, including that Warpig.

In the end the Nailbomb just has more sauce, more grit, more grind. Steve Stevens was right when he said you could "play" these pickups. The Nailbomb just kicks harder I guess..Artificial Harmonics are easy, they palm mute great anywhere on the neck, and they cut thru a mix in a jam/live environment.