Holydiver vs. Nailbomb

[XxpapertigerxX]

Hey everybody, I was wondering if I could get some input on the differences between the Holydiver and the Nailbomb, specifically in the neck position. I've searched the forum for a long time and haven't found any threads that really compare the two.

I have an all mahogany, set neck guitar that currently has a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck and a Duncan Custom SH-5 in the bridge. I'm going to replace the bridge with a Nailbomb, or a pickup that takes to lots of fuzz nicely, without becoming muddy, so if you know a better option for that let me know. As for the neck, I really don't like the '59, it's extremely muddy and I never play it clean except split.

This brings me to the main point of this post, which is to ask whether the Holydiver or the Nailbomb would make a better neck pickup. I'm looking for something that won't be muddy and will give me some really sweet clean tones, as well as a defined sound while distorted with a smooth lead tone, since the bridge Nailbomb should get me the nastier tones I need.

Thanks, and sorry for the essay 

[Antag]

I'd probably go with a NB calibrated set.  I've never tried to mix an HD neck with anything other than the HD, although I imagine it would work.  Both will be far clearer than the '59.

If it helps, I did a series of neck shootout clips a few years ago:
Clean
HD lead & NB lead

[ericsabbath]

the nailbomb set is a great improvement over a sh-5/sh-1 set
the neck pickup is somewhat voiced like the '59, but it's a lot brighter, louder and hotter
for lead smoothness, I'd pick the neck cold sweat
maybe the whole cold sweat combo

[XxpapertigerxX]

@Antag I actually saw that when I was searching the forum, you did a great job! There are too few quality A/B comparison clips out there, unfortunately. It was actually your HD clean recording that made me lean towards that over the Nailbomb, but I really like the bridge Nailbomb sound and I think that may trump the neck pickup. Maybe I'll think about a HB sized P90 like the Stockholm for the neck instead.

I'm quickly realizing that the fact that Bare Knuckle makes soo many amazing pickups makes it that much harder to pick just one

[Telerocker]

I'd say a Nailbomb and your idea of the Stockholm in the neck is not bad at all, I think.

[dheim]

the neck Stockholm is awesome! i actualy like it more than the nailbomb - wich i was really in love with some month ago...