HSP Supermassive louder than NBs?

[NaZZeX]

Hello all.

I had both my Ibanez prestige guitars modded with BKPs a few days ago. Both guitars are made of basswood but one has a fixed bridge while the other has a locking trem.

I had custom humbucker sized Supermassive 90's installed in the hardtail Ibanez which previously housed the Nailbombs. The Bombs were subsequently transferred to the newly purchased Ibanez with the locking trem. While both pickups sound phenomenal, I realise that the Nailbomb sounds a lot more tame than the Supermassive.

The Supermassives have this raw, organic and "bite-y" tone while still maintaining thickness across the board. On the clean channel of my Marshall DSL 50, the pickup is loud and clear with plenty of dynamics. On the overdrive channel, I find that the Supermassive delivers astonishing tones; aggressive yet fat but still retaining the single coil character. Harmonics can also be had with relative ease. This is definitely my favourite of the two.

The Nailbombs sound good. In the guitar they were previously in, I realised that they were very much more quiet than the Crunch Lab/Liquifire combo it had before. I was initially disappointed until I played around with the pickup height and my amp settings. Eventually, I got the Bomb to sound thick and fat but I still found the output to be lacking. I figured that perhaps the Bombs just weren't working with this particular guitar. I settled on a pickup swap between my guitars.

The Nailbombs now reside in my new Ibanez guitar. Plugging in, I realised that it was indeed the pickups themselves that lacked output. I was taken aback as I was always under the impression that NBs were among the hottest in the BKP line. I had to turn the volume up by about 1.5-2 on both channels to match the output of the Supermassives. Furthermore, the Nailbombs sound weak and lack character in the clean channel, in comparison to the Supermassives. On the overdrive channel, the NB displayed its true potential. Very thick and organic tones with superb clarity. The Matt Bellamy tone (which I sought to emulate) was there, make no mistake. If the NBs had at least as much output as the Supermassives, in addition to being more responsive in the clean channel, they would be the PERFECT pickups for me.

I just want to consult the experienced members of this forum regarding this slight problem. Might there be any reason that the Supermassives are louder than the Nailbombs?

Thank you very much.

[Telerocker]

Thanks for sharing, bec there are not that much reviews on the new Supermassive. I like P90's, and it's good to hear they can easily compete with hot hb's.

[Nolly]

A P90 has two bar magnets, one on either side of the coil. This gives them a much higher output than a regular humbucker (which usually only has one magnet) of a similar DC resistance. Factor in that the Stockholm's are custom, oversized magnets, and you can imagine where all that power is coming from.
The Nailbombs are definitely not among the hottest in the range... It sounds like you might like the alnico Warpigs if you're after thick and organic tones with a lot more output than the NBs.

FWIW the Crunch Lab/Liquifire set are extremely high-output, compressed sounding pickups.

Hope that helps :)

[NaZZeX]

Thanks for sharing, bec there are not that much reviews on the new Supermassive. I like P90's, and it's good to hear they can easily compete with hot hb's.

My pleasure! I played with the Supermassives for another few hours today and I can safely say they are the best pickups I have ever owned. They clean up shockingly well with the volume knob rolled down and the "sizzle" of the single coil on high gain settings really breathes life into my playing.

Needless to say, I am VERY satisfied with this purchase! I doubt I'll ever purchase pickups from any other brand again.  :P

A P90 has two bar magnets, one on either side of the coil. This gives them a much higher output than a regular humbucker (which usually only has one magnet) of a similar DC resistance. Factor in that the Stockholm's are custom, oversized magnets, and you can imagine where all that power is coming from.
The Nailbombs are definitely not among the hottest in the range... It sounds like you might like the alnico Warpigs if you're after thick and organic tones with a lot more output than the NBs.

FWIW the Crunch Lab/Liquifire set are extremely high-output, compressed sounding pickups.

Hope that helps :)

Thank you so much for the informative reply!

I chose the Supermassive 90 in humbucker size over the Stockholm because I wanted something more aggressive than the MQ without going over the top. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised that the Supermassives were louder than the NBs. I'd definitely try the Warpig or the Pig 90 in future but I'm broke for now!

The Nailbombs were definitely an improvement over the CL/LF combo, which sounded good for metal riffing but awfully sterile at everything else.


On a side note Nolly, you are an absolutely incredible guitarist. The clips on the website all sound stunning!  :D

[Slartibartfarst42]

+1

I'd give anything to be able to play like that but even with plenty practice I doubt I ever will.

[Nolly]

Aw shucks, thanks guys :oops:
Apologies, I meant to write Supermassive, not Stockholm. I believe they share the same magnet setup, just with different winds.

[NaZZeX]

I put in yet a few more hours of practice today using both guitars.

Basically, the Supermassive is delivering my dream Muse tone in spades. Matt Bellamy uses overwound BKP-91's for majority of the average Muse setlist and I feel that the SM's emulate this tone brilliantly. (He switches between the overwound BKP 91's and MQ's for most of the songs with the exception of the Drop D ones, where he uses a NB.)

Now, problems with the NB's are beginning to surface. First of all, I realise that I have to work with a lot of gain to coax the best out of this pickup. In addition, palm-muted riffs using the Bombs sound weaker compared to the SM's. Lastly, the cleans are really lacking in character. I know the fact that a single coil pickup being WAY more aggressive than a supposedly hot humbucker sounds shocking and I was definitely taken aback myself.

I've come to a conclusion that perhaps the Nailbomb is not for me which is ironic as I've ALWAYS gravitated towards Bellamy's tone, especially on his heavier songs. The sound of this pickup under Matt's hands inspired me to pick up guitaring in the first place and now that I finally have the Nailbomb, the tones aren't doing it for me.

Is there any remedy to this problem with the Bombs? I am thoroughly confused.  :?

[Madsakre]

You should try my Hs Cpig90. Thats the most astonishing pickup ever created, its noisy as hell but nothing a good ns-2 cant kill.

Best pickup ever made, it bites like a pitbull. the bass is like a mallet and the top end sears like a flamethrower.
This well. Does grindcore extremely well. lol

Not much muse to get from this one xD if you want to play extreme stuff some day. then this is it xD

[JerEvil]

So does the Supermassive still suffer from the 60 cycle hum issue of P90's? I want to replace the Duncan P90's in my Edwards and I hate having to use the middle toggle position to reduce the hum.

[HTH AMPS]

So does the Supermassive still suffer from the 60 cycle hum issue of P90's? I want to replace the Duncan P90's in my Edwards and I hate having to use the middle toggle position to reduce the hum.

turn the amp up loud and don't stop playing - you'll not hear the hum  :lol: