Alternative Neck Pickup to Cold Sweat Bridge

[darkbluemurder]

Hi,

I have the Cold Sweat set in one of my guitars (mahogany body, maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood board, tuneo-matic bridge and stoptail, body shape is a mixture of the Erlewine and Jackson Soloist, scale length 25 1/2). While I am very happy with the bridge pickup I do not really like the CS neck in this guitar - compared to the bridge it is simply too bassy. It shows also through a clean amp - the bridge pickup is much brighter. This makes the set to me a bit unbalanced, unlike e.g. the Rebel Yell set where both pickups have about the same level of brightness played clean or distorted.

As a partner to the CS bridge I would like something with more mids and high mids than the CS neck, tighter bass and possibly more output. I use the neck pickup primarily for overdriven/distorted lead playing, clean tones and the in-between position are not so important to me.

What do you suggest - Nailbomb, Painkiller, Emerald, Abraxas, Aftermath? I guess the Miracle Man neck will be too dark.

Thanks a lot.
Stephan

[ericsabbath]

the neck nailbomb is VERY mid scooped
like a bill lawrence or something
but it is much brighter, tighter and higher output than the cold sweat
it's like a really bright and scooped version of the nailbomb bridge

if you really want mids, the neck PK will probably do the job
guess the neck aftermath is middier than the nailbomb as well (matched coils?)

[darkbluemurder]

Thanks Eric. I guess the Nailbomb neck is out then.

Please keep 'em coming!

Cheers Stephan

[Philly Q]

Holydiver neck? 

I haven't tried it, but from what I've read I believe it's relatively clear/vintage sounding and certainly not bassy - don't know if it meets your criteria, but just throwing it in there....

[FELINEGUITARS]

Painkiller neck is V popular amongst the shredders - teamed up with Cold Sweat bridge
they are closer in nature - both being ceramic magnet units
V tight response in the bass - not flubby and lots of mids and a slightly sharp top end = clarity and balls

[darkbluemurder]

Philly, Jonathan, thanks a lot!

I did not look specifically at the Holydiver neck as I have read it is low output, scooped and primarily designed for clean tones.

It looks indeed like Painkiller neck is what I want for this guitar.

Cheers Stephan

[Philly Q]

Yeah, I was thinking the HD neck might be scooped but I wasn't sure - it never sounded like a pickup I'd want to try!

Glad Jonathan came in with the info on the PK!  :D

[Telerocker]

What about the VHII-neck?

[witeter]

+1 for Painkiller neck-its gorgeous!

[FELINEGUITARS]

What about the VHII-neck?

It's another good one - different vibe - but clear with a single coil vibe in there somewhere

[PhilKing]

The Abraxas neck works really well with the Cold Sweat bridge.  You can get some great sustaining notes out of it, and it has good articualtion and definition.  I have installed this combination for a couple of guys.

[darkbluemurder]

Well actually I have both the VHII neck and the Abraxas neck but in different guitars. Especially the Abraxas neck sits so well there that I am not tempted to take it out. But I am seriously thinking of returning the PRS Single Cut to stock for a future sale which would free the VHII neck.

Thanks for all your input,
Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

What about the VHII-neck?

Actually I am not sure whether this will give me what I want. I briefly had the VHII in combination with the Holydiver bridge in one guitar and thought the VHII was too dark in relation to the Holydiver bridge. It cannot hurt to try though but I am more likely to try the Abraxas neck there - provided the candidate to replace it in the Les Paul does the job well enough (it's not a BKP).

I will let you know about the results when I get around to do the changes.

Cheers Stephan

[sandmannn69]

Holydiver neck? 

I haven't tried it, but from what I've read I believe it's relatively clear/vintage sounding and certainly not bassy - don't know if it meets your criteria, but just throwing it in there....

Philly Q is correct. Just got a new set of Holydivers from Rainbow guitars of Arizona. The neck pickup is very clear and not boomy/bassy. Both bridge and neck are fairly middy, very clear and sensitive to volume pot adjustment. The bridge has a nice vintage rock tone thru a plexi, and retains its clarity even with higher gain(JCM/Deizel) without mushing out at all. The bass is surprisingly tight for an A5 magnet. They sound a lot better than the clips I've heard.
Love these pickups (in an alder Charvel tele with Floyd)!

[darkbluemurder]

... and the winner is ... the Abraxas neck.

Took the AB neck out of my Les Paul and in this guitar - and it's exactly what I wanted. Good output, a brighter tone than the CS neck but still warm. No muddiness anywhere, not even on the low strings. The big surprise was that the middle position works great, too. So for this guitar it is Cold Sweat bridge and Abraxas neck.

Hmm - a PK neck would sure have been fun though.

Cheers Stephan