A5 Warpig or Nailbomb?

[Cygnus Loop]

I just installed a ceramic warpig in my Ibanez and it's wayyyyyyyy toooooooo bright. The stock pickup is a stock Ibanez infinity 1 that which I've heard are made by Dimarzio and I loved almost everything about it. Plenty of output, rich, smooth, not too bright, good low end. Before I've always been an emg 81 player and I hate those now. Too bright high end and thin. That's exactly how I feel about the ceramic warpig except that it is way thicker than an 81. I play an Engl Savage120 which is kind of already a bright amp. I want something like I described my stock pickup to be but want some extra oomph. Good heavy low end response. Dark but not muddy. Heavy but clear and articulate. Going for kind of a Strapping Young Lad / Devin Townsend like tone. Do you guys think I should try the A5 warpig or try an Alnico nailbomb?

[MDV]

Cipig too bright? They've got plenty of high end, but, wow.

Ah well, whatever

You like the infinities....this I find bemusing - theyre extremely muddy pickups. They sound like they're wound with cotton wool to me.

Anyhow, in that case I think the best pickup for you is probably the holydiver. I havent used it myself, but by clips and reports its got less top end than most BKs, and is very thick but still with characteristic BK clarity.

If that doesnt work, and given that you like the sound of infinities, bare knuckles might not be for you. Its a common characteristic that they have a clear top end.

Or turn your amps prescence and or treble down ;)

And, welcome to the boards.

[reguv760]

... or turn the gain down ;)

I have a C-pig installed on an Ibanez S540FM and it's not necessarily bright even though the flame maple top and back adds some sort of "brightness" to the tone... have you raised/lowered the pup height? the C-pig sounds really bright and harsh once the pup is too close to the strings...
have you also tried raising the poles towards the neck higher?

not to go off-topic but Infinity's/INF's are Ibanez-made pups...
the Dimarzio-made Ibanez pups are the F's and Dimarzio/Ibz's stock on certain Prestige's

Reg

[MDV]

Good shout on the height. Can make all the difference.

[ericsabbath]

what's the wood?
I played the alnico warpig through a custom brazilian mahogany body ibanez RG7321
I found it brighter than the holy diver (maybe it was the guitars fault), but had a similar voicing, with a lot more compression in the mids, but just a bit more output than the diver (the painkiller sounded way more powerful in the same guitar)
the painkiller is a very bright pickup and the original INF pups were as bright as it, but VERY harsh
you can try an alnico magnet, but you'll probably need thinner spacers for the sides
Tim uses thicker ceramic mags

[yellowv]

The C-Pig and an Engl Savage should be able to do what you want. Learn to tweak your amp. Not to sound like an ass, but you may need some new ears. If you like the Infinty pickups (not made by Dimarzio) which I agree are some of the most muddy awful pickups ever produced and think a C-Pig is too bright.

[MDV]

The C-Pig and an Engl Savage should be able to do what you want. Learn to tweak your amp. Not to sound like an ass, but you may need some new ears. If you like the Infinty pickups (not made by Dimarzio) which I agree are some of the most muddy awful pickups ever produced and think a C-Pig is too bright.

Word.

A savage and a C-Pig should deliver serious brutality without being too bright

The savage is, as with all engls, capable of an excessive amount of high end (that you dont have to use all of!), though, so; what are your settings?

[Zaned]

Word.

A savage and a C-Pig should deliver serious brutality without being too bright

The savage is, as with all engls, capable of an excessive amount of high end (that you dont have to use all of!), though, so; what are your settings?

I'm interested in hearing the settings too. I use an ENGL Blackmore head which was developed from the Savage, more or less.
For example, with a my single coil equipped strat, my EQ starting point is like this:

Bass: 12-13 o'clock
Mid: 12-13 o'clock
Treble: 9 o'clock
Lead Presence: 9 o'clock

-Zaned

[MDV]

With a powerball and various BKs (C-pig included) my treble can be found anywhere from 4 to 7, same with presence. Never higher than that. Usually T:6, P:4.

[Antag]

No experience with the C-Pig or Ibanez pickups, but as a fellow Savage 120 owner :twisted: I thought I'd chime in with my settings for Ch3/4:

Gain 7
Lead boost on
Lead Gain 7
Contour out (I think)
Bass 6
Middl 4
Treble 4
Hi Balance 2
Rough mode
Crunch 2 Vol 4-6*
Lead Vol 4-6*
Presence 3
Depth boost on
Master Vol 1½-5*
* depends on how wide an exclusion zone the local constabulary can establish around my house :twisted:

To partly answer your question, I definitely would NOT go for a Nailbomb.  It has plenty of top end & high midrange "cut".  A-Pig is certainly a lot thicker,  but like I said, I've never used a C-PIg so can't really compare.

I have several different guitars & BKPs (see sig), but Holy Diver bridge is the one I use most, usually in a neck-thru Jackson.  Listen to my clips & judge for yourself whether it's too bright....

[Antag]

One other thing.

I seriously struggled with a really hard top-end for a while, regardless of what pickups & eq settings I used.  The answer (for me) was in the cab I was using.  Vintage 30s just did not suit this setup.  Eventually I got a 4x12, put a pair of Classic Lead 80s & a pair of G12K-100s in it.  I couldn't be happier with my tone now...

[Zaned]

..and I, on the other hand, love the V30s with my ENGL 8) However, I use an ENGL E212VH cab (2x12 like the model name suggests). Don't know how much it differs in tone from your Mesa cab.

I did try the head briefly with a Mesa cab (V30s) before I got my ENGL cab. It sounded good, but it did sound a bit different from the ENGL which I got later on.

MDV, is your Powerball version 1 or version 2? They changed the treble control from linear to logarithmic on version 2, a mod which I would actually like very much on my amp  too.

Zaned

[MDV]

Its a V2.

[Cygnus Loop]

I've messed with the height of the pickup and the allen bolts. I don't use too much gain at all on the savage between 4.5 to 7. Messed with the eq settings and the presence. As far as cab, I have a Vader 4x12. Also played it through a Triple XXX and a mesa. All gave me the same deal. Way bright and gritty yet muddy on the low end. I emailed Tim and he reccomended the painkiller.