Aftermath bridge and Cold Sweat neck

[JacksonRR]

Can that combination pull off this type of song but better in the palm mutes and more musical in the leads? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K003TNG40P8

[Mattiaas]

I'm no pickup expert at all but since the AM is very tight and the CS is a highly-praised "lead pickup" around here, I'd say yes.

Also sorry for threadjacking but... How would this combo sound in an all-mahogany, ebony board guitar? Compared to  a Crunch Lab or a Blackout. :D

[ericsabbath]

another hijacker here  :D

I spent a lot of time yesterday listening to all the contemporary clips on the new website
now I need a goddamn aftermath  :( :( :( :( :(

I'm happy with the cold sweat in my '73 les paul custom, but I'm still getting that Dimebag vibe I always mention, although my amps are all tube and very fat sounding
I'm trying to find my own tone

my les paul had a nailbomb set, but it lacked upper mids with both bridge and neck pickups
ended up trying a m**** city afwayu/2nd degree black belt set for a while
the neck pickup was pretty good, a lot like the cold sweat neck, but slightly brighter and less middy
the bridge had about the same output and aggressive response of the nailbomb, but with a ton of midrange, not as smooth and open, but way too dark and bass heavy for my guitar
so I went back to my beloved cold sweat set
the bridge pickup fixed the lack of brightness and the huge bass of the guitar, and also had more upper mids than the nailbomb, which I like
BUT, I feel like I need a bit more compression and mids

I've been thinking about a c-bomb for a while, but after hearing the clips a hundred times, I still feel like it's a thicker cold sweat, tending a bit to the alnico nailbomb ballpark, so having tried both nailbomb and cold sweat in this guitar, I'm afraid I might be disappointed with the minor change (and I still hear the Pantera shadow trying to bite my ass  :lol:)
I'm not fond on the painkiller, as it always sounded too "wild" for me
also had a long experience with the miracle man, and that isn't what I'm looking for right now
I've never considered the aftermath until I heard the clip on the website
sounds like a "fixed", more controlled painkiller, and I'm loving its fat midrange

so now I'm 99% sure I want an aftermath, but I'm confused on the neck pickup
right now, it's a black beauty '73 with open poled black cold sweats (that are quite aged already)
I liked how it looked with white humbuckers better, and liked it with camo nailbomb logo covers too
I also like aged gold or nickel covers with the BKP logo
so my options are:
- black aftermath x black cold sweat (that I already have)
- black aftermath x aged gold or nickel cold sweat, black dog or mule (would they match?)
- white aftermath x white cold sweat, black dog or mule
- cream aftermath x cream cold sweat, black dog or mule
- some sort of matched camo set

and damn you Tim, MDV and BKP for throwing me into this endless pickup GAS spiral  

[Transcend]

I used to have a cold sweat bridge and always found it to be too trebley and not thick enough in the low end.

I switched it to an aftermath and found i had

tighter everything
rolled off highs (in comparison the the CS)
more aggression in the mids
and thicker lows

[ericsabbath]

I used to have a cold sweat bridge and always found it to be too trebley and not thick enough in the low end.

I switched it to an aftermath and found i had

tighter everything
rolled off highs (in comparison the the CS)
more aggression in the mids
and thicker lows

are the single notes more compressed or even drier?
by thicker lows you mean bass or low mids?
I'm not sure I wanna put more bass back, but I think my boosters would take care of it

[Transcend]

I used to have a cold sweat bridge and always found it to be too trebley and not thick enough in the low end.

I switched it to an aftermath and found i had

tighter everything
rolled off highs (in comparison the the CS)
more aggression in the mids
and thicker lows

are the single notes more compressed or even drier?
by thicker lows you mean bass or low mids?
I'm not sure I wanna put more bass back, but I think my boosters would take care of it

i wouldnt say its really more bass its a combination of lows and low mids but i think its a perception thing because the pickups is tighter and faster on the attack it seems like more.

And i would say theyre a bit drier as it is quite a dry pickup in my experience

Oh yeah i noticed i forgot from my first post

To Jackson RR i think the set you mentioned could absolutely nail that kinda sound

[MDV]

I agree with tonys description of the differences. I've never had an aftermath and cold sweat in the same guitar, but thats what I'd say are the differences from A/Bing two guitars each with one of them.

Add to the differences - more mids (not just more aggressive), rolled off highs to me means that they tail off at a lower frequency, which I find they do, but they also have less high end than a CS, and they're just a shade hotter than a CS as well. Not much, but its noticable.

And I do apologise - if its any consolation, the AM pretty much ended my pickup GAS. It crops up again here and there, but not with any pressing need, and if I ignore it it goes away again.

- to you reply to tony -

single notes are a little more compressed, but not much more. Similar note separation in chords.

The low end is very guitar dependent - a pretty low end heavy guitar will let the AM bring out quite a bit of low end, but its sort of capped; it never lets a shiteeload through, which is why I suppose its good for tightening up very dark guitars. Put it in a bright or mid biassed guitar, however, and youre talking just enough low end to balance and gargantuan midrange grind and attack in the top end. Its more sensitive to the low end of the guitar than most, up to the point where it says 'no, thats enough, you dont want to sound muddy now, do you?', is what I'm saying I suppose.

Also it gets much of its thickness not from LOW low end, bass frequencies, but from low mid snarl and grunt.

[Mattiaas]

So based on your response, an all-mahogany guitar won't sound too dark?

Another Q... My guitar is an archtop superstrat, do I get longs legs or short legs?
Also, since I'm switching from actives to passives, I'll need to switch out the pots. It has a 2vol/1tone setup. Do I just get 3 500k pots? Or do I need anything else? A new jack?

Thanks :)

[JacksonRR]

How is the Aftermath for leads? Specifically, I mean can the Aftermath do the real Scandinavian sounding bridge leads and interludes that you hear with bands like At the Gates, Norther, Kalmah and (at risk of losing tons of face) the first 3 or 4 Children of Bodom albums?

[ericsabbath]

And i would say theyre a bit drier as it is quite a dry pickup in my experience

single notes are a little more compressed, but not much more. Similar note separation in chords.

are you guys talking regular single notes or palm muted notes?
my band has a lot of non-palm muted single note riffing in the lower strings

what about the neck combination?
would it completely overpower a mule or black dog?
or maybe a bridge mule in the neck position?

clean tones are secondary for me, but I'm also curious about how it cleans up with the volume knob, since I never use actual clean channels for cleans

[JacksonRR]

Symbolism rules

I'm the old dude with the glasses in the front. We're having a heterosexual adventure, lookin' for answers.

[ratspeak]

So based on your response, an all-mahogany guitar won't sound too dark?

Another Q... My guitar is an archtop superstrat, do I get longs legs or short legs?
Also, since I'm switching from actives to passives, I'll need to switch out the pots. It has a 2vol/1tone setup. Do I just get 3 500k pots? Or do I need anything else? A new jack?

Thanks :)

I have it in a Mahogany 7 string and IMO it's perfect. Not too much of anything, very thick, open, beautiful definition.

[Mattiaas]

So based on your response, an all-mahogany guitar won't sound too dark?

Another Q... My guitar is an archtop superstrat, do I get longs legs or short legs?
Also, since I'm switching from actives to passives, I'll need to switch out the pots. It has a 2vol/1tone setup. Do I just get 3 500k pots? Or do I need anything else? A new jack?

Thanks :)

I have it in a Mahogany 7 string and IMO it's perfect. Not too much of anything, very thick, open, beautiful definition.

Man, you described exactly what I was looking for :D

[Transcend]

- to you reply to tony -

single notes are a little more compressed, but not much more. Similar note separation in chords.

Hmm maybe they are i cant 100% remember maybe its just the overall feel of the pickup that is drier. Cheers for correcting me before people got the wrong idea.

Also i would say the Aftermath has kinda created more pickup gas for me as i now want an aftermath with the output of a MM and also a teency bit more highs. But i can always just adjust this on my amp which is miles cheaper :P

[MDV]

If you get it overwound by about 15% and with an offset then that should do it.