Alnico Nailbomb review

[Telerocker]

Bottomline: Nailbombs perform best in (darker) mahogany- and basswood-guitars.

[MDV]

Sometimes a pickup just isn't right for the guitar or the user

This is what it comes down to. A good sound is a good pairing of pickup and guitar with player. It can all be shite, even if every on-paper indication say that it will work, and any given player may dislike it even if anecdotal reports suggest the opposite. Its just how that particular combination pans out; it doesnt mean to say that any given part of it is bad, its not the pickup or the guitars (or the players) 'fault'; they just dont work together.

I dont think 'you didnt play it enough' is at all appropriate. You cant just assume that if someone says something unfavourable about something you like that their assessment is half-arsed. Sometimes more exposure can change your mind as you find new things about a bit of kit, sometimes months of exposure wont alter the impression you got from the first 5 notes you played.

Its also quite telling to me that you very, very, VERY rarely see someone saying they like something met with "You didnt play it enough, in a few weeks you'll realise that its cr@p!'. Why should it have to work that way the other way around?

Personally I think 24 minutes is enough to know if you like a pickup or not. Normally more like 2.4 minutes, for whatever its primary intended style or funciton is (assessing versatility should take a bit longer!). It may change as you try to make it do different things (change tuning, put in different guitars, use with different amps and the rest of it, which will unfold over months) but if its a familiar guitar through a familiar setup, I dont see a problem with a quick assessment personally.

The only exceptions are where your initial impressions are not black or white; if youre ambivelent, it may take time for an opinion to crystalise.

Edit: Bottom line; if someone says 'I dont like it' you literally CANT say 'youre wrong'. For any reason. They dont like it. Case closed. Maybe a different experience (in this case perhaps a different guitar) would change or augment the opinion, but according to slartys eperience so far, he doesnt like it. No one should have a problem with this imo

Edit 2: Ok, you CAN *say* "Youre wrong", but you'd be wrong to!

[kevinr]

I Had NBs in my Eggle Berlin (trem model) I was not all that happy compared with my HDs in my Berlin HT, I have now fitted the NBs  to a Berlin HT and BINGO sounds great, so they may be guitar sensitive as said.

[Alex]

If you lower it's resonance frequency with a cover and more pots it becomes a lot more darker and midrangey. I found out recently, as I had the cover from mine removed and then also messed up one of the pots in my guitars. The difference in sound is quite drastic I have to say.

[mongey]

its an older thread but good review man

As someone waiting for a NB set to arrive ( and trawling through old threads  to while away the time )  I only wanna read glowing things but the review was balanced and fair to me.

 There is no piece of music gear that works for everything and everyone . Otherwise we'd all use it and nothing else

 

[Slartibartfarst42]

100% right. In the right guitar and for the right style it will sound incredible, as all BKPs do. I found the Holydiver worked better for me but that only means it's a better pickup for me and my guitar. I'm currently saving for another guitar that is all mahogany and all I know is that Holydivers won't be used in that one. Variety is, afterall, the spice of life  :D

[Alex]

Just be sure to try it for more than 24 hours this time, seriously!

[Cpt_Gonzo]

I tend to agree that the Nailbomb is the way to go for Les Pauls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkMxJiCjTU&playnext=1&list=PLA6A9A2EE0FAF015C

That's why i ultimately went with Holy Divers for my Strat.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Just be sure to try it for more than 24 hours this time, seriously!

In my defence, I played with the Nailbomb pretty intensively for 24 hours and at no stage did I even begin to think it was for me in that particular guitar. I'd still consider it if I wanted a Metal pickup in a dark sounding Les Paul but nothing else. Conversely, I knew the Holydiver was right within 60 seconds. Like buying a new home, sometimes you just know it's right for you instantly and equally, you sometimes just know it's wrong.

[Alex]

Just be sure to try it for more than 24 hours this time, seriously!

In my defence, I played with the Nailbomb pretty intensively for 24 hours and at no stage did I even begin to think it was for me in that particular guitar. I'd still consider it if I wanted a Metal pickup in a dark sounding Les Paul but nothing else. Conversely, I knew the Holydiver was right within 60 seconds. Like buying a new home, sometimes you just know it's right for you instantly and equally, you sometimes just know it's wrong.

I get you, after all I had a similar experience with the Holy Diver originally. I just don't trust my ears, some days things sound good to me, some days bad.

[Slartibartfarst42]

 :lol: Oh believe me, I DO know where you're coming from there!!

[ericsabbath]

I had the nailbomb for 6 months, but I had the same impression he did from the first minute
when you get used to switching pickups and you know how to separate what's up to the guitar and what's coming from the pickup, it's easy to tell a lot of stuff quickly, specially if you already had some expectation (I was looking for an upper mid focused brighter holy diver, but with more bite than a rebel yell)
it worked for a lot of stuff, but it was definitely not for me, although I loved it through a couple amps for heavier stuff
but maybe I could have liked it better in some other guitar

I had great first time experiences with the cold sweat set, holy diver bridge, riff raff bridge, mule neck
the miracle man set needed to be heard cranked to impress me (it sounded kinda boxy at low volumes), the black dog required some tweaking
had short, but fine experiences with the warpig set and the painkiller, but those weren't for me, at least not in the guitar I played them

[mongey]

I think amps are such a factor on what works PU wise as well

 i was using an clean el34 amp for ages and using dirt pedals. had a sound i was happy with and my duncans were working great. Custom 5 and 59 neck

18 months ago i upgraded to a mesa dual recto head and the PU's I loved didnt sound that great anymore through the dirt of the mesa preamp . The lack of mids was lacking in over all tone

[ericsabbath]

use the vintage mode (modern cuts the negative feedback circuit, so it sounds scooped as $%&#, cause that's like cranking presence and depth), crank the mids, use v30's or greenbacks and try el34's
(well... having owned a single and a dual recto, I'd get rid of the amp  :lol:)

[mongey]

use the vintage mode (modern cuts the negative feedback circuit, so it sounds scooped as $%&#, cause that's like cranking presence and depth), crank the mids, use v30's or greenbacks and try el34's
(well... having owned a single and a dual recto, I'd get rid of the amp  :lol:)

nah. dont get me wrong I friggen  love the amp. Just didnt love my old PU's as much through it . did some mags swaps and put an a4 in the 59n and a rouchcast UOA5 in the brige and it sounded great .both had a better dose of mids

I love vintage mode for leads but rythtm modern is where its at for me