I've just been recommended the Rebel Yell/VHII for Basswood. When I asked Tim about playing mostly Instrumental music, with a bit of Prog Metal, he recommended me the Rebel Yell/VHII (or the Nailbomb in the bridge if I need more output). I spoke to Nolly regarding the Rebel Yell vs. Nailbomb. This is what he said:
"Funnily enough the Rebel Yell is very closely related to the Nailbomb in design, and there is certainly a "family resemblance". The RY is brighter, more upper mid focussed and tighter than the Nailbomb, and also has a cleaner edge to the notes where the Nailbomb is more saturated and grinding. The Rebel Yell/VHII combination is my main pickup choice for the progressive metal I play with my band. I basically wanted a bridge pickup that had the low end control of a ceramic pickup, but without the associated glassy/hard treble. The Rebel Yell does a great job of that, plus also has an excellent dynamic response that works very nicely for the lower-gain lead and rhythm tones I sometimes use.
So I came to the decision that regarding output, it isn't really worth the extra benefits that the Rebel Yell provides. For Instrumental music, the 'upper-mid focus' and the 'cleaner edge' to the notes, really sounds appealing to really get that solo sound to really be heard. If your still worrying about output, just look at the DC of the Aftermath, and that's meant to be the most 'metal' pick of the BKP range.
Regarding the VHII, Nolly tod me:
"The VHII in the neck gives an excellent pick definition but also a fluid feel that sounds amazing both distorted and clean to my ears."
Which in my opinion sounds a great pickup for soloing with.
I think the adding benefit which led me to pick this combo was Nolly's 'Red Seas Fire' album. You can really hear the clarity of the Rebel Yell when playing highly distorted chords, and it's capable of sounding very brutal as well, which is great for me as I like to play a bit of Dream Theater/Symphony X, etc. I was originally going the get the C-Bomb/Cold Sweat combo; Tim recommended me this to get close to that Petrucci sound, but I guess I like to play a lot of Satriani type music as well, so I think the Rebel Yell/VHII will still provide me with the best of both worlds.
Anybody else agree with me?
