Which Pickups for a Birthday treat?

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I'm about to order a set of Miracle Man's for my Les Paul and I'm thinking of treating myself in March to some BKPs for my Warmoth :) It's pretty basic: Basswood Body/Pau Ferro Neck & Fingerboard/Trem.

I've been really getting into Neil Zaza, Marco Sfogli & Andy Timmons lately after reading some good things about them on this forum and would love to have a guitar which really works for playing Instrumental Melodic Hard Rock.

My guitar is HSS setup.

Cheers again :)

[Telerocker]

Holy Diver or Nailbomb + Trilogies.

[darkbluemurder]

Holy Diver or Nailbomb + Trilogies.

Good choice.

Cheers Stephan

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I was leaning towards the TS. But which one between the Holy Diver and Nailbomb?

[darkbluemurder]

I just noticed that your guitar is basswood and has a Pau Ferro board. In that case I think Nailbomb could work better than Holydiver because it has more bass. The only downside could be that the highs get too aggressive together with the Pau Ferro board. An alternative would be the Crawler.

Cheers Stephan

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Sorry I completely forgot to mention that it has a Quilted maple Top. If that changes anything?

[ericsabbath]

I just noticed that your guitar is basswood and has a Pau Ferro board. In that case I think Nailbomb could work better than Holydiver because it has more bass. The only downside could be that the highs get too aggressive together with the Pau Ferro board. An alternative would be the Crawler.

Cheers Stephan

I was going to comment something about the basswood too
the nailbomb has a stronger 'attitude' than the holy diver, and that should work better for basswood, unless you really want more warmth... in that case, crawler or abraxas could work

[Telerocker]

I hesitate to recommend the Crawler in combination with the TS. I only have the Crawler, but I feel it's a tad too vintage for the TS's. Just my guess, correct me if I'm wrong. I thought HD for big smooth solosounds and Nailbomb for it's chunkyness and agressive nature. The uppermidpeak is not everybody's cup of tea, but it's a good contemporary allrounder and cleans up nice.

[AnnunakiMassacr]

It's just a hard choice between the 2. I really love the sound of the Nailbomb on the Progressive Clip, but my guitar will prob be brighter. And regarding the Holy diver, the clips were in a les Paul, so it's hard to compare for me. Obviously I'll be playing a lot of leads, but I'm just worried about the HD being too thick. I'd kind of like an extremely versatile sound that can twang up when need be.

Also regarding the neck pickup, what would people recommend as a humbucker, as I have a swimming pool route, so anything goes really :)

[Miek]

Nailbomb, always nailbomb. I might be biased.

[Alex]

Nailbomb, always nailbomb. I might be biased.

But in this case we forgive you. I think that would fit too.

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I got this email from Tim:

the NB is the more open of the two so will sound brighter in a basswood guitar while the HD reproduces more mids and bottom end - I've just loaded up a HD bridge and Emerald neck into an old basswood '80s RG - the tone is excellent. Extremely tight but full bass, broad mids, lovely cut in the highs and the sweetest but cleanest neck tone ever.

Kindest Regards,

Tim

What are your opinions?

[darkbluemurder]

Compared to the A-Bomb the Holydiver to me sounds smoother in the highs and fatter in the midrange. In the guitar I had both of them in the bass was about the same, the A-Bomb having a bit more. Both sound very good.

As regards neck humbucker vs. neck and middle single coils - that is entirely up to you what you prefer. I like the smooth sustaining lead tones you can get with a neck humbucker in the upper fretboard registers but they can be a bit muddy on the low strings in the lower registers. The single coil will always stay clear and defined in the lower registers but may not have the output required for those long sustaining higher notes. A P90 is a good compromise to get a bit of both - sustaining high notes and no mud on the low strings - but they do hum.

Tim's description of the Emerald neck sounds very interesting, though.

Cheers Stephan

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Just found this neck clip of the Emerald played throughout the song. It sounds freakin' awesome

http://tonefinder.com/files/50-Minor%20Baby%20Blues-Bflatminor.mp3

[FredD]

Happy Birthday Annunaki ! :D