GIBSON SG - NAILBOMB OR??

[Danny Doom]

Hello, as you can see I'm new here. I have a 2001 Gibson SG Gothic (mahogany body/neck w/ Ebony fretboard) and I have already "upgraded" the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan SH-6. (Distortion) The Duncan is starting to irritate me with the upper mid spike and harsh cleans. I was wondering if anyone here has tried a Nailbomb (Alnico) in their SG? I like fat mids, tight bass, and smooth highs.... I play in a Hardcore/Thrashmetal band.

Also, would the 490r be a decent match for the Alnico Nailbomb? I plan on keeping the 490 in the neck.


The band I play in:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Architects-of-Doom/212415435458254

[Elessar [Sly]]

Hello, as you can see I'm new here. I have a 2001 Gibson SG Gothic (mahogany body/neck w/ Ebony fretboard) and I have already "upgraded" the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan SH-6. (Distortion) The Duncan is starting to irritate me with the upper mid spike and harsh cleans. I was wondering if anyone here has tried a Nailbomb (Alnico) in their SG? I like fat mids, tight bass, and smooth highs.... I play in a Hardcore/Thrashmetal band.

Also, would the 490r be a decent match for the Alnico Nailbomb? I plan on keeping the 490 in the neck.


The band I play in:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Architects-of-Doom/212415435458254

I think the Alnico Nailbomb wouldn't suit the SG very well since SG's are very 'Mid-rangey' guitars. the ceramic might work.

[BigB]

I was wondering if anyone here has tried a Nailbomb (Alnico) in their SG?

Uhu... May I suggest that you go to this page: https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=search, then type "SG Abomb" and hit the search button ?  :lol:

Oh and sorry - I don't mean to play it the "STFU noob" way, I'm just too tired tonight to write much more  :oops:

I like fat mids, tight bass, and smooth highs....

Tight lows : checked
Fat mids : uh, I'd rather say "throaty" and "abrasive" than "fat" -  but nothing thin for sure.
Smooth highs :  err... sorry Sir but this is not going to happen. Not that the Abomb highs are shrill or what (at least not in my SG), but "smooth" ? C'mon, let's get serious... "smooth"and "ABomb" only belong in the same sentence if there's a big bold uppercase "NOT" before "smooth". The ABomb is NOT smooth in any way. It slays. It kills. It maims. It will blow your ears then your brain then whatever else. The ABomb is angry, it wants to kill your mama, eat your dog, do nasty thangs to your cat and paint your walls red with blood. The Abomb will make sure no neighbour will ever complain more than once about noise ahahaha  because dead neighboors don't complain :shock:.

THE ABOMB IS NOT SMOOTH.

period.


But it's a great pickup nonetheless :mrgreen:

[GuitarIv]

Tight bass, good mids and smooth top end is the Holydiver for me. Not sure if it might be too dark in a SG but I love mine in my Jackson Fusion (Mahogany Body, Maple Neck, Rosewood Fretboard)

[Telerocker]

Perhaps a VHII, the highs are there (that's good in a big lump of mahogany) but they are are not harsh. Nice balanced pickup, a bit dry and very touchsensitive. Cleans up great. Feels quite hot for a vintage(hot)pickup.

[darkbluemurder]

Smooth highs :  err... sorry Sir but this is not going to happen. Not that the Abomb highs are shrill or what (at least not in my SG), but "smooth" ? C'mon, let's get serious... "smooth"and "ABomb" only belong in the same sentence if there's a big bold uppercase "NOT" before "smooth". The ABomb is NOT smooth in any way. It slays. It kills. It maims. It will blow your ears then your brain then whatever else. The ABomb is angry, it wants to kill your mama, eat your dog, do nasty thangs to your cat and paint your walls red with blood. The Abomb will make sure no neighbour will ever complain more than once about noise ahahaha  because dead neighboors don't complain :shock:.

THE ABOMB IS NOT SMOOTH.

Lol. I have just written the same in my pickup comparison thread. There is no "smooth" anywhere in the website description of the Nailbomb, and I can only assume that is for good reason.

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

Perhaps a VHII, the highs are there (that's good in a big lump of mahogany) but they are are not harsh. Nice balanced pickup, a bit dry and very touchsensitive. Cleans up great. Feels quite hot for a vintage(hot)pickup.

The highs in the VHII are not only there, to me they are very prominent. I agree they are not harsh but they are not smooth either. And the OP wanted fat mids which the VHII definitely does not have. Holydiver would match the criteria listed but I am not sure whether it's a good match for an SG. The SG I once had was one middy bitch. I would have chosen a Miracle Man or Cold Sweat for it.

Cheers Stephan

[wolfenstein]

Last time when I asked Tim about pickup advice for SG he suggested Aftermath...Seriously...It will works for stuff you play...Finally I ended searching by putting back stock pickup because 498T and SG they´re made for each other... 

[Telerocker]

Perhaps a VHII, the highs are there (that's good in a big lump of mahogany) but they are are not harsh. Nice balanced pickup, a bit dry and very touchsensitive. Cleans up great. Feels quite hot for a vintage(hot)pickup.

The highs in the VHII are not only there, to me they are very prominent. I agree they are not harsh but they are not smooth either. And the OP wanted fat mids which the VHII definitely does not have. Holydiver would match the criteria listed but I am not sure whether it's a good match for an SG. The SG I once had was one middy bitch. I would have chosen a Miracle Man or Cold Sweat for it.

Cheers Stephan

My description is based on a VHII in an ash strat. Mids are ok, but not overwhelming in this guitar. Mahogany will offer more mids and less topend, so it's might be good that the pickup is not too middy by itself. Personally I would pick RiffRaffs or Cold Sweats for an SG, but that's not what the OP wants. The Holy Diver fits his wish, but I don't think that will be the ideal pickup for SG's.

[ericsabbath]

the holy diver is definitely NOT a good match for SGs, and I wasn't the only one here to try it (don't remember who was the other guy... maybe dmoney?)

I had that pickup in 3 completely different sounding les pauls, all with great results, but the SG sounded completely DEAD with that pup, and it was one of the most acoustically rich sounding guitars I had
it was dark, muffled, lost a lot of its articulation
the leads still sounded nice and fluid, and so did the REALLY LOUD pinch harmonics, but the rhythm tone really sucked, even with a proper booster
I even tried to compensate or cut frequencies with the vintgae maxon equalizer I had (which worked great in front of the amps), but all it did was make it sound shrill or oversaturated

I later tried an alnico 8 magnet in it, which made it brighter, louder and more responsive, but took most of the juice out, making it sound more like an aftermath, which wasn't what I was looking for

[darkbluemurder]

Well - then it's Miracle Man:

- tight lows: check
- fat mids: not really but might be enough, espeically if there are enough mids from the guitar
- smooth highs: check

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

... and a Cold Sweat neck.

Cheers Stephan

[BigB]

Just a quick addition to my previous post: in case it's not obvious, I really LOVE the ABomb bridge on my SG - it's just that, well, it's not exactly what I'd call "smooth"  :lol:

[BigK]

I would have thought a Warpig would be a good call works really well in my sc600 which is a very middy guitar.

[Alex]

Well - then it's Miracle Man:

- tight lows: check
- fat mids: not really but might be enough, espeically if there are enough mids from the guitar
- smooth highs: check

Cheers Stephan

+1 works great in SGs.