Neck Pick Up to go with C-bomb (basswood EBMM JP)

[Jacob Speers]

I was wondering if you guys could help me decide on a neck pickup to go with a ceramic nailbomb. This set will be going into a Music Man JP6 Standard (basswood). Some of the pickups I've considered have been the Coldsweat, VHII, and perhaps a calibrated nailbomb.

I know someone who has had both the VHII and CS neck in the same guitar as me. He prefers the VHII and says the CS is thin in comparison. However I do know that the CS/NB is usually recommend for this guitar. Honestly I have no idea what I'm going to do.

What do you guys think?

[darrenw5094]

What do you want your neck to sound like?

[darkbluemurder]

I have not played them in the same guitar but the VHII neck has definitely more output than the Cold Sweat neck, and I know that the VHII neck matches well with the Alnico Nailbomb. Since the Ceramic Nailbomb may even be louder than the A-Bomb I would lean towards the VHII.

Cheers Stephan

[Jacob Speers]

bump.

I'm planning on ordering my pickups today or tomorrow and I still haven't decided.

Would you guys be willing to contribute to this thread anymore? I would really appriciate the feedback

it's narrowed down to:
C-bomb bridge/VHII
C-bomb/CS
Calibrated NB set

[BigB]

Would you guys be willing to contribute to this thread anymore? I would really appriciate the feedback

I'm afraid I can't help much - I don't have the same guitar, never tried any of these three neck pups, and probably don't play the same style. But you may have more help if you answer Darren's question:

What do you want your neck to sound like?

As far as I'm concerned I will order the NB neck anytime soon to compliment my Abomb bridge but that's on a SG and I'm not into metal / shred stuff (which I - possibly wrongly - assume is what you play ?). FWIW I based my decision on Dheim's very excellent great pickups shootout.

My 2 cents...

[ericsabbath]

the nailbomb is the hottest and most trebly and scooped
very twangy pickup

the vhii is the fattest and most classic sounding
sounds a lot like a bridge riff raff, but in the neck it gets really fat, but just a little scooped in the mids
a true overwound PAF

the cs is more dense and modern sounding, with a solid midrange and less bass
for neck solos, this one is hard to beat

[Dave Sloven]

I would say that if you have played your friend's guitar (the one that is just like your guitar) and you like how his sounds with the VHII, get  that.  It will match alright with the NB, as will the CS, but it's really about what you like in your guitar.  You are lucky to have a friend with the same set up that you can try out.

[Jacob Speers]

I've come to the decision that I am going to go with a Ceramic Nailbomb in the Bridge and a VHII in the neck. With burnt chrome covers. I will keep all of you posted.