Quick follow up question on Gibson SG with C-bomb

[O731]

Hey guys you might remember that I was asking about finding a good BKP pickup for my gibson SG. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to get a Ceramic nailbomb for my Gibson SG. After further listening and thinking, I was just concerned about using a ceramic pickup in my gibson SG.

I was going for a good metal gain tone, yet not uber brutal and overly gained out. Something with more of the 80's Van Halen tone (I remember also using the band HIM as another example of a nice tone i like)

The thing is, If I understand correctly the C-bomb isn't as middy as it's alcino counterpart. I was concerned that I would lose some of that vintage vibe with it. Would the high mids of the SG itself be able to compensate for the lack of mid's that Ceramics have in comparison to alcinos?

I understand that I am getting a little nit picky about my tone, I might be asking for too much. I wanted a nice 80's metal tone that still have that hint of "vintage vibe" like....think brown and earthy  8)  but with a blend of that good old modern metal "low end" tightness

Could you experts chime in on this? I listened to some of the nailbomb + SG clips but wasn't sure if they were alcino or ceramics or not. 
Just want to double check before I dish out the money for a ceramic nailbomb.

[O731]

ok so I just saw the post about the alcino nailbomb in the SG. I'm gonna have to compare these tone's thoroughly!

[JTG]

What pots do you have in your SG? A while back, I used a Duncan Custom (ceramic) in a '61 RI with the stock 300k pots and it was really nice. Lot of punch without mud and still retained the "PAF on steroids" tone. I've heard several times from several people that the C-Bomb is what the Duncan Custom *wishes* it could be. So, I would say the C-Bomb would be a great choice.

[O731]

Im gonna be using 500k pots. The C-bomb would most likely be an amazing tone with the SG, just gotta make sure it's exactly what i'm looking for in regards to frequency range

[Dave Sloven]

As I said elsewhere, I have an A-bomb in an SG.  The extra mids in that particular guitar give it an extremely aggressive hardcore punk sound, which you then have to try to dial out in other situations.  It doesn't give you a 'vintage vibe'.  If you have no use for that sound I would suggest going for the C-Bomb, that way you don't have to dial it out with the EQ etc.

I have to admit though that I don't have a coil split on that pickup, maybe that would make a big difference

[O731]

Just what I needed to hear my man thanks! I'm sure the A-bomb sounds amazing in the SG, but my music has a bit of a darker vibe so the ceramic would be better for my use.  :shock: Thanks man!

[Dave Sloven]

I have to say though that this is not meant as a criticism of the A-bomb for SGs, but you just have to be aware that with volume and tone on full that's how it sounds.  I actually really like the extra aggression through the crunch channel on my Peavey 6534+ when playing AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, etc but it doesn't sound exactly like those bands (for that I would recommend something like a Riff Raff) but rather like a more aggressive sounding '80s hardcore cover version (same with Ramones etc).  It is great for The Exploited and stuff of that nature, that UK82 sound rather than more recent hardcore (even though a lot of people claim it is '90s sounding in other guitars).

[BigB]

As far as I'm concerned I'd favor the ABombs for the more organic vibe - @AgentOrange, sorry but I have to disagree on the 'vintage vibe' part - I can get great early 70s tones from my ABombs, just need the right amp and using the volume pot to tame the pups down. Heck, I've ever had compliments on my tone for classic rock and bluesy stuff... So yes, ABombs are aggressive pups indeed (but so are the CBombs anyway), but they can do much much more than either 90s metal (the only 90s "metal" band I'm interested in being AiC) or  82+ uk hardcore stuff (which I neither like nor play).

[Dave Sloven]

It might be due to something else in my set-up.  I changed the pots at the same time - from 300K to 500K - which made everything brighter.  Also I have a very high gain amp.

On the whole 'eighties thrash' thing (to go a little off topic) it is interesting that by this people mean the scooped sound associated with Metallica, Megadeth, and Exodus rather than the broader range of bands, because quite a few bands of that time did not use this sound.  I was listening to some Possessed on my ipod at the airport yesterday and was struck by the intense harsh mids in their sound and the bass cut on the guitar.

I do have to use the volume pot a lot to get other sounds, that was kind of my point.

I love the UK82 stuff though so I'm not complaining that I can get that sound easily.

Since all of the BKPs are named after a song or a band though I am wondering if the Nailbomb was named after the band of that name featuring Alex Newport (Fudge Tunnel) and Max Cavalera (Sepultura)?  Their sound is one that is easy to get with this pickup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mjtsXaYRV8

[Kiichi]

Since all of the BKPs are named after a song or a band though I am wondering if the Nailbomb was named after the band of that name featuring Alex Newport (Fudge Tunnel) and Max Cavalera (Sepultura)?  Their sound is one that is easy to get with this pickup

Yes exactly that was the inspiration. Just that ultra agressive 90s sound.

Letīs just say Max Cavalera (Ex-Sepultura) these days, as both Max and Sepultura have moved on conciderably, as you are undoubtly aware.

[BigB]

It might be due to something else in my set-up.  I changed the pots at the same time - from 300K to 500K

Same here

Also I have a very high gain amp.

which might not be the most appropriate for bluesy or classic rock tones, whatever the pickups ;)

Try on a cranked up vintage amp with a treble boost or OD. Volume pot rolled down: classic tones (not quite a RiffRiff but still work damn fine), volume pot on full: serious heavy rock tone.

[Dave Sloven]

Oh yes, I'm aware of that.  The idea for the Nailbomb collaboration was Chaos A.D. Sepultura time though, and I guess that's also the sound (which is the most hardcore inspired out of all of Sepultura's various sounds) that is closest to the A-bomb signature sound. I tend to think though that the Nailbomb sound is *at least* 50% from Newport's end though.  I was a fan of both Sepultura and Fudge Tunnel when that album came out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZFq0HEYAOM

Back from the era when people still wrote songs against Tipper Gore. :D

[Dave Sloven]

It might be due to something else in my set-up.  I changed the pots at the same time - from 300K to 500K

Same here

Also I have a very high gain amp.

which might not be the most appropriate for bluesy or classic rock tones, whatever the pickups ;)

Try on a cranked up vintage amp with a treble boost or OD. Volume pot rolled down: classic tones (not quite a RiffRiff but still work damn fine), volume pot on full: serious heavy rock tone.

The pickup sounds fine through my Peavey's rhythm channel when in the clean setting and not bad for heavy rock with the crunch switch in as long as you leave the gain around 4.  I could also try leaving the crunch switch off and just dialing in a bit of overdrive with the Maxon OD-9 I bought last week.  I'm hoping to give that its first proper test tomorrow day time.  Not a good idea to crank any of that stuff in the evenings when the neighbours are home.

[BigB]

The pickup sounds fine through my Peavey's rhythm channel when in the clean setting and not bad for heavy rock with the crunch switch in as long as you leave the gain around 4.  I could also try leaving the crunch switch off and just dialing in a bit of overdrive with the Maxon OD-9 I bought last week.  I'm hoping to give that its first proper test tomorrow day time.

I've barely any hands on experience with hi-gain Peaveys - tried a 5150 once for a few minutes at low volume and that's about it, don't remember how the clean / crunch channel sounded. My own amp's clean/crunch (think bluesy crunch at most, really) is very vintage voiced and works wonder with a couple ODs for these 70s hard-rock tones.

  Not a good idea to crank any of that stuff in the evenings when the neighbours are home.

Indeed  :lol: - and you really need to push the amp's power section a bit to make this kind of settings work. A 20 watter and low sensitivity speakers make it easier  8)

[Dave Sloven]

Well I had a chance to pick up my guitar for the first time in ten days (I've been interstate) last night and everything sounded completely wrong, even though nothing had obviously been changed in my settings since last time I played it.  I then reverted all of the settings to the 666 baseline (i.e., everything on six except post volume) and it still sounds like the amp is at the bottom of a well.  At first I thought it might be something to do with a new lead but I isolated that and there was no improvement.  So I dragged the explorer with the cheapo chinese high output pups out and got a little more joy out of that in terms of the sound but that might be more to do with the lower action than the pickups, as I raised the action on the SG due to a string rattle issue but I might have raised it too high and it is causing issues with my playing.  I will fiddle with the action on the SG today and then fiddle with the pickup heights again but I suspect this cold I have might be having a detrimental effect on my hearing at the moment.

Also I spent a lot of time standing in front of the amp adjusting knobs and I can say that these mightymite pickups in the explorer make a LOT of feedback noise when you get near the amp.  Hellhammer style feedback on tap whenever the strings are allowed to ring