Best ceramic bridge pickup to match an Aftermath neck pickup?

[Rusty Trombone]

Hey guys,

I'm currently on the hunt to find a nice match for an Aftermath alnico V neck pickup. I tend you exclusively use the neck pickup on guitars, but it'd be nice to have something switched in the middle to compliment the sound.

At the moment, I'm tossing up between a Nailbomb, Painkiller or Warpig. And possibly even going with another Aftermath.

Anyone been in a similar position and had the opportunity to test the pros & cons of matching any of these bridge pickups with an Aftermath neck?

Any tips would be massively appreciated!!

Cheers,

[Kiichi]

So you use the neck a lot...what style and sound for? Makes a lot of impact on our choice for the bridge.

I guess if you use the neck a lot you like a fat, somewhat rounded sound. Good lead sounds right.
So the AM might not be what you are looking for.

The WP and painkiller might be cool on the fat front, maybe also the new Juggernaut. Not much word on it yet, but the guys who designed it put it in a way you might like. Fat, smooth, low mids, mix of ceramic and alinco...

Would not count out the Holydive either, fat, good lead and might match the AM neck in character. Not entirely sure, but I can see it work.

[Rusty Trombone]

Thanks for getting back to me mate!

It's hard to say.. I do a bunch of pretty diverse styles, but I'm certainly looking for something BIG sounding, but still with some high end. Kind of want to stay clear of anything muddy sounding, if that helps.

Here's a clip of something I did a while back. What I'm doing now is considerably less chaotic on the heavy parts, but more along the lines of the melodic end of the spectrum. https://soundcloud.com/venus-sound-design/thrones-incomplete-demo

This was done on a Telecaster copy I bought for $160, so A LOT of buzzing and pretty nasty sounding in general.

A mix calibration of something diverse would be great.

Really think I should reconsider the AM in the neck?

[Dave Sloven]

Generally if one pickup from a set works in that guitar the other one (i.e., an Aftermath bridge) will work too.  Others might not blend well, especially if you only play the bridge together with the neck.

I am the opposite.  I hardly ever use the neck pickup except for clean chords or single note lead work.  95% of what I play is bridge pickup only