Cold Sweat (neck) didn't hit the mark

[case report]

Hi everybody!
this time I have to say I was not satisfied with bare knuckle pick up...
even though I tried to learn as much as possible about wich one should be the better choice for me, at the end Cold Sweat (neck) didn't hit the mark.

For sure CS is a great pu and perfect for other kind of guitar/sound but not for my needs.

It's on a Charvel San Dimas, alder body-all maple neck, paired with HD bridge.
I play classic heavy metal (Iron Maiden first 7 albums)

My target is - more or less - the Dave Murray lead neck sound.
The problem is CS seems to be too bright, thin, something like a single coil pu...
I need a more warm, "round", fluid, PAFish sound.

This time I can not go wrong!!!

Some advice?
thank you in advance

[Telerocker]

Crawler-neck is one of the warmest and smoothest.

[JimmyMoorby]

Hi everybody!
this time I have to say I was not satisfied with bare knuckle pick up...
even though I tried to learn as much as possible about wich one should be the better choice for me, at the end Cold Sweat (neck) didn't hit the mark.

For sure CS is a great pu and perfect for other kind of guitar/sound but not for my needs.

It's on a Charvel San Dimas, alder body-all maple neck, paired with HD bridge.
I play classic heavy metal (Iron Maiden first 7 albums)

My target is - more or less - the Dave Murray lead neck sound.
The problem is CS seems to be too bright, thin, something like a single coil pu...
I need a more warm, "round", fluid, PAFish sound.

This time I can not go wrong!!!

Some advice?
thank you in advance

You were in the exact same situation I was.  In my opinion the cold sweat neck does not work that well in super strats although I love it in my les paul.  I really think the cold sweat set is meant for warmer guitars makes sense if its somewhat based on  john Sykes type tone.

I can tell you from experience the aftermath neck is awesome for warm but fluid leads and if you want a neck pickup for hi gain leads only (No rythms or cleans) im certain it will be an improvement on the cold sweat.  Dont think that the aftermath is some sort of 'brootalz firebreather' it isnt its just on the dark side and I think it would match up well with a holy diver IMO.

I believe the vhii neck is also warmer and again the vhii set is designed for super strats but I havent installed mine yet.

[darkbluemurder]

I believe the vhii neck is also warmer and again the vhii set is designed for super strats but I havent installed mine yet.

VHII neck is warmer and bigger sounding than the Cold Sweat neck but not by much. If just a "bit more" is needed, then VHII neck does it but if the CS neck is way off the mark the VHII neck may not be enough.

I would check the reviews by slartibartfarst42 since he was after the Dave Murray neck tone as well.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

I remember something about the first version of the neck cold sweat becoming the neck miracle man
(and the first version of the bridge holy diver became the bridge cold sweat)
the neck miracle man is probably the most fluid, warm and round of all, but not really pafish

[Lucas]

I suppose CS neck is not for Super Strats, I have on in LP style Dean Cadillac and to be honest it kills there.
Mahogany with set neck construction balance crisp, focused and defined nature of CS.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I remember something about the first version of the neck cold sweat becoming the neck miracle man
(and the first version of the bridge holy diver became the bridge cold sweat)
the neck miracle man is probably the most fluid, warm and round of all, but not really pafish

The Miracle Man pickup came first  (along with the Mule and Warpig it was one of Tim's first pickups)

The Cold Sweat was a later addition (nearly got called the BadBoy87) and was originally using the Miracle Man neck pickup as it's neck pickup.
The Cold Sweat bridge was a bit hotter to at over 14k ohms till things got revised a bit later on.

[ericsabbath]

The Cold Sweat bridge was a bit hotter to at over 14k ohms till things got revised a bit later on.

had one from 2008 that read between 14.5k-15k 

coincidentally(?), the two holy divers I owned from different ages, a nailbomb and an aftermath all read exactly 16k

[FELINEGUITARS]

The early Holydiver was a ceramic magnet pickup with a DC of 13.1k, which isn't too far from where the CS has ended up

All later ones were alnico5

The biggest shuffle came after sorting out the Rebel Yell as it was close to what the Cold Sweat was albeit Alnico5
So the Cold Sweat moved down and the Holy Diver mutated into a Duncan JB rival

[m t soule]

Did you upgrade your caps and pots?
This will effect how much your pick up can perform.
This the lesson I learned with the nailbomb

T

[case report]

Did you upgrade your caps and pots?
This will effect how much your pick up can perform.
This the lesson I learned with the nailbomb

T

I don't

Charvel has only 1 pot.... the volume, no tone

should I change something?

[m t soule]

The cold sweat needs 550k pots and a 0.022 capacitor. These help the pick up "breathe" more.

Check your hardware and see what the specs are.

I had the same experience with the nailbomb. Thin and hairy. I upgraded all the bits to whay bkp recommend znd not its great.

T

[case report]

m t soule , I will check the wiring...

so far we talked about:

1) VHII, as darkbluemurder said, "may not be enough"

2) aftermath: I never considered before, it could be a good idea too but  I don't feel like buying sight unseen

3) Crawler: after Telerocker advice I checked specification and samples on the web and it seems to me very interesting for my purpose. On BKP site is written "Although Geoff wanted contemporary power from the bridge, the Crawler neck humbucker is voiced like a vintage PAF, open and vowel-like, with a calibrated wind to balance in output." 

What about Abraxas neck?

[Dave Sloven]

Have you considered the Emerald neck?

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=28425.0

[case report]

Yes, I do

but I'm afraid Emerald could be too bright and it's the opposide that I'm looking for