Nailbomb?

[darkandrew]

I'm after a pickup set to go in my Fender Showmaster (Basswood body, Maple set-neck, 25" / 24 fret Rosewood fretboard, Fender floating trem (ie. Not Floyd Rose), 5 way "Ibanez Style" switching) and I'm looking for something a bit heavier than the Mules and Rebel Yells that I have in my other guitars. The sound I'm leaning toward is something that might be categorized as Gothic/Death Metal (ie. Nefilim, Paradise Lost, etc).


eg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3IDP0xEDuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocj4D1fnYaI
(from about 11 minutes in ... prog goth?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5xkzzQTWCE


I'm thinking Alnico Nailbomb, what do you think?
 

I should add that I currently have a Crawler set in there which, although being extremely versatile and surprising hot, has too much "roar" and not enough "bite" to be completely comfortable in this genre.

[m t soule]

Here is the nailbomb bridge in basswood, maple neck and rosewood board,  tuned to Eb.
Heavily distorted boss ds -1x
blackstar ht studio20.

It sounds pretty close to me.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4zRVPaGQmzI

[Yellowjacket]

Nailbomb has massive bite and hair.  It's a really gritty, grimy, impolite, and huge sounding pickup.  I'd think of it more as a thrash sort of a tone, like the Sepultura namesake.  With the right amp, you'd probably get in the ballpark of what you want.  Just be aware that there isn't so much bottom, which makes it suitable in a LP style guitar.

[darkandrew]

Just be aware that there isn't so much bottom, which makes it suitable in a LP style guitar.

That's what I was worried about; as well as the bite, I'm also after a fair amount of "chunk". Although as MTS says above, his clip with the Nailbomb in a similar guitar is pretty much in the ball-park of what I'm looking for. What would recommend then in terms of a Nailbomb with a fuller bottom (?!).

[Yellowjacket]

What are you running for an amp?

The Bare Knuckle guys recommended the A-Bomb for my Les Paul Standard but for my superstrat, (Floyd Rose / Maple neck / Soft maple and Poplar body) they recommended either a Holy Diver set or a Juggerset.  What does the guitar sound like unplugged?

For my superstrat I put in a Juggerset.  It's smoother and less raunchy than the Nailbomb and it will behave when you play nice but it can get pretty ferocious when necessary. 

Ben told me that he thought a Nailbomb would be too thin in the bottom for a superstrat like my guitar but then again, the amp is just as important as the guitar.  I don't think it's possible to run out of bottom with a Dual Recto. 

For you, I'm almost tempted to suggest a Warpig in the bridge?  Email BKP and see what they say. I'm guessing with that guitar, you'll hear Juggs, Holy Diver, Warpig, or maybe even Aftermath suggested.  From what you're saying, a Holy Diver would probably be closest but with death metal, aftermath, juggernaut, or warpig comes to mind. 

[m t soule]

I find the growl on the holy diver to be less gravelly and more finer than the nailbomb.  Both are equally aggressive but the nailbomb has a more open rumbly growl as opossed to the tight snarl of the diver.

Its interesting to hear that the nb may loose some bottom in a super strat. It's definitely one of the basiest I own, the crawler being thickest.
But then I own all the same guitar types for all my bkps so I coukd not offer advice outside of those.

Also I believe I had my EQ set to 12 o'clock across the board for the vids I did and recorded on my phone so bass may be lacking because of those reasons.

T

[Yellowjacket]

I find the growl on the holy diver to be less gravelly and more finer than the nailbomb.  Both are equally aggressive but the nailbomb has a more open rumbly growl as opossed to the tight snarl of the diver.

Its interesting to hear that the nb may loose some bottom in a super strat. It's definitely one of the basiest I own, the crawler being thickest.
But then I own all the same guitar types for all my bkps so I coukd not offer advice outside of those.

Also I believe I had my EQ set to 12 o'clock across the board for the vids I did and recorded on my phone so bass may be lacking because of those reasons.

T

That was Ben that recommended against a Nailbomb in my Super Strat and that was his first recommendation for my Les Paul Standard. 
When I have recorded, I find that the Juggerbridge has more bass in my super strat than the Nailbomb has in the Les Paul but part of that may be a string guage thing as well. 

[darkandrew]

the crawler being thickest.

The current Crawler is certainly quite "thick", that's one of the reasons it's in there. I used to have a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 in there - an extremely scooped pickup with loads of bottom but despite its huge bottom end, its lack of low mids actually made it sound surprisingly thin in this guitar. As has been stated earlier, although your clip sounds great I still have a nagging worry that the Nailbomb will also not have enough gut churning low mids and bottom end to balance its bite in this guitar. Conversely, I would expect the Warpig to have all the bottom end and low mids but not enough bite.

[m t soule]

Glad I could help with whichever you choose good sir.

[darkandrew]

Glad I could help with whichever you choose good sir.

Yes, thanks for your help on this one. I had a good listen to it with the Crawlers in this evening and there really isn't anything even close to a bottom end coming out of the bridge pickup - it's all mids, so I'm still not sure if the Nailbombs are the answer, although I'm sure one day I'll get a set for one of my ESP Eclipses.

[Yellowjacket]

Crawler bridge is supposed to be PHAT!  The Juggernaut bridge is pretty huge sounding but some of that is the super strat I have it in, which has a bottom end to it.  You seriously may want to consider an A Pig  (for more mids) or a C Pig (for tighter lows and more cut in the hights). 

[darkandrew]

I suppose I could take advantage of its inherent tightness; put some "11s" on it and tune it down to D to give it some more low end grunt, then consider dropping in some Nailbombs, Aftermaths or Jugs?

[Yellowjacket]

Heavier strings sound beefier for sure.  The light top heavy bottom ones are great because you can still do bends for leads but they're nice and tight for percussive rhythm playing. 

[Dave Sloven]

Heavier strings sound beefier for sure.  The light top heavy bottom ones are great because you can still do bends for leads but they're nice and tight for percussive rhythm playing.

That's what I use and the Nailbomb set in my Explorer sounds great in DGFCAD

[JimmyMoorby]

I'm sure i've seen that the guys from Paradise Lost use/have used aftermaths and black hawks and fields of nefilim used nailbombs.

I think an alnico black hawk set would be perfect.  Its very aggressive and so is the nailbomb just in different ways.

The black hawk sounds like an active pickup but a little fuller and less tight.  The nailbomb is raw with great string to string clarity and I think it has a ot of bottom end and is just on the warmer side.

I havent listened to any thing paradise lost have done in a while but if you want some thing which cuts with lots of bottom end  for adding ambient fx on with such as reverbs, delays etc itll be perfect (the black hawk)

Ever played actives though and like them?  It is like an active but not quite hard to explain without trying them your self.  I like them

If you check the review thread ive reviewed both.

I must say im considering actives emg's again for my les paul had I gone for the black hawks first on my instincts before (Rather than the stock, duncan, di marzios and painkiller/cold sweat) I might not have had to but such is life!  I like actives and passives both have their place.......