Les Paul – Mule replacement?

[Slartibartfarst42]

Naturally I bow to the greater experience of those with Nailbombs in Les Pauls. I did wonder if it would be a bit dark in those tunings. In that case I would suggest either Emeralds or Cold Sweats from my last post but I would add to that the Black Dog as I think that's a really good shout. Any of those three should be fine.

[Yellowjacket]

Further to what Lucas says I'm very pro nailbomb but I would not use it for drop tunings especially in a les paul.

have you got the same experience?

In a word yes!

I haven't tried the A-Bomb below Eb standard / Drop C# so I can't comment on this, but I've had the Rebel Yell bridge as low as Drop B with fairly heavy strings and it sounds incredible!!

[Lucas]

My standard tuning is Eb, and one step down, Nailbomb souds great and huge. I especially love it with overdrive, but with full bad azz hi gain it is great as well.

But once for couple of songs (e.g 'Diary of Jane' Breaking Benjamin - yes, changed tuning from original) I drop E string to C#, Nailbomb becomes muddy, not that precise and gets lost somewhere.

as recently there`s so much rave about Black Dog, I`m really curious how that pickup would perform.

[Slartibartfarst42]

This demo has always made me really want a Black Dog as it just sounds huge and significantly he refers to it as having a 'darkness' about it rather than the brightness some people are referring to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaqEET376-I

[Yellowjacket]

But once for couple of songs (e.g 'Diary of Jane' Breaking Benjamin - yes, changed tuning from original) I drop E string to C#, Nailbomb becomes muddy, not that precise and gets lost somewhere.

I'm really not surprised by this.  Rebel Yell and Painkiller are both bright pickups that handle lower tunings extremely well.

[Alex]

I tuned my Voodoo Les Paul with an Alnico NB down to C standard for a while (with a .13-.59 string set). Great sound, not muddy. One thing I noticed is that you do realise that the NB only has moderate output and that I felt helps with keeping things clear and organic (not overly compressed) as well.
I was, as a side note, also suprised at how well the Voodoo LesPaul managed the low-tuning, considering it is a Gibson scale guitar.

[Dave Sloven]

My standard tuning is Eb, and one step down, Nailbomb souds great and huge. I especially love it with overdrive, but with full bad azz hi gain it is great as well.

But once for couple of songs (e.g 'Diary of Jane' Breaking Benjamin - yes, changed tuning from original) I drop E string to C#, Nailbomb becomes muddy, not that precise and gets lost somewhere.

Sounds like you are dropping down a whole step with the same strings.  Probably the reduced string tension is half of the problem.

I use a 52 for D but for C# it is too light

[Yellowjacket]

This can be a problem but as the strings get heavier, they contribute more output and 'beefiness' to the tone which is why a pickup like the Rebel Yell bridge benefits so much from heavier strings.

For instance, my A-Bomb equipped LP has 10 - 46s on it while the Rebel Yell equipped Godin LG has 10 - 52 LT / HB on it.  The fatter strings give greater output and heft to the tone which causes the output of the that pickup to be comparable to the LP with the A-Bomb and thinner strings.

[Lucas]

My standard tuning is Eb, and one step down, Nailbomb souds great and huge. I especially love it with overdrive, but with full bad azz hi gain it is great as well.

But once for couple of songs (e.g 'Diary of Jane' Breaking Benjamin - yes, changed tuning from original) I drop E string to C#, Nailbomb becomes muddy, not that precise and gets lost somewhere.

Sounds like you are dropping down a whole step with the same strings.  Probably the reduced string tension is half of the problem.

I use a 52 for D but for C# it is too light

I use Ernie Ball Cobalts 9-46 (mixed set)

Basically Im not saying NB is a bad pickup, I really enjoy it but not for lower tunings in my opinion.

[richardjmorgan]

Hmmm. I'm running a 56 on the bottom string, so could this mean the Nailbomb's back on the menu?

I'm a little wary of ceramic magnets as I've always found them to sound a bit shrill and brittle, tbh. But maybe I just haven't been playing about with the right ones.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Cold Sweat certainly isn't shrill and brittle and I still think that might be a good option but if you want a brighter, alnico Nailbomb, you should be looking at the Rebel Yell as an option as it's based on the Nailbomb anyway but I think would give you a better option for lower tunings if you want a more modern pickup. For more vintage options, I still think the Emerald and Black Dog might be your best bet.

[Lucas]

You also keep in mind, that ceramic NB is not the best pickup for cleans and soloing. As it`s great rhythm pickup, cleans and leads are just 'ok'. But I think you`re not really concerned about them anyway.


by the way, is Black Dog really 'VINTAGE' sounding or it can be rather called 'something in-between' vintage and modern?

[Dave Sloven]

I use Ernie Ball Cobalts 9-46 (mixed set)

Basically Im not saying NB is a bad pickup, I really enjoy it but not for lower tunings in my opinion.

You are never going to get a tight sound tuning a 46 down to D or C# - I've had some people tell me that 52s are light, but that's because they are heavy string guys.  In D a 52 feels like a 46 in E.

[darrenw5094]

by the way, is Black Dog really 'VINTAGE' sounding or it can be rather called 'something in-between' vintage and modern?

IT nails the Led Zep thing, soooo it's more vintage really, but the extra low mids could have other uses in some metal styles i would guess.

[Alex]

The BD is defnitely "in between, or even closer to modern".  It does Led Zep and Guns'n'Roses soloing very nicely, but feed it gain and it becomes much more modern sounding.

The "vintage hot" solution if you want more "vintage" would be the VHII.

For the OP I think he shouldn't worry, the Nailbomb is a good and versatile choice. It reminds me a lot of Dream Theater (Six degrees of Inner Turbulence through to Black Clouds/Silver Linings). If he wanted more or the solo vibe from Carcass/Arch Enemy, the Miracle Man/Juggernaut do that better.

BD - big, PAF sound that has a lot of mids and is very warm. Best of both worlds. Sounds a lot like the "doubled studio sound of EMGs", i.e. wall of sound.
NB - thinner, raspier and more aggressive, but also tighter and IMO has a great old-school touch to it when not boosted. It will probably be the furthest away from the Carcass rhythm sound though.
MM - Huge metal sound, will definitely handle the lower tunings, but not "vintage". Has really great palm mutes as well. It should be easy to get that Carcass sound with an LP out of it.