Replacing A-bomb set for something a little brighter - suggestions?

[jesperbc]

I have an ESP LTD Deluxe MH-1000 with mahogany body, set-through maple neck and rosewood fretboard, equipped with a set of Nailbombs, alnico in the bridge. This guitar mainly hangs in my living room, and I want to use it more. The reason why it's just hanging, is that I've switched to playing a Strat and a Tele for the past year and a half, and I'm absolutely in love with those bright tones from the single coils. So much so, that I find the Nailbombs in my MH-1000 to be too dark for my taste. I can gather the funds for a pickup exchange, but not for a Gibson Les Paul or similar quality HH equipped instrument, besides what I already have.

What would be a good set of pickups to replace the Nailbombs, if I want a brighter humbucker sound?

I've been looking at the following:

• Supermassive HSP90: These seem quite dark, so I looked at...
• Mississippi Queen HSP90: These sound pretty good, given that they are essentially fat/overwound single coils(?), but I'm worried I might go to far, installing P90's in a guitar that screams hard rock/metal, so I've also been looking at...
• Black Dog: These have more focus in the high end, which is the sound I'm kind of going for, I guess, and have great mid range and well defined bottom, but I've heard the rule of thumb that the higher output, the darker the tone(!?), so I've also considered...
• Riff Raff: My brother has these in an ESP LTD EC-1000, and they sound spectacular, and they have more midrange than The Mule.

What would you guys recommend? My Tele has Piledrivers installed, my Strat has Custom Shop Fat '50s, both with maple necks. I use dirt pedals for all my overdriven tones, and I play rock in the widest definition of the genre, ranging from funky riffs to heavily distorted leads.

[Dave Sloven]

Well I would also look at the Rebel Yell and Emerald sets, as being intermediate points between the Nailbomb and Riff Raff.

[AnnunakiMassacr]

Well I'm selling a covered Riff Riff if you decide on that. And I'm also selling a Rebel Yell set

[gepetto33]

• Black Dog: These have more focus in the high end...

Not at all. They have the most focus in low mids, mid mids, on up to the high mids, before slowly tapering off in the highs. While i wouldn't call this a 'dark' pickup, i certainly would not call it bright. Call it 'smooth' in the highs, and very far from bright. If that's what you're going for then the riff raff is far better suited for a brighter, extended top end sound.

[ericsabbath]

• Black Dog: These have more focus in the high end...

Not at all. They have the most focus in low mids, mid mids, on up to the high mids, before slowly tapering off in the highs. While i wouldn't call this a 'dark' pickup, i certainly would not call it bright. Call it 'smooth' in the highs, and very far from bright. If that's what you're going for then the riff raff is far better suited for a brighter, extended top end sound.

yeah, the dog is all about the mids
TONS of it
in some guitars, it sounds almost like having a half c--ked wah or an overdrive pedal with the gain and tone controls rolled off
the nailbomb does have an overall darker voicing, but has a stronger treble response

the emerald is probably a safe bet

have you considered coil splitting?
the miracle man sounds AMAZING splitted
bet the nailbomb does too

[Yellowjacket]

Rebel Yell Bridge!?  Definitely a brighter pickup than an A-Bomb, and with lots of harmonics.  Just a warning, it can become strident when coil tapped. 

[Telerocker]

RY or Emeralds

[Kiichi]

Rebel Yell Bridge!?  Definitely a brighter pickup than an A-Bomb, and with lots of harmonics.  Just a warning, it can become strident when coil tapped.

Yeah, Iīd say RY too. Brighter, underwound version of the A-bomb. Series/Parallel over coilsplit on that one though if you donīt use HSH 5way with autosplit in 2 and 4.

[Yellowjacket]

Rebel Yell Bridge!?  Definitely a brighter pickup than an A-Bomb, and with lots of harmonics.  Just a warning, it can become strident when coil tapped.

Yeah, Iīd say RY too. Brighter, underwound version of the A-bomb. Series/Parallel over coilsplit on that one though if you donīt use HSH 5way with autosplit in 2 and 4.

Yes, the A-Bomb has more of a sizzle or cut in the treble but they sound thicker, phatter, and more compressed with more 'hair' in the sound.  The harmonics are somewhat blunted by comparison.

The Rebel Yell bridge is clearer and more 'consonant' sounding.  It's not quite as powerful and it doesn't have that pronounced treble cut or sizzle, but it has more of a high mid focus with this brilliant harmonic sheen over top.  The harmonics are very even and it definitely gives the perception that the pickup is considerably brighter.  It's a really awesome pickup and as an up side, it tends to excel more at lead playing than the A-Bomb does.  Of course it if really 5% either way.

[Alex]

The Black Dog is def. not brighter, as others have said.

The Juggernaut is IMO an excellent choice. It is overall brighter than the Nailbomb and a bit less middy, but overall very comparable.

[darkbluemurder]

For the bridge Rebel Yell.

For the neck it's more difficult as I don't have experience with the Nailbomb neck. But the Holydiver neck would fit the bill.

RY bridge/HD neck is the current combination I have in my LP Custom.

[Yellowjacket]

I'm curious.  Have you thought about the painkiller.  The rhythm guitarist in my band had a very dark schecter that he bought and he put a painkiller in the bridge to great effect:  Much clearer sounding.  It's a surprisingly organic pickup for the amount of punch it packs.

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I would think that Painkillers would be good in mahogany ESPs and Schecters that are designed for EMGs, as EMGs are very bright.

[mtpatty]

Emerald set- no doubt!

[jevanski]

I just put a Rebel Yell (bridge)/Cold Sweat (neck) in my PRS SE Tremonti and really like the clarity and punchiness of that Rebel Yell.