Cold Sweat neck vs VHII

[Jkouf]

Hey everyone,

I just got another Nayones Duvell elite. Flame maple top mahogoney body. Wenge bubbinga neck Ebony fretboard.
In the neck I'm trying to decide between cold sweat vs VHII. Which one offers the better sustain and which splits better. One thing I don't like is when I split to lose power. In the neck I'm going more for a Gilmour style leads. I like a sweet top end don't like ear piercing highs.

For the bridge I want ceramic magnet, medium to hot but not contemporary. So heavy rock to heavy metal. I'm thinking nailbomb or ????

Thanks

[Alfi27]

I used to have a VHII in the neck position of a Mayones Setius with mahogany body and maple top, and a 5-layer mahogany/maple neck. It was the best neck pickup I have ever heard and it splits like a champ, very authentic singlecoil sounds!

The Cold Sweat is nice as well, but I have never quite figured out why it is praised as the best neck pickup ever, which it is not... Do not get me wrong, it is a nice pickup and I do have it in the neck position of my Les Paul, but only because I did not have a pickup cover for the VHII. I think it is too bright, and it does sound a bit weaker and not quite as fluid and smooth as the VHII, even though they are pretty similar output wise.

VHII is warmer as well, which I like in a neck pickup, but not all the way towards jazzy territory. The only reason why I do not have in the guitar anymore is because I decided to turn the guitar into a straight up metal axe, and install a set of EMG 81x/85x. The 85x is not as nice as the VHII, but the 81x is just heaven for heavy riffing, so it was worth it after all.

So do yourself a favour and order a VHII, you will be very, very pleased!

[Lucas]

The Cold Sweat is nice as well, but I have never quite figured out why it is praised as the best neck pickup ever, which it is not... Do not get me wrong, it is a nice pickup and I do have it in the neck position of my Les Paul, but only because I did not have a pickup cover for the VHII. I think it is too bright, and it does sound a bit weaker and not quite as fluid and smooth as the VHII, even though they are pretty similar output wise.

I`m quite surprised that you found Cold Sweat neck as a bright pickup especially in mahogany guitar. I have one in similar Dean Cadillac and to be honest I would definitely say it`s more on the darker side to the point that leads on lower registers sounds muddy. There`s loads of bass there. It`s great pickup but in my opinion it lacks cut a little bit especially on leads. What`s more you can feel PAF vide there as well, so I wouldn`t say it`s modern lead type of pickup.

Are you saying that VHII is even darked and more fluid that CS neck?

[Dave Sloven]

Yeah I have a Cold Sweat set and I'd say that the neck pickup has a rounded, darker tone.  The BRIDGE pickup is definitely bright.

[darkbluemurder]

Hey everyone,

I just got another Nayones Duvell elite. Flame maple top mahogoney body. Wenge bubbinga neck Ebony fretboard.
In the neck I'm trying to decide between cold sweat vs VHII. Which one offers the better sustain and which splits better. One thing I don't like is when I split to lose power. In the neck I'm going more for a Gilmour style leads. I like a sweet top end don't like ear piercing highs.

For the bridge I want ceramic magnet, medium to hot but not contemporary. So heavy rock to heavy metal. I'm thinking nailbomb or ????

For the neck - out of those two definitely VHII for the reasons stated by other posters already. On the CS neck: it is a bright pickup but it also has a lot of bass which can make it muddy in certain guitars. Never had that problem with the VHII neck.

For the bridge - the only models with ceramic magnets are in the contemporary section. Of the ones I use(d) the Cold Sweat or Miracle Man would do well.

Cheers Stephan

[Dave Sloven]

For the bridge - the only models with ceramic magnets are in the contemporary section. Of the ones I use(d) the Cold Sweat or Miracle Man would do well.

+1.  Of these two I have only used the Cold Sweat but I can tell you that it will do a much better job of getting a '70s and '80s rock and metal tone than the Nailbomb, which has a grainier, more contemporary '90s kind of sound.  The MM is meant to be similar to the CS in many ways and if I were to replace my CS with a pickup that has more output I would choose the MM.

[Jkouf]

Ok so VH2 for the neck and a cold sweat for the bridge. Interesting I would have thought the nailbomb said would be preferred. Thanks

[Lucas]

so overall tone of VHII neck is brighter than CS?

[ericsabbath]

so overall tone of VHII neck is brighter than CS?

not in my experience
even installed in the bridge, the cs neck also sounds brighter than the vhII neck in the bridge

[Alfi27]

Yeah, the Cold Sweat is quite bright, naturally not ice picky but I think it is bright for a neck pickup. The guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Historic 1960' Reissue, a beautiful, but massive guitar that clocks in at about 4.3kg, but it is not very dark sounding. With the two different sets of pickups I have tried in it (Lollar Imperials and BKP Rebel Yell/Cold Sweat) the first word that comes to my mind is "woody". I always thought it was the 50's wiring, but I figured that only affects the way the volume and tone knobs interact. One other thing that I should mention is that my EVH 5150III is a bright amp.

[darkbluemurder]

so overall tone of VHII neck is brighter than CS?

No - it's the other way around.

Cheers Stephan

[Lucas]

so overall tone of VHII neck is brighter than CS?

No - it's the other way around.

Cheers Stephan

So which pickup would be a brighter version of CS with a little bit more cut especially on leads?

[Dave Sloven]

Rebel Yell is closest to that description.

Apparently the Holy Diver is brighter again.

[ericsabbath]

so overall tone of VHII neck is brighter than CS?

No - it's the other way around.

Cheers Stephan

So which pickup would be a brighter version of CS with a little bit more cut especially on leads?

have you thought about something hotter in the neck, like a neck painkiller, or even a bridge emerald?
the neck nailbomb is pretty hot but quite scooped

[m t soule]

I have both these neck pick ups in the same type of guitar. One with a rosewood board the other with maple.
The cs is darker, louder, smoother and fuller  and matches a mm bridge perfectly.
The vhii is more woody, hollow, thinner(in a good way), bright,  richer overtones.

Both pick ups split nicely. However if i want a stratty sound i always go for my vhii.
Cs is praised as being gilmouresqe (why i bought it) but i don't really hear it. But thats not a bad thing.

I'm more than willing to do a vid demo for you.