A-Bomb for Mahogany/Sapele guitar

[HEadoftheAges]

Hey again, everyone.  This is a follow-up to my last question regarding my Monson nomad. What is everyone's opinion on the subject of Alnico 5 Nailbombs in a guitar with a 25" (PRS-style) scale Mahogany neck-through/Sapele-body guitar with an Ebony Fretboard and a walnut top? Would they be a bit too muddy, or do the A-bombs work well with darker tonewoods? The fellows at BK recommend the C-bomb, although i fancy a warmer, more organic distortion.

Regards,
Alec

[Yellowjacket]

A-Bomb sounds great with my Les Paul.  It's a really hairy, pissed off sounding pickup with a nice cut in the highs.  It has lows but they're tight and dry.  I would not characterize it as a low mid heavy pickup like a Juggernaut. 

[ericsabbath]

the explorer has nailbombs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVQI1_Kyxok

[Slartibartfarst42]

The A-Bomb is very tight, with a healthy amount of hairy upper mids. I tried one in a maple neck-thru and it was horrible because it needed a darker guitar to tame the hairy upper mids. It was better in a PRS Custom 24 but still VERY aggressive and angry sounding. I always got the impression it would be better in a Les Paul guitar or something else that was a bit darker.

[Dave Sloven]

I have the A-Bomb in my Explorer these days and it is quite nice there.  It was too abrasive in my SG Standard, which is a brighter guitar with a strong mids emphasis.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Which is exactly my point. The more mids are naturally present in a guitar, especially upper mids, the worse the A-Bomb will be. It needs a darker guitar like a Les Paul or Explorer to tame those hairy upper mids. I've never tried it in such a guitar myself but my experience of it in my old Jackson and PRS means it comes as no surprise to find it perfectly well suited to your Explorer.

[HEadoftheAges]

It seems as if a calibrated set of Alnico 5 Nailbombs is just what the doctor ordered. Thanks, guys!

[Yellowjacket]

The A-Bomb is very tight, with a healthy amount of hairy upper mids. I tried one in a maple neck-thru and it was horrible because it needed a darker guitar to tame the hairy upper mids. It was better in a PRS Custom 24 but still VERY aggressive and angry sounding. I always got the impression it would be better in a Les Paul guitar or something else that was a bit darker.

It's a ferocious pickup, especially through a modern, high gain head. 

[HEadoftheAges]

The other guitarist in my band (Kosmodemonic - www.kosmodemonic.bandcamp.com, if you fancy checking us out) uses a maple-neck-through/alder-bodied ESP E-II Arrow with a Floyd Rose that is fitted with a set of A-bombs, and it sounds ferocious.

- Alec

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'm genuinely surprised, unless of course you just happen to like an insane amount of aggressive upper mids. When I had one in my Jackson Soloist, which is also maple neck-thru and alder wings, even my son, who LOVES heavy and aggressive tones, came through to tell me how awful it sounded! Your guitar should work better with an A-Bomb but it will still be extremely hairy and aggressive as there's enough on there to keep things bright. Probably not a combination to use with a V30 speaker 

[HEadoftheAges]

I'm genuinely surprised, unless of course you just happen to like an insane amount of aggressive upper mids. When I had one in my Jackson Soloist, which is also maple neck-thru and alder wings, even my son, who LOVES heavy and aggressive tones, came through to tell me how awful it sounded! Your guitar should work better with an A-Bomb but it will still be extremely hairy and aggressive as there's enough on there to keep things bright. Probably not a combination to use with a V30 speaker 

There is a certain magic to his tone; it makes me crippingly jealous. I play a similarly "wooded" and "floyded" ESP Elite Horizon III in this particular band, and the Seymour Duncan Custom 5/Jazz combination it has in it simply does not keep up as far as overall edge and "girth" of the Nailbomb are concerned. I managed to play it through my trusty Orange Rockerverb 100 mkII, and the real surprise was how good and warm they sounded through the clean channel.  I am more interested in how it sounds clean (that is actually my measuring stick as far as judging high output pickups and amplification goes), as i tend to play a lot of post-punk/jazz oriented material for my other project.

[Dave Sloven]

I'm genuinely surprised, unless of course you just happen to like an insane amount of aggressive upper mids. When I had one in my Jackson Soloist, which is also maple neck-thru and alder wings, even my son, who LOVES heavy and aggressive tones, came through to tell me how awful it sounded! Your guitar should work better with an A-Bomb but it will still be extremely hairy and aggressive as there's enough on there to keep things bright. Probably not a combination to use with a V30 speaker 

Yeah I had the same issue ... I was also running through a tubescreamer into fresh V30s so I'm sure that didn't help any but I noticed the same issue running in to my old Peavey Bandit as well

[Yellowjacket]

I'm genuinely surprised, unless of course you just happen to like an insane amount of aggressive upper mids. When I had one in my Jackson Soloist, which is also maple neck-thru and alder wings, even my son, who LOVES heavy and aggressive tones, came through to tell me how awful it sounded! Your guitar should work better with an A-Bomb but it will still be extremely hairy and aggressive as there's enough on there to keep things bright. Probably not a combination to use with a V30 speaker 

Yeah I had the same issue ... I was also running through a tubescreamer into fresh V30s so I'm sure that didn't help any but I noticed the same issue running in to my old Peavey Bandit as well

You can definitely have too much of a good thing. 
An A-Bomb in a Les Paul through a Dual Rectifier into a 1 x 12 with a Celestion c90 really works.  that's a bright, upper mid focused pickup in a rig that is dark on top of dark.  I suspect that setup would work even with a v30 loaded 4 x 12 although I'd be tempted to mix v30s with c90s in that particular setup. 

Super bright and tight pickups do a lot to liven up incredibly dark and low mid focused axes but sometimes that's not what the player is looking for.  Many non-traditional setups can work depending on what the player needs for any given situation. 

For examples, a bright sounding guitar with bright sounding pickups can work through an incredibly dark rig.  Or conversely, a dark guitar with dark pickups  (Les Paul / Seymour Duncan Custom Custom) can work with an incredibly bright amp (Marshall). 

[ericsabbath]

Although the a-bomb should work just fine, I gotta say that the c-bomb actually sounds warmer and more balanced, in my experience with nailbombs in my Les Paul custom
The c-bomb sounded hotter and more compressed, but LESS aggressive and abrasive
A lot has changed in my rig between 2009 (when I had a-bomb) to 2015., but that was my immediate impression even after playing only vintage output models for the last 5 years
The bkp team advice makes total sense to me

[HEadoftheAges]

Although the a-bomb should work just fine, I gotta say that the c-bomb actually sounds warmer and more balanced, in my experience with nailbombs in my Les Paul custom
The c-bomb sounded hotter and more compressed, but LESS aggressive and abrasive
A lot has changed in my rig between 2009 (when I had a-bomb) to 2015., but that was my immediate impression even after playing only vintage output models for the last 5 years
The bkp team advice makes total sense to me

Hmm...thanks! How does the ceramic nailbomb stack up as far as clean tones are concerned?