A-bomb bridge/Black Dog neck...

[HEadoftheAges]

Has anyone tried this? I am told that the Black Dog had a genuinely warm, pleasing clean tone on par with a seymour duncan jazz. Would the aggression of the Nailbomb bridge compliment the Black Dog at all?

Regards,
Alec

[Yellowjacket]

I have a Rebel Yell neck and an A-Bomb bridge.  It's a cool combination with more of a classic and open neck pickup and a really gnarly and saturated bridge pickup.

I think the A-Bomb would be pretty phat and a Black Dog may be lighter and brighter by comparison.

What guitar are you wanting to put these in?  Mine are in a LP Standard.

[HEadoftheAges]

It's a custom-built Monson Nomad: mahogany neck-through, Sapele body, Claro Walnut top, ebony fretboard, at 25", PRS-style scale. I keep it in D standard. I have a set of Rebel Yells in there already, which is a fine pickup, though i am thinking i need something a little "meaner", at least in the bridge position. I actually quite like the RY in the neck position, as i play cleanly as much as i play distorted, though i am wondering if there is deeper-sounding, more "piano-like" option available. I do like it, though.

- Alec

[Yellowjacket]

Ah, that was my complaint with the Rebel Yell bridge pickup.  Too polite, not mean enough.  Although, I got a great result with it in a solid block of mahogany.  A-Bomb is definitely thicker, warmer, hairy, and generally more pissed off and meaner.  The more hairy, thick, and dissonant tone makes it sound a lot more gainy and it makes it feel noticeably hotter.  The A-Bomb focuses the cut on the treble as opposed to the RY Bridge, where the focus is the high mids and the harmonics.

I wonder what you'd think of a Painkiller in the bridge? 

Aren't more 'piano like' cleans achieved partially by a longer scale length?  Personally, I'm not so into those sorts of tones so I can't really offer any input for what direction you should take with your neck pickup. 

[HEadoftheAges]

Years ago, when i first discovered the world of Bare Knuckle Pickups, the Painkiller was #1 on my radar, but the more i research and the more i learn about the world of pickups, hardware, tonewoods, et cetera, the more i tend to favor the alnico over the ceramic.  I value a good clean tone as much as i do a big, vicious death/black metal distortion, and i hear the Painkiller's clean tone leaves a bit to be desired.  I would love to try it out, however.

- Alec

[Yellowjacket]

Do you use your bridge pickup for cleans? 

The A-Bomb is decent for cleans but definitely excels at dirt tones.  The best all around BKP I tried was the Juggernaut bridge.  Definitely does rhythm, clean, and leads well, but likely is too dark for your guitar. 

A-bomb is more ferocious and definitely much brighter.  Of course, you can always turn your tone pot down a bit for cleans and it should take the edge off!! 

[HEadoftheAges]

Thank you for all the tips! Essentially, i want to be able to "feel" the palm mutes/that low mid bump in my chest without sacrificing that sense of organic warmth, if that makes any sense at all.

- Alec

[Yellowjacket]

Juggernaut bridge really hammers in the low mids but it is a darker pickup.

Both the Rebel Yell and the A-Bomb are upper mid focused by comparison but the A-Bomb is beefier with a phatter low end than the RY is.  It definitely has an organic warmth but is still super tight and it does have some push in the lows. 
I use it with 10 - 46 in standard tuning so I'm unsure how it will handle drop tuning.  In my experience, the Rebel Yell is great, even in drop B with 11 - 56 strings.  I've heard mixed comments on the A-Bonb for this application.  The Juggerbridge is designed specifically for lower tunings so it likely excels in this department.  If you were to go with a Juggerbridge, you'd definitely need a much less bright neck pickup.  Personally, I wouldn't put a darker pickup in a darker guitar. 

For reference:  LP Standard has RY Neck & A-Bomb bridge.  Godin LG (Mahogany bolt on) has RY Bridge and VHII neck, Godin Redline III (superstrat) has Juggernaut set. 

[HEadoftheAges]

The A-bomb is still sounding enticing. I might pull the trigger later today unless i am hit with any last-minute pangs :-)

[Yellowjacket]

It's a great pickup and it particularly excels at dirt rhythm tones.  It can be a bit more polite if you roll back on the volume but it's a great gnarly, pissed off tone.  It just roars with this 'aaahhh' midrange and it does have quite a pronounced pick attack, although not quite as much as the Rebel Yell. 

[HEadoftheAges]

I pulled the trigger on an Alnico V Nailbomb today! I patiently await its arrival.

[Yellowjacket]

Did you get a fancy cover for it!?  ;)

Oh, before I forget.  Many people here will pair an A-Bomb with a Cold Sweat neck.  Just thinking if you don't like the Rebel Yell neck with the A-Bomb bridge. 

[metale]

I pulled the trigger on an Alnico V Nailbomb today! I patiently await its arrival.

Congrats! Don't you just love that "It's coming!" feeling? 

[HEadoftheAges]

I do indeed! I got a black battleworn cover to go with the black battleworn cover of the Rebel Yell neck. It's the only cover that goes with the Claro Walnut top and black hardware :-)

I do have an ESP E-II Eclipse that has a Rebel Yell bridge and a Cold Sweat neck. I basically keep it around as one of my "beater standard tuning" guitars, but i love the pickup combination in that particular guitar. If i had a proper Les Paul or Heritage H150, i would probably go with a Black Dog set, but for the ESP Les Paul "copy", the more modern/shreddy voicing fits perfectly.

- Alec