CBomb vs Juggernaut

[one]

I just got a guitar with 7 string Cbomb being used to play with a 7 juggernaut in another guitar. The Cbomb is in a mahogany guitar while the jugg is in a swamp ash one. At the beginning I thought the jugg exceded in lows too much even with such a light guitar (3kg.) but I came to love it in the end. Now the Cbomb seems too defined, clear and lacking of oomph to me compared to the jugg. My plan was to keep the Jugg to A standard and the Cbomb guitar in B standard but considering my appreciations, maybe I should go the other way around.

Will the Cbomb stand the low tuning better than the Jugg? or put it another way... Will the apparent lack of depth of the Cbomb be relieved with a lower tuning than the Jugg? Maybe it's first feeling (only half and hour playing with the Cbomb) or I should just tweak the amp a little more, but anyway I'd like to know your opinion you BKPs experts :)

[one]

Too much reading? Ok, my Cbomb feels too nasal, boomy, the palm mutes aren't tight at all, what can I do? lower pickup, raise poles?

[Dave Sloven]

Lowering the pickup slightly and raising the poles might make it sound a bit tighter

In terms of middiness etc maybe add an EQ pedal into your signal chain, either out front or in the effects loop.  If you are able to get one of your guitars sounding right on the settings on the amp without the EQ pedal engaged then use the EQ pedal to modify the sound for the other guitar.  When you change guitars turn the EQ on/off

[one]

Thanks a lot, AO, very helpful as always :) Did you have the same feeling with your nb or did you like it from the beginning?

[Dave Sloven]

I didn't like the NB in my SG but lowering the pickup and raising the pole pieces did help.  I moved it to my Explorer and like it MUCH more there.  All BKPs are quite sensitive to the guitar they are put into.  I think that because of their less compressed character compared to others (e.g., DiMarzio) they pick up more of the acoustic properties of the instrument

[one]

Thanks, AO, I should have gone to the Blackhawk, it was the first idea, but everybody told me the CBomb is more versatile for diverse styles like Opeth, Dream Theater or Mastodon type of sound. I don't see it too much now but I'll give it a chance. I'm living a honeymoon period with a SD Black Winter at the moment and I couldn't find the Cbomb less attractive now. I hope it'll grow on me eventually. Here's the guitar loaded with it:

[Dave Sloven]

That looks like a fairly chunky bit of wood.  The C-Bomb might work better in a brighter wood with low tunings / seven strings

[one]

Well, the top is walnut which afaik is a trebblish wood, so as the ebony fb. It's a seven string tuned to B standard, I probably can turn it down one step. Thanks again, AO. I'll spend more time with it and if I don't get used to it, I'll have to order a Painkiller or Blackhawk and sell this one. Another pic of my new axe:

[Yellowjacket]

I just got a guitar with 7 string Cbomb being used to play with a 7 juggernaut in another guitar. The Cbomb is in a mahogany guitar while the jugg is in a swamp ash one. At the beginning I thought the jugg exceded in lows too much even with such a light guitar (3kg.) but I came to love it in the end. Now the Cbomb seems too defined, clear and lacking of oomph to me compared to the jugg. My plan was to keep the Jugg to A standard and the Cbomb guitar in B standard but considering my appreciations, maybe I should go the other way around.

Will the Cbomb stand the low tuning better than the Jugg? or put it another way... Will the apparent lack of depth of the Cbomb be relieved with a lower tuning than the Jugg? Maybe it's first feeling (only half and hour playing with the Cbomb) or I should just tweak the amp a little more, but anyway I'd like to know your opinion you BKPs experts :)

I hear you.  The Juggernaut bridge has this sledgehammer thing going on in the low mids and it sounds absolutely huge.  The lack of high mids makes it sound dark even though it does have a bit in the treble as well. 

I gather that the Juggernaut will handle lower tunings better since that is specifically what it is designed for.

What you can do: 

Use heavier strings on the guitar with the Cbomb and adjust your neck relief to compensate.  The greater mass from the heavier strings will generate more electric current which will give more input into the amp.  You'll also get more oomph in the low mids as a result. 

Try EQing the amp to suit the guitar.

Run a boost pedal. 


I have an A-Bomb in a Gibson Les Paul and a Juggernaut in a super strat.  The Juggernaut definitely has more output and really pounds in the low mids by comparison.  I don't even worry about getting a similar tone out of both instruments. 

[one]

I just got a guitar with 7 string Cbomb being used to play with a 7 juggernaut in another guitar. The Cbomb is in a mahogany guitar while the jugg is in a swamp ash one. At the beginning I thought the jugg exceded in lows too much even with such a light guitar (3kg.) but I came to love it in the end. Now the Cbomb seems too defined, clear and lacking of oomph to me compared to the jugg. My plan was to keep the Jugg to A standard and the Cbomb guitar in B standard but considering my appreciations, maybe I should go the other way around.

Will the Cbomb stand the low tuning better than the Jugg? or put it another way... Will the apparent lack of depth of the Cbomb be relieved with a lower tuning than the Jugg? Maybe it's first feeling (only half and hour playing with the Cbomb) or I should just tweak the amp a little more, but anyway I'd like to know your opinion you BKPs experts :)

I hear you.  The Juggernaut bridge has this sledgehammer thing going on in the low mids and it sounds absolutely huge.  The lack of high mids makes it sound dark even though it does have a bit in the treble as well. 

I gather that the Juggernaut will handle lower tunings better since that is specifically what it is designed for.

What you can do: 

Use heavier strings on the guitar with the Cbomb and adjust your neck relief to compensate.  The greater mass from the heavier strings will generate more electric current which will give more input into the amp.  You'll also get more oomph in the low mids as a result. 

Try EQing the amp to suit the guitar.

Run a boost pedal. 


I have an A-Bomb in a Gibson Les Paul and a Juggernaut in a super strat.  The Juggernaut definitely has more output and really pounds in the low mids by comparison.  I don't even worry about getting a similar tone out of both instruments.

Thanks for your reply YJ, I think I'll try what you say. The guitar came with a very light string gauge, 9-54 I think for standard B tuning. Anyway its 27' so probably not so bad but maybe a 10-56 would improve the sound a little bit. I don't want my guitars sounding the same way. The amp, an EVH III 50w probably has something to do, as it is very trebble oriented.

[Dave Sloven]

9-54 sounds fairly heavy for B standard on a 27" scale  seven string.  That should be about right.

I have 11-56 for C standard on a 24.75" scale six string.  I consider that to be relatively light, especially on the high strings, but on a 27" I would think that would be much heavier.

I am talking string tension here, not string mass.  String mass is a direct function of string guage, whereas string tension is relative to scale length.  What I find with low string tension relative to string mass is that you get a 'whoop whoop whoop' the muddies up the mids.  This is most obvious on a bass with standard strings that has been tuned down three or four half-steps.  I went to flatwound 110s on my bass for this reason and it improved a lot.

[one]

Still unhappy,  I should have paid attention to a couple of friends who HATE the Cbomb and recommended me against it and adviced me to get a Painkiller. I also wrote to the BK guys and they said it should sound boomy or loosy and the wiring is probably wrong, contacting any part of the shield. I don't know about that, but I think Ran are very carefully guitar crafters:

[Dave Sloven]

I can't see any part of the hot wiring touching the shield, but to be honest I don't think that would degrade the sound, rather it would just short-circuit the guitar so that you have no sound.  What can affect the sound is the lack of an earth from the shield to the back of one of your pots.  There should be a wire screwed and then soldered into your shield and then soldered to the back of a pot.  I don't see that.  But really the effect of that would be rather minor.  It would be a darkening of the tone, but I couldn't tell you how severe.  I've heard some say catastrophic but I think at least one of my guitars doesn't have it and is okay.  What you need to check also is the continuity of the shield and repair joins if necessary.  Your installation does look very neat though and there only seems to be a small amount of shielding. It's when the whole cavity is shielded that it can become like a box for the pickups without proper grounding

[one]

Thank you, AO, I wish I had you around to take you my guitar just in case you could help me assuring the wiring thing. I don't trust anyone in my area giving my guitar so beautiful and expensive, and that's why I'm forcing myself trying to like the Cbomb, otherwise I'd have bought a painkiller or something and I'd have changed it already. I'm also thinking the strings have something to do. among my other 3 guitars, it's the worst sounding unplugged in my ears. The sound is too metallic, clanging especially in the thicker strings, I'm sorry not to be able to explain it better, but it's killing me.

[Dave Sloven]

It's possible that the action is too low at the nut if you are hearing a lot of clanging and/or buzzing.

Have you had the guitar professionally set up? If the action is too low at the nut the only cure is having a new nut made.  I will have to take my bass to the tech soon because I have this problem after changing strings from roundwounds to heavier flatwounds and changing the tuning.  The trussrod, bridge, and nut were all affected.

I had some strings once that I hated.  They were called Heavy Core strings, I think they were made by Dunlop.  Lasted a weekend and then I took them off.  They had a very metallic sound.