Any C-Bomb/CS/HD pickup users? Need some input.

[vorachuck]

Hey BKP!

This is my first post on the forum. I messaged bkp for a pair of pickups for my ibanez S5570 Prestige:
http://www.ibanez.com/products/eg_detail.php?year=2016&area_id=3&cat_id=1&series_id=4&data_id=360&color=CL01

Ben messaged me and suggested a Ceramic nailbomb and nailbomb neck. But, reading these forums yesterday. I saw some users use a cold sweat neck with there nailbomb bridge. I was wondering if anybody could comment on either of these choices and help me choose a set would be awesome!
Any suggestions would be good too. I've also looked at the Holy diver. They look cool too!
I play Hard rock, metal, and fusion. I like tones like EVH Brown sound, Andy Timmons, George Lynch, and synyster gates.
Tone trying to achieve:
Bridge: Nice thick lead, wall of sound effect, no ice picky highs especially on higher upper frets, Harmonics to jump at me, sustain, and good note seperation
Neck: Petrucci style liquidy sound

Gear I have: Ibanez s5570 running through a modded Evh 5150 iii. I like to push this amp to the limit.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Ibanez S series guitars are relatively unusual because they're so thin, the wood has very little impact on the tone and while this would exclude some pickups, it also opens up other options.

C-Bomb

I'd certainly go with this rather than the A-Bomb in your guitar but I confess I have no direct experience of this particular model. In general the Nailbomb seems to be regarded here as a really good rhythm pickup but not that good with leads so as you specifically mention lead tones I would hesitate to suggest that this is your best option.

Holydiver

This is a very different beast to the C-Bomb. It's a very articulate pickup that takes an overdrive pedal really well but it's not as tight as the C-Bomb if that's what you need and it's not as aggressive. What you get with the Holydiver is essentially that 80s Metal tone with a bit of a modern twist to it. I found it quite a versatile pickup and unlike the Nailbomb, has arguably the best lead tone of any pickup in the contemporary range. As it's also AV instead of ceramic, you also get a richer tone.

Miracle Man

Personally, given the range of sounds you're after, I think this would be an excellent choice for you. It retains a lot of the feel of the Holydiver so it's rich, fluid and smooth but it has a bigger bottom end, more screaming highs, pinched harmonics are superb and the ceramic magnet makes it tighter. While the Holydiver is early to mid-eighties, the Miracle Man is late eighties and early nineties. I think this will get you into the Synyster Gates territory more easily than the Holydiver while retaining enough of the Holydiver to cover the other styles. While the ultimate tone isn't quite that of the Holydiver, it's surprisingly good for a ceramic pickup. It's excellent at rhythms and superb at leads, covering everything you say you want from your bridge pickup.

I'd put a Cold Sweat in the neck with a Miracle Man in the bridge but if you decided to use the Holydiver in the bridge instead, I'd use an Emerald in the neck as it's such a wonderful combination.

[JimmyMoorby]

I have the same amp as you and similar-ish tastes. I like you want to 'have it all' with one guitar, a set of pickups.... all with with one amp but reality and compromise has to set in at some point I'm afraid even as good as your amp, guitars and a pickup and your playing can be.  Those guitarists have one thing in common they're all good lead players but their tones aren't all that similar.

I'd go for an alnico pickup either the holy diver or the a-bomb. 

An a-bomb in a super strat with that amp will get you Van Halen tones but more aggressive and more punchy.  The thing with the a-bomb is it has excellent punch, gridn, girth and cut but it was a 'warm top end' which is fine for Van Halen but it doesn't have the top end sizzle some guitarists like Dimebag, Bettencourt or maybe even Lynch have to their tone.  For TimmonISH and EVH I'd say the nailbomb and you cant go wrong and you cant go wrong with the nailbomb neck either it's what I currently have with the nailbomb bridge and I've owned the cold sweat.  An audience member listening to you with a raging amp and through venue speakers just won't be able to tell an audible difference between those neck pups under high gain.

If you want towards the Lynch/Gates end of the spectrum I'd say go with a Holy Diver bridge.

If you don't mind not matching up the sets go with a cold sweat neck too. In a mahogany guitar under high gain it's a great Petrucciesque sound you won't regret that and that's a no brainer for me.  I don't think a casual listener could tell a difference but theres a difference in feel for sure the cold sweat neck is great for shred has a fleutey feel great for fast flurries of notes that melt into each other (NOT BLURRY) in a beautiful way.

You could go with the c-bomb for Lynch and Synester gates but you're really really going away from Timmons and EVH then the magnet swap really does make that difference with this pup!

[oneblackened]

I would say that the Ceramic Nailbomb is not the pickup for you. It's aggressive and hairy and definitely on the brighter side (it can get a little icepicky in the wrong guitar).

I think an Alnico Blackhawk set might be up your alley.

[Lucas]

I use CBomb/CS neck in all mahogany LP style Dean Cadillac.
For the bridge pickup you definitely won`t get good note separation from Ceramic Nailbomb. Secondly it`s great rhythm pickup but leads are just ok. I don`t really think, that CBomb is what you want.

for the neck, CS... maybe it`s only my darker sounding guitar, but I find it sometimes too dark especially on lower strings. Beautiful cleans though!

if you want to listen how CBomb performs with rhythm and lead work, check the video below. CBomb all way through, lead as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gogwQJ7AyM&feature=youtu.be

[ericsabbath]

The alnico nailbomb can sound quite Guthrie Govanish

But I'd take the holy diver for the thick leads and fatter harmonics

[JimmyMoorby]

I would say that the Ceramic Nailbomb is not the pickup for you. It's aggressive and hairy and definitely on the brighter side (it can get a little icepicky in the wrong guitar).

I think an Alnico Blackhawk set might be up your alley.

If fits what he's asked for but it aint very van halenesque or timmonsy though.

Alnico black hawk is underrated on this forum.

[vorachuck]

Thanks for the input!

If I had to get down to what I usually play. I like to play a lot of 80's hard rock mixed with fusion. I'm mainly a lead type player. I do rhythm. But, leads are my forte. I'm also pushing my amp hard! My modded amp has a variac knob and I boost with an OD pedal. Getting into almost cranked brown sound territory.
I'll mostly will go with the holy diver. It sounds like a good lead pickup. What is a good combo with the holy diver, how's the sound, and what's the harmonics like?

[Yellowjacket]

Holydiver

This is a very different beast to the C-Bomb. It's a very articulate pickup that takes an overdrive pedal really well but it's not as tight as the C-Bomb if that's what you need and it's not as aggressive. What you get with the Holydiver is essentially that 80s Metal tone with a bit of a modern twist to it. I found it quite a versatile pickup and unlike the Nailbomb, has arguably the best lead tone of any pickup in the contemporary range. As it's also AV instead of ceramic, you also get a richer tone.

HAH!  You obviously have not tried a Juggernaut bridge PUP yet!  ^_^  Great cleans, TIGHT rhythm, aggressive, and it has an amazing fluid lead tone.  Very proggy sounding and it does WAY more than just Djent!  ^_^

That being said, the tonal characteristics of the instrument determine which pickup will work best in the instrument.

C-Bomb will be more aggressive, hairy' and pissed off than the other pickups you listed.  I have an A-Bomb in my Gibson Les Paul and no other pickup I have is this pissed off and full of horrible attitude.

[Slartibartfarst42]

HAH!  You obviously have not tried a Juggernaut bridge PUP yet!  ^_^  Great cleans, TIGHT rhythm, aggressive, and it has an amazing fluid lead tone.  Very proggy sounding and it does WAY more than just Djent!  ^_^

You're right and I can't see me ever doing so for two reasons. Firstly, I've never yet heard a clip I really like, though someone posted one here for me a month or so ago that was better. Secondly, I had one made for me that was similar as it was an AV and AVIII hybrid with 43AWG and it's superb so I can't see me changing from that. Maybe it's the ceramic that puts me off, I don't know but there just always seems to be better choices for the guitars I have and the music I play. To each their own  Either way, I still think either a Holydiver/Emerald or Miracle Man/Cold Sweat is best for vorachuck.

[Dave Sloven]

I would actually suggest looking more closely at the Impulse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-5Ysauhjw4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kot1vCp0IQ

[JimmyMoorby]

I think it's far to say that the Juggernaut is like a 'tighter holy diver' and it literally has the best cleans I've ever heard from a bridge pickup even better than the BKP PAF type pups.

I could tell in the right guitar it would have been a fantastic pickup but it didn't work that well in my Gibson SG but I think SG's are particularly hard to get pickups to suit them (Which is a different subject entirely).

Juggernauts are good though and definitely aren't just for all that djent malarkey.......btw is djent still even a thing or has that fad gone away yet?

[Slartibartfarst42]

I think it's far to say that the Juggernaut is like a 'tighter holy diver'

Yes, I find the same thing with my version. Actually, I think that thanks to the 43AWG, it's more like the 80s Metal sound than the Holydiver!

[Yellowjacket]

I think it's far to say that the Juggernaut is like a 'tighter holy diver' and it literally has the best cleans I've ever heard from a bridge pickup even better than the BKP PAF type pups.

THANK YOU!!! 

I could tell in the right guitar it would have been a fantastic pickup but it didn't work that well in my Gibson SG but I think SG's are particularly hard to get pickups to suit them (Which is a different subject entirely).

Let's face it, Juggernauts need a superstrat.  Preferably maple bold on neck, rosewood board, and a basswood body!

Juggernauts are good though and definitely aren't just for all that djent malarkey.......btw is djent still even a thing or has that fad gone away yet?

LOL!

Yes.  Juggernauts do hard rock, progressive rock, progressive metal and thrash very well.  I think they'd also be at home with death metal but they're probably too tight and clear for doom stuff. 

Ya, it's still going.  I think what happened is that a bunch of kids got their hands on 8 string guitars and created facile imitations of Meshuggah riffs.  Animals as Leaders and Periphery's latest two (three?) releases are both awesome and worth listening to but like with most music fads, 95% of what is produced is forgettable. 

[vorachuck]

Last night I bit the bullet and contemplated back and forth on which set to buy. I ultimately decided on the Miracle Man Bridge with Cold Sweat Neck. I can't wait to get them! Thank you all for the suggestions and input everyone!