Author Topic: pickup combination (Read 6807 times)

I_cant_play · « **on:** April 15, 2006, 11:38:13 PM »

how would a nailbomb in the bridge and abraxas in the neck sound? I don't see too many posts about combining humbuckers since most people just seem to get calibrated sets but since I like different styles I think I should get 2 different ones. Is there anything in general I should watch out for when "matching" pickups? can you match a ceramic and an alnico pickup? I also heard that the bridge should have slightly higher output?

any help is appreciated.

Spleen · « **Reply #1 on:** April 16, 2006, 02:11:07 AM »

I believe that for most if not all cases the neck pickups on a calibrated "ceramic set" are actually Alnico V to smooth out the sound.

downrodeo · « **Reply #2 on:** April 16, 2006, 03:44:12 AM »

Spleen's correct. And yes, you generally want a higher output bridge p/up. Most people love to use the bridge that tight and focused rythm sound that you hear in rock, hard rock, and metal and use the smoother middle position and neck to play clean as well as play smooth distorted leads. Nailbomb with the Abraxas in the neck...Well, it's an interesting combo. What kind of styles do you like. The Abraxas is a pretty hot pickup, although I don't know how it cleans up (great for Santana overdrive). Maybe you should go for as good a neck pickup for cleans as possible if you're not going to get the calibrated. I guess it all depends on what you want out of your sound and pickups.

I_cant_play · « **Reply #3 on:** April 16, 2006, 08:57:41 AM »

well I like metal, rock, blues...(metallica, led zeppelin, guns' roses, santana) might get into jazz too but I'm not too worried is the p'up doesn't cover that territory. The point is it's gotta be something responsive. I like tight focused bass and lower mids (much like the warpig) for the bridge. I was actually thinking of the abraxas because of the neck clean sound. I heard a clip someone posted here and I think it sounds great. I also think the neck abraxas has a much lower output. I need a good clean sound from the bridge too that's why I was going with the nailbomb but the bass isn't how I'd like it to be. I'm really bad at describing sounds but I think "focused" bass is what I'm looking for. The nailbomb seems a little too harsh but it seems that it's this that makes it so ...rich sounding...clean.

Also, I play an epiphone les paul standard...mahogany and alder body with maple top.

I_cant_play · « **Reply #4 on:** April 16, 2006, 09:37:22 PM »

even maybe a miracle man in the bridge? the thing is I would want a versatile combination that can get metal to mellow tones. any suggestions? Has anyone tried any "extreme" combinations and made them work well? I read someone has a miracle man and a mule in a guitar...

carlaz · « **Reply #5 on:** April 18, 2006, 11:53:04 AM »

Quote from: downrodeo

Nailbomb with the Abraxas in the neck...Well, it's an interesting combo. What kind of styles do you like. The Abraxas is a pretty hot pickup, although I don't know how it cleans up (great for Santana overdrive). Maybe you should go for as good a neck pickup for cleans as possible if you're not going to get the calibrated. I guess it all depends on what you want out of your sound and pickups.

Using an Abraxas bridge pup in the neck might not work out the way the questioner wants, but I can vouch for the Abraxas neck pup (= Crawler neck pup) being a fabulous thing: powerful, but smooth and smoky. I love it to death :)

I_cant_play · « **Reply #6 on:** April 19, 2006, 04:34:04 AM »

I was actually referring to the abraxas neck in the neck :) The abraxas bridge would probably be too powerful but the neck is something like 9-10 DC?? I've actually decided to go with the MM in the bridge and I'm just trying to decide on a neck pickup to give me good cleans and that's not going to sound "funny" when going from MM to the neck or vice versa...I'm thinking of either MM and mule or MM and abraxas neck

any thoughts?

carlaz · « **Reply #7 on:** April 19, 2006, 10:25:14 AM »

Quote from: I_cant_play

I was actually referring to the abraxas neck in the neck :) The abraxas bridge would probably be too powerful but the neck is something like 9-10 DC??

Not quite that hot, I think. According to my mail from Tim, the Abraxas/Crawler neck is DC 7.6K, Alnico IV.

Quote from: I_cant_play

I've actually decided to go with the MM in the bridge and I'm just trying to decide on a neck pickup to give me good cleans and that's not going to sound "funny" when going from MM to the neck or vice versa...I'm thinking of either MM and mule or MM and abraxas neck
any thoughts?

Of the those two possibilities, IMO the MM bridge would sit better with the Abraxas neck, that being a little more powerful than the Mule neck and so able to keep up with the MM better. (The Abraxas neck is presumably much like a "Mule+" neck, in a way.) Though that said, much though I love the Abraxas neck, there's a good argument to go with the straight MM neck, which is Alnico and supposed to get a good bluesy tone (though obviously less "open" than the Abraxas, let alone the Mule). Maybe check with Tim on this one!

HJM · « **Reply #8 on:** April 19, 2006, 07:36:20 PM »

The Abraxas neck DC is lower, around 7.5K I think with an alnico IV so it's slightly hot vintage for a neck. The Nailbomb neck is just over 10K, different wire and an alnico V., more modern but still sounds good clean.

I_cant_play · « **Reply #9 on:** April 19, 2006, 09:17:02 PM »

I've pretty much decided against the MM neck because of versatility issues. I like to play some led zep and mellower stuff to so really great clean is really important, that's why I'm probably gonna go with either abraxas or mule neck. I'm just trying to listen to the clips and imagine what it would sound like switching from bridge to neck in both cases. I'm not so much worried about the MM being too powerful as I am about the tones just being worlds apart. You can probably tell I'm quite new to this and don't know much about pickups...I guess that's what I'm here for..
I'm slighlty paranoid about the idea of putting the abraxas with the MM since the abraxas is soooo mellow I just think it might sound strange pairing with a "zakk wylde" pickup....would there be problems finding amp settings for the bridge and neck to sound good in either of these combinations? is it bad idea to match an open sounding p'up in the neck with a tighter sounding one in the bridge?

thanks

downrodeo · « **Reply #10 on:** April 19, 2006, 11:56:26 PM »

I have to say that you probably won't know until you really try it out. But...(this is a BIG BUT) you should definitley try to get in contact with Tim. E-mail or PM him and he will surely give you suggestions to get the sound you're looking for. Tim's a great help and take it from me (and just about every other BKP customer) you will NOT regret Tim's help. He just knows so much about what kind of p/ups fit your style and sound.

I_cant_play · « **Reply #11 on:** April 20, 2006, 12:18:29 AM »

I already emailed tim he said either the abraxas or mule would match juts fine. I'm just a lil paranoid ordering something from another continent cause I've never even tried it first hand.

Another question..when people refer to the miracle man/mule "set"...is the mule the neck mule or the bridge mule? I know that for the ceramics..the bridge is ceramic and the neck is alnico V but what about the vintage pups? How are the neck and bridge different other than in DC? Are there differences in wire or something else? In other words if I went with this combo would I get the 8.3DC mule or something less powerful (the neck version)?

Either way I'll wait till the new site is up and I can hear the sound files and make my final decision.

thanks for the replies :)

carlaz · « **Reply #12 on:** April 20, 2006, 10:00:45 AM »

Quote from: I_cant_play

I already emailed tim he said either the abraxas or mule would match juts fine. I'm just a lil paranoid ordering something from another continent cause I've never even tried it first hand.

Well, there's always the 14-day money-back guarantee! :)

My gut feeling here, choosing between Mule and Abraxas, remains Abraxas.

Quote from: I_cant_play

Another question..when people refer to the miracle man/mule "set"...is the mule the neck mule or the bridge mule?

Neck mule. It wouldn't (in the vast majority of cases) make sense to put the bridge version of a pup in the neck position (unless you had some rather unusual tone in mind, maybe!?).

Quote from: I_cant_play

I know that for the ceramics..the bridge is ceramic and the neck is alnico V but what about the vintage pups? How are the neck and bridge different other than in DC? Are there differences in wire or something else? In other words if I went with this combo would I get the 8.3DC mule or something less powerful (the neck version)?

The current web site only indicates stats for the bridge versions of the humbuckers. For example, the web site describes the Crawler as 15k A5, which is the bridge; the neck Crawler (= neck Abraxas) is 7.6k A4, but that's not listed. The new site, when it's up, is supposed to indicate stats for both the neck and bridge humbucker versions.

So, if you ordered a neck-position Mule, it would not be 8.4k as the web site currently indicates, because the web site is describing the bridge-position version. I don't, though, recall what the stats for the Mule neck are ....

I_cant_play · « **Reply #13 on:** April 20, 2006, 06:32:19 PM »

how should the "eq signature" of a p'up affect matching decisions. For example the miracle man has lots of highs and bass and less mids..does that mean I should choose a neck pickup with the same (or similar) characteristics or is it just important that the mids are similar cause they are what cuts through?? I'm not really sure how the general concept of matching pickups works. what makes a good match? is it a bad idea to match a compressed sounding pickup like the miracle man with an open sounding one like the mule?

I've just been doing a lot of reasarch (some of it on the SD site...it's still a good place to learn about pups) and I noticed that most of their recommended combos have a similar "pattern" of bass mid and treble. So I'm asking is this a coincidence of do matches like this really sound better together. Also, what would be too much of an output difference between neck and bridge. I've been looking at this too and the most I've seen is about 9dc...yes I know that this is not the most accurate way to measure output. What concerns me however is that the MM is 17.5DC and also a ceramic. would it overwhelm the abraxas neck which is 7.5DC IV. That's 10DC difference and MM is ceramic too which is more powerful.....is this a problem?

Spleen · « **Reply #14 on:** April 20, 2006, 07:23:09 PM »

I can't speak to you about dc resistances etc... because I don't know but I just got my nailbomb bridge pickup installed (Yes!!!!!!) and it blends perfectly with the old vintage sounding PAF in my Les Paul. They switch seamlessly volume wise and blend together to make the best middle position sound I've ever heard.

I got my pickup installed professionally and the tech adjusted the pickup heights of both neck and bridge. So long as you can adjust both I think you'd be fine with most pickup combinations.