New Nailbomb Pickups

[*matt*]

Hey!
I got a new calibrated set of nailbomb pickups to replace the stock pickups on my PRS SE 2 guitar.
Because I'm new to changing and wiring pickups I got my local guitar shop to fit them for me.
The problem is they seem to have a lot less output than I imagined. Ive turned up the gain on my 100W marshall amp and boss ME-50 multi-effects as far as it will go, but the nailbomb pickups don't seem to have any greater output than my old stock pickups.
I was expecting there to be a huge difference in the sound due to the nailbomb pickups being much more powerful and having a much greater output than the stock pickups.
If anyone can give me some advice it would be greatly appreciated because as I said I'm a real novice when It comes to pickup changing.
Thanks in advance,
Matt

[lp_man]

Have a look inside if you can and take a pic, I know a few guitar shops that don't read the instructions and get it wrong.

-Will

[*matt*]

wiring of my calibrated nailbomb set.

sorry cabout the quality of the picture. My camera is not very good!

[Twinfan]

Are the pickups too far away from the strings???

[*matt*]

I don't think so. A buzzing has developed when I fret the 1st and 2nd frets of the 6th string so I fink the action needs to be raised slightly.

[Antag]

Don't mean to sound negative, but this may be a problem with expectations.

The Nailbomb is a wonderful pickup, but isn't massively high output.  Sure, it's more than "vintage" output.  But it has lower output than the Miracle Man/Holy Diver/Warpig, EMG 81/85, Duncan Distortion/JB/Invader to name a few well known replacement bridge humbuckers.  Playing side-by-side with my PRS I reckon it's roughly comparable output to the PRS HFS & a shade hotter than the Dragon II.

IMO where the NB trumps all of those pickups is tone & dynamics.  For a pickup that doesn't have skull splitting output, I find it extraordinarily vicious with high gain - allowing my riffs to slice through the mix like an executioner's axe :twisted: (sorry I'm getting all poetic). Yet with a clean or crunch tone, it will still pick up variations in your pick attack.

In other words, if you were expecting brute power that lifts the top of your head off, you may be disappointed.

[Antag]

Some questions to eliminate incorrectly wired pickups:

Plugged in & using your clean channel, is there a loud hum on any position of the pickup selector?

I can see from the photo that you don't have any coil splitting & it looks like they've wired them the right way round (bridge to the back position on the switch or front as you look at the bottom of the switch, neck vice versa), but is there a noticeable drop in output on any of the switch positions?  (you can also use a tuning fork to test which pickup is switched in on each position)

Is there any crackling or "rustling" when you turn the volume or tone pots up & down?

As for pickup height, you should be able to slide a matchstick between the bottom of the string & the pickup without it quite touching either but there shouldn't be loads of clearance.

[*matt*]

that could be it then. I talked 2 ppl on here and to Tim and was under the impression that the nailbomb was only 2nd in power to the warpig. I also thought that the nailbomb was similar in power to the EMG 81/85's.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I fear that many players expect a HUGE change in OUTPUT with new pickups.
Often this is not the case, as many stock pickups can have big DC resistance and plenty of Oomph! whilst lacking in tone somewhat.

The upgrade to BKPs will result in a an increase in TONE and Dynamics rather than OUTPUT. The tonal qualities will allow you to stretch your playing subtleties and skills more (may even show up a few shortcomings too), whereas the old pickups may have been bland but covered up a multitude of sins.

So rest the gain and tone on your amp and get creative.

You might want to put a multimeter across the wires of the old pickups and tell us what they read as far as DC resistance goes- just for clarity

[marmoset]

Yeah I felt the same thing when I got my miracle man, I was kind of half expecting it to devour my face, but it wasn't as loud as I thought. But in fact it's good because palm muted chords were so much tighter sounding, and pinch harmonics were so much more screaming. It was more that the sound quality was better, not that the output was a million times louder.

[JamesHealey]

i remember when i got my first valve amp about 5 years ago i had such a shock to my playing i'd been using a JEM7VWH w/Evo's into a Peavey Bandit 112.

I got a Marshall JCM900 and it totally changed my sound, everything had dynamics and it wasnt compressed and I could hear tonnes of mistakes in my playing..

Then I got a ENGL and that made me realise ever more.. then i got BKP's and once again.. realised, your gear really can hide your mistakes, i play a strat with VHII and Irish Tours and they dont hide anything.. and it's brought my playing on a mile... just wish it'd happened years ago.

but this is why a lot of people like EMG81's w/ 5150's etc.. coz they're a shed load easier to shred on than a set of Irish Tours into ENGL Screamer.. but i'll tell u if u can get it clear clean and tight on my setup it really does help.

rant over...

[Fubar]

but this is why a lot of people like EMG81's w/ 5150's etc.. coz they're a shed load easier to shred on than a set of Irish Tours into ENGL Screamer.. but i'll tell u if u can get it clear clean and tight on my setup it really does help.

Agreed, a lot of people also don't notice how much can be covered up by simple distortion. It's one of the things that first impressed me when I saw Adrian Legg play acoustically, the guy is phenomenal. So fast and accurate shredding and yet fingerpicking at the same time, i'd rate him over pretty much anyone else, there aren't many people who could sit alone with an acoustic guitar and do a job like that!

[38thBeatle]

I'd agree with you guys- I like cleanish/driven amp just breaking up tones and that means that you have to work on your playing and Adrian Legg truly is a master player. Don't know why I added these comments but I did.

[Fubar]

Don't know why I added these comments but I did.

Solidarity, brother!

*Raises fist in a salutory manner*

 

[Muzzzz]

I have a nailbomb bridge, and it's perfect. It's nailed so many tones, it can do Randy Rhodes, Zakk Wylde, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Steve Morse (really, it can), satriani, everything except for death and jazz.

If you're unhappy with the output, i'm sure tim will take it back for a war pig or miracle man.