Nailbomb or Afwayu?

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glassjaw7
glassjaw7
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Yep, another pup thread. So of these two only, which would you choose for rich, detailed and punchy organic rock/metal with nice mids and pleasing but present highs? Also looking for balance. Smooth but aggressive.
 
Thanks. I like the sound of most of your clips so I trust your judgement.
 
Since you've had experience with both pups, can you describe the differences of each?
 
Wade came out with a Cantrell signature pickup that might interest you :D
 
For me personally the mcp has raw, dry, crunchy, cutting high mids, when the nailbomb has more musical & smooth midrange that you find in bare knuckle pickups in general. Smooth & aggressive & juicy is how I would describe the Nailbomb. Raw, focused, dry & aggressive would describe the Afwayu for me. I hope it makes sense.
My point is it's not just more of these frequencies on this pickup & less on that, both have distinct feel & character, once you hit it, you know it. Afwayu is a perfect death metal pickup in my book. Nailbomb is the one pickup that can do anything almost really good, but never is spot on at the same time. I use Nailbombs live & they are awesome for that, but there are better pickups for recording in my opinion.
 
nbarts":2yptw05h said:
I use Nailbombs live & they are awesome for that, but there are better pickups for recording in my opinion.
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Spill it! In your opinion what are the better PUPs?
 
I don't know what you want me to say, it depends on what you're after. I like the warpig & rebel yell.
 
nbarts":1noejqgj said:
For me personally the mcp has raw, dry, crunchy, cutting high mids, when the nailbomb has more musical & smooth midrange that you find in bare knuckle pickups in general. Smooth & aggressive & juicy is how I would describe the Nailbomb. Raw, focused, dry & aggressive would describe the Afwayu for me. I hope it makes sense.
My point is it's not just more of these frequencies on this pickup & less on that, both have distinct feel & character, once you hit it, you know it. Afwayu is a perfect death metal pickup in my book. Nailbomb is the one pickup that can do anything almost really good, but never is spot on at the same time. I use Nailbombs live & they are awesome for that, but there are better pickups for recording in my opinion.
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Just to clarify, are you are talking about the ceramic or a5 versions of each pickup?
 
I have not tried the Afwayu, but I do heartily endorse the Nailbomb.
I have been using Nailbombs in the bridge for just over a year now, and they still make me break into a silly grin every time I play.
Just the perfect 'bucker for me, they never give me a tin ear and I'm never tired of the tone.
Just last night, didn't get much of a sound check, but when the set started and I cranked it up, OMG it sounded so good I couldn't stop smiling the whole night.
Didn't want to stop playing, this was an engagement that went from Sunday-Thursday every night.
No gig or practice tonight and I can't play at gig levels at home, so I'll be going through withdrawals tonight.
The Nailbomb is so good live it's like crack.
 
Never done the Nailbomb. But I do have a couple Afwayu sets and I can tell you that they do exactly what youre looking for.
 
I had the Afwayu for a couple of months. Sounded really good but to me had a lot of LOW END to it.
Switched over to the Aldrich and similar in tones(at least to me) without too much low end.
I think the Afwayu would be great for an amp that dont have too much bottom end.
I was running thru a Diezel and it was giving me too much. When I tried to dial it out.....
it just wasnt happening.

Just my 2 cents. :D
 
I had a Nailbomb set in my '73 Les Paul Custom

neck model was way too strong and scooped for me
like a brighter Duncan '59 with huge output
great clarity, but it didn't have that smooth tone you would expect from the neck pickup of a les paul custom

I was expecting the bridge model to be something like the Holy Diver that I loved, but with more upper mids and edge, but it's actually a whole different pickup
despite of both being 16k and alnico 5, the nailbomb has a lot more output, different wire gauge, a lot more treble and a lot LESS mids
it was actually the least middy model I've tried of their contemporary line (I only didn't try the c-pig and c-bomb)
it's kinda like a Duncan Custom V, but hotter, punchier and not as scooped, but it does have a mild midrange
it sounded awesome through my amps (a modded JMP and a Zambelli Hyperdrive prototype, both in the Bogner/Facelift ballpark), but I was really looking for something MIDDY, so I had to let them go

so I pm'ed Wade and asked details on the Afwayu and he said it should be a bit warmer
he also said that it had a lot of mids ("the mids want to explode"), but without the spike of the JB
he recommended a matched set, but I wanted something more paf like for the neck, so I ordered the Afwayu for the bridge and a 2nd Degree Black Belt for the neck

the 2nd Degree Black Belt reminds me of the Bare Knuckle neck Cold Sweat, but less modern sounding, with a bit less mids and more treble attack, but far from the mid scooped character of a Duncan '59, Burstbucker Pro or the neck Nailbomb
more like a vintage Gibson T-Top, but thicker sounding

what really surprised me about the Afwayu os that it was a lot like the Nailbomb, but with the mid voicing I was looking for
lot of punch and tight low end, aggressive high end, but still capable of doing smooth leads
just like the Nailbomb, but with a ton of mids instead of the Nailbombs hollow PAF-style mids
kinda like a mix of the Nailbomb and the Holy Diver
not as open and smooth as the Diver, not as focused as the Nailbomb, but with the Diver fat mids and the Nailbomb metal edge

I wouldn't say none of them is better than the others (except the nailbomb neck, that really didn't do it for me)
really depends on your taste (or addiction) for mids

by the way, I just put an order for a custom overwound Bare Knuckle Riff Raff with a larger magnet for my '81 Les Paul Standard :D


ps: ALL pickups mentioned are alnico 5
 
nbarts":31pn43xk said:
For me personally the mcp has raw, dry, crunchy, cutting high mids, when the nailbomb has more musical & smooth midrange that you find in bare knuckle pickups in general. Smooth & aggressive & juicy is how I would describe the Nailbomb. Raw, focused, dry & aggressive would describe the Afwayu for me. I hope it makes sense.
My point is it's not just more of these frequencies on this pickup & less on that, both have distinct feel & character, once you hit it, you know it. Afwayu is a perfect death metal pickup in my book. Nailbomb is the one pickup that can do anything almost really good, but never is spot on at the same time. I use Nailbombs live & they are awesome for that, but there are better pickups for recording in my opinion.
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This is pretty much spot on with what I think about the Nailbomb. I have a Motor City Warcry which is not the Afwayu obviously so I cant say. However the descriptions of the Afwayu sounds similar to what I hear from the Warcry. Both the Nailbomb and the Warcry I have sound great. The thing is that with the Nailbomb you get a little more of a natural smooth sound while still having a nice aggression. For Rock and Metal I think the NB is the best all around vesatile pickup money can buy.

The nailbomb sounds best to me in a live situation where you can turn your amp up. The smoothness of it translates to a great live tone. I have tried most of the highend pickups out there and I think there are better pickups for recording if you want to zone in on a specific sound. For example if you wanted a super tight and crunchy metal sound for rhythm I would pick something like a Painkiller to record with. You can get that super tight sound with the nailbomb but it happens more when you boost your amp and play loud. I find other pickups that sound really tight and aggressive at low volumes translate to not as a pleasant tone when playing live and at higher volumes.

The Warcry I have does sound really good dont get me wrong. I would probably record with it before I would the Nailbomb. Its hard to tell anyone what pickup they would like more because it comes down to so many things involved like the guitar its going in, the amp being used, the setting its being used in.
 
wow thanks guys. lot of info to digest. now i'm curious about the rebel yell bridge pup also. nbarts, how different is the r.y from the nailbomb? my notion of the r.y was always that it was a lower output pup and mainly for lead playing with very smooth mids. isit versatile like the other pups mentioned? good rhythm pup? aggressive?
 
glassjaw7":24tvc95u said:
wow thanks guys. lot of info to digest. now i'm curious about the rebel yell bridge pup also. nbarts, how different is the r.y from the nailbomb? my notion of the r.y was always that it was a lower output pup and mainly for lead playing with very smooth mids. isit versatile like the other pups mentioned? good rhythm pup? aggressive?
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I have a Rebel Yell also. I like the Nailbomb more but in the right guitar I bet the Rebel yell would sound just as good. It has a little less character than the Nailbomb. It has a bigger and tighter low end. It has a little less mids and extended highs I would say. It is not as thick sounding on leads and higher notes as the Nailbomb. It is a smooth sounding pickup overall , its not crunchy like a Painkiller or Coldsweat.
 
Afwayus will be my next pickup purchase. Luckily, I still have a hellbaby that needs a guitar!!
 
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