Bare Knuckle Pickups Nailbomb

In the long search for the perfect (is that even possible?) pickup in my Carvin Dc127 I have stopped with the nail bomb. The nail bomb is just a very well done pickup that does not only excel in metal but can actually provide tons of tones and has great response to picking dynamics and volume knob twiddling. My Carvin has a mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fret board, and a floyd rose. That combination can be pretty bright but with the nail bomb it's just a full sound with great string definition that can go from clean to modern metal easily. I previously tried the EMG 81, 85, Dimarzio tone zone, Seymour Duncan JB, Invader, and some others I can't think of right now. The nail bomb is better then all of them in this guitar in every way. The best I could describe it from those would be the fullness of the tone zone with much more clarity and attack and not the quacky kind that the JB gives in bright guitars.

It seems to have a fairly flat EQ curve as nothing really jumps out at you. Not too smooth and not too bright and packs a lot of punch without getting too bass heavy and flubbing out.It's tight when you play tight but softens up when you do which is something you do not find in many metal oriented pickups. This is also one of the very few pickups I have tried that I can actually use clean in the bridge position. It's still not as nice to me as a great neck pickup sound but far more useable than most. The price is high for these but the customer service is great. I bought this one used but when I was looking for a neck pickup I was given great advice by the company as to what would fit my needs. I don't think you can call up most big companies and get anything but a canned response or a link to their tone description page. If I could afford it I would have Bare knuckles in all my guitars but until the exchange rate gets more in my favor I think I'll just be stuck with the set in my main guitar.

Alnico Nailbomb bridge mounted on an SG Standard since May 2011, the neck pickup just joined. This guitar was equipped with Seymour Duncans JB and Jazz when I got it, which frankly did not believe me (see drafts muddy, no definition, and not going in the mix again). First I tried a couple BKP RiffRaff (bridge) and The Mule (neck), very nice but not too vintage for what I wanted, I replaced the RiffRaff (I bought a pair subsequently for another guitar) by Nailbomb which is just what I expected for this guitar, I kept the first Mule in the neck for the quality of its clean but the imbalance is too great (and voicing level) me finally led to replace the Nailbomb neck which is (surprise, surprise) the ideal complement to the bridge.

So here we have a micro quite resolutely "modern" in the sound - thick but well defined, with strong bass and aggressive medium - as in the volume of output (close to some ceramics) while keeping with the magnet alnico V the organic side and a few roots of a vintage microphone. Volume up it is clearly in the large register his 90s (metal / grunge / hardcore), not far from Jerry Cantrell on the first AiC but less "synthetic". Lowering the volume is approached surprisingly the very vintage RiffRaff with less shine and more "body" certainly winding forces, but little trouble attacking directory classic rock and even blues (muscular) with these microphones.

The neck pickup keeps the main features of the bridge - biting, thickness and definition - but less abrasive, warmer and more "vocal" in lead, short sleeve version of what <g> . The balance between the two microphones is excellent, you can go from one to the other in the middle of a sentence without giving the impression of having changed guitar.

Defects? Let say they have the defects of their qualities: too hot to be really aggressive and root, and probably too root for metalheads of extremists "chuggah chuggah". Aggression may also not be suitable for all guitars, I think that they fit better (and better start value) a little dark guitar with the body and not too high-medium, short to put on a rather mahogany board on the maple, beech or alder (I mean, IMHO huh). Finally, the clean sound is more than adequate for this type of microphone - it is even quite usable - but it is obviously not comparable to RiffRaff or Mules.

How long have you been using?
I use it since 2011 on a guitar luthier


I had the Seymour Duncan SH-11 before. I wanted to go through in customizing my guitar and a friend told me about this mic: the nailbomb.
I kept the power of the sh-11 but with more precision saturated in a nice clean splité.

most: quality nickel finish
sound
and a set of strings in the pick box
micro splitable

least: a power play drawing cache abyss but good all the time use


price / quality ratio
bin for the price the quality was
Therefore initial investment for a micro but because hands ....

I do it again without problem

1 month of use situation, repeated and concerts

other models tested ... a good part of the SD, I also kept SH1, SH5 SH6 and SSL for humbuckers and 6 for the simple

EMG I have not kept the 60 and 81 I found no personality! on the other hand I have a kit with Steve Lukather booster / equalizer Gilmour all on a stratocaster ...

Kami microphones! Black Rose and micro excellent French Arashi!

SR mics not bad at all!

and microphones BKP Rebel yell kit is excellent and I recently fell for a Cold Sweat neck and I hesitated between Alnico V Nailbomb and version 2 ceramic and are very good with a bit more treble for version céramic! SR for my Deluxe with Floyd Rose vibrato I kept Alnico V to compensate for the Floyd Rose!
Value for money correct! yes I remake this choice because it is the sound that I looked for this guitar!
I see that the critical BKP pickups but merely transcribe the violin the violin so good guitar with good pickups it works ... lutherie average with good mics it does not always work!