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.

The Nailbomb is one of the best all around pickups offered from Bare Knuckle pickups. Bare Knuckle pickups is a small boutique pickup company from the United Kingdom. They hand make their pickups to your specifications. Their lead pickup winder Tim Mills is a legend in the pickup industry. Tim has made many custom pickups for artists around the world. Many pickup companies mass produce their pickups and make them down to a cost. Bare Knuckles doesn’t spare any expense in the making of their pickups. Their goal in pickup design is ultimate tone and versatility. They use only the finest materials in their construction and they are all made by hand in house. Many companies make high output pickups that are great for metal and heavy rock but if you try to use them for anything else they fall on their face. Bare Knuckle pickups know that you may want to clean up your sound sometimes so they make their pickups able to do both, and they do both extremely well. A unique feature of Bare Knuckle pickups is that you can choose the type of finish you want on your pickup. You can get a classic nickle cover or a rusty distressed cover or even a camo cover. The pickup is voiced with a relatively flat EQ. No particular part of the sound dominates anything else. The Nailbomb is rated at 15.7k for the bridge position and 9.8k for the neck position. The sound is extremely clear. It is almost impossible to get a muddy sound from this pickup. These pickups are also very quiet when it comes to background noise, this is quite rare on high output pickups. The Nailbomb is a very articulate pickup and it cuts through the mix very well. The Nailbomb may be a bit expensive but for this tone and this versatility it is worth it.

The Bare Knuckle Pickups Nailbomb is part of BKP’s contemporary line. It is a fairly high output pickup that has a more even tone. It’s almost like the Painkiller’s more versatile little brother. Like all BKPs, this can come with various options regarding wiring, covers, screw colors, etc. The one I had was wound for the bridge position and came with four conductor wiring and an Alnico V magnet.

The Nailbomb is probably one of the more organic pickups that Tim offers. What I mean by that is that it can do nearly any style you can throw at it with ease. The website says that it’s a mix between old school and modern tones, and I agree with that 100%. The pickup itself is fairly even if you get the Alnico V version. Bass, middle and treble all sit nicely with each other and never try to dominate the mix in any particular area. The bass is fat, but it’s never overly bass heavy. The midrange is present without being boxy or “narrow” sounding. The treble is cutting without being too piercing.

The harmonics with this pickup absolutely scream. It works in most any wood, but it seems to really favor neutral to brighter woods. Those of you who tune down fairly low and have darker woods might want to try one of the other models because the bass isn’t super tight in this pickup. The best part is that it cleans up amazingly well. Just roll the volume knob down a bit, and you got a great British-esque clean tone going on.

If you’re looking for a more boutique pickup, and you find yourself wanting something that’s a mix between the old school pickups of yesteryear but with all the great benefits of today’s humbuckers, you should really check this pickup out. It’s probably one of the most versatile pickups in the BKP line.

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.