Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

[BleedingFingertips]

Hi guys, have a yuuuge problem in deciding what pickups I should put in one of my guitars. So, I've got a Nazgul installed in my 1h Jackson (basswood body, maple/rosewood neck, 25.5", neck-through) in C standard. When I purchased my guitars I didn't really pay attention to the woods they're made of. Now I notice that 99% of people install Nazguls in basswood or swamp ash. Seems to be a perfect choice for balanced and brighter guitars.

Now, the guitar I want to put new pickups in is Charvel Desolation DS3 (mahogany body, no maple top, mahogany/rosewood neck, bolt-on, 25.5", two ****ty Charvel stock humbuckers) in Drop C. Seems that people don't dig Nazgul in mahogany. So I'm looking for something else.

My question is if there's a bridge pickup that has some of the Nazgul's mid range growl I really like, or generally similar specs that would work for mahogany. The bottom line, my goal is to have two fairly similar sounding guitars so I don't need to tweak frequencies on my amp (Randall Diavlo RD40C) when going back and forth from C standard to drop C.

Two more things: 1. I absolutely want to have Jazz for the neck. So I need a bridge PU that pairs well with it. 2. I'm not aiming at djent proper. My playing style is somewhere between melodeath, Disturbed-kinda-numetal and Prong-like groove. I rarely play solos. Strings: Rotosound Michael Amott Signature (11-59 or something).


Heaving read descriptions of SD pickups (tonewood, eq, clarity, compatibility with Jazz neck), I narrowed down options to Distortion (TB 6), Alternative 8 (TB 15), ceramic Custom (TB 5) plus maybe even JB (TB 4) and Full Shred (Tb 10).

TB 6: Seems to be a good option for the tone I want, but how would it sound, for instance, wired in parallel for cleans?

TB 15: I love the descriptions and some of the video demonstrations available. Sounds really punchy but clear. BUT: according to the mV data published in this forum some years ago, the trem-spaced version of Alt8 seems for some reason to have less output than the normal humbucker (measured in mV: 651 vs 761). Maybe this is the reason why this pickup totally sucked in the review made by Ola Englund (Alt8 was overpowered even by Full Shred):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZYDYiOIuC8

Maybe, I shall better ask the support what the matter is oO


TB 5: also has good upper mids, but the eq curve is rather mid-scooped.


TB 4: love/hate pickup, I guess the reviews I read so far are far from encouraging. Although Pete Cottrell nailed metal rhythm in Drop C pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYqM_cIPzWM

Kinda puzzled now. If I can make JB sound like this I would sooo buy it.

TB 10: Have no opinion so far.


So what do you guys think? Have you had an experience with both Nazgul and one of the alternatives I sketched?

PS: I apologize for the long input but I kinda hope that you will base your suggestions on it

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

If its a warmer sounding guitar which needs more cut, i'd say Omega. You can also swap in a row of fillister screws for the allens to tame the Omegas treble a bit, when needed.

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

If its a warmer sounding guitar which needs more cut, i'd say Omega. You can also swap in a row of fillister screws for the allen to tame the Omega a bit.

Also thought about this one. The thing sounds amazing, I must admit. However, I am a little concerned that the chug would not be "big" enough. But it's an option, thanks.

Speaking of "warmer sounding": my stock pickups sound as if they were passed through some bass booster. Not ridiculously flabby but just unnatural. Almost no presence. Compared to them, Duncan Designed 102 I have in another guitar is much better controllable.

 

[dave74]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

Skip to the 14:20-mark to hear isolated guitar tracks.
To my ears the nazgul is about the clearest of the whole bunch, so I'm not sure why it's chosen for bright guitars. Seems perfect for full-hog/rosewood.
Basswood isn't really bright, it's more like hog than it is maple, but it doesn't seem to add the weightiness of hog, more neutral with a tad of high-end rounding/warming.

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

Skip to the 14:20-mark to hear isolated guitar tracks.
To my ears the nazgul is about the clearest of the whole bunch, so I'm not sure why it's chosen for bright guitars. Seems perfect for full-hog/rosewood.
Basswood isn't really bright, it's more like hog than it is maple, but it doesn't seem to add the weightiness of hog, more neutral with a tad of high-end rounding/warming.

That stroke me too! But everytime I see Nazgul in a guitar, it's either basswood, or ash, or even alder (the brigthest of them all).

 

[dave74]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

That stroke me too! But everytime I see Nazgul in a guitar, it's either basswood, or ash, or even alder (the brigthest of them all).

I would think it's a good fit for basswood. Solid-tight lows and high-end clarity usually help in basswood guitars, as well as full-mahogany.
(good fit for sh-13dime also IMO)

With Alder and Ash I seem to prefer pickups with less-pronounced upper-mids and treble. (emg85, invader, warpigs)

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

I would think it's a good fit for basswood. Solid-tight lows and high-end clarity usually help in basswood guitars, as well as full-mahogany.
(good fit for sh-13dime also IMO)

With Alder and Ash I seem to prefer pickups with less-pronounced upper-mids and treble. (emg85, invader, warpigs)

Well, seems that Nazgul should work for mahogany. But one another reason why I still wouldn't install it in this guitar now is that I want to try something different, too. So I can compare and decide later if I need a 2nd Nazgul or a 2nd of ones I mentioned in my first entry. My end goal is consistency across at least two guitars (C and drop C) but for the "testing time" I need some difference between Nazgul and a "candidate" pickup but also some consistency (cos I still play in a band).

 

[dave74]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

Black Winters in the Charvel would get you to a similar place as the Nazgul in the Jackson,,,,,,,,,I'd bet.

I would suggest the almighty sh-6,,,,,,,but since you still want to have the brighter cut in full-hog/rosewood,,,,,,,well then maybe BW would brighten it up to more closely match the other guitar.

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

Black Winter... The SD support "recommended" me this one as well But it seemed to me that they are more interested in promoting one of their recent, and hence most expensive, creations. Thanks for your suggestions but I figured I'd choose the ceramic Custom. Is at least not insanely overwound like DD or Alt8 and not underpowered like FullShred. Should work with mahogany.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

I would have said the Black Winter, too. But, I don't get hung up on wood unless I don't personally own the guitar yet. Listen to the voice of the particular piece of wood you have. Some mahogany is brighter than others, some really dampens the top frequencies. I have a poplar guitar that should be pretty even EQ-wise, but it sounds like mud, so I have to use much brighter pickups than I would normally use to make it sound 'right' to me.

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Bridge PU with specs similar to Nazgul for mahogany guitar

I would have said the Black Winter, too. But, I don't get hung up on wood unless I don't personally own the guitar yet. Listen to the voice of the particular piece of wood you have. Some mahogany is brighter than others, some really dampens the top frequencies. I have a poplar guitar that should be pretty even EQ-wise, but it sounds like mud, so I have to use much brighter pickups than I would normally use to make it sound 'right' to me.

That's a fair point too. BTW, I've already read many of your own (well-founded) recommendations in other threads. Kudos for that!

So the thing with the acoustic properties. I have two mahogany guitars: one with maple/rosewood neck-through design, so the body is a piece of maple with two mahogany wings; and the aforementioned all-mahogany Charvel, it's a bolt-on, hence no other-woods other than mahogany in the (tiny single cut) body. I wouldn't say that they sound entirely different unplugged. Maybe the latter is a tiny bit darker. The pickups in the Charvel sound bright and muddy, almost like single coils under high gain. So I figured that if my choice would be not so bright as BW it wouldn't hurt much. And Custom is cheaper too!