Need some wisdom and advice

[big kurka]

Hello everyone, so I have prs se tremonti that I’m trying to get kind of a modern vintage sound out of it but I can’t find a set of pu’s that sound good to me in it. I took out the stock pu’s because I didn’t want a high output pu’s in it. The first set I tried was my hybrid set that sounded great in my lp but didn’t sound the same in this guitar. They were brighter and lacked the low end. So I took my hybrids out and made them stock pu’s again and reinstalled them as a 59a4 and a c5. The neck and bridge were way too trebly and the bridge was boomy and lacking serious mids. So I swapped magnets and the neck pu. I put a jazz n with a2 and a cc brigde. The guitar went from one extreme to the other. It became very warm and noodlie. It sounded beautiful but not what I want at all. So I still have a few more option to try but I’m getting tiried of having to take the pu’s in and out plus they are covered. I’m thinking I should try a stock jazz and either a stock dc or a ddn in the bridge. I’m trying to use the pickups that have and not buy new ones. I also have a pg set but I want to put those in a 335 that I have.
Thanks

[jeremy]

the a2 jazz was too smooth and same with the cc? id start mag swapping those. a4 to start maybe? not as much as a5 but brighter and tighter than a2

[big kurka]

So I had a few hours today to play my guitar and I got to say the a2p and the cc sound really good but not what I’m looking for unfortunately.
jeremy can you describe how the A4 magnet will change the pu tones. Do you think the tone would be closer to the A5 or A2 tones or in between the two.

[marcello252]

the eq with a A4 will be more flat all over the frequencies, I like it very much, it's a good compromise in my opinion

[Clint 55]

A3 is in between A4 and A2 so that would be my next step.

[big kurka]

Thanks for the feedback.
Question how would you compare a C4 to a DC?

[Clint 55]

What's a dc?

[big kurka]

Duncan custom sh-5 ceramic magnet

[skelt101]

If you’re looking for something between A2 and A5, most people around here would probably say either A4 or UOA5. I don’t really have experience with the former.

[jeremy]

i really like a3, got one in an antiquity neck pup in my lp, and in a custom in the bridge of a super strat. if the aph and cc arent cutting it, i dont think a3 will be enough difference. slightly brighter than a2 with a bit flatter eq curve is what i hear.

to my ear, a4 is brighter and tighter than a2, and a touch cleaner/clearer in the mids. output is a bit higher as well but not drastically.

uoa5 is nice as well. similar output to a4, maybe a touch more. a bit sharper high end and bigger bottom, but noticeably less so than a typical a5 (oriented) magnet.

in terms of "brightness" id say it goes a2->a3->a4->uoa5->a5->a8->c8 i know there are other mags, but those are the ones that i feel i have enough experience with to make a statement i can stand behind.

i should preface this by saying i basically use and have used for almost two decades either whatever magnets come in duncans or that i bought from allstar magnetics. different manufacturers may sound slightly different.

[big kurka]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Truly appreciate it. I’ve been trying to read everything I can find about the C4 and everything I’m reading sounds like the custom series pickups are not what I’m looking for. I’m wanting a pu thats like a vintage hot wind less than 10k that’s has a little more aggression when strummed hard. It looks like I might have to actually buy another pu which I was hoping not to do. All my other bridge pu’s I have are high output which I do not want to use. I’m going to try the sh-6n in the bridge position and see how that sounds and go from there.
Thanks again everyone. I will report back with results.

[Clint 55]

Well A3 drops the output of bridge hums and vintages them a bit..

[Rex_Rocker]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Truly appreciate it. I’ve been trying to read everything I can find about the C4 and everything I’m reading sounds like the custom series pickups are not what I’m looking for. I’m wanting a pu thats like a vintage hot wind less than 10k that’s has a little more aggression when strummed hard. It looks like I might have to actually buy another pu which I was hoping not to do. All my other bridge pu’s I have are high output which I do not want to use. I’m going to try the sh-6n in the bridge position and see how that sounds and go from there.
Thanks again everyone. I will report back with results.

Pretty sure the SH-6n would be at least as high output as the regular Ceramic Custom. Certainly not "Vintage hot".

[big kurka]

UPDATE: So Iinstalled the distortion neck in the bridge and tweaked for several days but just couldn't get it to sound right to my liking. Output wise it wasn't as hot as I expected. It had the distortion upper mid presence thing gong on but a lot more of it than the DD bridge pu. Also it has good note to note clarity at high gains. The lows are tight but it doesn't seem to do the chug chug thing that good. I could dial in a nice moderate and high gain tones but when rolling down the vol it never sounded good, the upper mid presence tone seemed to get more in your face. If I wanted a good clean tone I would have to tweak my amp settings to make it sound good. Another thing that I liked and didn't like about the pickup is it has this grit to it, probably the upper mid presence hitting the amp even at low gain settings. At times it sounded cool but then other times it was to much. I guess if I had to sum up this pu I would say its more of a one trick pony for doing moderate to high gain stuff, even at high gain it was very clear sounding. Another thing that I notice is the pickup lacked saturation. It needed ALOT of gain to get a heavy saturation. In comparison the DDb seems more versatile and controllable in terms that it cleans up and the tone stays more balanced with volume control use.

So long story short I gave up on trying to do what I was going after and just stuck the distortion set in this guitar. Now I have another reason to by another guitar. Its a win win

[GuitarDoc]

In a way, that's a shame. I would think that the A4 Jazz/Custom set would be just what you were looking for. But perhaps you're right...maybe it's the guitar that just won't quite get you the tone you're after.