Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

[GhostUnholy]

Hey guys, just joined and read around a bit, looks like a very informative forum!

Anyhow, I have two PRSs, a standard 24 and a custom 24 and i'm a little bored of them sounding nearly exactly the same so I thought why not throw some new pickups in the Cu24.

Type of music: I play a lot of tech death/thrash/melodeath, etc. so I need the bridge pickup to be ballsy and modern sounding for that rhythm chunk and screaming leads, but tight, I can't have any "flubbiness". Neck pickup I'm a little torn on what I want. On one hand I like hotter neck pickups where I can shred on it and it really screams, but on the other hand this is my main live guitar and in the interest of versatility i probably need to go for something that handles smoother leads, and sounds good clean either on the bucker or tapped. For reference I really like the rich deep clean i get from my PRS vintage bass pickup on the bucker actually. So basically I'd like to compromise balancing the ability for decent cleans and smooth leads (to higher output shreddier stuff if possible if the pickup sounds rich enough split that I can do all the cleans split and leads with the full bucker).

Here were my options just from reading the duncan site and some other forums:

Bridge:
Duncan Full Shred
Duncan JB
Duncan Distortion

Neck:
Duncan Full Shred
Duncan 59 or Jazz
The A II Pro, pearly gates, and seth all looked intriguing to me but i dont know much about them

I'm not interested in the stupidly high output pickups like the invader or the dimarzio X2N. I have a mesa dual rec that i boost with a ts9 and an engl powerball, I don't really need to push the amps into anymore overdrive. That said I do a lot of direct recording and I don't want a weak sounding pickup set either.

I was looking at the full shred set simply because mikael akerfeldt of opeth uses it in his Cu24 and it sounds great for him but then on the album the cleans are all kinds of different acoustics and electric/amp combinations and i can't judge his live tone so I have no idea if the neck will do what I want to, also it is quite lower output it looks like than the sh-6 and the sh-4, and looks to be the most treble spiked, while I already play amps with a lot of presence... will it be too thin and spiky in the bridge, and will it sound weak for direct recording?

Thanks to anyone who responds, i'm totally open to other recommendations besides the ones i listed too.

EDIT
-----------------
Also my PRS has a trem, but I don't know about this trembucker thing really, does that automatically mean the bridge is f spaced or whatever or does it depend on the particular guitar?

Also I have the 5 way pickup switcher on my guitar i've heard there can be problems with that?

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I would discount the JB if you don't want looseness at all in your tone. The Distortion and Full Shred are both great pickups for those things, and it will probably come down to personal preference. If you want more shredding tone and tons of articulation then the Full Shred does that in spades. But if you want more of an all-out metal tone, the Distortion is probably better for that.

For the neck pickup I don't think the answer is so easy. I have yet to hear a neck humbucker that really sounds great for shredding and for cleans. In order for a pickup to have a full, warm clean sound it has to have plenty of mids and bass (including a bit of looseness). But for good shredding tone on the neck, it needs plenty of treble, less bass, and a lot of tightness.

With the exception of the Full Shred neck, those other neck pickups won't handle shredding all that well (I think I hear pitchforks rustling) because they're close to traditional vintage neck pickups. But then the clean tones of a Full Shred neck also aren't going to compare favorably to those of a '59 neck either. So I think compromise is inevitable. People make this compromise in different ways. Some people have different guitars for different tasks, while others use a vintage-style neck pickup for cleans and lightly overdriven material, and a higher output bridge pickup for high-gain rock, metal, etc.

 

[mustaine-who?]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

With a mohogany body you can't go wrong with the Full Shred. It is modern sounding and it does scream, and the articulation is to die for. The mohogany bosy will add low and low mids, and will fill out your sound real nicely. I had one in a 24.75" mohogany super strat...and I loved it.

Another option for your neck is just to install another Full Shred bridge model. I have and love it as well. Not as bassy as the neck version, and when you combine the b/n in the middle position of your 3-way...very nice, esp for cleans. And even dirty its a very useable position...

HTH...

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I've never tried a Full Shred, so I can't comment on that.

From what I've tried, I'd go with a Jazz in the neck and a Screamin Demon in the bridge.

 

[GhostUnholy]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

Thanks for your advice guys I'll try to find clips of the FS and the distortion, i guess it'll probably be between those two. The neck, I guess I'd rather have the rich full cleans rather than a neck shredder...

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I'm going to throw another suggestion at you for the bridge bucker, and that's the Custom. It's not as hot as the Distortion so it won't slam the front end of your amp as hard. And it has a different tone and vibe than the Distortion. (I don't know how else to phrase it, they just sound different) But it has very tight, focused palm mutes, good mids, nice highs that cut through but aren't ice picky. It's an extremely aggressive sounding, ballsy pick up.

I've tried a lot of neck pups, but my personal preference is to shred with my bridge pup, and use the neck pup by itself, or in conjunction with the bridge, for cleans and slower bluesier sounding work. I think your best bets for shredding with the neck are probably the Jazz or Full Shred like the others said. The others may not have the tightness you'll need for that.

Hope that helps!

 

[GhostUnholy]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

Thanks I will check out the custom... I heard its essentially like a ceramic JB?

After reading about more neck models I'm inclined to agree with you that I'd rather shred on my bridge, but then what pickup with you suggest for lush, deep, full cleans and mild overdrive sounds... i tend to like darker more acoustic sounding almost cleans.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I have a clip recorded with a Full Shred neck in a Jackson RR3 ---

Link

I recorded it years ago with a solid state Fender Ultimate Chorus into a tape 4-track, so please excuse the, ahem, quality :laughing:

In person, actually in the room with the amp, the pickup had more low end fluff and punch --- I recorded this years ago and had not yet learned about mic placement and the proximity effect

This track is free from drums, bass, and vocals, but you will notice that there is a Stratocaster mixed in (VERY apparent in the outro :laughing

Strat is panned more to the LEFT, Jackson panned more to the RIGHT

Cheers!

 

[GhostUnholy]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

Hey, thanks, I'll listen to your clip when I get to a computer with sound later tonight!

On another note I was just reading mustaine and mike amott both use the JB... how loose can it possibly be if that's the case?

Also the JBs lead tone seems to be incredible, how do the custom and full shred compare?

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I'd say that the JB's lead tone is a bit sweeter and cuts a bit better than the Custom. I've never tried a full shred in the bridge so I can't comment on that. The JB has a voice all it's own, and it tends to polarize people, either they love it or hate it. Due to it's unique voicing it doesn't nail as many tones dead on as the Custom which is based on PAFs.

I don't think the JB is that loose. It definitely is not as tight as the Custom or DD, but it does not have a loose, mushy, or undefined bottom end. You get nice palm mutes from it that have a bit of "sag" to them so to speak, but they don't have the "punch you in the gut" quality that the DD or Custom have when you palm mute. I also don't think it's as mean or aggressive sounding as the DD or the Custom. It's just a sweeter sounding pick up, but depending on your amp, guitar, and how you EQ things it can be a great pick up for highly aggressive metal. I like the JB a lot to be honest, and may go back to it some day.

 

[GhostUnholy]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

I'm getting more and more interested in the JB based on these descriptions of "sweet lead tones" i keep reading, I only wish I had the right amp to capitalize on such tones! With my amps, sounding huge on palm mutes is not a problem, like on my powerball I keep the bass and depth punch (essentially resonance) both below 5 for example because any more than that is just too much. But neither the mesa or nor the engl have a "sweet" sounding overdrive... I think i need to invest in a bogner XTC or a VHT ultralead
Then I'd love to have something that sounded the way the JB is described.

I'll spend some time hunting around for clips and reviews and see what I can find.

EDIT:
Does anyone have any experience with the Dimarzio D Activators... is that just a totally different ballpark than these pickups im looking at in terms of being a one trick pony for rhythms? Only reason I mention is because its obviously very tight if muhammed suicmez can get away with using one...

 

[GhostUnholy]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

Ok, I thought about everything ive been reading and everything you guys are telling me, and Ive revised what I'm looking for.

Basically what I like about my PRS HFS set is that its a very versatile set, I get good rhythm and lead sounds on the HFS, and decent sharper cleans on it with the volume and tone rolled off, and I get good cleans and some fusiony tones in the neck.

What I don't like is I sometimes I feel like the set sounds a little bit "dated", which I actually kind of like in the neck but not in the bridge. So I want a versatile pickup in the bridge that will primarily be used for metal rhythms and leads but isn't only good for those applications, and sounds passable clean with the volume rolled off or split (its hard for me to get to the neck in the heat of battle with the 5 way selector), but a bit more "modern" sounding than the HFS, maybe even a bit more agressive... a big thing for me though is the lead tone to be harmonically rich and not harsh.

In the neck I want something with lush cleans, but not so absurdly boomy as the PRS vintage bass bucker. The VB sounds full, but almost artificially so. I don't like really bright spanky cleans, I like playing lush chords and smooth clean leads.


***Is the Custom bridge/'59 neck what i'm looking for?


I'm also interested in the Full Shred set still because it clearly works well in Akerfeldt's PRS for a lot of versatility but while his lead tone is outstanding his rhythm tone is a little thin on most albums, and Opeth does 4-8 layers of guitar on their albums I believe.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

Now that you've revised what you're looking for, I'd definately check out the PATB-1b for the bridge and a Pearly Gates for the neck.

 

[jafo]

Re: Help me pick a set of Duncans for my PRS Cu24

PRS designs tend to accentuate the low mids, which mahogany has in abundance. I'm still a n00b, but I think maybe a neck pup with Alnico 2 might be too much of a good thing for your guitar. Judging from this forum, a Jazz or 59 would be great choices for the neck pup, since they'd add some presence and sparkle. Take that a little further in a more modern direction, and you've got the Full Shred -- and IIRC, most of those killer guitar tones of Damnation came from a neck-position Full Shred in a PRS. How can you go wrong?