Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

S

Sage

New member
I have a PRS custom 24 with Dragon II pickups and I'm looking for a change. The Dragon II's aren't bad but they have this sort of honk to them that I'm not sure I want. I'm looking for a calibrated pair of humbuckers that have a smooth, balanced vintage tone, but with more output to drive the amp. Like an old Alnico II humbucker that's been overwound, maybe.

It has to have nickel covers and be compatible with the PRS Custom 24's 5-way rotary wiring (3 or 4-conductor wire so I can split the coils).

What are my options?
 
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Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Howdy,

SD Pearly Gates or DiMarzio 36th anniversary PAF. Good luck!
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

He's looking for a calibrated set I think. What kind of output are you looking for? 10K? Hotter? Are you looking strictly for production pickups or will you consider custom shop?

I'm racking my brain trying to think of the hottest A2 production models from SD that come in a set, and I think it would be the Pearly Gates. If you don't have to have a set, like 59's or APH's, I would suggest a CC in the bridge and either a PG or an APH in the neck.

The Slash APH set it a bit hotter, but not a ton. If we know how hot you want the pickups, we can give better advice.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

I would prefer a set of pickups that are meant to go together, but I'm not opposed to mixing and matching, either. When I said "calibrated set" I really just meant I want a bridge that's hotter than the neck.

I'm not really sure just how hot I want the pickups. The Dragon II bridge is about 12k, and I generally like the output of the Dragon IIs, so I probably don't want to go above that. I could go lower if the sound demands it.

I expect a basic vintage humbucker to be below 8k in the bridge, but the Seth Lovers are 8.1 so maybe my expectations are off? I'm definitely looking at the Pearly Gates, but are they really much hotter than your standard vintage pickups?
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

the guy who invented fire said:
Here's the catch...when you overwind the pickup for more power you loose the vintage tone...
Click to expand...

+1. That's why you don't want a 14K bridge PU. You have amps for more output, turn them up or turn the gain up a little. You don't need to try to squeeze a little more output from your PU's and lose the vintage tone in the process. Overwind an A2 HB much and you're going to lose treble and sound compressed.

Duncan has some excellent PAF's, like '59's, PG's, A2P's, and Seths. There's your vintage tone, as good as it gets. Some very heavy tones have come from PAF's over the decades.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

I don't want to overstate the "vintage" part of this. I have another PRS with 57/08 pickups, which are basically just vintage-style PAFs, and though the tone is sweet, it just doesn't have quite enough meat.

I don't have to go to 12k, but I do want something hotter than a regular vintage PAF.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

The Custom 5 with a 59n or PGn is a great set in a LP or PRS.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Custom 5 is as bold as I would go. Maybe a Demon (no experience there).

But a Custom, while theoretically a PAF, sound NOTHING like one.

What about the pup booster if all you need is more output. Volume without tone change. More winding changes the tone IMO.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

You're trippin on the numbers game too much...

Do this, try not to worry about things like 8k or 12k or whatever and try not to use buzz words like "vintage" or "PAF" or any of that other garbage...

Using another pickup or sound to compare to tell us what you want...like for example, I like my 59's but I want more punch and less low end or whatever...
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Bare Knuckle VHII or Black Dog Set

or the SD '78 set
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Brobucker. Sorted.
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

+1 for the brobucker, this whole debate has been done years ago and eventually spawned that pickup. It's vintage/hot allright at around 10k, basicly an overwound PAF type bucker.
Downside is that it's a custom shop pickup but I'm betting it's exactly what you want.
 
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Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

the guy who invented fire said:
You're trippin on the numbers game too much...

Do this, try not to worry about things like 8k or 12k or whatever and try not to use buzz words like "vintage" or "PAF" or any of that other garbage...

Using another pickup or sound to compare to tell us what you want...like for example, I like my 59's but I want more punch and less low end or whatever...
Click to expand...

Good call!
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Go with the pearly gates I have that set.Then send the dragon II's to the custom shop to get rewound.
 
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Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

the demon's a lot of awesome things, but it ain't vintage

i'd be looking at pearlys or maybe 57classic/classic+ for enough of an edge to drive the amp... i'm totally grandstanding though
 
Re: Looking for a vintage humbucker sound, but more output

Yup, MJ told me she would wind the neck version at around 8K to match the bridge.

If money is not a problem, you want a '78 model from the custom shop. Otherwise look at a pearly gates or maybe even a Zhangbucker Brownbucker. I'm going to pull the trigger on a brownbucker myself.
 
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