I posted this on The Gear Page forums, and thought I'd also post it here:
Just installed a set of SD P-Rails in my PRS the other night. I wired them to two push-pull pots (volume/tone) and the stock 3-way switch, and can now switch between P-90, rails, series, and parallel settings.
Review: I mostly play my strat with a swamp ash body, maple neck, low-output single coils in the neck/middle positions and a medium-output humbucker in the bridge, so take these opinions with a grain of salt.
P-90's: I've never owned a guitar with P-90's (I don't think I've ever even played one before in 15+ years!), so one of the reasons for buying this set was to check out the P-90 hype that I've been reading about lately. So far, I like what I hear, and as I get used to them I think I will end up enjoying them a lot. More mids and output than the SSL-1's in my Strat, but still retaining a single-coil feel. From what I've read, the P-90's in the P-Rails have a little more output/aggression than regular P-90's. The bridge kind of reminds me of a Tele bridge pickup. The neck is beefiy, but not muddy like most neck humbuckers sound to me. For someone that finds strat pickups too thin and humbuckers too thick/muddy, these would be the perfect pickup. With some tweaking, I hope to get that old Townsend live sound and Gilmour's solo tone from 'Another Brick in the Wall.'
Rails: I knew beforehand that the rails setting would not sound as good as the SSL-1's in my strat, but I was hoping to get close. In this case, the rails setting does get close to a Strat single-coil sound, but I think body/neck woods and the placement of the rails in the P-Rails are big factors in affecting the rails sound. In my mostly-mahogany PRS, the wood gives the rails setting some more "body" and warmth, but I think the rails might sound too "thin" in a guitar with an alder/ash body and maple neck. The fact that the neck rail faces the bridge rather than the neck also gives the neck position a thinner sound than the typical strat neck position. I may experiment with rotating the neck pickup so that the rail faces the neck, but that may get rid of the in-between "quack" setting; yes, the middle position does have that strat "quack" which I love, as the bridge and neck rails are closer together (sounds more like the strat bridge/middle sound than the neck/middle setting to me). With only two pickups, it might sound similar to a Fender Jaguar (I don't know, never played one), but I can cop a usable Knopfler 'Sultans of Swing' tone if needed. The bridge rail sounds a lot better to me than a stock strat bridge single-coil; it's closer to the neck and so has more beef and less ice-picks.
Series: Medium to high output, definitely fat but not too muddy, nice highs but not ice-picks, balanced mids with no mid-hump. That's probably how I can best describe the series humbucker setting for both pickups. I currently use a JB Jr. in my strat and prefer full-sized JB's in most humbucking guitars. The JB has an upper-mid "bump" that makes it really stand out, and to my ears seems lacking in the P-Rails. It is going to take me some time to get used to this setting; it's definitely usable, but my ears keep wanting to hear more mids. Compared to the JB, the P-Rails' treble tones seem about the same, but the bass is definitely increased. However, it still retains clarity even with the heavy bass. Probably the weakest setting of the four in my opinion, but again I tend to avoid higher-output humbuckers.
Parallel: I wasn't expecting much from this setting, but it has probably surprised me the most (favorably). I've read some folks compare the P-Rails in parallel to old PAF's; I've never tried a real old set of PAF's, so I can't compare. It has a little more output than the rails setting, but a lot less than in series, with a scooped-mids sound similar to the rails, but with a low-output humbucking feel. I guess I would compare it to a lower-output version of the SD Jazz pickup, with a more scooped-mids feel. All positions sound great, but I wish the bridge had a little more mids to give it some more kick. This setting is really cool!
Conclusion: Huge upgrade over the Dragon II's that came stock in the guitar; the PRS pickups always seemed lifeless to me, and the coil-split settings never sounded as good as the rails setting on the P-Rails. It's going to take me some time to get used to the pickups, and all of the various settings (going from 6 possible tones to 12). I will say that each setting is different enough from the others, that this guitar now seems like 4 guitars in one. These are really cool pickups and I know I will be playing my PRS a lot more in the future. Highly recommended.
Just installed a set of SD P-Rails in my PRS the other night. I wired them to two push-pull pots (volume/tone) and the stock 3-way switch, and can now switch between P-90, rails, series, and parallel settings.
Review: I mostly play my strat with a swamp ash body, maple neck, low-output single coils in the neck/middle positions and a medium-output humbucker in the bridge, so take these opinions with a grain of salt.
P-90's: I've never owned a guitar with P-90's (I don't think I've ever even played one before in 15+ years!), so one of the reasons for buying this set was to check out the P-90 hype that I've been reading about lately. So far, I like what I hear, and as I get used to them I think I will end up enjoying them a lot. More mids and output than the SSL-1's in my Strat, but still retaining a single-coil feel. From what I've read, the P-90's in the P-Rails have a little more output/aggression than regular P-90's. The bridge kind of reminds me of a Tele bridge pickup. The neck is beefiy, but not muddy like most neck humbuckers sound to me. For someone that finds strat pickups too thin and humbuckers too thick/muddy, these would be the perfect pickup. With some tweaking, I hope to get that old Townsend live sound and Gilmour's solo tone from 'Another Brick in the Wall.'
Rails: I knew beforehand that the rails setting would not sound as good as the SSL-1's in my strat, but I was hoping to get close. In this case, the rails setting does get close to a Strat single-coil sound, but I think body/neck woods and the placement of the rails in the P-Rails are big factors in affecting the rails sound. In my mostly-mahogany PRS, the wood gives the rails setting some more "body" and warmth, but I think the rails might sound too "thin" in a guitar with an alder/ash body and maple neck. The fact that the neck rail faces the bridge rather than the neck also gives the neck position a thinner sound than the typical strat neck position. I may experiment with rotating the neck pickup so that the rail faces the neck, but that may get rid of the in-between "quack" setting; yes, the middle position does have that strat "quack" which I love, as the bridge and neck rails are closer together (sounds more like the strat bridge/middle sound than the neck/middle setting to me). With only two pickups, it might sound similar to a Fender Jaguar (I don't know, never played one), but I can cop a usable Knopfler 'Sultans of Swing' tone if needed. The bridge rail sounds a lot better to me than a stock strat bridge single-coil; it's closer to the neck and so has more beef and less ice-picks.
Series: Medium to high output, definitely fat but not too muddy, nice highs but not ice-picks, balanced mids with no mid-hump. That's probably how I can best describe the series humbucker setting for both pickups. I currently use a JB Jr. in my strat and prefer full-sized JB's in most humbucking guitars. The JB has an upper-mid "bump" that makes it really stand out, and to my ears seems lacking in the P-Rails. It is going to take me some time to get used to this setting; it's definitely usable, but my ears keep wanting to hear more mids. Compared to the JB, the P-Rails' treble tones seem about the same, but the bass is definitely increased. However, it still retains clarity even with the heavy bass. Probably the weakest setting of the four in my opinion, but again I tend to avoid higher-output humbuckers.
Parallel: I wasn't expecting much from this setting, but it has probably surprised me the most (favorably). I've read some folks compare the P-Rails in parallel to old PAF's; I've never tried a real old set of PAF's, so I can't compare. It has a little more output than the rails setting, but a lot less than in series, with a scooped-mids sound similar to the rails, but with a low-output humbucking feel. I guess I would compare it to a lower-output version of the SD Jazz pickup, with a more scooped-mids feel. All positions sound great, but I wish the bridge had a little more mids to give it some more kick. This setting is really cool!
Conclusion: Huge upgrade over the Dragon II's that came stock in the guitar; the PRS pickups always seemed lifeless to me, and the coil-split settings never sounded as good as the rails setting on the P-Rails. It's going to take me some time to get used to the pickups, and all of the various settings (going from 6 possible tones to 12). I will say that each setting is different enough from the others, that this guitar now seems like 4 guitars in one. These are really cool pickups and I know I will be playing my PRS a lot more in the future. Highly recommended.
