Phosphenetre
New member
Hello,
TL;DR version - I need recommendations for versatile humbuckers (bridge and neck) for a PRS SE Custom 24, that:
* Have good cleans and modern (not much in the 80s camp) high gain, while being versatile enough to cover more vintage gain tones too
* Have good note clarity and separation, especially under gain while playing complex chords
* Coil-split well without sounding weak or thin
* Clean up well and respond well to volume knob control
* For the bridge humbucker: add some body and girth, and sound a bit less nasal
* For neck humbucker: retain clarity and definition for high-gain lead sounds, but still have a full, warm yet clear clean tone and a bluesy overdriven sound
Full Version
If you're still reading, thank you! I'm looking for pickup recommendations for my PRS SE Custom 24, that can span a range of sounds from blues-rock and some jazz to progressive rock and modern metal. The guitar has a mahogany back, maple top, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, with 24 frets. The current (stock) pickups in it are the PRS SE HFS and SE VB, SE being the import versions of the HFS and VB.
As a session musician, I'm often required to play anything from soft pop-rock or jazz to progressive metal on the same day. I need something that has that kind of versatility. For reference, my current pickups are satisfactory in terms of the range of styles I can convincingly cover.
What I don't like about my current pickups in this guitar
What I'm currently dissatisfied with about my pickups is that the bridge humbucker can sound nasal, honky and overly mid-heavy (but not in the low-mids) overall, especially on clean sounds. A lot of the 1 khz frequency zone. Not enough girth, on the other hand. When in coil-split mode, the bridge pickup sounds too thin and weak to be usable for anything. For distorted lead sounds, I sometimes find the pickup thin and lacking some body, fullness and fluidity to the tone.
The current neck humbucker sounds pretty good clean and on low-gain sounds, but can get wooly, flubby, undefined and somewhat muffled when used for high-gain leads. When coil-split, it's not bad but still quite far from the body, punch and glassiness I'd want from a neck single-coil approximation, especially for blues-rock lead playing.
What I'm looking for in my new pickups
What I'm looking for now is a set of pickups for both bridge and neck positions, that are stylistically versatile with good cleans for jazz and pop, and tight, full high-gain sounds for various kinds of not-very-brutal metal (see below for more details on styles I play and tone references), will balance the tone of this guitar more, will coil-split well and will clean up nicely with the volume knob, without sounding muddy or weak. I like the split-coil/single-coil neck sound a lot for blues and blues rock playing, and that's a priority for me. I use my volume knob often to control the gain of my drive pedals or amps.
The styles I often need to play, roughly in order of frequency
* Modern rock
* Blues-rock and modern blues, especially with a coil-split neck. Think Scott Henderson or Joe Bonamassa.
* Pop and softer rock
* Jazz, jazz-fusion and jazz-rock - what I spend a lot of my time playing at home. Anything from Pat Metheny to Planet X.
* Progressive metal and some modern metal (as opposed to 80s metal). A lot of complex chords with extensions, and tight low-note riffing, but still in standard tuning or a step down. Think ranging from Opeth to Plini.
References for the tones I'm into
Modern prog metal/rock tones I like include (pre-Heritage, more prog metal) Opeth and Plini. Keywords here being articulate, on the tighter side, and strong lower mids and with a lot of separation and clarity through complex voicings under high gain.
Plini. For the riff around 1:41, there's growl and a certain creamy, saturated thickness, but is still tight and very clear through all the dense voicings he's playing. No harshness or fizz. I love his lead tone around 2:53 too, warm but clear with a lot of articulation.
Prog-metal era Opeth. Lots of clarity in those intro chords.
On the less modern front, a lot of blues rock tones, like current Opeth, and also players like John Mayer and Scott Henderson (definitely need great coil-split neck sounds for this)
Newer Opeth. At 3:44, the solo tone here is to die for.
John Mayer. At 2:26, that singing yet not very distorted lead tone.
I also play a lot of jazz and jazz-fusion, so great full, warm yet clear clean tones, particularly on the neck pickup, are important.
Apart from several Duncan sets (notably the Pegasus/Sentient and even the JB/Jazz), I've been quite impressed with what I've been hearing about Bare Knuckle Pickups, and they seem like extremely high-quality stuff that a lot of people swear by. In the BKP camp, I've been looking closely at the Juggernaut set, which while often marketed as a modern metal pickup, seems clearly designed to do a lot more. Plini's got a set in his guitar, and I love his tones on the track I linked above.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, this sort of prog metal is just one style I'd need to cover, so versatility is the key.
Please help me find the bridge and neck humbuckers that will make me happiest!
TL;DR version - I need recommendations for versatile humbuckers (bridge and neck) for a PRS SE Custom 24, that:
* Have good cleans and modern (not much in the 80s camp) high gain, while being versatile enough to cover more vintage gain tones too
* Have good note clarity and separation, especially under gain while playing complex chords
* Coil-split well without sounding weak or thin
* Clean up well and respond well to volume knob control
* For the bridge humbucker: add some body and girth, and sound a bit less nasal
* For neck humbucker: retain clarity and definition for high-gain lead sounds, but still have a full, warm yet clear clean tone and a bluesy overdriven sound
Full Version
If you're still reading, thank you! I'm looking for pickup recommendations for my PRS SE Custom 24, that can span a range of sounds from blues-rock and some jazz to progressive rock and modern metal. The guitar has a mahogany back, maple top, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, with 24 frets. The current (stock) pickups in it are the PRS SE HFS and SE VB, SE being the import versions of the HFS and VB.
As a session musician, I'm often required to play anything from soft pop-rock or jazz to progressive metal on the same day. I need something that has that kind of versatility. For reference, my current pickups are satisfactory in terms of the range of styles I can convincingly cover.
What I don't like about my current pickups in this guitar
What I'm currently dissatisfied with about my pickups is that the bridge humbucker can sound nasal, honky and overly mid-heavy (but not in the low-mids) overall, especially on clean sounds. A lot of the 1 khz frequency zone. Not enough girth, on the other hand. When in coil-split mode, the bridge pickup sounds too thin and weak to be usable for anything. For distorted lead sounds, I sometimes find the pickup thin and lacking some body, fullness and fluidity to the tone.
The current neck humbucker sounds pretty good clean and on low-gain sounds, but can get wooly, flubby, undefined and somewhat muffled when used for high-gain leads. When coil-split, it's not bad but still quite far from the body, punch and glassiness I'd want from a neck single-coil approximation, especially for blues-rock lead playing.
What I'm looking for in my new pickups
What I'm looking for now is a set of pickups for both bridge and neck positions, that are stylistically versatile with good cleans for jazz and pop, and tight, full high-gain sounds for various kinds of not-very-brutal metal (see below for more details on styles I play and tone references), will balance the tone of this guitar more, will coil-split well and will clean up nicely with the volume knob, without sounding muddy or weak. I like the split-coil/single-coil neck sound a lot for blues and blues rock playing, and that's a priority for me. I use my volume knob often to control the gain of my drive pedals or amps.
The styles I often need to play, roughly in order of frequency
* Modern rock
* Blues-rock and modern blues, especially with a coil-split neck. Think Scott Henderson or Joe Bonamassa.
* Pop and softer rock
* Jazz, jazz-fusion and jazz-rock - what I spend a lot of my time playing at home. Anything from Pat Metheny to Planet X.
* Progressive metal and some modern metal (as opposed to 80s metal). A lot of complex chords with extensions, and tight low-note riffing, but still in standard tuning or a step down. Think ranging from Opeth to Plini.
References for the tones I'm into
Modern prog metal/rock tones I like include (pre-Heritage, more prog metal) Opeth and Plini. Keywords here being articulate, on the tighter side, and strong lower mids and with a lot of separation and clarity through complex voicings under high gain.
Plini. For the riff around 1:41, there's growl and a certain creamy, saturated thickness, but is still tight and very clear through all the dense voicings he's playing. No harshness or fizz. I love his lead tone around 2:53 too, warm but clear with a lot of articulation.
Prog-metal era Opeth. Lots of clarity in those intro chords.
On the less modern front, a lot of blues rock tones, like current Opeth, and also players like John Mayer and Scott Henderson (definitely need great coil-split neck sounds for this)
Newer Opeth. At 3:44, the solo tone here is to die for.
John Mayer. At 2:26, that singing yet not very distorted lead tone.
I also play a lot of jazz and jazz-fusion, so great full, warm yet clear clean tones, particularly on the neck pickup, are important.
Apart from several Duncan sets (notably the Pegasus/Sentient and even the JB/Jazz), I've been quite impressed with what I've been hearing about Bare Knuckle Pickups, and they seem like extremely high-quality stuff that a lot of people swear by. In the BKP camp, I've been looking closely at the Juggernaut set, which while often marketed as a modern metal pickup, seems clearly designed to do a lot more. Plini's got a set in his guitar, and I love his tones on the track I linked above.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, this sort of prog metal is just one style I'd need to cover, so versatility is the key.
Please help me find the bridge and neck humbuckers that will make me happiest!
