Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Bigfin on October 05, 2013, 10:32:35 AM
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Hello guys,
I would like your advice on following questions.
If I change pups on PRS Swamp Ash Special (2x McCarthy + single pup middle position), which pups would you recommend and their combination (only bridge, bridge and neck, all 3?).
The tone that I like is Zakk Wylde, George Lynch, Steve Stevens, John Petrucci, John Sykes, Ronnie LeTekro…so mainly my style would be heavy rock.
Clean ones; David Gilmour, Andy Summers, SRV
I own for some years 2 PRS; 97 CE mahogany – flamed maple top body-24 fret maple-rosewood neck, HFS bridge + Vintage bass neck.
Other one is sort of prototype; Mahogany body and 24 fret neck, not sure about fingerboard, Seymour Duncan full shred bridge, custom mini humbucker neck and Ibanez edge tremolo.
They both sound pretty good, maybe HFS have thicker sound and full shred more high end.
Nothing wrong with both of them, just wonder if I can have some change, like 22 frets, HSH, etc.
I believe swamp ash has push-pull split coil options, so I have to consider that configuration too.
Very grateful for your help
Best regards
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As bridge pickup the Cold Sweat or Miracle Man should get you in the ballpark for the tones you listed.
For the neck humbucker I would look at VHII, Cold Sweat or Holydiver.
Not sure about the middle single coil but I have seen the Irish Tour recommended for such constellations.
Cheers Stephan
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Cold Sweat set or Miracle Man bridge with Cold Sweat neck were the options that immediately came to my mind too.
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Considering the swampashbody a Cold Sweat might a bit bright. I would look at a Miracle Man for the bridge, perhaps a VHII might do too. Neck: VHII. Middle: Irish Tour or, if you prefer more mids but still vintagevibe, a Slowhand.
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Many thanks for your help,
I put Cold Sweat in my all mahogany PRS instead of Full shred and for my taste it is perfect.
Much stronger output from ceramic, more clarity and attact.
Perfect for revisiting some old(er) tunes from John Sykes and Whitesnake.
Cheers
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That's quite a range of tones you're after and I can't see you nailing all of those with just one pickup. The Miracle Man could certainly work very well for some of them but it's not exactly the last word in versatility. It certainly won't have the clean tones you're after and it won't really be Steve Stevens or John Sykes either. I think my choice would be a Holydiver with a push/pull coil split because although it still won't hit all of those tones, it is far more versatile so will get you closer more of the time. If you didn't fancy the Holydiver, I'd be looking at an A-Bomb as an alternative. Both have their versatility but where the Holydiver is smooth, the A-Bomb is very aggressive.
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That's quite a range of tones you're after and I can't see you nailing all of those with just one pickup. The Miracle Man could certainly work very well for some of them but it's not exactly the last word in versatility. It certainly won't have the clean tones you're after and it won't really be Steve Stevens or John Sykes either.
I agree on the Steve Stevens bit - that would be the Rebel Yell or the VHII. But to me the Miracle Man works well for John Sykes tones. For clean tones I do agree that it needs to be split, otherwise - depending on the amp - the high output makes clean tones a bit difficult to obtain.
Cheers Stephan
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The Sykes tone always sounds a bit more open to me than the Miracle Man so it was him and Steve Stevens I was thinking of when I mentioned the A-Bomb. Obviously the RY is ideal for Stevens' tone but the Nailbomb is similar and has that bigger bottom end that I thought would suit. Zakk Wylde would certainly be Miracle Man, Steve Stevens would be Rebel Yell, Pettrucci would be Nailbomb, Sykes would be Cold Sweat or A-Bomb etc. It's a real mix. To be honest, I plumped for the Holydiver or A-Bomb simply because they seemed to represent the best middle ground between the lot!