PRS Custom 24

[sdlm]

Hi there,

I can’t seem to find a set of pickups for my PRS cu24. Willing to give BKP a go as I would hate having to sell the bloody guitar altogether. There’s something in the feel and playability that many other guitars seem to lack.

Problem description:
-I find the original HFS bridge pickup too loose, too harsh and too loud. The boomy low mids coupled with the harsh highs ruin the clean sound. Hi gain sounds are not tight enough. Over all, the pickup is too loud, akin to a person who always speaks too loud be it at a library or at a office meeting. Annoying. This may have to do with the nstural honkiness of the instrument.
-I switched the HFS for a Duncan Custom/59 hybrid. The sound did not improve. The boominess issue is still there, but compared to the HFS the pickup is really stiff. Cannot get a good saturated gain sound. The cleans are somewhat dark. There’s something in the mid structure that doesn’t work with my setup.
-The Vintage bass neck pickup is mud deluxe. Boomy, too fat, lacks definition.
-Not sure to which degree the guitar itself accounts for the problems describer herein. I realize the pickup positioning is unique and that a mahogany bodied guitar will sound mid heavy. I do like the acoustic resonance of the guitar, however.
-I play through a Mesa Mark V. The amp is heavy on the mids, especially 750 khz, and further, the bass can get out of control if not tweaked correctly. Getting good sounds with my Lace Sensor (red/silver/blue) loaded strat. Love these pickups, by the way.

Ideal sounding CU24:
-The bridge pickup handles gain well and produces acceptable cleans. I like a focused and tight hi gain tone. Not super tight, but let’s say muscular with a slight amount of saturation for a lack of better words. Not a friend of overly hot pickups, but i suspect i’d need a pickup with a ceramic magnet. A less loud and tighther version of the HFS would probably sound killer.
-The neck pickup produces good cleans and a juicy gain lead sound. I want to be able to hear i’m on the neck pickup, but i don’t want the sound to be too bassy. String separation, sufficient thickness and pick attack are the main attributes in both a clean and gain setting.

I’m thinking cold sweat bridge coupled with one of the more vintage voiced neck pickups. Would appreciate any inputs.

Cheers, Max

[Dave Sloven]

There are a lot of threads here about this guitar model if you do a search.

Some have complained that the Cold Sweat was too bright, same with the Emerald (I'm guessing the Rebel Yell would have the same issue).

Holy Diver, Crawler, and Miracle Man have all got good reviews in this model.  If you want to reduce mid honk the Miracle Man is a good choice.  IN terms of output it is not as extreme as you might expect and the EMG comparisons aren't accurate from my experience using a MM in an SG.  I've had a CS bridge in the same guitar and the MM is a bit darker and has more output but you can compensate for that a bit by adjusting pickup height.  I've matched it with a CS neck but I've always wanted to try a HD neck with it.

[Telerocker]

I would also have a look at the Rebel Yells.

[Lucas]

To me it sounds definitely like Cold Sweat bridge. Its tight, focused, handles gain with authority, ceramic magnet, not too hot and too modern. Good on leads, really good cleans, not too aggressive. Plus it has amazing string separation in distorted chords. More classic sounding, quite versatile.

The reason I said Cold Sweat is the fact, that just second ago I spent about an hour playing Cold Sweat bridge in one guitar and CBomb in other comparison them side by side just for fun.

Cold Sweat is in my opinion exactly what you described. Don't worry its not overly bright. I have one in Warmoth Telecaster (alder body with maple cap and golcano alves/ziricote neck which is warm neck) and Cold Sweat doestn sound too bright at all. It does have plenty of body.

Its focused, not too aggressive with more polite attitude, (than wild and raspy CBomb), some people here call it 'screamer' but with my setup it's not really. Surprisingly it does have enough bottom end while keeping good presence and cut through the mix.

Regarding Miracle Man mentioned ealier by Dave. MM is more aggressive and hotter, its more metal pickup but not too extreme anyway.

I can only talk about Cold Sweat and Miracle Man as I have both. Steer away from CBomb though, it's great pickup and fun to play but its not focused, hairy, raspy and really wild which probably would not suit you.

I personally would go with Cold Sweat set or Cold Sweat/VHII if you want your neck to be more vintage sounding.
Hope it helps