Pickup upgrade for PRS SVN 7 string

[kunal]

Hello guys,
                I recently got the PRS SVN 7 string guitar. It is a mahogany body with a maple top, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. I am mostly happy with the construction and how it plays, but am looking for a better sound. To me the pickups sound a bit muddy (could someone with this guitar confirm). Specially when I play distorted chords, the notes on the 3-4th strings get a bit drowned out. Also, the low B when tuned to A sounds a bit loose.
                I would ideally like to get a pickup that does soft cleans with finger picking and chords. The distorted sound should be clear, evenly spaced (for big chords) with tightness in the lower strings. I won't be using the volume knob to clean up. This guitar also has coil split which I will use. I will be tuning standard 7 string or whole step down. So far the Nailbomb seems to be the right pickup for this. Any advice appreciated! Thank you

[timmy_pix]

Hopping on to this thread as I was going to start this myself - planning a pickup buying spree after Christmas.

I also have a PRS SVN, but mine's got an ebony board and is quite bright acoustically. I'm in the same ballpark of wanting to lose the low end muddiness and have a nice mix of harmonic clarity but enough aggression for metal.

From what I can tell, I'm 90% I want an Emerald in the neck and then I'm torn on whether to look at the Black Dog, Holydiver, Alnico Nailbomb or Cold Sweat in the bridge.

I should think you'd be looking at similar pickups - the Nailbomb has a bit of a growl to it and isn't the clearest under gain in my (admittedly limited - it's in a mate's guitar) experience, and I've gotten mixed messages on this forum regarding the tightness. Search back to the early days of the forum and the Nailbomb was the default 7-string bridge pickup, but as the forum's dwindled I've seen more recent posters question its tightness below drop C.

Black Dog is always highly recommended for baritones and drop tuning due to controlled low end and strong mids, but I'm not sure if it's hot-PAF remit carries too much PAFfiness?

The Holydiver is praised for leads and a nice thick low end, so is currently my leading contender but I'm going to try the 6-string version first.

The Cold Sweat was Ben's recommendation when I phoned about my previous PRS 7 string, but I never got to try it. Ceramic tightness without being too aggressive to be versatile.

[kunal]

Hi timmy_pix, thanks for the response. The A-bomb does seem to sound real good clean and distorted to my ears. When I compare the soundclips here between Alnico and Ceramic, the dirty sound does seem to get a tighter bass but loses a little bit of that mid growl with the Ceramic (I'm not sure if I hear that right). I do like the growl and don't want to lose it to gain the low end tightness. The ceramic also makes the cleans sound a bit sterile, whereas the Alnico sounds very organic and warm. Also for the tightness below C, wouldn't the seven string version be built a little different from the six, to hold the low B well? Also can anyone confirm the A-bomb not being the clearest under gain and if so, what are the alternatives?

I do share your concern of the Black Dog PAFiness. Not sure how well the Holy Diver holds the low end. I will look into the Emerald and Cold Sweat. I think I have too many questions and too many requirements from one pickup Could someone drop some more advice on this?

[Dave Sloven]

I don't know how close your PRS SVN is to this PRS SE Custom 24 seven string, but you might find the comparison of the stock PRS SE pickups and the alnico Black Hawk set useful.

The Impulse is another one I thought of.  I've seen nice demos of them in down-tuned PRS six strings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JllQbKd_7U