PRS S2 semihollow singlecut wants BRIGHT pickups.

[MetalNoobee]

Hi everyone,


Guitar: 2015 PRS S2 semihollow singlecut
Guitar's natural tone: seems pretty warm and low-mid focused.
Requirements: BRIGHT pickups, crisper pick attack, more crunch, must split extremely well.
Style: idk, drop D prog rock/metal? kind of 80s ish mixed with modern prog like Images and Words/Awake kinda Dream Theater mixed with Mastodon...sort of?



Candidates:

Riff Raff set: I love that it is described as a bright as hell pickup. I like vintage bright pickups. Concern: does it split well?


VHII set: Supposedly bright, kinda splits well. How bright is it compared to the Riff Raff?


Cold Sweat set: Intriguing, but may be TOO hot for my liking.

Please throw your suggestions my way!
Thanks!

[ericsabbath]

easy answer: if you use lots of pedals, the riff raff is king and will do anything

I play mostly a '73 les paul custom that had many many bkps
My favorites were the bridge riff raff and neck mule, BUT now it has a rebel yell in the bridge position and it sounds a lot like the riff raff with a tube screamer set as a "clean" booster
the rebel yell is not as woody as the riff raff or as organic as a bridge mule, but it retains the brightness and a lot of the midrange openness, but delivering more compression, sustain and MIDS: it has a huge upper mid bump without getting honky or annoying
I still wonder why I avoided the rebel yell for 13 years of bare knuckle pickups 
the riff raff is still my favorite for its versatility and woodiness, but the rebel yell is now my second favorite

the cold sweat set was my third favorite in the les paul custom
the bridge cold sweat has a somewhat similar voicing to the VHII, with a big low end and recessed mids, but the thinner wire and ceramic magnet response makes it brighter and more compressed, but I have no idea how it would sound in a semi-hollow
it sounds somewhere between the vhII and miracle man
it is a hot pickup, no doubt, but it's not as compressed and harsh like similar spec ceramic pups from Seymour or Dimarzio

the VHII's midrange is also a bit midscooped and they have a nice amount of treble, but I wouldn't call them BRIGHT pickups
they're like mules, but louder, punchier, bassier and drier sounding
they do hold some of the riff raff and mules woodiness, but I find the bridge pickup to sound a little too dry for my tastes
I actually loved the neck model installed in the bridge position, as it sounded somewhere between the bridge riff raff and bridge mule

as a bonus, I also loved the neck cold sweat in the bridge position of another les paul ('78 Greco with rosewood board/maple neck)
not sure it would fit your bill, but it sounded a lot like something Paul Gilbert would love and endorse
it's bright like a riff raff, similar output too, but it has a more colored midrange, not really PAF sounding, not as woody, but still non-compressed and EXTREMELY articulate
the lead tones were stellar
the only time I used that on stage, I got more compliments about my tone than ever

trying neck bkp's in the bridge position has opened a whole new world for me
too bad I have very few guitars and tend to install all pickups in the same one for reference

[Dave Sloven]

Don't discount the Impulse set.  Very versatile, bright, relatively flat EQ in the mids, output is roughly the same as as Rebel Yell or Cold Sweat.  Tight bottom end like a Rebel Yell or Emerald.  Works very well in darker guitars with a bit of beef.

In addition if you do tune down it will handle that as well as or better than any other pickup in the range.

This review gives a fairly good idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8MyXNAj_6E

[Telerocker]

If he likes vintage bright pickups I would settle for a RiffRaff-set. Remember the neckpickup is brighter than say a Mule-neck.

[Dave Sloven]

I can't imagine that the RR set splits well though

[timmy_pix]

If you like vintage/bright, don't forget the Emerald! Vintage-voiced but with a tighter low end and stronger splits.

Although given that you then go on to start talking Drop D metally/proggy things, I'd also consider the Rebel Yell.

[Telerocker]

I can't imagine that the RR set splits well though

Yeah, but a Mule does not well too. You need a higher output pickup to extract better splits, but then you sacrifice a bit of the open and dynamic character of vintage(hot) PAF's. Anyway, the RR-neck provides without split already great sparkling cleans. Personally I am not too fond of splitted neck-humbuckers, as they never seem to get close to a genuine strat neck single coil. I would focus on what is most important when choosing a humbucker-set.

[Dave Sloven]

From my experience of the Impulse set and Cold Sweat set I would say that the Impulse hits all of the requirements.  It's not specifically vintage voiced but I think in terms of guitar type, brightness, great split tones and suitability for that Mastodon and Dream Theater stuff it hits all of the marks.  I haven't used the Riff Raff set but out of all of the BKP necks I have used - Nailbomb, Cold Sweat, Emerald, Black Hawk, War Pig, Impulse - the Impulse is by far the brightest, the second-brightest being the Nailbomb neck.