Suhr Pete Thorn HSS - Humbucker Question - Crawler?

[alexwong0702]

I love this guitar for how it feels and how it plays but struggled with the tone.

My point of reference is an HSS Strat with a polymath.

The Suhr has amazing clarity - Alder body, Ebony board - but the super tight low end it has just isnt me.

I've swapped the single coils to Triptychs and they're like the V63 Suhr's that came out but bigger. I'm not sure I needed the plate on the neck pickup as I like looser saggier single coils but it's still great.

The problem is the humbucker. I was expecting Alnico II warmth and a looser low end but it was strangely bass light. I took the Alnico II Thornbucker out and put a polymath in and it sounded like my Strat with everything below 300Hz shelved off and with a more pronounced top end. Not great.

So on a mission for bass, I put a DiMarzio Tone Zone. OK now I have bass but the lower mids were just too much. In parallel it was awesome though. Just a great rhythm big chord crunch.

Next I tried an Air Zone thinking it would be a Tone Zone with less bass which it is, and it's good but still not right.

The Triptych's are eq'd about right for this guitar. I need a humbucker to go with them that splits well. I need classic rock to 80's hair rock and a good split for the middle/bridge quack and a great parallel tone too. It needs a bit of top roll off and a big low end to work for me in this guitar.

I look forward to any advice!!! The Crawler Humbucker's looking interesting to me at the moment.

[timmy_pix]

My gut response from what you've described on your wishlist is probably the Silo or the Crawler. Crawler will be the less hot option, more old school. It's got a reputation as a dark pickup, but from a conversation I've had with Ben at BKP, that's only relative to some of the vintage/hot designs as it's overwound 43awg; the Nailbomb is then a step up in output and a bit darker than the Crawler before you then switch to 44awg for the more modern pickups.

I've got Silos but not in rotation at the moment. The voicing is definitely more towards the low end and full mids, so it ticks that box. I'd expect the Silo to match with the Triptychs, both being Rabea sigs, and it'll definitely split well.

So I'd say Silo for darker but tighter and more modern, Crawler for more old school hot-PAF vibes and softer feel.

[ericsabbath]

I'd go on a different direction
the Miracle Man is plenty of low end without the midrange flub, has a great lead tone, thick rhythms, and has surprisingly good splitted cleans