Hi all,
Upon Tim's recommendation I ordered a Nailbomb Alnico for the bridge and a VHII for the neck. The pickups were destined to go into a problematic guitar soundwise. That particular PRS plays really well but suffered tonally. It seemed to be dark, yet it had an irritating sizzle in the highs with most pickups I tried. On top of that all pickups in the neck position sounded muddy. What I needed was a set with good high midrange, a smooth top end and for the neck position something with tight lows. Previous pickups in this guitar:
- Stock PRS #7: bridge OK but underpowered, neck dull and muddy (I actually put them back twice and my initial findings were confirmed every time)
- Voodoo '59 Al5 bridge and Al3 neck: bridge thin and weak, neck muddy in the bass
- Kloppmann rewound Gibson Classic 57 neck and WCR Darkburst bridge: neck OK but still muddy, bridge thin and brittle highs
- WCR Godwood bridge: a bit fatter than Darkburst but still brittle highs
- Wolfetone Greywolf bridge: still a bit fatter than Godwood but still brittle highs
- Rio Grande BBQ and Genuine Texas: best tonal colour, good amount of power but still brittle highs, neck pickup muddy
- EDIT: forgot to mention the Wilde by Lawrence L-90 set (8.0 H bridge and 4.0 H neck). Probably because the tone was rather forgettable - not bad, but nothing special either. The L-500XL sounded better in the bridge but the L-500R in the neck did not fit because the cavity in this guitar is too shallow.
- DiMarzio Bluesbucker neck: solved the muddiness problem but made the tone thin overall (that pickup now has found a better home)
- Suhr SSH bridge: too many low mids, totally off the mark for this guitar
Enter the BKPs: the Nailbomb is the best bridge pickup I had in this guitar by miles. Tight lows, warm mids, smooth highs, very articulate, i.e. transfers different picking styles and attacks really well. The frequency curve of the pickup seems to compliment the guitar perfectly. All of the non-musical trash I was hearing with the other pickups is gone now. This seems to be a common characteristic of BKP pickups since I have witnessed this in all that I tried. The VHII sounded a lot more open than all of the other pickups I had in the neck position. At first I thought it was a bit muddy before I A/B'ed the guitar with other humbucker equipped guitars - then I found it was not muddier than those. Both pickups clean up well with the guitar volume turned down.
My test for versatility: turn up the mids on the amp on "2" and the treble from "5" to "8". If the guitar has good center and high midrange you will hear a dramatic change while increasing the treble. Next, turn down the treble to "2" and set the midrange to "8". If the guitar has sufficient low midrange it should now "step forward". Both pickups passed this test with ease whereas most of the others mentioned above did not.
I cannot foresee to change the A-Bomb in the bridge. I may consider changing the neck VHII if there is anything in the BKP range which is even tighter but there is no real necessity. Both pickups sound great and made the guitar very enjoyable finally. Well done and thanks, Tim!
Cheers Stephan
