Finding my Holy Divers a bit too bright

[Simon D]

My Holy Diver set in my PRS SE is very good, but now that I've had a chance to get used to them (after being astounded by the improvment over the stock pickups), I find they're quite a lot brighter than I originally thought and wanted, particularly when played side by side with my Mule loaded LP. Both guitars are mahogany, with maple caps and mahogany/rosewood necks, so it's a fairly good comparison.

Would lowering the height help, or should I have them covered, put them in my Yam Drop6, and replace them with something with a bit more bass, and a bit less of a shrill top end?

[Woogie]

Holydivers bright? In mahogany?

[indysmith]

sounds like somethings wrong...

[Simon D]

Yeah, I know it sounds nuts, but they do sound that way. Not overbright, don't get me wrong - just brighter than I expected given the clips I'd heard. Perhaps it's just my love of a lot of bass in my sound.

I hope nothing is wrong.  :?

[Machek]

maybe tweak the amp eq a bit, no?....
anyway, i know it's a pain in the ass now you've got em installed in, but you can always switch them for somethig else if HDs ain't your cup of tea...

You could also try new nut, new caps, new bridge materials... but i think that these mods are only real fine tuning stuffs, and if the core tone isn't your thing well maybe HDs aren't for you.... sorry for being a bit blunt mate...

But still, HDs too bright in mahogany IS weird...

[hunter]

The SE is much thinner than a LP, my SE sounds bright with VHIIs as well.

Have you replaced the pots as well? Maybe the treble bleed or tone pot wiring has an impact too.

Height wise, I would just try it out, it's much quicker than discussing it in the forum anyway  :P

[Simon D]

^Fair point, well made!   Sadly it's going to have to wait until tomorrow, too late to crank the amp up to a decent volume now.

[ericsabbath]

if you're tuning to E standard and using a Marshall, that's completely normal :lol:
i found mine a bit bright when i first installed in E standard, specially on the cleans
it's a JB based pickup and a lot darker than it, but i wouldn't call it a dark pickup

[Henk]

Would lowering the height help, or should I have them covered, put them in my Yam Drop6, and replace them with something with a bit more bass, and a bit less of a shrill top end?

What a strange question, yes offcourse it will take less of the bright string sound if you screw them down.

Just turn them down flat with pickup rings and let the bridge one just peak out about 2mm at first(so its a bit closer to the strings). Just play that setting for a couple of hours, set up your amp properly and so on. Often when looking for the proper setup for pickups people forget to adjust their amp for the difference in pickups or guitars.

Higher DC pickups do take more string sound since they have alot heavier magnets, compared the setting to the LP you have and set it at least lower than that.

[Twinfan]

If you put the pickups closer to the strings you should get a fatter, more compressed tone?  I'd have a play with pickup heights, going from one extreme to the other, so you can hear the difference it makes.

I've found BKPs to be very sensitive to string height.  Finding the sweet spot for a guitar can take a little while.  My Gibson Les Paul was the worst for me, taking months to get how I like it.  I just couldn't get the balance right, eventually winding the bridge pickup a lot closer to the strings than the neck (even though it was a calibrated set).

In comparison, my Les Paul Junior with P-90s were perfect from the second they were installed!

[Simon D]

Lowered them slightly, and it does seem to have cured it. Now they just sound superbly clear, which is fine (except it means I have to tighten up my picking   )

Cheers all.