New pickups for PRS Custom 22, details inside, please, need your advice

[Sir_Palomid]

Hello everybody!
Yesterday I've received and installed pickups, spent whole evening at the studio, noodling with the amp\pickups.
At first impressions - I think I'll go back to the PRS Artist's, Abraxas is nice and crunchy in clean\warm ovedrive, much clearer and defined than Artists, but when you move to heavy rock\metal Abraxas turn to complete mess,
I didn't find it "fat and warm", it's rather brittle and loose.. Artist's wins hands down, much fatter sound.  :(

I'll give a try for Abraxas for day or two, and then would make a final decision, but at that moment I'm disappointed in what I've got...  :? 

[Twinfan]

Have you tried adjusting the pickup heights?  BKPs are very sensitive to where they are in relatin to the strings.  It sounds like you might need to try them higher?

[Sir_Palomid]

Maybe, I'll try today set them higher as I can, maybe that will help.
I was surprised how good they sounded clean\crunchy, and how bad when highly distorted.
Thanks for advice!

Do you a starting point for height adjustment? My set is covered, and that's Alnico IV, I think thay could be closer to the strings, than Alnico V? 

[Twinfan]

I start at 2mm at both sides with the E strings pressed down at the last fret.  Then adjust from there!

[darkbluemurder]

Sorry to hear that the Abraxas set did not work out for you. I love mine in my PRS-style swamp ash guitar.

From your description it appears that you expected more tightness and fat midrange from them when played with high gain. I wonder if you would overall be better served with a Holydiver set or Holydiver bridge and Cold Sweat neck then (I use the latter combination in my PRS Custom where they replaced the HFS which I think is OK and the Vintage Bass which I think is rather muddy. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the Artist pickups). 

Cheers Stephan

[Sir_Palomid]

Thanks, guys!
I've sent a letter to BKP support, maybe they can exchange pickups,
if not - it might be a deal to buy another one, and spend more 200 GBP to see if it's OK or not, some kind of Russian roulette.
If exchange is not possible I'm moving back to Atrists.

As far as I know, Artists are Alnico V pickups, not that hot (8K neck, and 9k bridge).

[Zaned]

Thanks, guys!
I've sent a letter to BKP support, maybe they can exchange pickups,
if not - it might be a deal to buy another one, and spend more 200 GBP to see if it's OK or not, some kind of Russian roulette.
If exchange is not possible I'm moving back to Atrists.

As far as I know, Artists are Alnico V pickups, not that hot (8K neck, and 9k bridge).

Too bad. Sometimes pickups and guitars just don't suit each other. However, it's easier (especially for BKP staff) now to recommend a suiting pickup, seeing what were your gripes with the Abraxas  :)

-Zaned

[HTH AMPS]

I'm surprised the Abraxas turns to mush with gain - mine never did.  What is your amp/pedals setup?

Also, are you using 500k pots on the guitar?

What about your EQ? - turn down some bass and add some treble if it's mushing out.

[Sir_Palomid]

I'm surprised the Abraxas turns to mush with gain - mine never did.  What is your amp/pedals setup?

Also, are you using 500k pots on the guitar?

What about your EQ? - turn down some bass and add some treble if it's mushing out.

I would describe "mush" vise versa - a lot of treble, bass becomes loose and all sound quite fizzy.
At clean\crunch - I really love how it sounds like, but when you turn gain up..  :?
As for amps\pedals -  I use Peavey Classic 30 and bunch of ToneFreak pedals (Severe, and Abunai 2) for clean stuff or blues, but mostly at rehearsals I tend to use BOSS GT-10 straight into console, so. virtually, I have any amp possible.

Also I've noticed an increase of noise when switched in neck only\bridge only, I have to turn my noise suppressor in GT-10 up a lot (at 70 versus 40 with Artists).

Maybe it's just situation when guitar, pickups and equipment just don't match with each other, as Zaned have mentioned.   

[BigB]

Thanks, guys!
I've sent a letter to BKP support, maybe they can exchange pickups,

If you bought them directly from BKP, there's a 15 days return (swap or refund) policy.

[Sir_Palomid]

Thanks, guys!
I've sent a letter to BKP support, maybe they can exchange pickups,

If you bought them directly from BKP, there's a 15 days return (swap or refund) policy.

I've ordered mine at 15th August. I'm living in Israel, so I've received them only 31th August, so 15 days are passed so far. It would be great if BKP will agree with exchange pickups for another set after much longer period then 15 days.

And just for proof what I'm talking about I've recorder the same version of "Wonderful Slippery Thing" that I've did earlier and posted here, so you can hear the difference, and notice things that I've told I don't like.
Recorded with the same gear and effect, though volume balance between track might be different.
Looking forward for your input!

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11015179
 

[Grim]

Thanks, guys!
I've sent a letter to BKP support, maybe they can exchange pickups,

If you bought them directly from BKP, there's a 15 days return (swap or refund) policy.

I've ordered mine at 15th August. I'm living in Israel, so I've received them only 31th August, so 15 days are passed so far. It would be great if BKP will agree with exchange pickups for another set after much longer period then 15 days.

And just for proof what I'm talking about I've recorder the same version of "Wonderful Slippery Thing" that I've did earlier and posted here, so you can hear the difference, and notice things that I've told I don't like.
Recorded with the same gear and effect, though volume balance between track might be different.
Looking forward for your input!

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11015179
 

I think your ears are WRONG!. The second demo sounds way clearer and just better to me than the first one.

[Sir_Palomid]

I think your ears are WRONG!. The second demo sounds way clearer and just better to me than the first one.

Why my ears are wrong? I agree with you, that Abraxas sound clearer than Artists,
but at the same time fizzy in bass notes in riff - take a notice, and not that fat... I'm ready to sacrifice some clearance to power and fatness. Maybe I should have buy Cold Sweat\Holy Diver combo...  :?

[asianaxeman]

I agree the abraxas sounds soooo much clearer, juicier, just miles better!

[Sir_Palomid]

I agree the abraxas sounds soooo much clearer, juicier, just miles better!

Hmmm...maybe I'll give them a try one more time...
But what about the noise? Why Abraxas is much noisier than Artist, what is the reason? Because of higher output?
Pickup covers?
When I crank up noise suppressor level it kills all the sound  :?
And without suppressor it is noisy as radio, even at clean presets I can hear slight "shhhhhh", distorted even worse  :x