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Author Topic: What pickup to put in my PRS?  (Read 6507 times)

veritas0aequitas

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What pickup to put in my PRS?
« on: June 08, 2012, 04:57:36 AM »
Hey guys it's been a while since I've been on here but I'm back because I need your help! For starters let me list my rig, influences, the sound I'm looking for and what has been recommended to be so far:

1. Here's my rig: PRS SC250 Single Cut Guitar (Mahogony body & neck, set neck, maple top) + Diezel VH4S Amp (EL34BSTR Tubes) + Diezel Rear Loaded 4x12 Cab with Vintage 30's + TC Electronic G-System

It should be noted I am more of a "double cut player" and I really like the McCarty 58's (Mahogony body & neck, set neck, maple top). I am seriously about to pull the trigger and buy one and replace the pickups in this guitar as well. Would this be a good guitar for modern rock if I throw some BKPs in there?

2. Influences/Sound: Hard Rock, Modern Rock, Ethereal Rock, Progressive Rock: Tool, A Perfect Circle, 30 Seconds To Mars, Circa Survive, Fair To Midland, Acceptance, Thrice, Breaking Benjamin, etc. Plenty of tight low end response but a great clear mid range and highs that cut through. I always have a tough time describing sound  :?

I'm looking for a sound close to a mixture of the bands above. The distortion like Tool or 30STM, Acceptance, Breaking Benjamin. Cleans most like A Perfect Circle, maybe some Circa Survive. Thick and shimmering is probably the best way to describe it. Maybe more on the dark side?

3. Since I play such a high gain amp in the VH4S, I have been recommended by Peter Diezel himself (along with many others) a low output/vintage pup... 7k to 9k output. Nothing over 10k or 12k depending on the pup. Like I said, I want tight low end response but still BIG clear, thick sound! The pickup that was highly recommended to me was the "Riff Raff" with "Emeralds" or "Black Dogs" being seconds.

So what do you BKPers think? Go with the Riff Raff or do you have other ideas?

Thanks!
Andrew
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 06:52:04 AM by veritas0aequitas »
Gibson LPs: Historic Ebony R0, Custom Trans Blue, Standard F Blue, Fig'd J-45 | ESP: Horizon III; MH-1000B
Diezel VH4; 212RV | Axe-Fx | Quad Cortex | MMGT16 | BKPs
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darkbluemurder

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2012, 10:58:56 AM »
Never played any of the pickups you mentioned but I once had a VH4 which I found very dark so I would choose the brightest BKP I can find. That to me rules out the Black Dogs. For the most versatile combination with that amp I'd choose the Riff Raff.

Cheers Stephan

Telerocker

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2012, 12:44:12 PM »
RiffRaffs - clear, tight, punchy. You also might want to check out the VHII, which is a bit rounder and has a tad more mids.
Mules, VHII, Crawler, MM's, IT's, BG50's.

ericsabbath

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2012, 01:04:17 PM »
I've had two mccarties, one having a riff raff for a while, which is now in my main guitar, '73 lp custom, and sometimes I use a '78 greco with the black dog
my bandmate Zambelli has a bird non-rosewood mccarty that had a cold sweat for a while and now a miracle man
the type of tones we get is in the ballpark of most of the bands you mentioned
I use a heavily modded '73 50w JMP, which is more on the modern bogner shiva/custom audio od100 side (bassy, fat and smooth) than the 80's jose style amps (bright and focused), and Zambelli uses a 50w amp build by himself, which is more xtc/cameron-like (I have one too, but with a slightly different voicing) or his new preamp pedal, which is pretty much a cloned circuit of ch.3 of the diezel VH4S he had on his bench (I have a rack version of that channel, but the pedal sounds better and has the size of a "big" MXR pedal)
in our first EP we also used a 50w diezel einstein

that said, and considering our similar rigs, but different pickup species, we both get in the same tone ballpark
it just depends on how we set things and mess with the knobs
I was high output pickup user as well, now I prefer getting my clean tone from a high gain channel by using a low gain setting and pushing the amp with the overdrive pedal (now a ts9dx)
I still love the high output BKP models, but I can't stand other brands anymore, since most of them compress way too much
the lower output are just easier to deal with for me and they retain an airy feel to the mids under high gain that hotter pickups won't let you hear, but he still gets that kind of openness with his rig and by abusing dynamics
if you feel that you like high output better, go for it and just adapt your settings and playing

the riff raff is definitely airier and more open than the black dog, quite bright and sparkly
dog sounds softer on picking, darker on top and more dense sounding on the mids, so it's a bit juicier and more compressed
I've been thinking about the bridge mule these days (already have the neck one)
I was having heavy gas for the vhII (well, I'll keep having GAS for every BKP I didn't own), but the most driven mule clips on the BKP website really got me

all of the mentioned pickups sounded amazing through the einstein, the original vh4s and the pedal and rack clones
the vh4s v30 combo is quite midrangy and saturated, and a better match to the riff raffs bright, open and punchy nature (which is not that mid heavy like the website chart shows) instead of the middy and pushy nature of the black dog
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 05:55:06 PM by Eric Hellstyle »
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

Slartibartfarst42

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2012, 02:01:16 PM »
My vote would be Emerald but maybe that's because I tend to prefer slightly hotter pickups and I always find the tone on Emeralds so sweet and perfectly suited to mahogany guitars. However, I'm sure Riff Raffs would be excellent too  :D
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

veritas0aequitas

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2012, 01:39:19 AM »
I will be putting this in my SC250. Are these the specs I need?

6 String Riff Raff humbucker - Calibrated Covered Set

-Bridge Spacing - 50 mm
-Conductor - 4
-Leg - Long (1/2")
-Coil - Potted
-Cover - Nickel
Gibson LPs: Historic Ebony R0, Custom Trans Blue, Standard F Blue, Fig'd J-45 | ESP: Horizon III; MH-1000B
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instagram.com/sendingskyward

ericsabbath

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2012, 03:08:47 AM »
I will be putting this in my SC250. Are these the specs I need?

6 String Riff Raff humbucker - Calibrated Covered Set

-Bridge Spacing - 50 mm
-Conductor - 4
-Leg - Long (1/2")
-Coil - Potted
-Cover - Nickel

I remember the height adjusting screws were a bit too long for the bridge position
don't know if a short legged pup comes with  shorter screws
« Last Edit: June 09, 2012, 03:18:49 AM by Eric Hellstyle »
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

darrenw5094

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #7 on: June 09, 2012, 12:55:45 PM »
Long leg won't fit into a PRS CU22, so i assume that it won't fit any other PRS. Mail BKP to be sure, but when you order, you must declare what guitar the pickups are for. My guess now is short leg.
BKP: Abraxas - Les Paul
Holy Diver - Charvel
Mule - Les Paul
Rebel Yell - Les Paul
VHII - PRS CU22
Emerald - Les Paul
Warpig - Caparison Horus

ericsabbath

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #8 on: June 09, 2012, 04:29:17 PM »
long legs fit the mccarties and singlecuts, but the height screws (sometimes even the pole screws) might require a little drilling
Riff Raff, Mules, Black Dog, VHII's, Cold Sweat

veritas0aequitas

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2012, 05:22:37 PM »
Hey guys thanks for the replies again. Here's what Tim said when I asked him about the Mule vs the Riff Raff in the neck and the specs I need for the SC250:


the Mule neck is a touch lower output with extremely good balance across all frequencies while the Riff Raff neck reproduces a little more bottom end - essentially more r'n'r in it's voicing. I personally like the mix of the two pickups for a wider palette of classic tones.

50mm, 4 con, short leg options apply.

Also, if I get a Riff Raff calibrated set... can I still get a Mule neck pickup, put it in there and take out the Riff Raff neck pickup with no problems even thought it's a calibrated set?
Gibson LPs: Historic Ebony R0, Custom Trans Blue, Standard F Blue, Fig'd J-45 | ESP: Horizon III; MH-1000B
Diezel VH4; 212RV | Axe-Fx | Quad Cortex | MMGT16 | BKPs
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veritas0aequitas

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2012, 06:45:13 PM »
Also, I can't seem to decide between covered or uncovered. I don't care about aesthetics and I've watched/listened to the BKP covered vs uncovered video and cant seem to decide which would be better. It seems like the covered pickups are a little brighter when it comes to the highs but the uncovered pickups are tighter on the low end which might suit me more for hard rock/modern rock playing. The covered pickups seems to have a more "vintagey" sound where as the uncovered ones maybe can be a little thick in the midrange? I don't know  :?

It seems like a lot of the guys who play a similar style and have a similar sound use uncovered pickups. Is this probably what I should go for?
Gibson LPs: Historic Ebony R0, Custom Trans Blue, Standard F Blue, Fig'd J-45 | ESP: Horizon III; MH-1000B
Diezel VH4; 212RV | Axe-Fx | Quad Cortex | MMGT16 | BKPs
instagram.com/sendingskyward

itamar101

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2012, 06:55:54 PM »
I don't think that there are any frequency differences.
Uncovered ones have a tighter low end and a bitey, more aggressive top end.
Covered ones are more rounded and "mellow".

It's all about what you prefer. I like the aggressive attitude of uncovered pickups so my guitars are almost always uncovered.

veritas0aequitas

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2012, 08:19:04 PM »
Thanks I think I am leaning towards the uncovered pickups since I play a hard rock/modern rock and want a more open sound. The covered pickups sound a little muffled to me. I like the look of the covered ones better, but I always find myself liking the guitar/reaching for the guitar that has uncovered pickups.

if I get a Riff Raff calibrated set... can I still get a Mule neck pickup, put it in there and take out the Riff Raff neck pickup with no problems even thought it's a calibrated set? I just wanted to try swapping out a Riff Raff and Mule in the neck to see the differences and which one I like
« Last Edit: June 09, 2012, 08:25:21 PM by veritas0aequitas »
Gibson LPs: Historic Ebony R0, Custom Trans Blue, Standard F Blue, Fig'd J-45 | ESP: Horizon III; MH-1000B
Diezel VH4; 212RV | Axe-Fx | Quad Cortex | MMGT16 | BKPs
instagram.com/sendingskyward

itamar101

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #13 on: June 09, 2012, 08:58:12 PM »
Thanks I think I am leaning towards the uncovered pickups since I play a hard rock/modern rock and want a more open sound. The covered pickups sound a little muffled to me. I like the look of the covered ones better, but I always find myself liking the guitar/reaching for the guitar that has uncovered pickups.

if I get a Riff Raff calibrated set... can I still get a Mule neck pickup, put it in there and take out the Riff Raff neck pickup with no problems even thought it's a calibrated set? I just wanted to try swapping out a Riff Raff and Mule in the neck to see the differences and which one I like

You won't have a problem :)

TheyCallMeVolume

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Re: What pickup to put in my PRS?
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2012, 09:10:36 PM »
Certainly not. And I'll be happy to take the one you like least!