Replacement for EMGs - PRS Torero

[Mewcenary]

Hi there,

I recently bought a PRS Torero.  Killer guitar.  Plays great, looks great.  The pickups are EMGs, however, and I am considering passive alternatives.  The EMGs are good in their own way -- the compression is kinda nice for cleans.  However, I miss the... fluidity... that I have with pickups on my other guitars.

So I am looking for two humbuckers.  Note I will be coil-splitting these too via push/pull.

Pick-ups I like: I love the DiMarzio Evolutions on my JEM.  They do everything from clean to RAWK!  Very articulate.  I'm considering DiMarzio Gravity Storms along the same line here, but want to see what Bare Knuckle offer!

Everything from sparkling cleans to heavy rock sums up the stuff I'm doing at the moment.  The JEM works well there.  So do my PRS guitars armed with the standard PRS-style pickups (SE245).

So what would the Bare Knuckle equivalent be?  It _seems_ to be Nailbomb - that contemporary feel but without being TOO hot.

What do you think?

[darrenw5094]

If you have the Jem and the PRS Singlecut, i am assuming you want something different to compliment those guitars.
The Evo's are ceramic and the PRS SC would suit the classic rock thing.

To be honest, you would need to specify a bit more on what sound you are after, guitar player or particular bands. As it stands, Black Dog, Holy Diver, Cold Sweat, Nailbomb, VHII and even the Rebel Yell would all rock in the PRS.

[Mewcenary]

Well, the Torero is a 'super-strat' style in line with the JEM.  As a result, I'd like it to have the same sort of sound.  Not _exactly_, but it's a different guitar so I imagine it wouldn't sound the same anyway!  I could, of course, put Evolutions in there as well but would like something different.

In terms of music, it tends to be heavy rock.  So the likes of Tremonti, Zakk Wylde, Dream Theater, Black Stone Cherry.... key is that the cleans sound nice there too!

[wolfenstein]

I would leave cleans for neck pickup and get MM or PK for bridge because all bands/players you mentioned use ceramic higher output pickups...

[ericsabbath]

ceramic nailbomb sounds like a good call

[itamar101]

ceramic nailbomb sounds like a good call

This.
The miracle man would also work.

[ericsabbath]

the miracle man is a more like the steve's special rather than the evolution (even the description on dimarzio's website would fit a MM), but it works pretty well for all those bands he mentioned

the MM cleans up pretty well, by the way, and sounds great in PRS's

[Mewcenary]

Thanks for the responses.  The Nailbomb seems to be coming up a lot on my searches on this.

For clean sounds, I pretty much exclusively use the neck pickup on my guitars - or on HH (such as this one) I really like having both pickups engaged (middle switch position).

Ceramic seems to come up too.  Hopefully a good fit for the mahogany PRS?  (I've emailed Support with this question too).  In general, I do prefer a more modern sound for the rock I play... not METAAAAAHL but certainly ROCK.  For the more bluesy stuff I'd be using the neck anyway...

[Mewcenary]

Here's what BK had to say:

I have two options for you. The Holydivers are full and warm and very hot - closer in spec to the Gravity Storms you were considering. The Holydivers are smooth and tight and bridge the gap between classic and modern.

If you feel the guitar is darker (as you have the mahogany body) I would consider the Rebel Yells. Still pretty fat and full but not as dark as the Holydivers - more balanced. Super clear and tight and also used for classic and very modern styles as well.

Any thoughts?  As mentioned before, it is a fixed-neck mahogany guitar, of about the same thickness as a PRS Custom 24 by way of comparison.

I'm all about the luscious cleans, blues and up to heavy rock.  Metal is not my thing -- so any rhythms would be 'riffy' and power chord palm muting type stuff in the rock style.  Hence why the EMGs aren't quite right for me.

That said, I do sometimes enjoy heavy gain and RAWWWWWWK!

So that could bring me back to the Nailbombs which seem to get some good comments.

Help!

[wolfenstein]

Go for rebel yell man...Nolly recorded some great stuff with them also they´ll cover lot of styles from classic rock to heavy f*****g metal...Some people describe RY as better,clearer,tighter 498T....About Nailbomb I had it twice in my magogany Viper and there was always something missing...Too dark for me....

[Telerocker]

I would consider the Abraxas too. This one is on the doorstep between vintage and modern voiced pickups. Does great cleans, splits well, and is able to handle heavy rock styles (say Satriani etc). The Abraxas will add warmth and balance to a 24 fret-guitar.

[darkbluemurder]

Here's what BK had to say:

I have two options for you. The Holydivers are full and warm and very hot - closer in spec to the Gravity Storms you were considering. The Holydivers are smooth and tight and bridge the gap between classic and modern.

If you feel the guitar is darker (as you have the mahogany body) I would consider the Rebel Yells. Still pretty fat and full but not as dark as the Holydivers - more balanced. Super clear and tight and also used for classic and very modern styles as well.

Any thoughts?  As mentioned before, it is a fixed-neck mahogany guitar, of about the same thickness as a PRS Custom 24 by way of comparison.

I'm all about the luscious cleans, blues and up to heavy rock.  Metal is not my thing -- so any rhythms would be 'riffy' and power chord palm muting type stuff in the rock style.  Hence why the EMGs aren't quite right for me.

That said, I do sometimes enjoy heavy gain and RAWWWWWWK!

So that could bring me back to the Nailbombs which seem to get some good comments.

First of all, I fully agree with the BKP quote on the description of the HD and RY. The Nailbombs would be more aggressive than both. If that's what you want, go for it but since you say metal is not your thing I would rather stay away from them.

Cheers Stephan

[braintheory]

First of all, I fully agree with the BKP quote on the description of the HD and RY. The Nailbombs would be more aggressive than both. If that's what you want, go for it but since you say metal is not your thing I would rather stay away from them.

Cheers Stephan

More aggressive in what sense?  Based on what I've heard the Rebel Yell seems like it would have more bite/treble than the nailbomb and no less aggression.  I also read other threads saying that the nailbomb is more aggressive than the miracle man.  Again I've never tried the nailbomb, but I own a miracle man and it seems like the miracle man would be more aggressive.  Basically, I'm confused by recently hearing on all these posts about how aggressive the nailbomb is.

[wolfenstein]

I had both pickups in the same guitar...In all mahogany NB sounded more agressive than MM because of mids...But in certain guitars it could be oposite...

[darkbluemurder]

First of all, I fully agree with the BKP quote on the description of the HD and RY. The Nailbombs would be more aggressive than both. If that's what you want, go for it but since you say metal is not your thing I would rather stay away from them.

Cheers Stephan

More aggressive in what sense?  Based on what I've heard the Rebel Yell seems like it would have more bite/treble than the nailbomb and no less aggression.  I also read other threads saying that the nailbomb is more aggressive than the miracle man.  Again I've never tried the nailbomb, but I own a miracle man and it seems like the miracle man would be more aggressive.  Basically, I'm confused by recently hearing on all these posts about how aggressive the nailbomb is.

The Alnico Nailbomb feels more aggressive in its overall vibe but I would be hard pressed to isolate any specific frequency band as the source or reason.

Cheers Stephan