Sorry for getting back this late...
The 10th anniversaries are back on their way to Tim.
Meanwhile, I've done a ton of research for their replacement, listened to every y/t clip possible and also did a more proper comparison of the dry tone of my PRS with my other guitars.
Truth is, I was so used to the tone of the Bernie Marsden, that my ears had adjusted and it sounded pretty balanced to me.
But turns out, the guitar is actually on the bright side and a bit scooped in the middle spectrum when compared side to side with all my other guitars.
It is very resonant indeed, but compared to the others, it has less mids and much more highs.
So, the pickups should work in a relatively bright and relatively scooped PRS SE.
As far as the neck is concerned, I think you'll really like the Emerald. It has the smooth sweetness of an AIV magnet that is offset with a more modern choice of wire than you normally get in PAF style pickups. It really is the perfect neck pickup as far as I'm concerned. That leaves the bridge to contend with and I'm not as sure you'd like the Emerald bridge as it is quite a bit brighter than the neck version.
Although, at first, I was leaning torwards the Mule for the neck, I'm willing to take a bet on the neck Emerald (if you guys still think it will work in a bright LP style).
I'll be honest, the clips on the website didn't excite me that much, but there's gotta be a reason why you guys rave about that particular pickup - so I might as well give it a try.
Holydiver - You'll find my review of this pickup on the site too but essentially it's a versatile pickup that has its natural home in 80's Metal but it will also do Classic Rock well. It is what you might call a 'tight' pickup but it's not extreme like say a Nailbomb or Aftermath etc. Nicely thick and organic with a really sweet lead tone and well articulated.
Abraxas - I've never played on of these myself but it sounds like it will fit the bill perfectly. In many ways it's a perfect match for an Emerald neck as it uses the same AIV magnet and the same 43PE wire but wound hotter than the Emerald bridge so it has less brightness in its tone. Where the Emerald bridge is tight, the Abraxas is smooth.
Crawler - In some ways this is a similar idea to the Abraxas but it's wound hotter so there is even more bass there and the magnet is changed to AV to give it the articulation it might start to lose with such a hot wind. The Crawler has a huge bottom end and has a really 'Rocky' growl to it. Very fat tones going on here and very rich sounding. Again, you'll find my review on the website. I now have two PRS SE Custom 24 guitars and the Crawler bridge is in one of them and will soon be joined by the Emerald neck. I was after a really thick and rich 'Les Paul' type of tone for the Blues Rock tones of players like Gary Moore and Slash and Tim suggested the Crawler so it could well work for you.
Regarding the bridge, the Diver scares me a bit - as it might be too "Metal", while I'm more Blues/Rock oriented.
The Abraxas might be a good possibility, but again, the clips on the website didn't really floor me. Also, they are slightly different to the other clips, as if the guitar was tuned differently or something (or am I hearing things?) - which might explain why I was not too thrilled with them.
The Crawler OTOH sound like it will be too much. Like too warm.
What do you guys think about pairing the Emerald neck to a Black Dog bridge? Or maybe even a Riff Raff bridge?
Thanks again, really appreciate your input! :D
