BKP pickups for PRS CE 22

[david_pri]

Hello, I am David from Spain. Recently I have became a BKP member when I installed an alnico Holy Diver set in my PRS CE 22. The guitar has a mahogany+maple body and maple neck.

I hate guitar sounds with sharp and screaming highs, beacuse of this I love the Holy Diver bridge, I am really pleased with bridge one but I feel the neck Holy Diver is too dark and muddy when I play around the bass strings (E-A).

Could you recommend me another neck BKP pickup? I would like to solve this problem but I want to keep a warm and round sound without sharp highs.

I think the alnico cold sweat neck could be the best choice but do you think it will make a good pair with Holy Diver bridge? I have tried to explain as best as possible. I hope you can help me.

Thank you so much!!

[darkbluemurder]

I love the Holy Diver bridge, I am really pleased with bridge one but I feel the neck Holy Diver is too dark and muddy when I play around the bass strings (E-A).

I think the alnico cold sweat neck could be the best choice but do you think it will make a good pair with Holy Diver bridge?

The Cold Sweat neck is a good match to the HD bridge but I don't think it will solve your bassiness problem - it will likely make it worse since the CS neck has more output and more bass than the HD neck. In fact, the HD neck is one of the clearest neck humbuckers I have ever played so this is a tricky one. More clarity on the low strings - maybe the Black Dog neck or Riff Raff neck.

I would encourage you to ask Tim or Ben at BKP for this question.

Cheers Stephan

[david_pri]

Hi Stephan, thanks for the reply. Yes, you are right but cold sweat also has much more highs than holy diver. Certainly I dont know, I have just asked Tim. I will post his reply.

I believe another good choice could be Emerald neck. What do you think about?

[Philly Q]

I think again the Emerald neck is generally described as warm sounding (although the bridge is relatively bright).  It's Alnico IV, which probably softens the tone a little.

Nailbomb neck maybe?  I think that's quite bright, and output-wise it should be a reasonable match for the HD bridge.

[Telerocker]

How about a Rebel Yell-neck?

[Slartibartfarst42]

I have a Holydiver neck in a PRS SE Custom 24 at the moment and I THINK I know what you might mean. The pickup certainly isn't bassy; if anything it's rather bright and certainly brighter than either the Emerald or Cold Sweat. I don't think too much bass is your issue, or mushiness for that matter. What I've noticed is that on the bass notes in particular, the Holydiver neck can have a very rounded sound that is surprisingly soft in its attack compared to the bridge. I assume that this is a characteristic of such a very light wind as based on DC resistance it's positively vintage and the feel it has is very much of a PAF in this regard. Messing around with pickup height and pole piece height will certainly help but if you're after another option, the Emerald is my favourite. I've had it paired with a Holydiver, it's currently paired with a Crawler and I absolutely love it with both. The Emerald is far and away my favourite neck pickup.

[ericsabbath]

stormy monday? perhaps a mule

[david_pri]

Slartibartfarst42..... Thats`it. you have described it very well, thanks for your help. Specially in the E and A strings, the sound is lifeless, it has no pick attack, as the mate Slartibartfarst42 said.

Yesterday Tim told me that another neck pickups like Cold Sweat and Emerald are winded with a different type of wire than holy diver, which provides a clearer and more defined voice. He told me that cold sweat is more articulate in the high frecuencies and he also recommend me the cold sweat to bright up my guitar.

Thanks for all replies

[Slartibartfarst42]

Pleased I could help. The Holydiver neck is an odd one as it's not at all what you'd expect if you've tried the bridge version. I was amazed at just how PAF it seemed and it's taken a bit of getting used to. Playing with the pole pieces does help to articulate the bass notes better and that's good because it's a wonderfully musical pickup with fantastic cleans. Mine is in with a Holydiver bridge at the moment but I will be moving it out of there in due course because there are other neck pickups that I think work with the Holydiver bridge better. I was thinking of putting it into a Vintage V100 with a Black Dog/Rebel Yell/Abraxas/whatever in the bridge but I'm now thinking of pairing it with a Crawler bridge in another PRS instead. Decisions decisions!

[ericsabbath]

are you sure he said the cold sweat had a different wire type than the holy diver? or maybe the gauge? or the winding?

[Slartibartfarst42]

Yes, I meant to mention that too. I was under the impression that the Cold Sweat, Rebel Yell and Cold Sweat neck models were all closely related, using the same wire type and gauge.

[david_pri]

Hi Eric Hellstyle, I copy Tim`s answer:

"Hi David,
You will find that the main difference when moving away from the Holy Diver neck to an Emerald or Cold Sweat is the type of wire that we wind them with. Emerald and Cold Sweat are both wound with plain enamel coated wire, which definitely has a clearer, more defined voice. This is why you will find the Cold sweat to be more articulate in the high frequencies.
Personally I find the alnicoV magnet in the CS to give an extra bite to the sound, which will help you to cut through the low frequency warmth of your guitar, compared to the Emerald's alnicoIV which will give a slightly rounder tone."

"Regarding your PRS, the Cold Sweat would be a great choice to brighten up your neck position, it will work great with a Holy Diver in the bridge."

[ericsabbath]

maybe he got confused with the bridge model, which is indeed enamel, like the rebel yell and nailbomb
he told me the neck cold sweat is 42.5 awg poly

"Hi Eric

yes the CS neck works well in the bridge position - coils are symmetrical and we use a short AV bar magnet v- SPN 42.5 AWG wire. Tonally it's a modern voiced PAF so not as organic or earthy in tone as a TM , RR or VHII - mids are much fuller than the VHII which sounds smoother by comparison"

I believe the extra articulation of the neck cold sweat is related to the thinner wire (42.5 instead of 42) and the prominent mids (poly wire + coil symmetry)

in the bridge it sounded a lot like a riff raff, but less bassy, more articulate and upper mid heavy

[darkbluemurder]

Hi Stephan, thanks for the reply. Yes, you are right but cold sweat also has much more highs than holy diver.

I have had both neck pickups in the same guitar. The highs appeared to be rather the same. The major difference was in the low end which is much fuller with the CS. Good to fill out a thin sounding guitar but exactly not the right move to solve a problem of the E and A strings being too bassy and not clear enough. I had the same Problem as you had when I had the CS neck in, and moving to the HD neck solved it.

I believe another good choice could be Emerald neck. What do you think about?

Sorry, never played one.

Cheers Stephan