About to buy my first BKP set - recommend me a good set for PRS SC guitars.

[SuperMoos]

Hey all, I guess it's yet another "recommend me a pickup" thread.. sorry about that! I could really use some educated opinions.

I have two guitars that I use for regular gigging in a rock covers band. We mainly play stuff like Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam. Sometimes we wander a bit and play some Alter Bridge and Volbeat or, on the other end of the spectrum, some modern bluesy stuff - John Mayer, etc. Suffice to say that it's more hard-rock than it is metal or blues, if you know what I mean. The guitars are both PRS Singlecut. One is a 2003 gold top with PRS #7 pickups, the other is a 2001 Tremonti model with Tremonti pickups. Mahogany guitars, maple top. Amps are a Matchless Chieftain (EL34) and a Dr Z MAZ 38 (EL84). As you can guess, I rely on pedals to get me into the mid- and hi-gain stuff.

I am looking to find some more "life" in a new set of pickups. The #7 pickups are rather dull sounding and somehow they don't seem very balanced. The Tremonti is a hi-gain beast by nature and, to my ears, it's character is completely lost through the Matchless and Dr Z. My last amp was a Soldano Hot Rod 50, where this was not as apparent. My current amps seem to accentuate the weak spots in my guitars' sound. I am looking for something that will enable me to clearly hear my guitar's sound, with enough power to play the music I described. I would like the Gold Top to do the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam stuff, as well as the bluesy stuff. The Tremonti will be equipped with something hotter, but I still need it to be articulate. Good note separation, good balance, enough power to do some serious rocking.

The guys at BKP recommended a set of Alnico Nailbombs, but I fear they will be too much? Output seems to be as high as the Tremonti pickups. Alternative would be the Crawler set? I was also looking at a Black Dog set... and then I saw stuff like Abraxas and Rebel Yell and finally got a bit lost.

There's a lot of good info on this board, so I wonder if you can help a guy out! :) The Matchless and Dr Z are both great clean amps that can get nice and crunchy with some pre-amp gain. Not hi-gain beasts at all. So I need to find some balance. :)

 

[Telerocker]

If you're guitar's natural voice is not overly bright, I would go for a Rebel Yell-set.

[Yellowjacket]

Alnico Nailbombs are great.  I have an A-Bomb bridge and a Rebel Yell neck in my Les Paul Standard and it gets from some lighter stuff to some heavy stuff.  It is a more modern sounding pickup but with a vintage vibe.  i.e. it sounds sweeter than a full on metal humbucker.  If you roll back on the volume pots, it cleans up nicely.  The Rebel Yell neck is slightly less powerful and it really gets those more bluesy tones as well as some sweet lead / solo tones when I need them.  Rolling off the tone pot gets those cream era clapton sort of tones which is awesome!

The A-Bomb is not as hot as the Tremonti pickups are and the clarity with Bare Knuckles can actually make them sound 'less' gainy than they really are.  I have a more vintage voiced amp and the A-Bomb bridge pushes the front end nicely.  With a Matchless or Dr Z, perhaps you have the wrong tool for that job? 
I'd say that the A-Bomb is a very lively pickup with really responsive and articulate highs and lots of personality.  It really translates one's playing well and the pick attack is very sensitive, allowing for many tone colours while playing.

Another option.  I have a mahogany axe with a bolt on mahogany neck and a rosewood board.  That guitar has a VHII neck and a Rebel Yell bridge.  This guitar screams R&R mojo but it's a little more of a classic rock / 70s & 80s rock sort of a vibe.  the Rebel Yell bridge can generate a great modern rock or even metal tone but it needs to be through a high gain head to do so.  Compared to an A-Bomb, a Rebel Yell is slightly less powerful with more upper mids, tighter bass, and a really rich harmonic spectrum. 

[PhilKing]

I have a 2002 PRS singlecut and I tried it with Crawlers originally but then switched to an Abraxas set, which really works well in it.  They have a great full bodied sound with lots of life and push (exactly what the original PRS #7's were lacking).  I like to play classic rock and blues, but these pickups will definitely cover the heavier rock stuff too and will sound great for Alter Bridge and John Mayer.

[SuperMoos]

Thank you guys for the great replies!

I agree that a couple of clean amps are not going to do metal; that's why we have another guitar player with some Diezel gear. I'm there to do vocals and provide a counter-balance to the Diezel sound. So I need overtones, note separation, clarity, etc. 

So far, I'm thinking Alnico Nailbomb, VHII and Abraxas. Abraxas set in one guitar as bluesy / (hard)rock and Nailbomb / VHII in the Tremonti for hardrock / metal?

The reason I was looking at Vintage Hot humbuckers, is that I assumed that the Contemporary humbuckers will be so hot, that I will not be able to get my guitar / amp to actually sound like my guitar / amp... if that makes any sense? Too hot --> too much gain --> lots of distortion, not enough tone through my amps and no nice cleans.

So.. am I correct? Or should I just stop worrying and just order the sets mentioned above and be done with it. :)

[Telerocker]

You're comparing three quite different pickups. The Nailbomb is by far the hottest and most agressive, the VHII feels quite hot (nearly on par with the Crawler I have in one of my strats) and has quite some topend, the Abraxas (Mule with enhanced mids) is the mellower one of these three. Your amps have a good midrange, so I think you don't need a very middy pickup.

[Yellowjacket]

The reason I was looking at Vintage Hot humbuckers, is that I assumed that the Contemporary humbuckers will be so hot, that I will not be able to get my guitar / amp to actually sound like my guitar / amp... if that makes any sense? Too hot --> too much gain --> lots of distortion, not enough tone through my amps and no nice cleans.

So.. am I correct? Or should I just stop worrying and just order the sets mentioned above and be done with it. :)

Ok.  While the contemporary pickups are higher output, the BKP tend to be surprisingly transparent (they very faithfully produce the acoustic sound of the instrument) with tonnes of clarity and note separation, even under heaps of gain.  Compared to a Seymour Duncan, the 'contemporary' BKP appear to have less output but this is mostly due to the fact they are more dynamic and have less thickness (Mud) to the sound. 

The VHII neck is incredibly dynamic, I am finding, and it is also warm with a beautiful clean sound.  The A-Bomb is hotter but it is not hotter than a Seymour Duncan JB.  We're not talking powerful like a Duncan Distortion / Invader, or actives, or anything. 

These pickups are honestly really high end with lots of tones, expression, clarity, responsiveness, colour, etc etc.  They're really quite wonderful and I think you'll great them.
I find the A-Bomb in my Les Paul offers just enough push for my 'vintage low gain' mode on my amp to start to give a great rock rhythm crunch.

Oh, these pickups are very sensitive to height adjustment.  Too hot?  Lower the pickup and problem solved!! 

[darkbluemurder]

For the Gold Top Rebel Yell bridge and Holydiver neck. Alternatively, the Abraxas set.

For the Tremonti the Alnico Nailbomb set.

Cheers Stephan

[ericsabbath]

gold top: riff raff set
tremonti: miracle man bridge with cs or vhii for the neck

[BigB]

Don't be fooled by the "vintage" label, RiffRaff and even Mules can stand HUGE amount of gain without turning to mush, and will probably be a great  fit for your amps. FWIW the Mules are really great pickups for anything from lush clean to heavy metal, so either Mules or their overwound brothers Abraxas should JustWork(tm) for the Gold Top.

wrt/ the Abombs: Yellowjacket's description is mostly spot on: powerful but not over the top, modern sounding but still very organic and dynamic, and while they have a very obvious 90s voicing when full cranked they can do much more vintagey stuff too with the volume pot rolled down a bit so they're far from being a one-trick-pony. Now I don't know if they will really match your amps... They do sound good on my HRDx, Ampecg GVT15 and Hiwatt DR503, but where they really shine is on my high-gain amp (something between a hotrodded JCM800 and a SLO). Also they do need a rather warm guitar with deep lows to smooth them of a bit IMHO, so you possibly want something a bit less aggressive here.

My 2 cents...