New pups for a PRS Singlecut

[PK]

About a year ago I bought my first set of BKPs, a HD and Emerald combo for my Mayones Setius. Absolutely love these pickups.
But about a year ago my eyes were opened to the wonder that is PRS (to me at least). I got a great deal on a beautiful pre-lawsuit (whatever that may mean) singlecut.
The guitar itself is actually nicely balanced when played without amp.
My amp is a, quite mid heavy (if you want it), Budda Superdrive II 18 watts combo.

The problem is that my tone requirements are quite diverse, this is where the problem comes in. The stock pickups are OK, but I think they fall short compared to the quality of the guitar.

In the bridge I miss both sparkle/openness and balls, in the neck I miss that hollowed out sweet neck tone.

At the moment I play in 2 bands and 1 studio project.
My main band has a lot of Alterbridge and Black Stone cherry type of stuff (btw I hate Tremonti's live sound, but Myles sounds amazing, and I think he uses SD Custom Custom, or Custom 5s).
My other band has a lot heavier stuff going on, but also a lot of cleans. We're basically an Opeth ripoff (think Blackwater Park). And I think Akerfelt and Lindgren used the SD Full Shred on that album.

My studio project is a lot more like Opeth's Damnation (and Steven Wilson influences). What I really need here is the 'Lonely-Swede-in-the-forest' sounds. And I kinda get that from the Emerald in my Mayo, but I think I need something slightly more vintage.

My amp has plenty gain, so I'm not convinced I need a high output pickup. I'm looking at the Vintage and Vintage hot range.
Currently I'm drifting towards a Mules set or a Abraxas set, or a combo of the two.
But, I'm also intrigued by the Rebel Yells for some reason.

Summary:
Bridge: More Balls and more sparkle than the stock PRS #7s, and nicer cleans
Neck: Lonely-Swede-in-the-forest (so it needs to respond well to the volume and tone pot, but I think all BKPs do that)

[Kiichi]

Well, my initial thought was Abraxas too. For a balanced PRS they just work well, just as the Mules do. As the Abraxas are however streroid mules they will find it easier to cope with the higher gain stuff of the scale. Mules can rather comfortably go to Ozzy levels of gain, but for Opeth type the Abraxas will hold its own better. For the neck you could still consider the Mule though, if you really want to go vintage, but again the Abraxas is more around the output of the Emerald which you like, so I think that is a great way to go.

[Telerocker]

Mules-set will do fine and will reveal the true character of the guitar. With that amp you don't need an Abraxas. I heard those Superdrives and man, they got the mids going.

[ericsabbath]

I accidentally installed a ceramic nailbomb (seller has mistaken it with an emerald) in my '73 les paul custom and used it for a few weeks

I've been using only low output bk models for about 4 years now and I wasn't fond on the alnico nailbomb I had in the same guitar 6 years ago

I never intended to even try a ceramic nailbomb, so  it was a big surprise to me
that things sounds amazing 
it should do everything you mentioned with ease

it has a quite organic sound for a ceramic pickup and sounds way more balanced than I would expect
not djenty/scratchy like the aftermath, not scooped like the cold sweat, not bassy like the miracle man, not middy like the holy diver
not that it sounds better than the others, but it's probably the most balanced voicing I found on the contemporary line
and it retains a lot of string separation under heavy gain, just like the other BKP's
the cleans are ok if you use a proper  clean channel and know when to pick softly

I'm still going back for the riff raff for other reasons, but the c-bomb sounds  absolutely amazing and I might buy another one when I have another guitar
got some unbelievably good tones through my jcm 800 2203 even at bedroom level

didn't record anything (and I'm quite terrible at it), but here's a great demo by Josh Wibaut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t8dVF4lOrs


all that said, I would probably go for an abraxas for the Myles Kennedy live sound


Chris George has an abraxas set in his les paul traditional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P2OmLNUAvE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7PfstUdTRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToK508xPkRs

[PhilKing]

I have an Abraxas set in my singlecut and love the sound.  I tried Crawlers first but wasn't as happy with them.  I have Emeralds in an all mahogany LP Custom and so know the sound, and Abraxas will give more of a hot vintage sound.

[darkbluemurder]

Pre-lawsuit - Gibson sued PRS for infringement on their copyright on the Les Paul but lost it. Since PRS picked up the production again after the win you have pre- and post-lawsuit but the guitars may not have changed.

I also have Single Cut and hated the stock #7 pickups. I tried many replacements before I now settled on the Black Dog bridge and Riff Raff neck. With a middy amp like the Budda I think the Black Dog would work better than the Abraxas since it's brighter and less compressed - at the expense of some vintage vibe (tonewise, not output wise).

Cheers Stephan

[PK]

Thanks for you input, I actually knew about the whole lawsuit thing with Gibson...........just think it's funny, since there is no big change between pre and post, other than maybe the wiring. But I think the guys over at PRS are changing stuff non-stop.
And the more I play those #7s the more I dislike them.
Don't get me wrong, they sound OK, but hey........I'm a geargeek, so OK is as good as absolute cr@p right ;)

Looking at the tonechart and description of the black dog, I think I might end up with a little overkill in the mids (is there such a thing?).
I think I might also have to mention that for leads I use an MXR GT-OD (modded tube screamer). So I get even more mids from that.
Don't get me wrong, I link to be heard  but the other guys in my band might also want to be in the spotlight. And generous guy that I am, I'm gonna let them................................................for a minute or so 

I keep listening to the clips on the site, and I keep being drawn to the Mules for some reason.
From what I hear/read the Mules are already on the hotter side of the PAF spectrum.

[Telerocker]

Mules are not very hot, certainly not compared to say a VHII. They're quite balanced, with to my ears a slight downcurve in the mids, though it's not a thin pickup. I think they match the guitar/amp-combination very well.