NEW to BKP - PRS Modern Eagle II set ?

[PhilKing]

I think that all 3 of the pickups will cover what you are after.  It's probably going to be more down to your amp and any pedals for the overall sound.  For me on my ME and playing things from Comfortably Numb through a lot of Free and into Neil Young stuff, I can get all the sounds I want.  Having said that, I can get all the sounds from my SC with Abraxas's to, and if I need to, I can use a Strat to get the sounds (but would add a boost pedal for some of the stuff).   I have a lot of BK pickups in a lot of different guitars and have found through the years that I can pretty much cover anything with any of them.  Some obviously suit some songs better than others, but overall all the piuckups are excellent.  I have a friend who was using VHII's for heavy metal and my godson uses a VHII neck for very clean tones in his band.

BK don't do shrill, but they do make very open sounding pickups.   I know it's a big decision, but Tim is a great judge of what will suit and he has never steered me wrong in over 10 years of using BK's.  The very fist set I got was a Crawler/BKP90/BKP90 set for my PRS EG, and they are still in there and sound great.  I'm just about to get a set of Supermassives and a Black Hawk for a couple of guitars, and I have no doubt that I will love them too.

Don't worry about not having a matched set, the other pickups I got on my first order were a Emerald bridge and a Mule neck.   If you order the pickups together and give the guitar that they are from, they will make them as a set. 

[matthewmsp]

Thanks Phil and also I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who has chipped in on this thread. It's so hard choosing pickups anyway but in this case even hard as I have no prior knowledge of any from BKP.

But, all the comments have really helped me formulate some conclusions.

The outcome is I have placed an order for a calibrated pair of Crawlers. And that's a pickup that wasn't even on my list when I started.

So a bi thank you to you all for your kind help. I will be sure to report back with my thoughts once there back and fitted.

Thank you
Matthew

[Telerocker]

I hope they work out nice in your PRS. Especially curious about the neckpickup.

[matthewmsp]

Cheers Telerocker. Don't say that about the neck....you'll get me worried ha ha.

I spoke to Tim Mills about it as a set in my guitar and he said there made for it. I hope he's right, fingers crossed.

Matthew

[Telerocker]

Cheers Telerocker. Don't say that about the neck....you'll get me worried ha ha.

I spoke to Tim Mills about it as a set in my guitar and he said there made for it. I hope he's right, fingers crossed.

Matthew

What can i say, Tim knows his pickups best. Besides that, it's more out of curiosity since not many forummembers have the Crawler-neck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRAItn-jYvQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qwOU6jOks

[Kiichi]

I really need to give mine another shot. Just moved my bridge and it is much nicer now. Really cool pickup. The neck too needs a new home now as I paired the bridge with a MQ neck which is amazing. The neck is a really cool one for sure though and it could easily replace the MQ in that axe I think. Might do that someday even.

[matthewmsp]

No problem Telerocker I will certainly report back with my findings on the pickups but particularly the neck. I am so looking froward to getting these in there, i have been spawn out pickups for 20 years on and off but for some reason I am very excited this time.....maybe its the total unknown.

Matthew

[Telerocker]

No problem Telerocker I will certainly report back with my findings on the pickups but particularly the neck. I am so looking froward to getting these in there, i have been spawn out pickups for 20 years on and off but for some reason I am very excited this time.....maybe its the total unknown.

Matthew

That's a big part of the fun. I can only say that the superb Crawler serves me already for many years in my workhorse, a MXG Custom strat  (handmade by Patrick Eggle). It has a swampash body, maple neck, 12 inch radius ebony fretboard.

[matthewmsp]

Hi guys

So finally i went for a Crawler set. In general these are amazing pickups, the moment i played them they generally sounded so different and responsive......very high quality indeed. But with this being my first set of BKP it was always a gamble as i had no idea of there general feel or tonal pallet.

So the point is while they are great they may not be what i wanted. The bridge Crawler is the right tonality for me but i feel its maybe just dont as hot as i would have liked, love the strong guttural mids it has but just need a little more juice for my tastes.

The neck Crawler I am not that struck on at all actually, its not dark, rounded, warm enough fro my tastes. The bets way i can describe it is If i play lets say 12th fret G string single note on bridge pickup then hit that note again on the neck the tonal difference isn’t as broad as i would have hoped…..i.e the neck doesn’t go as dark, warm, rounded as i would like. I have a 3 way toggle and coil tap on my tone pot. So when i go from bridge to middle to neck, each step is very subtle in tone. I would just like a broader range between the 3 positions.

So with my first set of BKP i have leant a lot and now some of the descriptions etc and comments on here make more sense to me.

I am going to take advantage of the 14 day swap service to try one more time to get this right. I spoke with Tim this morning on email and he has suggested the following:

Bridge : Holy Diver
Neck: VH II

I just wondered what ineptness thoughts were of this combo on my PRS ME II ?

Thank you people
Matthew

[ericsabbath]

So the point is while they are great they may not be what i wanted. The bridge Crawler is the right tonality for me but i feel its maybe just dont as hot as i would have liked, love the strong guttural mids it has but just need a little more juice for my tastes.

The neck Crawler I am not that struck on at all actually, its not dark, rounded, warm enough fro my tastes. The bets way i can describe it is If i play lets say 12th fret G string single note on bridge pickup then hit that note again on the neck the tonal difference isn’t as broad as i would have hoped…..i.e the neck doesn’t go as dark, warm, rounded as i would like. I have a 3 way toggle and coil tap on my tone pot. So when i go from bridge to middle to neck, each step is very subtle in tone. I would just like a broader range between the 3 positions.

the holy diver dense midrange certainly makes it sound hotter and juicier, although it's a medium output pup
if you wanna go truly hot, then you better step up to the alnico nailbomb

I suppose the neck crawler is somewhat similar to a mule
the neck vhII should sound fatter, a little darker and more hollow in the mids, but I'm not sure it would warmer and more rounded

[skeeter]

As an owner of many PRS guitars, thought I'd chime in here.  The rosewood neck on the Modern Eagle's makes them a little finicky with pickups emphasizing the right frequencies.

I had a Custom 24 with a RW neck and was recommended a pair of Rebel Yells.  While I loved the definition and clarity, they just weren't what I was looking for in that guitar.  I think with RW necks you have to compensate for a loss of some of the lower mids, while also not increasing the lower frequencies as to become too muddy. 

Anyhow, I happened to sell that particular Custom 24.  For my next RW neck'ed PRS I would def go with something with more mids, and less highs like an Abraxxas in the bridge. 

For the neck pickup, I personally like something more vintage, that really lets that certain "woody" tone from the RW neck come through in a nice creamy way - something like the 57/08, but maybe a little more output -  Mule or Abraxxas.

FWIW, I currently have a Custom 24 with a maple neck and ebony board that was way too bright and thin when I first got it.  So after talking with people on this board I went with a Crawler in the bridge and an Emerald in the beck  Couldn't be happier!! Best pickup upgrade I've ever had - totally changed the guitar.  The Crawler really has a bark and a roar that works great for rock and hard rock, etc... While the split sounds are fantastic.

So, keep trying, BKP has something out there that will fit your needs and blow you away!