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Author Topic: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22  (Read 7319 times)

leolyonsofficial

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Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« on: May 17, 2016, 05:41:35 PM »
Any ideas? I think they have Dragons in as standard but they lack any low end thump for my tastes...

Also it has a 5 way selector so it splits in positions 2 and 4.

Kiichi

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2016, 07:15:57 PM »
Depends largely on what kind of music and tone you are going for. Just wanting more low end thump reduces the list of potentials to more than a handful only.
BKPs in use: 10th set / RY set / Holy Diver b, Emerald n / Crawler bridge, Slowhand mid MQ neck/ Manhattan n
On the sidelines: Stockholm b / Suppermassive n, Mule n, AM set, IT mid

Slartibartfarst42

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2016, 07:58:46 PM »
A Crawler worked beautifully in my Custom 24, giving it plenty bottom end, sublime splits and a far richer and more versatile tone. I liked the Holydiver in there too but the Crawler was really special so unless you're playing more modern Metal, I'd heartily recommend a Crawler bridge. Either the Emerald or Holydiver necks work very well with it.
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

leolyonsofficial

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2016, 05:23:14 PM »
A Crawler worked beautifully in my Custom 24, giving it plenty bottom end, sublime splits and a far richer and more versatile tone. I liked the Holydiver in there too but the Crawler was really special so unless you're playing more modern Metal, I'd heartily recommend a Crawler bridge. Either the Emerald or Holydiver necks work very well with it.

How well would the neck split if it was an Emerald or a Holydiver?

The guitar seems to lack a bit of bass balls when you palm mute on the low E string.

darrenw5094

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2016, 05:35:21 PM »
The Warpig has lo end thump  :cool:
BKP: Abraxas - Les Paul
Holy Diver - Charvel
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Warpig - Caparison Horus

Dave Sloven

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2016, 02:53:58 AM »
Yeah I would think an A-Pig would be the go here.

No idea on the neck pickup.
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Slartibartfarst42

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2016, 08:26:05 AM »
I think the A-Pig is fine if that's the sort of music you're into but the Crawler would be better if you're after more versatility. The trouble is the original post doesn't specify the music the pickup will be used for. Both options will add plenty bottom end. As for neck pickups, if you want to split both the neck and bridge pickups, I'd use an Emerald neck with the Crawler bridge.
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

leolyonsofficial

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2016, 05:18:43 PM »
I think the A-Pig is fine if that's the sort of music you're into but the Crawler would be better if you're after more versatility. The trouble is the original post doesn't specify the music the pickup will be used for. Both options will add plenty bottom end. As for neck pickups, if you want to split both the neck and bridge pickups, I'd use an Emerald neck with the Crawler bridge.

Great info thanks!

The musical style would be modern AOR. Does this change anything?

Slartibartfarst42

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2016, 07:33:04 PM »
Well, the Crawler has its natural home in Blues Rock but will also easily cover Hard Rock, Heavy Rock, Classic Rock and early Metal music. I think there's certainly a crossover with the A-Pig as both pickups are fat with plenty bottom end, the A-Pig more than the Crawler but don't let that make you think the Crawler is anything other than huge sounding. The A-Pig will also tend to sound more modern due to the 45AWG wire whereas the Crawler retains some PAF feel to it with a bit more hair as it's using 43AWG (my favourite). The A-Pig will be tighter but unless you're into more modern Metal tones the Crawler should be fine. I found it could do most things in my PRS.
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Dave Sloven

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2016, 11:02:39 PM »
It's definitely a toss-up between the Crawler and the A-Pig

I'm not sure what 'modern AOR' means but Foo Fighters apparently use the A-Pig so it can do at least that style, not just metal etc, but the Crawler is probably more versatile for you if you go into mellower territory.  The A-Pig has a lot of output and would inch out the Crawler if you needed strong pinch harmonics etc but that doesn't sound like a priority for you

Either pickup will split really nicely

I would avoid the Warpig neck pickup if I were you
« Last Edit: May 24, 2016, 11:04:35 PM by Agent Orange »
BLACK HAWKS
IMPULSES
COBRA-T
WAR PIGS
STOCKHOLM
COLD SWEATS
MIRACLE MAN
TRUE GRIT

https://slovendoom.bandcamp.com/releases

leolyonsofficial

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2016, 05:41:12 PM »
It's definitely a toss-up between the Crawler and the A-Pig

I'm not sure what 'modern AOR' means but Foo Fighters apparently use the A-Pig so it can do at least that style, not just metal etc, but the Crawler is probably more versatile for you if you go into mellower territory.  The A-Pig has a lot of output and would inch out the Crawler if you needed strong pinch harmonics etc but that doesn't sound like a priority for you

Either pickup will split really nicely

I would avoid the Warpig neck pickup if I were you

Modern AOR? Think Journey for the modern day.

Work of Art, Eclipse, Talisman, H.E.A.T etc

Slartibartfarst42

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2016, 07:46:20 PM »
To be honest, the style is more Holydiver to me than anything else but if you want something with a bit more bottom end than that I'd be looking at either the Crawler or the Abraxas, not the A-Pig. The Crawler is hot like the Holydiver but is a lot thicker, darker and has more growl. The Abraxas will be somewhere between the Holydiver and Crawler in terms of bottom end and retain a bit more of the smoothness of the Holydiver due to the lighter wind and AIV magnet. I think both could work well but based on the songs I've listened to by Work of Art (very nice btw) I think I'd be tempted to give the nod to an Abraxas with the Crawler following close on its heels.
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Dave Sloven

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2016, 03:20:54 AM »
I wouldn't go with a Warpig for Journey!

I agree with Slarti here
BLACK HAWKS
IMPULSES
COBRA-T
WAR PIGS
STOCKHOLM
COLD SWEATS
MIRACLE MAN
TRUE GRIT

https://slovendoom.bandcamp.com/releases

leolyonsofficial

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #13 on: May 26, 2016, 05:44:57 PM »
To be honest, the style is more Holydiver to me than anything else but if you want something with a bit more bottom end than that I'd be looking at either the Crawler or the Abraxas, not the A-Pig. The Crawler is hot like the Holydiver but is a lot thicker, darker and has more growl. The Abraxas will be somewhere between the Holydiver and Crawler in terms of bottom end and retain a bit more of the smoothness of the Holydiver due to the lighter wind and AIV magnet. I think both could work well but based on the songs I've listened to by Work of Art (very nice btw) I think I'd be tempted to give the nod to an Abraxas with the Crawler following close on its heels.

Great advice! Thanks

I've found when I'm at a gig as an audience member, the guitar tone is completely non existent by the time it comes through the main mix...!!!

Slartibartfarst42

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Re: Pickups for a 2003 PRS Custom 22
« Reply #14 on: May 27, 2016, 09:53:56 AM »
In my experience that's often when the guitarist is using too much bottom end and he ends up competing with the bassist. I like plenty bottom end in a guitar tone to give it body but in a band context I prefer pickups to be a bit brighter overall and have a healthy dose of mids. PRS guitars tend to be middy anyway and the Holydiver has plenty mids so the combination worked really well for me but I know some people find the combination of a middy PRS and middy pickups like the Holydiver to be a bit 'honky'. The 44AWG wire keeps the tone modern and very smooth so it's strongly reminiscent of 80s Metal tone, which is essentially what you're after, but the modern wire means it lacks that bit of 'hair' to the tone which is what I feel is needed to really get the tone spot on. To get that, you need 43AWG in my experience and that's where the Crawler and Abraxas come in.

I found the mids on the Holydiver to be across the board but the mids on the Crawler gravitated more towards the low mids and coupled with a more pronounced bass response, produced a really big tone. The Crawler worked well in my PRS tuned to either E or Eb but I found that it had too much bottom end if I tuned to D standard and I started to get a bit lost in the mix. If you're tuned to standard, that shouldn't be a huge issue but it's worth bearing in mind that too much bottom end will make it more difficult to cut through the mix. The Abraxas will tame that bottom end a bit and not go overboard with the mids and I think that's why they seem to work so well in loads of guitars and PRS guitars especially. The more I think about it, the more I think that the best BKP for you is probably the Abraxas in the bridge and either an Emerald or Holydiver in the neck.
BKP owned:

Bridge - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; A-Bomb; Holydiver; Miracle Man; Sinner; Trilogy Suite

Neck - Emerald; Cold Sweat; Crawler; Holydiver; Sinner; Trilogy Suite