PRS Custom 22 Pickup Choice

[pauld]

How's things guys

New to the forum but I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on which pickups to choose for my PRS Custom 22. I think I have it narrowed down to either a set of Emeralds or Rebel Yells, again though this is only from what I've heard on YouTube videos.

I'm playing in a covers band / wedding band doing everything from 50s/60s rock to modern songs (Elvis-Creedence-Chuck Berry-Thin Lizzy-The Killers-Kings Of Leon etc.) So basically I'm looking for a pickup that will cover all bases.

Hopefully someone here will have some insight that will help me choose the right pickup that will work best with my PRS

Thanks guys

[richard]

Hi and welcome to the forum. What pickups are in the guitar at the moment ? What makes you want to replace them ? I have the Rebel Yells in an all mahogany Firebird. They are great pickups but they are maybe a little modern sounding for most of the styles you are playing. I have a PRS Bernie single cut with the Abraxas set and they are my favourite pickups. They are basically a souped up PAF (they're based on The Mules). They will do great vintage sounds but have enough extra power to take basically as much gain as you want. I don't think you could go wrong with the Abraxas set. I've never used Emeralds.

[ericsabbath]

Emerald is closest to the stock Dragon II Treble, but anything from mules or riff raffs to abraxas or rebel yells should work

[pauld]

Hi

Thanks a million for getting back guys. To be honest I never even looked at the Abraxas until now. There is a great video on YouTube by John Huldt putting the Abraxas through their paces and to be honest they sound deadly :)

There is Dragon II's in the PRS at the moment but I got the  5 way rotary dial swapped out for a 3 way switch and in doing so I lost the out of phase positions etc. and well the pickups actually make the guitar sound weak now so much so that i was even thinking about putting the rotary dial back in, but the practicality of the dial in a live gig is brutal. In the bridge position the guitar sounds very dull with too much bottom end, very muddled and too much bass. The neck position is okay but thats it it's just okay...and don't get me started on the middle position ha ha.

[Telerocker]

You can play everything with Mules,a superb PAF59-copy and my all time favourite BKP. I use them for jazzy cleans to Bonamassa to hardrock. The middleposition is also great for funky cleans.

[lonestarrevival]

I was considering getting a PSR SE (or S2) Custom 22 just to put Emerald and Riff Raff and Blackdog and Mule on, in turns that is. Waiting on an Abraxas/SH set for my strat but that didn't quite cut it.  Let people know how your PRS  does with Bare Knuckles OP. Cheers.