Bridge Pickup for Maple Neck PRS McCarty 594

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Hey guys, looking for some opinions on what you'd put in my guitar. I have the mahogany-body, maple neck and top, and rosewood board McCarty 594. Playing through a Friedman Runt, mostly playing hard rock in the vein of GNR. So a bit about what I'm looking for...

I love the guitar but the 58/15LT is not for me, I'm looking for something with a little more power, and want something to balance the brightness of the guitar having a lot of maple. I use this guitar as a complement to a PRS Tremonti I have with a rosewood neck. I'd like for the 594 to be able to keep up with the Tremonti and its powerful pickups but still offer me a different flavor, so I'm not looking for something crazy modern to sound just like it. I've had my eye on the VHII, Black Dog, Abraxas, and Holy Diver. What do you all think?

[Slartibartfarst42]

The first three pickups I thought of were the Holydiver, Black Dog and Abraxas so I think you're on the right lines with those three.

[Telerocker]

Abraxas!

[Nolly]

The Black Dogs would be a great choice here. I think you might find the Abraxas a little too loose in your McCarty 594 with its hot wind and AIV magnet. Alternatively, the oft-overlooked Crawler offers a muscular PAF vibe with plenty of definition and toothiness - could be just the ticket here.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The Crawler is an awesome pickup and if your guitar naturally isn't too dark, it will be fantastic. I used one in the bridge of a PRS SE Custom 24 and it was absolutely sublime. It will do hot Blues to early Metal and the tone is just incredible. My PRS sounded HUGE with a Crawler in it and it has to be the most versatile pickup I've ever owned. If your guitar is darker than a Custom 24 and/or you want a tighter bass response, go for the Black Dog.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Great, some awesome replies, thanks so much! I was a little worried about the Abraxas because from the sounds of it it's a very vocal pickup, especially great for leads, and I like digging in much more with a meaty riff or two. I do my fair share of leads but I live mostly in the rhythm world. Looking more for that raw, aggressive, nasty sound, so is that more Black Dog or Crawler at this point?

I just worry a little about the Crawler possibly being a little too overpowered and not offering me a whole lot of a different flavor than the Tremonti.

On the other hand my one worry about the Black Dog is that it's a bit too mid-heavy and might bring out a bit of honk, or if I turn up the gain and scoop my mids for some heavier stuff it won't hold that down.

[Slartibartfarst42]

OK, let's deal with the Crawler first.

I just worry a little about the Crawler possibly being a little too overpowered and not offering me a whole lot of a different flavor than the Tremonti.

It's certainly a hot pickup but I can't imagine it being even remotely like the Tremonti because it's nothing like your normal contemporary pickup. In many ways this is a PAF that's taken steroids to the point of abuse. The tone is incredibly rich and organic and offers both great rhythms and great leads. Individual notes have some serious weight behind them with a Crawler and it's so thick the tone becomes really huge. I can only think of the Warpig as possibly offering a bigger sound than the Crawler. It's not a polite pickup but it's not super aggressive either. It has a really distinctive growl to it that I think I might have described as sinister in my review. It's an extremely versatile pickup that will happily go from Blues to early 80's Metal. It's natural home is probably Blues Rock but it's so versatile that such descriptions seem pointless. It's very articulate but it's not the tightest pickup in the range so once you pass early 80's Metal, the bottom end can just start to give up a bit. The Tremonti pickup is definitely modern in tone but the Crawler isn't so it won't be offering you the same sort of thing. There's nothing quite like a Crawler.

Now for the Black Dog 

my one worry about the Black Dog is that it's a bit too mid-heavy and might bring out a bit of honk, or if I turn up the gain and scoop my mids for some heavier stuff it won't hold that down.

OK, so it's a pickup with mids but so is the Abraxas and Holydiver you were looking at and mids are great because they allow you to cut through a band mix. I used to play with quite a scooped sound for heavier stuff and it sounded great but as soon as I was in a band situation I was completely swamped by everything else. Up came the mids and I could be heard perfectly. I haven't bothered much with a scooped sound since. When I bought a Holydiver for my PRS I read a couple of reviews saying the mids were too honky but I never found it to be an issue at all. I simply did what every guitarist always has to do, which is play with your EQ settings to get it right. The Black Dog, Abraxas and Crawler are all closely related, with the Holydiver being a very close cousin. All of these pickups have plenty mids in their own way. With the Crawler there are more low mids while the Abraxas and Holydiver have a broad sweep of mids. The Black Dog also have thick mids but the lighter wind moves the focus a little more towards the upper mids and you have a brighter pickup overall. The Black Dog is a great option for Metal as it has that vintage PAF character but is tight enough to take shed loads of gain and low tunings. If your playing some really heavy stuff the Black Dog will cope without any problems and be better at this than the Crawler.

[Telerocker]

I think you will prefer the Diver over the Crawler for what you're looking for. A little less bass, also taming the topend of the guitar and enough mids and output to make it not a whimpy PRS. The Crawler sounds a little bigger, but might be too warm and loose.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Decided to go with the Black Dog, after doing a bunch of reading and listening I thought it'd be a great choice. Excited to get it soldered up and cranked!

[Lucas]

Decided to go with the Black Dog, after doing a bunch of reading and listening I thought it'd be a great choice. Excited to get it soldered up and cranked!

looking forward to hear your opinion once you`ll have them in. By the way would BD tame brightness? I thought it`s rather bright pickup

[Telerocker]

Decided to go with the Black Dog, after doing a bunch of reading and listening I thought it'd be a great choice. Excited to get it soldered up and cranked!

looking forward to hear your opinion once you`ll have them in. By the way would BD tame brightness? I thought it`s rather bright pickup

I think you're right. Topend of the BD is on par with a Mule, at least.

[ericsabbath]

the black dog sounded absolutely amazing in the 70's maple neck Greco Les Paul I had