Humbucker set for my PRS SE Custom 24 7-string

[timmy_pix]

Hi everyone, long time lurker but now it's time to ask for some advice/thoughts.

I've got a PRS SE Custom 24 7-string in need of some new pickups.
It's a mahogany body with maple cap, maple neck with rosewood board, 25" scale. The current pickups are the G&B SE versions of the PRS HFS and Vintage Bass. To be honest, they're actually rather good - if this were a six-string I doubt I'd be changing them, or at least not any time soon. It's set up with 10-64s tuned to drop A, occasionally down a half-step. I'm playing mostly progressive metal on this guitar, so Dual Rectifier metal tones are my main concern for the low end, but also the ability to clean up well for lighter passages.

The bridge pickup is the main offender: it's very honky/barky in the mids, with a decent top end, but as soon as the seventh string gets involved it all turns to flub. I'm looking for something that will tighten up the bass and keep the low-end focused, while also being fairly strong in the mids, clear top end and rich harmonics, and I'm thinking mid-hot output. Something that will be nice and tight for riffing and single note work, but can still maintain clarity across chords.
The neck pickup is okay, but a little bit bright/harsh for my tastes - it does occur to me that this could be because I'm more used to 22-fret guitars. I quite like the brightness of the attack for crunchy lead tones and clean chord work, but for high gain lead it sounds more like a middle position than a neck pickup, to my ears. I wouldn't mind a more-rounded tone, but I'm torn between that and losing the bright attack completely.

Okay, so confession time: my research thus far had indicated that the Seymour Duncan Pegasus and Sentient set would be perfect for me. The Sentient is around 9.2k, rich, clear and verstile; the Pegasus has a great mids, clarity and is around 14.9k output (so not too hot). I've tried the six-string versions in my friend's Gibson Les Paul Classic, and adore the Sentient - it might be the nicest neck pickup I've ever played, including my Mule. The Pegasus seemed to do everything I wanted, but it was hard to tell how it would respond to the low string given that it was the six-string version. 

So, why have I not just bought the Pegasus/Sentient set? Because I'm vain and I want my guitar to look pretty the way I want it to. I'm after (brushed) nickel covers with gold pole screws, and I got the quote back from Seymour Duncan for doing this through their Shop Floor Custom program (the Pegasus/Sentient are normally only available in black) and it came to £270. Given that the open set is ~£180, BKPs were previously the next level up in terms of price, but now I'm wondering if there are any Bare Knuckles that are equivalent to the Pegasus/Sentient seeing as they'll cost about the same.

Cheers,

Tim

[capac]

Good choice not going with the duncans.

Aftermath is super tight and clear, no flub whatsoever. Not sure how close it is to pegasus, juggernaut is probably closer.

[Dave Sloven]

I would tend toward the Impusle for this application, but you might think it looks funny

[timmy_pix]

Good choice not going with the duncans

Might I ask why you say that? Bad experience with these pickups? Because from playing them, I really loved them - I'm just wondering if there's a BKP alternative I'd maybe like more.

From the clips I've listened to, I don't think the Aftermath is for me; it sounds kind of dry. The Juggernaut sounds a little closer to what I'm after but I haven't heard any demos of it in a similar guitar to mine, and I've heard some demos where it sounds great and some where it's sounded a little sterile.

The Impulse sounds very rich but those clips are rather specific, and I can't get past the blades look, I'm really not a fan.

[capac]

They are OK IMO. I haven't tried pegasus, but it doesn't sounds a bit mushy in the demoes I've heard. I actually have nazgul/sentinent set installed in my mayones. The sentinent is not bad, just not completely happy with it, it's probably more compressed than some BKPs.

As far as Nazgul goes, it just gets crushed by aftermath. It is more compressed than black hawks, not as tight as aftermath, brighter and boomier than aftermath, a bit out of control, doesn't clean up whatsoever. Aftermath is a lot clearer, a hair less output with aftermath.  Pegasus is probably a lot more controled, but I'm afraid it won't be as tight and clear (the reason I'm not getting one).

Both nazgul and aftermath stay tight in drop A of course.

Juggs will be my next BKP purchase (replacing the duncans).

[timmy_pix]

Awesome, thanks for your detailed explanation there.

I know I'm steering well clear of the Nazgul, too much fizz and general anger and not enough versatility. The Pegasus does seem to have excellent control and clarity under distortion, but it's tricky to find samples demonstrating how it is clean.

The Aftermath does sound awesome driven, but I really don't like its clean tone on the demo here. I'm still struggling to get a clear idea of how the Juggernauts sound. They sound fantastic for Periphery stuff, and they're clearly very tight and controlled, but I'm concerned they sound too compressed and sterile, or at least that's the impression I've gotten so far.

I'm wondering if maybe something less overtly metal might do the job, like a Rebel Yell or the Emerald in the bridge, but then I'm not sure what BKP would be best for the clean tone I'm after in the neck.

[capac]

Juggs are dynamic, more organic and fatter than aftermath - not that djenty. Yells are pretty bright from what I can tell. I'd go jugg personally.

[timmy_pix]

So I've given it a few days and listened to many more clips.

I'd written off the Juggernauts initially, partly due to the look of them covered (not a fan of the double screw look), partly because I thought they might just be Periphery tones and nothing else, and partly to protect my wallet. But with the shop floor custom quote for the Pegasus/Sentient destroying the latter argument, I've looked at the Juggernaut a lot more and I have to say I think it's winning me over.

It's fatter and fuller than the Pegasus, which in comparison I find to be too harsh on the upper mids when comparing demos back to back. That said, I'm still concerned the Juggernaut might be a bit too strong in the bass, and ultimately I'm not sure how either would respond in my guitar. I think I still prefer the Sentient in the neck position, but in my forum trawling I have found a couple of people who said they tried mixing a Juggernaut bridge with a Sentient in the neck and they apparently don't mix very well.

So all I've worked out for sure is the the Juggernaut is definitely the best 7-string BKP for me, but I'm still torn between it and the Pegasus. If the Juggernaut is too bassy, will it be tameable with EQ? If the Pegasus is lacking in low end can it be boosted while taming the upper mids, or are they a necessity for clarity when a pickup is mass-produced rather than scatterwound?

Maybe I'm just overthinking it. Additional thoughts from users of either pickup, or people with 7-string PRS SEs, would be much appreciated.

[capac]

Juggs have a lot of low mid rather than bass - they do sound thick.

Personally, I wouldn't mix sentinent with bkp just because of looks. Sentinent is like matt black (which looks cool), but only visualy combines with nazgul and pegasus (maybe omega and black winter).

Pegasus isn't that well defined from what I can hear, too floppy on the low end IMHO.

[timmy_pix]

Okay, following up on this because I never did and just in case someone in a similar position to me does some deep thread diving in search of answers and finds a thread that goes nowhere. I tend to use Google to search the forums and a few times I've found threads that just died that I would have liked to know the answer to (especially in regards to 7 string PRSes!), so I'm trying not to be another one!

I did a lot more research after posting this thread, and the more I researched, I realised all the clips I could find of the Duncan Pegasus had an upper-mid harshness that I didn't like, so discarded that idea.

I rang Bare Knuckle and spoke to Ben, and he was lovely. I explained I didn't want something super high output and just wanted good pickups that could do progressive metal, while having a good amount of control in the bass and letting the amp do more work than the pickup.

Ben's recommendation was the Cold Sweat, maybe with a VHII in the neck. It has the tightness I was after in the bridge without being too aggressive, while giving nice open cleans, particularly in the neck and split positions with a 5-way.

However, I never got to order them because last July I was burgled and had all my guitars stolen, and it'll be a while before I can justify getting another 7 string. If anyone sees a PRS SE 7 in amethyst (purple) with black pickup rings and gold saddles, it's mine! I hope this thread helps anyone with a similar guitar with similar thoughts.

[Dave Sloven]

Oh man, that sucks!!  Instrument thieves are complete scum!