Emerald vs VHII

[gavquinn]

Hi Guys!

I’ve spent a long time researching online, reading, listening, etc to try narrow down what I need, I was hoping you all could be good enough to help me.

The bridge pickup required is for a core line PRS Starla, great resonant guitar, 1 piece quartersawn body, bisgby, light weight, VERY warm in the lower mids and a warm high end.

The stock bridge pickup that's in there is like a 'fat filtertron', (less than a PAF, more than a singlecoil) It's nice, but it's too rounded and fat, it just has the effect of compressing the sound, the output is also too flat, there's no punch on lower strings. There is some high end sparkle, but that's purely from the pickups' EQ - the guitar is too warm, so that brightness and cut disappears with certain overdrives.

It needs more presence and more upper mid cut and treble. The unplugged attack is fairly slow, it's the guitar itself that's really warm. (Feels GREAT in the hand mind you) The overall voice is too closed in, I'd like to open it up.

I've tried the Mule in this guitar, it was fine, but it was too dark and mid focused in this guitar, (AWWW sound in the mids) simply not bright enough for the guitar - that's out.

I long considered the Riff Raff, but I don’t like the mid sound. I know; it does sound like Jimmy Page, but I don’t want that ‘nasal’ midrange sound. – so the Riff Raff is out.

I’ve tried a T-Top replica in this, but it just cut the bass, plus the bigsby adds a high end, string ringing going on that made it out of the speaker, so it just sounded shrill and harsh, I think that lower output isn't the key here - I think an overall lift and tweak could work. I had a JB in this guitar years ago, it was killer, but it's too hot and fat for me now.

I’ve boiled it down to the VHII and the Emerald, both sound really good, but I have some concerns.

Emerald –I think it could be good to overcome bigsby/bridge/string overtones by providing an overall slight boost to frequencies. I’m just concerned that it’ll be too hot and fat, that the required treble attack spank will suffer. Maybe it could be lowered in the pickup ring and that’ll help.

VHII – I’m concerned that it’ll be scooped, or maybe even shrill in a warm mahogany guitar, even though my goal is to brighten and open the fundamental tone up. Maybe this is the one that I need, I have a feeling it’s what’s needed to open up the high end and not further feed the midrange. Also have concerns with the bigsby/bridge/string overtone, but again, the extra output could boost over this.

Advice on experience would be great, I’d also really appreciate if people could kindly refrain from throwing spanners in (How about a Nailbomb, etc) simply as I've just read every pickup and it tends to complicate the conversation.

I’d really appreciate guidance on these 2, if you've experience?

Thanks,
Gavin

[timmy_pix]

I can only speak for the Emerald, but I'd say it would do what you need. Bright with lots of presence, nice crisp attack and while it's got weight on single notes, I wouldn't call it too fat. It is hotter than the Mule and the Riff Raff, but not much - it doesn't feel high output. It has more compression that the Mule/Riff Raff, but it's not a compressed pickup; it just has enough to complement while still feeling very open.

You say you found the JB too hot and fat and have similar concerns for the Emerald - it's nowhere near as hot as the JB, and much less flubby, with very lean bass response. The bass is there, it's just taking a back seat to everything else. I wrote a very lengthy review for the Emerald that's in the sticky thread if you want more of my thoughts on it, but I've tried to stick to the points you mentioned here.

From what I've read around here, the VHII may be spankier and slightly more open and even than the Emerald - I wish I could say more but I can only speak for what I know. Best of luck and let us know what you go for and how you get on!

[Telerocker]

The VHII is not scooped. It has a nice amount of mids and a good bottomend. The upperregister is clear and present but not shrill. The VHII is uncompressed, so can you stear the response with your pickattack. Harmonics jump out with ease. In the right guitar it's a great pickup for players who like to dig in.

[gavquinn]

I like bright pickups, I’ve said for years, it’s just my belief but if the brightness isn’t there at the start of the chain, you can’t put it back in. You can add or remove bass, mids, and the highs can always be tamed.

I saw Robben Ford play Rose of Sharon on YouTube a while back and it clicked; that’s the tone. He’s using an SG and it sounds snappy, I want that, a slightly more robust pickup but snappy. I’ll obv need a brighter pickup to get there!

The Emerald, it reads as hotter than the Riff Raff, how does that translate? Louder, more mids, etc?

The VHII makes me think of my Duncan 78. I have it in a featherweight LP and it rips, real bright, but it didn’t work in this guitar. I had concerns it would be too bright, but maybe the super warm guitar would balance it out with my hand, 11-50 strings and a .88 pick. I think the term ‘single coil sounding’ made me think it was thinner?

Thanks for the answers, my heart’s broken trying to find the bridge tone.

The neck has a full HB sized Firebird pickup I had made; slightly brighter again than stock.

[darkbluemurder]

I am not at all familiar with the Starla pickup but it seems you have a difficult guitar to find the right pickup for if a Filtertron type pickup does not have enough bite and presence cut. And if you also think that the tone was too compressed with the original pickup I would go for the VHII bridge in favor over the Emerald. The ones I had were very bright and cutting even in rather warm sounding guitars with 500k pots.

Speaking of pots - have you checked the value of yours? They should be 500k. Lower values tend to make the tone less bright.

Hotter pickups will usually have more bass and compression than lower output pickups but that is not always true. Even comparing two pickups in one guitar will not automatically translate to another guitar.

Cheers Stephan

[gavquinn]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for chiming in.

Yep, 500k V & T, both.

The USA Starla pickups were hotter than your common-or-garden Filtertron, it’s got more mids and bass, therefore, this seems to overshadow the presence. It’s still got the treble, but only slightly, the presence brings the treble to the front, didn’t happen here.. The pickup is pretty compressed too, there’s an evenness to the frequencies that sounds great, but I don’t want it in the bridge unit. Through a cleaner amp like a V or F, with a mild overdrive, it’s nice. It’s like a mix of humbucker AND singlecoil, maybe 66% H, 33% SC. It sounds lovely as a standalone, but there’s a catch to that..

It’s lovely and refined, records well and sounds nice live depending on the rig, but it’s not beefy enough to kick and sing like something like a PAF type, or a P90 for that matter. It's not as open and twangy as a filtertron, it doesn't have that sparkle.

I plug in a LP with Monty's PAFs and the difference from the Starla pickup is like going from a Mule to a Warpig. (give or take) There's a big leap in volume, output and sustain to the PAF, it's FAR beefier. It makes a PAF seem hot. It's a bit weedy. At the same time, it’s not bright and punchy enough to do a single coil sound. I could add treble for the neck for cleans, then overdrive is mega bright. Add to this a guitar that’s very warm and here I am!

To be honest, the guitar is magic, it vibrates like crazy, it’s got a big fat neck, it feels like vintage Gibsons I played. I want to bring the best (for me) out of the guitar, not to leave a compressed, specific tone in it. My idea is – ‘imagine what it COULD be with the right bridge pickup’. It’s like an old Les Paul special with the timbers and construction, I don’t want to leave it ‘underpowered’. The goal is a snarly, fat, SG tone.

I’ve plumped for the Emerald in the end – as stated; I thought a good call was to start with adding a small extra bump/boost across ALL frequencies to start, to get over the bigsby’s shrill string ringing overtones from behind the bridge. This worked before. Then I could add the humbucker output without losing the snap in the high end that a warm guitar needed to bring out. It’s all mahogany, 1 piece, so it’s very warm, it needed more treble. With the emerald, the mids and bass would come up too, along with that presence.

I’m optimistic, which is to say; If this doesn’t work, I’ll consider therapy.

[Serratus]

I think the Emerald is the right choice - I found it to be very smooth overall, really nicely balanced, and while it has plenty of top end, it's not shrill or ice-picky. Usually I like warm fat pickups but I still really like my emerald because it's all smooth and balanced. The VHII can have quite a boomy bottom-end which might not suit the guitar as you've described it, so I think you were right to try the Emerald first :)

[lonestarrevival]

I have been in a very very similar situation with the OP, in the end decided to get both, even though I firmly believed VHii was the true solution.  My guitar is lackng in the bass department as well as the top - for my taste- I am not sure if the former is a concern for the OP.  Before these I tried the True grit bridge humbucker, it was a shot in the dark, and it turned out too too middy for this guitar (which is a Yamaha revstar by the way).  Now I have the Emerald installed and it sounds so great I am being lazy to swap it with the vhii, but I will do at some point.

Folks I think this is good info, so cut it with the mobbing will you. I may have bullshiteeted in the past, unfortunately, but I am a true Bare Knuckle fan, that by itself should show that I have appreciation for a good thing. Anyhow, I will get back to comment for the sake of the OP when I have tried the vhii as well.