Looking for replacements for the PRS CU24-08 TCI/S pickups

[mskidney]

I find even with the tone control down around 6 they are too bright and a little brittle sounding.

I play mostly low gain/mid gain, with some high gain for fun (although my high gain is likely mid gain for some of you)

My current guitars are
Tyler Burning Water with a Shark in the bridge (which is their high output pickup)
Burny LP clone with Emeralds
US Telecaster with Piledrivers
Epiphone Dot with Suhr Thornbucker and Thornbucker +

I'm looking for choices that split nicely

Any thoughts on Holy Diver Bridge (or Set) or pairing with VHII Neck or would you suggest lower output?

[Asorb]

If you do mostly low or mid gain with some occasional high gain, maybe Abraxas would be a better alternative. I haven't compared it to holy diver in a same guitar, but in different guitars (both LP style) Abraxas had a bit more vintage and organic tone, and also a bit less output. Also maybe a bit better clean sound as well. Holy Diver had a more saturated and modern sound.

Both were smooth in the highs and considerably less ice picky than the bright stock pickups I replaced them with. No need to tame these down with the tone pot.

Abraxas does high gain just fine as well, even though holy diver was a bit more suited for high gain applications. Still, I had some really meaty Opeth-style high gain sounds with my Abraxas LP, so it's definitely very versatile. Diver had more push and compression for sustaining lead work.

For neck, you can go with VHII, but it's slightly on the bright side of things. If you want a fatter, fuller neck sound, go for Emerald neck, which is reaaaally bluesy and fat.

[mskidney]

Thanks for the response.

I went looking at higher output due to the split coil options on the PRS, but watching some videos it seems even Mules split pretty well, I'll check out the Abraxas, the Santana reference made me dismiss them 

[Asorb]

There's also Crawler. It's a even fatter, warmer and thicker alternative to Abraxas. The voicing is quite similar, but it just sounds bigger and heavier, also a bit darker. I have one in a Les Paul, and it's a bit of an overkill, because the lows tend to get flubby under higher gain, but in a PRS it could work really well. That Crawler is, however, simply amazing for leads and also coil split sounds. Output is quite similar to holy diver or JB, so basically it can be considered as a high output pickup, even though the voicing is more vintage. The single note thickness and growling, fat powerchords from this pickup is something that I haven't found in any other high gain pickup ever. It just can't hold up very well in fast palm mutes in an already bass-heavy LP. I guess this would be the ultimate doom metal or hot blues pickup.

The neck pickup in the set is also super fat and warm. If that's what you're after. Kind of similar sound to Emerald neck.

 

[CLund]

It almost seems like the Abraxas was designed for PRS.   I heard someone say that on this forum before so I had to try it.   My PRS over the years has had a Rebel Yell (too upper mid range for that guitar - ended up in a Gibson BFG),  then I installed a Black Dog but after a while I wanted a little more output.   Next I tried a holy diver and it just did NOT fit that guitar right - little too muddy with the mahogany body.   Then I tried the Polymath which was fantastic, but didn't match the Mississippi Queen I had in the neck.

So Tried the Abraxas, and it's staying put.   Can get the classic EVH tone, the hot PAF tone, still handles clean and dirt with easy.    I have tried a lot of pickups, and sometimes the pickup just doesn't fit the guitars natural tone.     Just my $0.02.   Good luck.