PRS pickup suggestions?

[RevoltStudios]

Hola, I recently aquired a beautiful PRS CE24 for a mere $600! Came with SD JB and Pearly Gates in it which I dislike the JB. It's kinda shrill and lacks warmth. Somebody around here has gotta play a PRS for the heavy stuff and have pickup suggestions. I can go mid gain pickups too, doesn't matter to me. No EMG's though.

 

[Auroras]

first OFF DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! and second i would suggest something like a 59 based pickup i think seymour duncan 78 possibly or a bareknuckle more vintage voiced pickups what amp your running also pics plox

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

Hola, I recently aquired a beautiful PRS CE24 for a mere $600! Came with SD JB and Pearly Gates in it which I dislike the JB. It's kinda shrill and lacks warmth. Somebody around here has gotta play a PRS for the heavy stuff and have pickup suggestions. I can go mid gain pickups too, doesn't matter to me. No EMG's though.

I play a PRS Custom 24. It came with stock HFS zebra pickups. To be honest, I don't know if they're both HFS, but the bridge pickup has plenty of gain. They both sound amazing. I modded mine though.

It used to have the 5 way selector, which is absolutely shit/impossible if you want to switch pickups mid solo. I now have a push/pull on the tone and a 3 way selector, but really miss the "in-between" tones you could get on the 5 way.

Other than looks and sound, I have to personally say, PRS quality isn't as amazing as people make out. Yes, it's a pro guitar, but you could spend half the money and get the same playability.

I'd swap mine for a fully loaded Ernie Ball Music Man Petrucci any day (that was my initial choice )

 

[amarshism]

They're the same price here. Currently contemplating which will be my major Gtr acquisition of next year.

As to op, I have a few friends with prs gtrs and they all swear by the pups that came with them. Why not try and get some of those?

 

[Auroras]

I'm planing on having a custom 7 String CE model built with floyd rose and all the extra fixings that prs doesnt offer and for the same price as a new PRS ;p

I love the shape and top carve only like the necks on the bolt on models .

 

[Nitrobattery]

Hola, I recently aquired a beautiful PRS CE24 for a mere $600! Came with SD JB and Pearly Gates in it which I dislike the JB. It's kinda shrill and lacks warmth. Somebody around here has gotta play a PRS for the heavy stuff and have pickup suggestions. I can go mid gain pickups too, doesn't matter to me. No EMG's though.

The PRS Tremonti is a pretty slammin' bridge pickup as is the Motor City Afwayu

 

[greyskull]

I always find the cheaper (no offence) PRS' a bit wooly and muddy sounding, so something like a JB would be good in it.
Maybe a bareknuckle nail bomb or something might be more up your street.

 

[Machinated]

I always find the cheaper (no offence) PRS' a bit wooly and muddy sounding, so something like a JB would be good in it.
Maybe a bareknuckle nail bomb or something might be more up your street.

+1, got to be careful with some PRS's that you dont overdo the low end.

the HFS is great in the bridge, lovely attack and a decent low end.

tbh, depending on your PRS the pickups will make a huge difference - me and my guitarist have 3 PRS's between us and have all been trying different EMG's. Avoid the PRS dragon pickups, too loose, undergained, midrangey for metal. nice pickups if you are playing any other genre though.

we both settled on 81's, but they sounded noticeably better in his cheaper PRS (still a decent C22) which had a maple top, to his more expensive limited edition PRS which was all mahogany (too dark for metal, lacked bite).

 

[deckrg]

+1, got to be careful with some PRS's that you dont overdo the low end.

the HFS is great in the bridge, lovely attack and a decent low end.

tbh, depending on your PRS the pickups will make a huge difference - me and my guitarist have 3 PRS's between us and have all been trying different EMG's. Avoid the PRS dragon pickups, too loose, undergained, midrangey for metal. nice pickups if you are playing any other genre though.

we both settled on 81's, but they sounded noticeably better in his cheaper PRS (still a decent C22) which had a maple top, to his more expensive limited edition PRS which was all mahogany (too dark for metal, lacked bite).

I had my mind set on a CU 22 with dragon II PU's, which takes me to ask what kind of metal are you talking about ? I'm mainly into sludge and progressive as so I don't use a ton of gain but you got me second guessing my decision.
I know I made a thread a while back regarding gibson lp vs eclipse but I couldn't get a good one with a fair price any time soon so I decided to go with my first pick being PRS custom 24 with HFS but as I could grab a 10top CU 22 for less 200 pounds than a CU I was considering going that way until I read your post that lost me completely.

 

[Machinated]

the last thing was just saying that his all mahogany PRS was too dark no matter what pickup was in it - we are both using ones with maple tops (like most customs) and they cut through more.

if you are set on the dragon II's try them - they may suit what you are after. I used mine quite a bit, and WAY preferred the HFS (this was in a studio guitar, used for a variety of things). I remember we tracked a kind of hard rock band and the dragon II's were even too dull for that, the guitars just sat way back in the mix. so yeah, id go for HFS if possible. also compare the sound of the CU to the C22, i have a feeling they could be pretty different....

 

[deckrg]

I live in a shitty country for trying musical instruments, that's why I've taken so much time to buy a new guitar, there just no guitar past 1k to test (maybe some les pauls and ibanez prestige) so I'm blind folded there.

 

[Machinated]

FWIW these are with a C22, HFS in the bridge. probably not the style you are going for though haha

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/303799/Machinate/Song8%20Guitars.mp3

 

[deckrg]

Yeah I'm not using that amount of gain they sound killer thou congrats.

 

[BLUElightCory]

I LOVE the Gibson 500T ceramic pickup - it's SUPER hot and has amazing mids, probably my favorite pickup for big rock tones.

 

[Rex Rocker]

FWIW these are with a C22, HFS in the bridge. probably not the style you are going for though haha

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/303799/Machinate/Song8%20Guitars.mp3

Nice tone!

Which amp is that?

 

[Machinated]

5150 and mesa cab and podxt TS

 

[xchrisloungex]

Twin 81's in the custom 22, these replaced the dragon II's which was an awesome move, never liked the dragons.

A bk nailbomb in the Hiland which if I'm honest made the guitar sound like ass. I'm not sure it it was he heavily maple based construction of the guitar but it turned into one of the thinnest sounding guitars I've ever known.

 

[Machinated]

mate your PRS is basically the same as mine haha mine looks more like yours in that photo colour wise than my photo for some reason....