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What are the best PRS pickups?


02-fatboy

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I am looking to eventually buy a PRS and I wanted to get some input from fellow HC's as to what the hottest and best sounding pickups are?

 

I have been told the Dragon pickups are a little muddy but I have never played a PRS with them before. Out of all the PRS's which model and pickup would be the best?

 

I would like to get one with a nice top and preferably the bird inlays, and locking tuners.

 

I will probably buy used sometime in the next year or so but I wanted to get some input first.

 

Any feedback suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

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I really like my original Dragon pickups. But they were discontinued for the Dragon IIs. :idk:

 

There is nothing muddy about my PRS - a flame maple top CE22. I A/B'd mine heavily against a similar CE that had the PRS Bass and Treble p'ups. The Dragons just had a bit more vibe.

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Hmmm very interesting. I don't know much about PRS's other than what a few people have told me. Several people have said the CE's sound better???

 

All I can say is that I owned a PRS santana SE and for a little while. It was a great playing and sounding guitar but I wanted something with a little nicer finish.

 

The plain black with inlays didn't do it for me

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Hmmm very interesting. I don't know much about PRS's other than what a few people have told me. Several people have said the CE's sound better???

 

Yeah, it's kinda funny for me, because I'm a gear whore, but when I got that one PRS, I never went back looking for another. I've bought plenty of Gibsons and Fenders, but with the one PRS, it was enough to give me that Wayne's World "we're not worthy" kind of feeling so I just stopped with it. I can't remember if I've ever really even played a Standard, Custom or McCarty at the stores. I just called it "done" with this one. I still rank it as one of my best tone machines in my stable.

 

DSC01824.jpgDSC01831.jpg

 

Maybe the fact that they are uncovered also helps a bit. (?)

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The uncovered pickups tend to sound much hotter in my opinion then the covered ones.

 

I have an 05 Les Paul Classic and an 08 Les Paul Standard Plus. The 08 has uncovered pickups and it is buy far the best sounding hottest Les Paul I have ever picked up and played. Even a several of my friends seem to agree with me on this.

 

I don't know? Maybe there are just good and bad guitars? I have never compared my Classic to another one and it would be very interesting to see just how different two of the exact same guitars would be. Here's my classic and my Standard.

 

Buy the way you have a really amazing PRS I would love to own something like that. Eventually. For now I have to killer Les Pauls. The red one which is my classic is the best sounding and playing by my standard has on hell of an awesome finish on it. Plus its a little bit lighter. I guess the pickups in my standard sound more traditional at least to me. They still scream though just not as much as the open pickups on my classic.

 

nicksguitarpictures165.jpg

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I really like that fact that JVOD had a Jackson Dinky. I have a dinky as well and I love it. I don't play it nearly as much as my Les Pauls but I feel like the dinkys don't get enough credit for the price they are awesome playing and sounding guitars. I love to crank up my Dinky with EMG's in and let it rip through the dirty channel on my Mesa.

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I really like that fact that JVOD had a Jackson Dinky. I have a dinky as well and I love it. I don't play it nearly as much as my Les Pauls but I feel like the dinkys don't get enough credit for the price they are awesome playing and sounding guitars. I love to crank up my Dinky with EMG's in and let it rip through the dirty channel on my Mesa.

 

 

Yeah, I still have & love my Dinky (guitar that is). They are very good instruments.

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Conceivably, the tone in the CE might be a bit more snappy due to the bolt on neck vs. set neck.

 

 

 

This. It's not a huge difference, but every little bit helps. The fact that the bolt-on + the tendency to be maple necks instead of mahogany will 'sparkle' up a set of Dragons or HFS.

 

 

Anyways, I'm looking to hopefully trade my ESP custom for a PRS here soon, so I'm listening myself on comments.

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I think PRS has a deal going where if you buy a US model, you can send it to them for any other pickups they offer.

 

Apparently the ones called 58/2008 and 59/2009 are the most popular upgrades...

 

I am happy with the more "vintage-like" 245 neck and bridge pickups in my SC245... and the McCarty pickups in my McCarty.

 

M

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PRS pickups, in my experience, all sound good with a little bit of fiddlin. Each has its own idea of what height works best. Case in point- my Hollowbody Spruce- I have them at 1/2 the distance recommended on the PRS site and they're lovely, 1/8 turn down and they go muddy :confused:

 

Second case- buddy's McCarty- he swears if he turns the height adjuster screws even the tiniest fraction of a turn the sound changes completely. Given my experience with my hollowbody I'm inclined to agree (though tempted to fiddle a bit with the McCarty :evil:)

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The uncovered pickups tend to sound much hotter in my opinion then the covered ones.


I have an 05 Les Paul Classic and an 08 Les Paul Standard Plus. The 08 has uncovered pickups and it is buy far the best sounding hottest Les Paul I have ever picked up and played. Even a several of my friends seem to agree with me on this.

Pretty guitars.

 

The cover vs. non-covers is pretty subtle. The difference you're noticing there is a completely different pickup. Classics sport much hotter PUs than Standards.

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You wanted to know which are the hottest and best sounding?

 

The 250 pickups are the hottest (perhaps right there with the Tremonti), and to my ears, they sound the best. I'm biased, of course, since I'm still in full honeymoon mode with my SC250, but I'd never consider swapping out the pickups.

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