Pickup Adjustment Help

[Rohann]

Hello gentlefolk,

About a year ago I posted a thread regarding a change in pickups. I have a Standard 24 from 2002 (or 2004?) with HFS/VB pickups. I like the growl that they provide but I haven't been terribly happy with the tone overall as I find the HFS to be a bit honky with cleans and it can get muddy quickly with distortion. The VB seems like it has the potential to sound nice and smooth but the low mids are quite boomy and the top end can simultaneously be on the brighter side. Sounds pretty good for distorted leads, but again a bit boomy.

Granted, I don't have great amps or anything, but this seems fairly consistent across amps I've used. I'm looking for decent sounding strummed/picked cleans on position 1, 2 and 4 (I think...10, 9 and 7, technically), growly but focused distortion on pos 1/10, as well as smooth but...focused? leads on pos 4/6.

Can pickup adjustment compensate for a lot of that, or would different pickups be better suited?
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TL;DR: Can HFS/VB pickups be adjusted to sound less honky/boomy and still give decent output?

For reference, I'm looking for tones similar to what Opeth have attained in their career span (probably MAYH onward), but it's hard to know what pickups they're using. Other bands for reference would be Porcupine Tree circa Fear Of A Blank Planet, Gorguts' Coloured Sands, Dan Swano's Witherscape, Edge of Sanity, etc. Basically things in the progressive metal vein -- plenty of clean options with tightly distorted rhythms and leads.
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Bonus question: A friend is giving me an Epiphone SG I'm going to swap things out of to probably keep in a different tuning. Any suggestions for pickups or the like?

 

[Ovibos]

Silly cheap thought: what strings are you using? Have you tried something less/more bright? Gauges?

 

[ReptilianNosewood]

I got rid of the ones in my Custom 24 for similar reasons. PRS is my favorite guitar but the HFS/Vintage Bass are my least favorite pickups of any pickup ive played, i couldn't get a good balance out of them no matter how i tried.

 

[AP515]

59/09's...done

 

[ReptilianNosewood]

I scored some 85/15's from the interwebs, if you can find em i think they are pretty great.

 

[Rohann]

So is the general consensus that adjustment doesn't really make enough of a difference? I think the 59/09's sounded good from what I remember, as well as Dragon I and Dragon II (for the neck), or similar. I again like a nice crunchy sound that doesn't get muddy too quickly but doesn't have the sterile modernity of Bareknuckle pickups or the like. Though in my PRS I'm inclined to stick with PRS pickups and not go the SD route.

I've tried different strings and they don't seem to make much of a difference. There are subtle differences in brightness but the overwhelming honk and quick muddiness doesn't go away.

 

[dogrocketp]

Try D`Addario`s NYXL`s in the gauge of your choice. Then Back the pickups away from the strings. If you find any uneven sound raise only that pole piece. This will take time, patience, and you may get minor ear fatigue before you get to the right place. I think PRS pickups are the most adjustable, sound wise, of any I`ve ever played. I`ve been playing over 50 years. I always think adjust before you replace. It`s your guitar. The guys who made it didn`t make it out of stone. Work with it and really make it yours.

 

[Rider1260]

IMHO the VB/HFS combo works best with the rotary switch the in-between sounds for me are great the HFS can cover a great range of tones when you use the vol knob I love how it will easily push a clean amp into a bit of growl. I liked it in my SCT and a CU24 I have.
From what you are describing I would look at a Tremonti set or a Metal set and the 59/09 is very popular

 

[Rohann]

Thanks all.

dgrocketp: Interesting, will do. Are there any rules of thumb for tone regarding pickup adjustment, i.e. closer = louder and muddier, etc?

Rider1260: Mine does have a rotary switch. The available tones are indeed quite versatile, but again the honkiness makes some of them not terribly useful for what I'm looking for. The volume knob controlling a degree of the growl is great, especially on the bridge pickup, but the cleans just aren't working well for me. Will adjust and see how it goes.

Thanks -- I'm not sure I was interested in the metal set as I read the cleans aren't really great. They seem like a bit more of a one-trick-pony pickup. A Tremonti in the bridge and maybe a Dragon II in the neck? The 59's are highest on my list, I think.

 

[dogrocketp]

Thanks all.

dgrocketp: Interesting, will do. Are there any rules of thumb for tone regarding pickup adjustment, i.e. closer = louder and muddier, etc?

Rider1260: Mine does have a rotary switch. The available tones are indeed quite versatile, but again the honkiness makes some of them not terribly useful for what I'm looking for. The volume knob controlling a degree of the growl is great, especially on the bridge pickup, but the cleans just aren't working well for me. Will adjust and see how it goes.

Thanks -- I'm not sure I was interested in the metal set as I read the cleans aren't really great. They seem like a bit more of a one-trick-pony pickup. A Tremonti in the bridge and maybe a Dragon II in the neck? The 59's are highest on my list, I think.

Closer does equal and muddier sometimes.