Early 2000's McCarty vs CU22 for high-gain sounds?

AAAAAannnnnnnnd.....just in case you thought this thread could go on without at LEAST a pic or two from my and my custom 22....well........

20240329_112303_by_klbryanphotography_dhas2eo-fullview.jpg


20240329_112316_by_klbryanphotography_dhas2cu-fullview.jpg


lol 😏
 
I'd go for a Custom 22 with a stop tail. I have a 2008 and use it for all manner of high gain metal type tones with the Dragon II pickups, and while they are solid for this purpose, I definitely prefer the tone of my 1997 CE 22 with Dragon I pickups. If you're patient, you should be able to find a mid 90's Custom 22 hard tail with Dragon I pickups for a decent price. Don't get me wrong, I love my Custom 22 with the Dragon II pickups, but the Dragon I's are definitely a hotter, higher output pickup that will hit the font of an amp harder than the Dragon II. The Dragon II bridge pickup sits between a McCarty and a Dragon I and has Alnico magnets as opposed to ceramic as you find in the Dragon I and HFS. Back in the 90's and early 00's a PRS with either HFS/VB or Dragon pickups (I or II) into a Mesa Triple Rectifier was THE sound of nu-metal.
 
I'd go for a Custom 22 with a stop tail. I have a 2008 and use it for all manner of high gain metal type tones with the Dragon II pickups, and while they are solid for this purpose, I definitely prefer the tone of my 1997 CE 22 with Dragon I pickups. If you're patient, you should be able to find a mid 90's Custom 22 hard tail with Dragon I pickups for a decent price. Don't get me wrong, I love my Custom 22 with the Dragon II pickups, but the Dragon I's are definitely a hotter, higher output pickup that will hit the font of an amp harder than the Dragon II. The Dragon II bridge pickup sits between a McCarty and a Dragon I and has Alnico magnets as opposed to ceramic as you find in the Dragon I and HFS. Back in the 90's and early 00's a PRS with either HFS/VB or Dragon pickups (I or II) into a Mesa Triple Rectifier was THE sound of nu-metal.
I second this. I just pulled a set of Dragons out of my CE for the HFS/VB set as this CE stays in drop tuning and usually gets used on heavier tracks. My Dragon 2s definitely hold their own for rock (and the outter coils in parallel sound is also great IMO) but for metal something ceramic (Dragon 1 or HFS) would be my vote. (the neck pickup is the exact same in the dragon 1 and dragon 2 sets, for what it's worth)

If you want to save a little coin, the 'core' CEs were made on the same production line as the Customs, they just have bolt on necks and are usually cheaper on Reverb - there are several listed now for <2k.
 
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