I'm looking to order a Private Stock guitar based around the Archtop II that was produced from the late 90's to early 2000's. I really love the tone that Mike Einziger from Incubus got with these guitars on the live Morning View sessions.
If you listen to that droning overdriven guitar sound on songs like "Wish You Were Here", he's actually using the neck pickup on the Archtop which is crazy considering how it never gets too boomy or muddy. It retains a lot of midrange, clarity, and note definition. I have same amp as him, the Mesa Tremoverb Dual Rectifier. You can actually see rig rundowns of Mike and the EQ on the amps is even setup to be bass heavy, mids and presence slightly scooped, and not even that overly bright on the treble.
I also have multiple non-PRS archtop guitars and the neck pickup on them is exactly what you would expect with this kind of overdriven amp.. boomy / muddy, lacks note definition, completely the opposite of the tone he's getting on those live sessions.
Is there something different about the PRS Archtop II that lends itself to this sound? Or if I do order this guitar, should I be expecting to do some custom / aftermarket stuff with the pickups to accomplish this? Thanks for any help you can give on the matter, I'm a bit confused on this one.
If you listen to that droning overdriven guitar sound on songs like "Wish You Were Here", he's actually using the neck pickup on the Archtop which is crazy considering how it never gets too boomy or muddy. It retains a lot of midrange, clarity, and note definition. I have same amp as him, the Mesa Tremoverb Dual Rectifier. You can actually see rig rundowns of Mike and the EQ on the amps is even setup to be bass heavy, mids and presence slightly scooped, and not even that overly bright on the treble.
I also have multiple non-PRS archtop guitars and the neck pickup on them is exactly what you would expect with this kind of overdriven amp.. boomy / muddy, lacks note definition, completely the opposite of the tone he's getting on those live sessions.
Is there something different about the PRS Archtop II that lends itself to this sound? Or if I do order this guitar, should I be expecting to do some custom / aftermarket stuff with the pickups to accomplish this? Thanks for any help you can give on the matter, I'm a bit confused on this one.