Pickup swap for SE Custom Mark Tremonti

Love the guitar and the sound when I run it through pedals. Not so much when running clean through a clean amp. Would a set of 85/15's be an upgrade? Or would it be better to go to a non PRS pickup?

 

You're asking a PRS Forum if a non PRS pickup would be a better upgrade than a PRS pickup?


On a serious note, what kind of sounds are you looking for?

 

Something warm and not too bright on the neck . Something that would work for jazz and blues as well as classic rock. And then something along the same lines but with more bite on the bridge pick up. If I want something more aggressive I can go to my pedal board.

 

You might consider a new wiring harness for your guitar before you buy new pups. It made a world of difference in my SE. If you still don’t like your pups after that at least you have already upgraded the wiring.

 

I put USA Mira pickups in my SE Tremonti Custom, along with new wiring. It sounds fantastic, but it weighs a ton.

 

Any of the 5X/XX pickups would be a fine choice, as would be the 85/15’s.

 

Sounds like you need a mule neck and riff Raff bridge from bare knuckle.
And push pull pots to split them, if you don't already have that.

* Ducks for cover from PRS pickup purists *

 

My favorite sounding PRS has 57/08s. Just saying.

 

57/08 neck and 59/09 bridge could be a good combo for David too

(My favorite sounding prs has BKP abraxas, but that another story)

 

If you haven't already tried adjusting the pickup heights and pole pieces I would suggest that. I did that to mine with the Tremonti S pickups and that "tamed" it to where I did the clean sounds on it very much. Good luck.

 

where does one go for the wiring harness upgrade? What does that include?

 

There are some nice ones on Reverb. They include new pots, caps and wiring. You'll most likely need new knobs also because the shaft will be bigger. Oh, and you'll need to open the shaft holes on the guitar to 3/8".

 

Just put a set of the recent SE "Tremonti S" pickups into my SE Singelcut. They definitely are pretty hot and breakup happens quickly on clean.

One trivial (you could say obvious) idea is to roll back the volume control.

 

I like the US Mira's with 300k pots.

 

https://920dcustom.com/

 

I used a 920D on a 335 once. I got it installed only to find out it had a bad pot. No more 9220D for me but I'm sure they aren't all bad.