PRS 305 Seymour Duncan hot rails - sounds dark

[Mike1225]

Looking for advice. Couple years ago I picked up a used 305 (discontinued early strat-a-like). Fell in love with the feel of it- just felt right. I felt the pickups were lacking - not trying to create a strat (have that) I had a reputable local PRS dealer install a set of hot rails. Sounds good but really dark. With tone pot all the way up kinda sounds like it’s already half rolled back. No big deal when I was playing through a dr z - I learned quickly where to turn the presence and tone knobs to compensate. But now I’m playing through an axe fx and not so easy so figure I should deal with underlying issue.

My theory is that the pots and cap attached to them were spec’d for the thin trebly stock pickups. I understand that 250/500k pots are applied differently to single coils and humbuckers - and I essentially went from single coils to humbuckers.

Don’t want to give up on this guitar particularly if there is a simp,e fix. Any insight or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

 

[László]

I’m sure others will have great suggestions about pots, caps and pickups, so I’ll leave that aside.

One of the guys I worked with on one of my projects mentioned that his Axe-FX had an EQ effect built in. I’d guess that’s something that comes with the unit?

A decent EQ - especially a digital EQ where the Q points and curve can be messed with - can be a very powerful tone-shaper. I’m thinking you might be able to create an effect preset that you can save and use with your guitar “as needed.”

I realize this will take some fussing around, but it can really solve problems like this. Digital has its pros and cons, but programmability certainly gives it a lot of power.

I use an analog EQ on my pedalboard. It’s a powerful tool.

 

[Mike1225]

I’m sure others will have great suggestions about pots, caps and pickups, so I’ll leave that aside.

One of the guys I worked with on one of my projects mentioned that his Axe-FX had an EQ effect built in. I’d guess that’s something that comes with the unit?

A decent EQ - especially a digital EQ where the Q points and curve can be messed with - can be a very powerful tone-shaper. I’m thinking you might be able to create an effect preset that you can save and use with your guitar “as needed.”

I realize this will take some fussing around, but it can really solve problems like this. Digital has its pros and cons, but programmability certainly gives it a lot of power.

I use an analog EQ on my pedalboard. It’s a powerful tool.

Thanks - I can insert an eq block and assign a switch on the controller to turn it on/off. I might do that as a temp fix. Just hoping there might be some “correct” way to fix or maybe learn those pickups just aren’t a good match. Thanks for tak8ng the time to answer.

 

[László]

Thanks - I can insert an eq block and assign a switch on the controller to turn it on/off. I might do that as a temp fix. Just hoping there might be some “correct” way to fix or maybe learn those pickups just aren’t a good match. Thanks for tak8ng the time to answer.

No worries! The best thing is to probably swap pickups, but I can’t help there.

 

[garrett]

Hot Rails are dark pickups, so it's no surprise. Check the value of the pots. If they're 250k, try 500k, which should be a better match for the output and tonality of the Hot Rails. If that still doesn't do it for you, look into putting in a differently voiced pickup in at least the middle and neck spots.

 

[cshallcross]

Looking for advice. Couple years ago I picked up a used 305 (discontinued early strat-a-like). Fell in love with the feel of it- just felt right. I felt the pickups were lacking - not trying to create a strat (have that) I had a reputable local PRS dealer install a set of hot rails. Sounds good but really dark. With tone pot all the way up kinda sounds like it’s already half rolled back. No big deal when I was playing through a dr z - I learned quickly where to turn the presence and tone knobs to compensate. But now I’m playing through an axe fx and not so easy so figure I should deal with underlying issue.

My theory is that the pots and cap attached to them were spec’d for the thin trebly stock pickups. I understand that 250/500k pots are applied differently to single coils and humbuckers - and I essentially went from single coils to humbuckers.

Don’t want to give up on this guitar particularly if there is a simp,e fix. Any insight or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

I'm thinking of doing the same thing to my 305 but I have no idea of what will fit in the pickup cavities now. Any advice on what pickups might fit in there?

 

[Ovibos]

In my caveman world this is what the Presence knob of the amp is for.

 

[garrett]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing to my 305 but I have no idea of what will fit in the pickup cavities now. Any advice on what pickups might fit in there?

Lengthwise, any standard single is fine. Width is the problem. You can't have the typical triangular base. Not a lot of options there; mostly noiseless stuff.

You could get a boutique winder to make you a custom set, or you can modify a standard pickup if you have the guts.

 

[dogrocketp]

Try a true 500k volume pot. Or even a 550 if the 500 is still a little dark. Also try NYXL's. They brightened up my old CE 24 amazingly. It has 57/08's in it.

 

[dmatthews]

Need pics of your 305 with new pups. Did you need to do some routing?

 

[Jimi D]

I'm sorry, but I got stuck where you said you changed out your 305 pickups... I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would swap out their 305 pickups for something else...

I LOVE my 305 pickups!! So that's where I got stuck...

so I'm not much help...

 

[Boogie]

Looking for advice. Couple years ago I picked up a used 305 (discontinued early strat-a-like). Fell in love with the feel of it- just felt right. I felt the pickups were lacking - not trying to create a strat (have that) I had a reputable local PRS dealer install a set of hot rails. Sounds good but really dark. With tone pot all the way up kinda sounds like it’s already half rolled back. No big deal when I was playing through a dr z - I learned quickly where to turn the presence and tone knobs to compensate. But now I’m playing through an axe fx and not so easy so figure I should deal with underlying issue.

My theory is that the pots and cap attached to them were spec’d for the thin trebly stock pickups. I understand that 250/500k pots are applied differently to single coils and humbuckers - and I essentially went from single coils to humbuckers.

Don’t want to give up on this guitar particularly if there is a simp,e fix. Any insight or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

You’re on the right track with the pots and cap. A regular Hot Rails is seriously hot and needs to be treated like a humbucker.