PRS SE Custom 22 - MUDDY - PUP or Amp or...?

Blue Rosebuds

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I bought a PRS SE Custom 22 new maybe 15 years ago or so. It plays good but sounds really bad unless heavily distorted. Only mod is Grovers but I have had it looked at/worked on and still get overbearing lows and mids on the low strings, mostly from the neck PUP. The over dominant low E and A were my main concern when I had it set up. Indeed they did lower the pickup really low but still overpowers the high strings. Just got a Keeley compressor to try to even things out but not much luck. The only amp I have is a VOX AD15VT so maybe that is the problem? I have fidgeted with all of the preset models and bypassed the effects and fidgeted further but can't get an even strum across the strings, most noticeable on the clean channels. I don't want to give up on this guitar yet but have others in mind if I can't get a clean sound from this SE. Lowering volume pot helps a bit, but still very obvious problem. Looking at Roland JC amp and Gretch and Tele. Been writing songs on acoustic for years and want to record them with electric. Need great clean sound to begin, will worry about distortion later. Tried and old Applause electric (cheap ovation) with a single coil in neck and sounds pretty even and clean, just not sound I need. Thoughts on where to go with SE?
Thanks, Ron
 
Thanks for the reply. I would hate to only have 1 zebra but I guess at this point I am open to anything that works. Maybe a super clean jazz in the neck and a heavy in the bridge. Would really bother me if after swapping PUP's I had the same problem. Just making sure it is not a common issue I am unaware of I guess.
 
Older SE pups, not unlike most of the core pups Back in the day, were bleh on older guitars. Definitely not anymore but you would benefit greatly from an upgrade and Craigslist or the gear page emporium has cheap pups all the time.
 
What string gauge are you using? my SE’s love 9-42’s, and all sound muddy if I use pure nickel strings. Also, expect different tone settings on your amp. I have to change the tone settings when I change guitars. Every....single....time.
 
Do you know anyone who has a guitar and amp you can get together with? Try plugging into each other’s amps and see if what you don’t like persists with the change.
 
It was set up with 9-42's for maybe 10 years, was still extra muddy on low strings. The muddiness was one of the reasons I went to 10's when I had it set up again, try anything different, but really prefer 9's. I do use Ernie Ball Nickle strings almost always, sometimes D'Addario nickle would. Man I would love a simple solution like a string change. I know bronze sound bright on acoustic, makes sense it would on electric, never considered it. I did consider flatwounds... I could probably find someone around to swap amps, but my other guitars don't seem to have the same problem. Thanks for the replies.

ETA - Just occurred to me why not bronze on electric... duh
 
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