Singlecut Trem - pickups for more low end

[alseic]

Hi
I've bought 2004 singlecut Trem, actually it is the one from
"NGD: PRS Singlecut (2004)" thread posted by @grayn
(I looked at photos and it looked like mine... checked twice, it is the same guitar hehe)

Could you recommend some pickups to get more low-end and more airy/open sound?

The guitar sounds quite nice, reminds me MM Axis (musical mids).
My problem is that it is a bit compressed sounding (not a lot of air) and it lacks low-end.
It is quite bright in highs, fortunately even though highs are a little ice-picky as grayn mentioned, they are sweet. I'd say it sounds like mix of SG & strat rather than LP.

if you played Soldano Avenger, well it reminds me Soldano compared to some real high-gain monsters like VHT UL/Diezel, mids&highs&sweet.

I can't find much info about singlecut trems over internet, but I've found some comments that they might sound bright. I though that singlecut version should sound a little thicker than SC-type.

I've compared it to nice heavy-sounding LP (had a few others until I got "the" one) and I just miss that oomph. I also have similar guitar Taylor solidbody (chambered), Peavey Wolfgang, Yamaha SG1000, all of them seem to have more bottom end which is good for chugga chugga.

I am going to test Dimarzio Super Distortion or D-Activators as I have some spare pickups and see if it will change anything, but I wonder if you know some better options (it would be nice if it was Dimarzio, so far the only Duncans I liked are Blackouts in 7 string guitars lol, others are too neutral/middy for me). I also live in Europe so I am trying to stick to some known brands.

 

[CatStrangler]

hmmm, I have a couple thoughts. Personally I find singlecuts to generally sound a little more compressed than their double-cutaway brethren. I do think playing around with pickup heights (lower) could alleviate this to an extent as well as some of the ice pick effect and you might find the low end tightened up at the same time. Not sure what to say about the low end, except it might be easier to take care of that on the amp end. all of this is course JMO and YMMV. keep us posted.

 

[bodia]

I would agree with Mr. Strangler. Take some time to tweak pickup and pole pieces. You'd be surprised how much impact this can have with PRS guitars.

 

[Rider1260]

If you have the #6 pickups they are ( bridge ) a bit compressed sound as they are a hotter ( 12K ish ) pickup
you might try a 57/08 set or a 57/08 or 59/09 bridge

 

[BrianC]

I am a happy SCT owner especially AFTER I changed pups. The #6's were not for me.

 

[alseic]

I've raised action a little and changed strings to 10-48 GHS, previous set was like D'Addarrio- nice sounding, but quite bright. This helped a bit for lows.

I tested Dimarzio Super Distortion - sounded bland in this guitar, too much mids (though very punchy( and highs were very simple sounding. I like SD, just not in this guitar.

Then I mounted Dimarzio D-Activator from Ibanez Iceman - and so far I kept this one.
Much, much tighter, very punchy, very clear sounding especially in lows, though a bit too dark (mids are a little scooped, it is like clear bass +high mids), so it sounds "wet" and modern.
So for metal etc it is very nice, though it sounds quite sterile on cleans. Highs are a little thin but yet nice sounding.
Oh and I keep this pickup quite far away from strings because it is very clean/cutting. If it is too close - everything gets muddy.

#6 has thicker sound (+), is quite clear (+), but when I played some string skipping it was too even, middy(-), D-Activator had more "air", this was the main difference compared to other guitars which was putting me off.
It cleans much better than D-Activator (+).
#6 sounded weird with amps like Diezel which has quite thick tone clear highs, it was just "too much"(-), while I could mess with some eq settings I couldn't fix that.
It's like I wanted to play bridge pickup but with #6 it sounds like bridge+neck.

#6 with volume at 7 sounded a little similar to D'Activator (cleaner).
D'Activator with tone at 6 (muddier) sounds similar to #6

My Les Paul has much more mids yet it blends much better.

Anyway #6 is not that bad as some people they say.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Play with pickup height. A little bit goes a long way.

 

[Boogie]

Maybe it's not the pickups...

 

[11top]

As others have suggested, 57/08s or 59/09s. I have both in SCs (my favorite PRS model) and they sound great. The 59/09s are a bit muddier than the 57/08s, so you might want to try the latter.

 

[11top]

Anyway #6 is not that bad as some people they say.

Agreed