Someone was commenting that Silver Sky pickups are not as bright in 2023 as they were in 2018...

[Lewguitar]

When I bought my first SE Silver Sky I had a chance to compare it to a 2018 USA Silver Sky and felt that the pickups were very similar and equally bright.

I liked the USA SS pickups a little more, but the difference was slight.

It seems that the pickups in the USA SS have been redesigned and now have slightly lower output and a warmer tone in 2023, and that the changes started around 2020.

I now have two SE Silver Skys and one has Chubtone '61 pickups which have a slightly warmer, slightly fuller tone, with less sizzle than the original SE pickups in my other SE SS.

Yesterday I spent a few hours rocking out through my PRS HDRX 20 watt amp with both guitars. And also with my Strat that has A5 Duncan Antiquity pickups; pickups I find sound very similar to the pickups in the 2018 USA Silver Sky I auditioned last year and which I had a chance to hear again last week when I bought my PRS HDRX 20 amp.

What I've learned is the SE with the lower output, less sizzley sounding Chubtone '61 pickups sounds better through the HDRX amp, especially when I'm using my overdrive pedals: Klon KTR, Dover Drive and Hot Cake.

That glassy crystalline treble that I used to like about a Strat takes away from the smooth, liquid tone of the Dover Drive and Hot Cake and makes getting the Eric Johnson violin tone and Eric Clapton with Cream tone more difficult.

I didn't notice this so much using the same pedals through my Deluxe Reverb. But it's very obvious when I play through the HDRX 20.

That may be why the pickups in the new USA Silver Sky have been redesigned for slightly lower DCR and a slightly warmer tone.

In any case, I like the warmer tone. It just sounds better and more ear friendly to me.

I've noticed that when some guys try to emulate Mark Knopfler's tone with a Strat that their tone usually is too crystalline and trebley.

Mark plays with a warmer tone and even prefers those Texas Hot Fender pickups which I always thought had less treble than most Strat pickups.









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[andy474x]

My SS I believe is a 2019, and has the older style pickups - they sound brighter to me as well, but not nearly as bright, and/or thin, as most of the Fenders I tried around that time. Some of that probably having to do with the overall build, too.

The tone controls on my SS are probably the best of any guitar I’ve ever owned - I saw an interview where John said he wanted the controls to work like the EQ on a studio mixing board, or something like that, and they really do. So, the nice thing about that is that I can roll the tone controls back and get a really dialed in top end, without feeling like I can’t get away from the inherent brightness of the pickups. Again, not that they’re that bright. It’s just a wonderful control circuit.

I’m not sure if the SE models have the same character in the controls, but I’ve never wished my SS pickups to be darker or warmer sounding. Not saying you’re wrong, by any means, about your SE’s… I’m just talking!

One of the nice things about the HDRX that I’ve found to dial in that top end to keep it from being harsh, is to find the right balance of the bass and treble channels with the bright switch on, or off, depending. The bright switch only affects the treble channel, so I can kind of dial in the glassy-ness of the sound with the balance of the two channels.

It sounds like you’re getting a lot out of the HDRX 20! I’m not surprised, it’s a fantastic circuit. Probably the best amp I’ve owned for getting equally good tones out of humbuckers and single coils. I usually do not like the sound of modern Strats into plexi reissues or clones, because they’re just terribly bright, but the SS and HDRX are a match made in heaven.

 

[Lewguitar]

My SS I believe is a 2019, and has the older style pickups - they sound brighter to me as well, but not nearly as bright, and/or thin, as most of the Fenders I tried around that time. Some of that probably having to do with the overall build, too.

The tone controls on my SS are probably the best of any guitar I’ve ever owned - I saw an interview where John said he wanted the controls to work like the EQ on a studio mixing board, or something like that, and they really do. So, the nice thing about that is that I can roll the tone controls back and get a really dialed in top end, without feeling like I can’t get away from the inherent brightness of the pickups. Again, not that they’re that bright. It’s just a wonderful control circuit.

I’m not sure if the SE models have the same character in the controls, but I’ve never wished my SS pickups to be darker or warmer sounding. Not saying you’re wrong, by any means, about your SE’s… I’m just talking!

One of the nice things about the HDRX that I’ve found to dial in that top end to keep it from being harsh, is to find the right balance of the bass and treble channels with the bright switch on, or off, depending. The bright switch only affects the treble channel, so I can kind of dial in the glassy-ness of the sound with the balance of the two channels.

It sounds like you’re getting a lot out of the HDRX 20! I’m not surprised, it’s a fantastic circuit. Probably the best amp I’ve owned for getting equally good tones out of humbuckers and single coils. I usually do not like the sound of modern Strats into plexi reissues or clones, because they’re just terribly bright, but the SS and HDRX are a match made in heaven.

Thanks! I like the pickups in the USA Silver Sky. Every version of them. 2018 - 2022. It's a GREAT guitar. If I had one I wouldn't change them, regardless of which year the guitar was.

The pickups in my SE were absolutely fine professional pickups, very similar to the USA version but not identical.

A little zingier maybe and not quite as deep and "round" sounding as those in the 2018 USA model I compared it to.

So I changed them to try and make my SE sound more like the USA version and more like my real '63 Strat.

All I was saying is that I can see the rationale behind the changes PRS made to the USA Silver Sky pickups.