swamp ash special

[max sas]

Hi everyone,

I've been enjoining a swamp ash special for may years now, but ever since I got it I was unhappy with the single coil sounds. I was wondering if anyone here modified their guitar to have a real single coil sound? I have an early model with the three way switch and ideally I'd be looking for single coil middle pickup and single coil neck pickup.

thanks everyone!

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

57/08’s and a freeway switch.

Paging @SinSir to the white courtesy phone.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

Sorry, I have a 2008 with the 5-way switch. I don’t use the coil taps a lot on it or my McCarty.

 

[RedGuitars]

What’s a freeway switch?

 

[alantig]

What’s a freeway switch?

It's like a detour, or an alternate route.



Oh, you meant for guitars? They make blade and toggle switches with the capability of additional wiring options, so a five-position blade can have 10 sounds, and a three-way toggle can have six.

Home - Free-Way Switch

Amazing 6 & 10 position dual-bank pickup selectors for electric guitars. Unrivalled tonal flexibility with fast intuitive operation! The official home of Free-Way.

www.freewayswitch.com

 

[JasonE]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with my SAS. Min eis an 06 with the 5 way blade switch. I changed the middle pickup out for a Fralin Blues Special single coil. I then changed the humbuckers out for Fralin Unbuckers. It definitely had a better 2 and 4 position sound. It was more stratty. I ended up swapping the Unbuckers out for 57/08 pickups when a nice set came up on a forum years ago. They were out of a special run guitar and have shiny covers on them. They are a bit different than my other 57/08s. That is what is in the guitar right now. I have been thinking about putting all of the stock pickups back in it to see what I think of them. I don't remember disliking them. I changed them to get more of a stratty sound out of the in between positions, then kind of moved away from that.

After typing this I remembered that 2006 was a great transition year for PRS. They put the 5 way on the SAS and they put two dots at the 12th fret on all of their models. It was a great year, IMHO.

 

[garrett]

There are a few things you can do, depending how you want to get there.

Some ideas....

A modern 4-pole 5-way (or 6-way!) rotary switch. You could wire this in a number of ways to get different combos, like middle alone and tapped neck alone. Or wire it to get the more typical 5-way selections and use the push/pull to tap the humbuckers.

If you don't use the tone control, you can make it a separate volume knob to control just the middle pickup. Use the push/pull to tap the humbuckers.

Or as others pointed out, there's the Free-Way switch.

 

[Xtcclassic]

Both Kinman and TV Jones make very stratty-sounding humbucker-sized pickups. TV Jones’ version is the Magna’Tron and the Kinman version is the Twangbucker.

 

[The Bird]

I am so buying a SAS when I can find one in the right condition and color.

 

[DISTORT6]

I am so buying a SAS when I can find one in the right condition and color.

THE HUNT!

 

[The Bird]

THE HUNT!

Oh yeah, it’s on!

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Really miss my old one

 

[R7darkback]

Tim down at Guitar Gallery put in P-rails for me along with push/pull pots for 1) P90s. 2) rails 3) humbuckers in series and 4) humbuckers in parallel. The middle is a cool rail with a mini toggle switch added for 1) single coil. 2) humbucker and 3) off

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with my SAS. Min eis an 06 with the 5 way blade switch. I changed the middle pickup out for a Fralin Blues Special single coil. I then changed the humbuckers out for Fralin Unbuckers. It definitely had a better 2 and 4 position sound. It was more stratty. I ended up swapping the Unbuckers out for 57/08 pickups when a nice set came up on a forum years ago. They were out of a special run guitar and have shiny covers on them. They are a bit different than my other 57/08s. That is what is in the guitar right now. I have been thinking about putting all of the stock pickups back in it to see what I think of them. I don't remember disliking them. I changed them to get more of a stratty sound out of the in between positions, then kind of moved away from that.

After typing this I remembered that 2006 was a great transition year for PRS. They put the 5 way on the SAS and they put two dots at the 12th fret on all of their models. It was a great year, IMHO.

Just finished playing my 2008 SAS and I still like the original pickups a lot. That said, I prefer lower output pickups so I can have a great clean tone to start with and then add as much gain as I need/want with pedals.
I will also say that this guitar sounds exceptional with vintage Fender amps like my Vibrolux Reverbs, possibly due to the pickups, the swamp ash body and the maple neck. At the same time it has its own sound.

 

[max sas]

Hi, thanks for the replies. For the moment I don't want to change pickups or the tone control as I do very much like the humbucker sounds I get from the guitar. I never heard of a freeway switch, but I checked it out and it might just be what I'm looking for.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

Hi, thanks for the replies. For the moment I don't want to change pickups or the tone control as I do very much like the humbucker sounds I get from the guitar. I never heard of a freeway switch, but I checked it out and it might just be what I'm looking for.

It’s a great sounding guitar, and has a sound unique from most PRS offerings.

 

[SinSir]

Hi, thanks for the replies. For the moment I don't want to change pickups or the tone control as I do very much like the humbucker sounds I get from the guitar. I never heard of a freeway switch, but I checked it out and it might just be what I'm looking for.

Late to answering the courtesy phone @Bowtiefanatc

Freeway is your answer all the way. Start with that and go from there..

If more is needed change the pups to 5708. I tried tons of configurations and pickups. I personally prefer the 5815LT in the neck but totally cool with 5708 instead.

The freeway is handsdown a no brainer. Excellent company to deal with too.

Here's a link to my SAS

NGD OG SAS Swamp Ash Special

I've been after a SAS for a while. Heck I've wanted a swamp ash guitar for even longer. The blue ones always get me going, but when I stumbled on this '97 sunburst locally I had to pounce. Right now I have it set up with Porter pickups, an Alnico H90 (humbucker p90) in the neck and WRH (wide...

forums.prsguitars.com

 

[Assumer]

Really miss my old one

Killer color.

 

[JasonE]

Just finished playing my 2008 SAS and I still like the original pickups a lot. That said, I prefer lower output pickups so I can have a great clean tone to start with and then add as much gain as I need/want with pedals.
I will also say that this guitar sounds exceptional with vintage Fender amps like my Vibrolux Reverbs, possibly due to the pickups, the swamp ash body and the maple neck. At the same time it has its own sound.

I am with you on the lower output pickups. That is why I stayed with the Unbuckers and 57/08s. I just don't have an honest comparison between the original SAS pickups and the 58/08s at this point. One thing I would hate is if I swapped them back and found that I liked the 57/08s better. Then I would have to swap them back. I like the way it sounds with the 57/08s sound in this guitar. They are my favorite PRS pickup. I have them in a number of my guitars and swapped the pickups in my 594 over to them as well.

I just remember the only reason I changed the SAS pickups out in the first place was to try to get stronger in between tones. I don't remember disliking the SAS pickups at all. That is why I am thinking about putting them back in. It could be that the swap I made for the middle pickup could have been all I needed to do to get what I wanted from it at that time. I went from the vintage rail to a Fralin blues special.

I am with you on the amps too. The amp I have been playing for the past 7+ years is a hand built amp that is based on a Vibrolux. It is a Vibrolux circuit with a few mods. I love that amp. The first time I heard the clean sound of this amp, I was sold. I love the sound of these amps with the 10" speakers in them. Mine has a nice warm sound to it all by itself. It takes OD pedals very well. I tend to use lighter touch sensitive OD pedals as well for the most part. I have a Dirty Shirley pedal on my board for the medium to a bit higher gain tones. I rarely use anything heavier on gain than the DS pedal.

 

[Longneck Tenon]

I am with you on the lower output pickups. That is why I stayed with the Unbuckers and 57/08s. I just don't have an honest comparison between the original SAS pickups and the 58/08s at this point. One thing I would hate is if I swapped them back and found that I liked the 57/08s better. Then I would have to swap them back. I like the way it sounds with the 57/08s sound in this guitar. They are my favorite PRS pickup. I have them in a number of my guitars and swapped the pickups in my 594 over to them as well.

I just remember the only reason I changed the SAS pickups out in the first place was to try to get stronger in between tones. I don't remember disliking the SAS pickups at all. That is why I am thinking about putting them back in. It could be that the swap I made for the middle pickup could have been all I needed to do to get what I wanted from it at that time. I went from the vintage rail to a Fralin blues special.

I am with you on the amps too. The amp I have been playing for the past 7+ years is a hand built amp that is based on a Vibrolux. It is a Vibrolux circuit with a few mods. I love that amp. The first time I heard the clean sound of this amp, I was sold. I love the sound of these amps with the 10" speakers in them. Mine has a nice warm sound to it all by itself. It takes OD pedals very well. I tend to use lighter touch sensitive OD pedals as well for the most part. I have a Dirty Shirley pedal on my board for the medium to a bit higher gain tones. I rarely use anything heavier on gain than the DS pedal.

The 57/08 pickups are probably very similar to the Swamp Ash Specials. I could play my friends McCarty that had the 57/08 swap and A/B it with the SAS. If you’re happy with the 57/08’s no need to replace them.