Torero Pickup (Replacement?) Advice

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has switched pickups. I have heard the 81/85 swap before, but one of my problems was not enough clarity in the highs, and the 81 is often refered to as being terribly trebly. I might just pull whole system and sell it, then use that money towards new pickups and switches with a five way. I probably have some stuff lying around. I love actives in my basses, but it doesn't translate to guitar for me. There is also a 24v mod where two small 12v batteries adapt right into the 9v battery slot. That seems easier than finding another spot for an exra 9v, if you decide to go that route.
 
EMG have made a new set of active pickups that are more suited to non metal tones. The nomenclature is the EMG 57 / 66.
I also have a Torero, I bought it off ebay for a great price, so with out delay I bought the 57 / 66 set and will put them in as soon as I can manage.
I have a friend who let my know about them a couple of months ago by a youtube post.
By an EMG edosed Artist Tony MacAlpine and Nili Brosh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBgaksTijkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvwxAw5k8Y
 
Honestly, if you want to keep the SE, but want to get it more in to the CU24 range, slam a JB in there. You have a quality instrument, like John Beef said, coupled with one of the best pickups for live use, the JB. Its upper midrange really cuts through a mix and by virtue of it being passive, it is gonna sound bigger and more open.

The 81: trebly and compressed
The 85: midrangey and compressed

A good passive pickup will bring your SE closer to the sound you are after.
 
Well I figured I'd provide an update on this.

I put new pickups in my Torero. At the suggestion of my tech I went with Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and a Pearly Gates in the bridge. He suggested the Pearly Gates to compensate for the floating bridge compared to a fixed. I'm happy with the outcome. It definitely sounds more organic, brighter with more cut. It doesn't have quite the fat tone my 24 does, but I'm OK with that. Could just be the nature of the Floyd/floating bridge. They are two different guitars and I never expected them to sound exactly the same.

It would be nice PRS offered the Torero with passive pickups. The band I'm in now does a lot of pretty hard/heavy rock stuff and the Torero does a great job on it. I pull out my custom 24 for some of the tunes that are better suited for a fatter sound. I'm really loving the wider/flatter neck on the Torero as I'm getting into sweep picking and it just seems to work really well for that. There are times when I had a 2nd Torero kicking around. They aren't that expensive and while not as pretty as my artist package custom 24, its just as playable and stands up a bit better to aggressive playing without going out of tune.
 
This thread got me thinking about my Torero. So I went with the previously mentioned EMG 57/66 set. Made a world of difference in tone compared to the original 81/85 as they are much fuller sounding to me. I really like them a lot over the 81/85. Took about 20 easy minutes to swap them.
 
So another update including the fact that I'm not happy. A couple more practices in to hear my Torero at a decent volume with my JVM 410.

So now that I've got the passivie pickups in my Torero, it is more organic, less "compressed" (Thanks VHTStarck, that's a good word to describe the sound of the active EMG 81/35 that was stock.). However find the SD Pearly Gates too bright, too thin, strident, even harsh sounding. I wanted a "bigger" and "warmer" sound like my custom 24 and I got neither. So much money and effort and not a "win". Frustrating.

Getting tired to spending money and not getting the sound I want. I guess the next thing I'll try is putting the stock pickups from the custom 24 in the Torero (at least the bridge) and see how that sounds.

I'm beginning to guess that besides the Floyd Rose bridge itself, the Maple Neck and the Ebony finger board in the Torero (compared to Mahogany/Rosewood in the custom 24) also impacts tone including the increased brightness?

I'm beginning to wonder if I can 'salvage' this Torero or if I just dump it and try a Custom 24 SE with the Floyd and see if that's any better.

Any opinions? Suggestions? Help!
 
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However find the SD Pearly Gates too bright, too thin, strident, even harsh sounding. I wanted a "bigger" and "warmer" sound like my custom 24 and I got neither. So much money and effort and not a "win". Frustrating.

Getting tired to spending money and not getting the sound I want. I guess the next thing I'll try is putting the stock pickups from the custom 24 in the Torero (at least the bridge) and see how that sounds.

I'm beginning to guess that besides the Floyd Rose bridge itself, the Maple Neck and the Ebony finger board in the Torero (compared to Mahogany/Rosewood in the custom 24) also impacts tone including the increased brightness?

I'm beginning to wonder if I can 'salvage' this Torero or if I just dump it and try a Custom 24 SE with the Floyd and see if that's any better.

Any opinions? Suggestions? Help!


I think you just made a wrong pickup choice with the Pearly Gates. It is a bright pickup with lots of high mids. The Torero will be brighter than your Custom 24 do to the ebony finger board on a maple neck over the rosewood on your 24 and you went with a brighter pickup than you have in the Custom 24. I doubt it's the Floyd Rose that is the issue.
 
I think you just made a wrong pickup choice with the Pearly Gates. It is a bright pickup with lots of high mids. The Torero will be brighter than your Custom 24 do to the ebony finger board on a maple neck over the rosewood on your 24 and you went with a brighter pickup than you have in the Custom 24. I doubt it's the Floyd Rose that is the issue.

Yes off course, I agree. I've pretty much stated all of that above. Bad recommendation from my guitar tech. Appreciate the insight that its not the Floyd and probably the right pickup may address the issue. I do realize that the Torero is not a CU24 and that it will never sound exactly the same. I wouldn't expect it to with the wood/bridge differences. Just want to get a bigger, beefier, less 'compressed' sound than the stock EMG's. I'll try the HFS from the 24 in the Torero and see what that yields. Might work fine with that or confirm that a different pickup can address the issue.
 
Dump Emg James Hetfield pickups in the torero. The best set of emgs ife heard in a long time. Power of an emg but sound like a passive .

I have a set in my esp iron cross and they are the bomb. That has an ebony board as well.

In my esp ltd mh2015 I have the 57/66 set in there . It has a Mahanoy body , maple neck with an ebony board. They sound really great too. More of a vintage vibe but can get nasty too.
 
Dump Emg James Hetfield pickups in the torero. The best set of emgs ife heard in a long time. Power of an emg but sound like a passive .

I have a set in my esp iron cross and they are the bomb. That has an ebony board as well.

In my esp ltd mh2015 I have the 57/66 set in there . It has a Mahanoy body , maple neck with an ebony board. They sound really great too. More of a vintage vibe but can get nasty too.

This. The Het set and the 57/66 are probably some of the best pups put out by EMG right now. If you really wanted to switch to passives, I'm a big fan of the SD Custom Custom in the bridge and the SD '59 in the neck. I have this set in my SE Singlecut and love the tones I get out of it.
 
I am intersted on your outcome with this. I am on the fence with mine. I have a set of dragons that I could either put in the torero, or save for a future CE project. There is also an easy mod you can do with the floyd, removing superfluous parts, that is supposed to improve tone. There might even be a thread about it here.
 
Floyds can be upgraded and imo they don't do that much difference to the tone. You can upgrade the saddles and block it off with a tremolo no.

Personally I'd look in to the Hetfields. ...check you tube out and they sound very similar to the Prs 59/09 set , maybe a little more low end in them but that's about it.
 
Appreciate the reply/suggestions from all.

It doesn't look like the pole pieces of the HFS out of my CU24 aligns terribly well for the Torero and its Floyd Rose. I'm wondering if I need a pickup that is specifically spaced for a floating bridge like the Floyd Rose. OK, I'm a bit slow I guess, but I guess that is why SD has 'humbucker' and 'trembucker' versions of their pickups. I'm learning.

See http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/faq/frequently-asked/everything-else/what_does_tremb/

After having the 'active guts' torn out of the Torero I'm not inclined to go back to actives. My rig will be simpler with all passive. One volume pedal that works for both, no need to throw switches between passive/active on multi-function effects pedals, etc.

I think I"m OK with the SD Jazz in the neck on my Torero for now. I just need to replace the bridge Pearly Gates with something less bright/harsh, fuller sounding pickup. The SD Custom Custom seems like a good suggestion. I think vintage output (Custom Custom are 'medium' not sure what that is compared to 'vintage') is a good target as I'm playing into a JVM will a fair amount of overdrive. Too much output is just going to create too much feedback at lower volume levels?
 
Man....ya, don't bother reverting back to actives; that is just going to be a pain. Plus, even though some of active choices are better than the regular EMG's you have tried, passive are the way to go for a bigger, warmer and more dynamic sound. I also don't know why your tech recommended the Pearly gates ; that is a bright bridge PAF.

Some recommendations :

From PRS: if you can find an old Dragon 1, that would kill in your axe. Big tight lows, broad mids and warm highs. Stay away from the HFS in there.

Seymour Duncan: The Custom Custom would be one. Very thick mids and a warm top, with subdued and slightly spongy bass. If you want user tight modern metal not a good choice. More classic type rock and metal tones......excellent! Another would be the Invader. Big time low end and mids, high output. There is also the Brobucker from the custom shop. It is hot PAF, similar to the 59/09's in output, but thicker mids and warmer top.

Yes, you want them spaced pickup, although it isn't imperative.

As for vintage vs. Hot in regard to output.....all about preference.There are
guys that run hot pickup.....to boost pedal.....to high gain amp with no issues and great tone. All depends on how the pickup feels to play and of course, something like an HFS will have a very different tone overall compared to a PAF.
 
I would also be interested in the progress in this topic. Any input of a successful change of pick-ups would be interesting. So keep 'em coming.
I have no experience in changing myself, so any test that other PRS players do is useful :)
 
I would also be interested in the progress in this topic. Any input of a successful change of pick-ups would be interesting. So keep 'em coming.
I have no experience in changing myself, so any test that other PRS players do is useful :)

Well my only update is that so far I've tried taking the Jazz from the neck and putting it in bridge temporarily just to see what that would sound like. That was just a temp hack as I need a "trembucker" for proper pole piece alignment.

After putting thing back together I didn't bring my bridge pickup up to the same height as before, I left it kind of low. Between more distance between the pickup and string and running the tone knob back a bit, it sounds ok for now. If fact over time I discovered that when I play through the crunch channel in 'red mode' on my JVM its a bit muddy and being able to turn the tone back up high (from the new normal of running back around 70%) helped that a bit.

For now a couple of conclusions - pickup height can greatly affect tone on this guitar and I"m learning to use a tone know (lol).

I think eventually I'll put a new pickup in but I'm chasing other equipment issues ( rack mount modulation effects) and that's taking my attention for now.

Side note - I did run across an interesting video comparing the SD JB and the Custom Custom. Interesting the JB sounds like it has more bottom to me so maybe, eventually, that's what I'll put in the neck, same as what I have in my CU 24. Round and round we go...

I'm still lovin the Torero, some days I wish I had another....but also thinking of a Zack Meyer... and single cut....ah one get never have enough.
 
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