Pickup recommendations for my PRS SC250

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Caca_Spaniel_123

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i all, I have a particularly dark, bassy, resonant, weak attack and dull sounding PRS SC250 from 2007 that I had a Polymath bridge fitted in it. The damn guitar is stubborn as a mule, it went through three pickups counting the stock ones and its still too dark/bassy/ etc. It has a chamber body which isn't working magic for me. My shoulders and back do like the light weight though.

I'm into bands like TOOL, Mastodon and Alice In Chains.. the "metal but not super brutal or modern, more rock oriented" type metal you know. From the non BKP line I am considering Duncan Customs or Distortions as my recent Polymath purchase left me a somewhat happy but broke man. On the BKP side a mid/high output pickup that would be in the ballpark of those two Duncans would do fine.. I've narrowed down to the Rebel Yells and Cold Sweat, whatever thats brighter will work considering how dark my guitar is.. Its also pretty honky sounding and that definitely needs some attention.

I find the Polymaths to be a quite neutral sounding pickup that brutally reflects not only the shortcomings of the player but the guitar's body as well. In my case, again too dark/bassy/resonant/dull. I've started using really thin 0.88 Nylon pickups to mitigate this and it helps quite a bit.

I'm really trying to decide from the two Duncans and the BKPs are secondary options as they are a bit pricey.
All replies appreciated.. thanks y'all in advance.
 
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I had a 2007 in platinum metallic. It was very sterile sounding and I fought the same battles...which ultimately led to me selling it.

Looking back though and having played a lot of other pickups and combos since then, I think that guitar would do well with a set of 59/09s or Dragon I pickups if you want to stay PRS faithful.

For BKP I had a set of painkillers in a custom 24 that I really liked and would have tried them in the SC250 if I had held onto it. The cold sweat will likely be more mid gain focused if that's what you're after?

Edit: literally anything will sound better than the PRS 7s those guitars come with. Those pickups are absolute trash
 
Have some thoughts, but would have to have a little more information:

- What tuning and strings do you use on the guitar? Anything overly unique about your setup preferences?
- Do you perceive it as acoustically dull, and that translates to the amplified sound as well? Or are the acoustic characteristics a little different?
- Can you provide a little insight into the rest of your signal chain?

UPDATE: forgot two of my questions :)

- This is indeed an SC250, so came with adjustable bridge, locking tuners, and black open coil pickups?
- That being correct, your stock pickups would have been SC-250s (not #7s). What was the second set of pickups your tried before the Polymaths?
 
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PiggySmallz said:
I had a 2007 in platinum metallic. It was very sterile sounding and I fought the same battles...which ultimately led to me selling it.

Looking back though and having played a lot of other pickups and combos since then, I think that guitar would do well with a set of 59/09s or Dragon I pickups if you want to stay PRS faithful.

For BKP I had a set of painkillers in a custom 24 that I really liked and would have tried them in the SC250 if I had held onto it. The cold sweat will likely be more mid gain focused if that's what you're after?

Edit: literally anything will sound better than the PRS 7s those guitars come with. Those pickups are absolute trash
Click to expand...

My last resort would be the Fishman Fluence Classics, they sound close to passives while adding that unreal active clarity and brightness. I was close from selling my Les Paul Custom and the Fishman saved its butt. I'm reluctant to put these on since they do sound a bit "active-y" for the lack of a better word.

The stock #7s were definitely odd, I don't really understand to which group of players this was made for.

But yeah the Cold Sweat might work since I'm not the highest gain from the high gain crowd. What are your thoughts on the two Duncan models? They will be nicer on my wallet which I desperately need
 
ibanez4life SZ! said:
Have some thoughts, but would have to have a little more information:

- What tuning and strings do you use on the guitar? Anything overly unique about your setup preferences?
- Do you perceive it as acoustically dull, and that translates to the amplified sound as well? Or are the acoustic characteristics a little different?
- Can you provide a little insight into the rest of your signal chain?
Click to expand...

I use 10-52 Elixir Nanowebs mainly tuned down to drop C#. I play with a thin 0.88 Nylon pick which feels nicer throughly than the tortex and ultexes that gets shredded in a couple of days so thats not conventional, it sounds pretty close to the more popular picks tho.

Acoustically it rings like a bell probaby due to its thin satin finish and chambered body. Don't hear anything dull or odd with it.. when I chug on it unplugged its very punchy, focused on powerful. When I plug it in its nearly the same but the bass used to be a bit round with the stock pickups (not anymore with the BKPs) and the highend has quite the severe rolloff as if you rolled down the toneknob down to 5 or something. I had a tech do the wiring with proper BKP parts.

I plug into a Marshall DSL100HR into a 1960A with Vintage 30s and G12T-75s turned up to near stage volume. Straight in with a non faulty mid length cable. Alternatively I use the Neural Soldano plugin with quite conventional settings, again straight in. No systematic/electric defects in either signal chain. The dull sounding, rolled off cleans is whats bugging me the most. This translates into the lack of attack I think
 
You can try as many pickups as you like, the guitar DNA will still be there.
I had the same problem on a Murphy Les Paul and a Suhr.
Let the guitar slide and sell it.
 
I have an SC250. Like most PRS pickups, they didn't do the thing for me. Installed a set of BK Nailbombs and have been happier ever since.
 
turtlefingers said:
You can try as many pickups as you like, the guitar DNA will still be there.
I had the same problem on a Murphy Les Paul and a Suhr.
Let the guitar slide and sell it.
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20230129_101133.jpg


No way I'm selling this!

I'll put in some Fishman Classics as my last straw, these saved my Les Paul Custom which I was very close to selling due to the exact same problems. Damn these singlecuts man.

I feel like the problem isn't as bad as it was on my LP so a proper passive pup can save the PRS' sorry a$$.
 
ibanez4life SZ! said:
Have some thoughts, but would have to have a little more information:

- What tuning and strings do you use on the guitar? Anything overly unique about your setup preferences?
- Do you perceive it as acoustically dull, and that translates to the amplified sound as well? Or are the acoustic characteristics a little different?
- Can you provide a little insight into the rest of your signal chain?

UPDATE: forgot two of my questions :)

- This is indeed an SC250, so came with adjustable bridge, locking tuners, and black open coil pickups?
- That being correct, your stock pickups would have been SC-250s (not #7s). What was the second set of pickups your tried before the Polymaths?
Click to expand...

I now have a picture posted down below. I haven't seen a SC250 like this on the Internet.

I had a leftover ceramic Warpig which might have been the worst choice for this particular guitar. The pickup sounded killer tho, I'd put them in a strat or something.
 
I went through this with a Les Paul Traditional back when they first came out. It was non-chambered, non-weight relieved, fat neck, and extremely bloated and woofy. Went through several pickups until I discovered the Duncan Custom SH-5. It tightened the bass, and added that sizzle. And another great choice in the bridge is a Gibson 500T.

I also had an SC-250 that I put Suhr Aldrich pick-ups in. Sold it, like an idiot...

Another great pickup choice, (though lower output), is their 57/08's.
 
napalmdeath said:
I went through this with a Les Paul Traditional back when they first came out. It was non-chambered, non-weight relieved, fat neck, and extremely bloated and woofy. Went through several pickups until I discovered the Duncan Custom SH-5. It tightened the bass, and added that sizzle. And another great choice in the bridge is a Gibson 500T.

I also had an SC-250 that I put Suhr Aldrich pick-ups in. Sold it, like an idiot...

Another great pickup choice, (though lower output), is their 57/08's.
Click to expand...

Thats very good to hear, thank you. Tight bass and sizzle sounds promising
 
ibanez4life SZ! said:
Have some thoughts, but would have to have a little more information:

- What tuning and strings do you use on the guitar? Anything overly unique about your setup preferences?
- Do you perceive it as acoustically dull, and that translates to the amplified sound as well? Or are the acoustic characteristics a little different?
- Can you provide a little insight into the rest of your signal chain?

UPDATE: forgot two of my questions :)

- This is indeed an SC250, so came with adjustable bridge, locking tuners, and black open coil pickups?
- That being correct, your stock pickups would have been SC-250s (not #7s). What was the second set of pickups your tried before the Polymaths?
Click to expand...

Doh! You're right they were SC250 stock. Think I tossed a set of 7s in at one point though and hated them as well
 
Of all the PRS I’ve owned and still own, only the 58/15LT set has been a true winner. 57/08 and \m/ sets are somewhere in second. I’m thinking about having some spare uncovered PRS pups rewound by someone else to keep the look. Paul knows how to have a guitar built, but otherwise his take on tone (amps, pickups) is not where I’m at.

Curious what you find and like.
 
Caca_Spaniel_123 said:
View attachment 205402

No way I'm selling this!

I'll put in some Fishman Classics as my last straw, these saved my Les Paul Custom which I was very close to selling due to the exact same problems. Damn these singlecuts man.

I feel like the problem isn't as bad as it was on my LP so a proper passive pup can save the PRS' sorry a$$.
Click to expand...
This looks like one of the Satin versions of the original 'Singlecut' model (not an SC-250). It would have had #7 pickups stock.

My thoughts based on all info so far:

- The 32 and 42 strings on a 10-52 set are WAY too heavy for Drop C# compared to the others (tension/feel wise). That will give the guitar an overall rounded attack, but it sounds like you're ok with the bass string tone, and the primary problem is on the treble strings? 10-13-17 is a good choice for those.

- How is the setup on the guitar? You want minimal neck relief, with the bridge appropriately set. I've seen some PRS guitars set up with way too much relief, which then forces the bridge down very low to obtain a playable action. When you do it this way, it's possible the highest frets interfere with string vibration, and dull out the resonance of the strings.

- If above are all ok, then you definitely want to try a pickup with some more 'zing'. Duncan Custom, and even Duncan distortion may be good choices.

- Last random idea. Over owning hundreds of PRS guitars, I've bumped into one or two instances where I felt the tonal culprit of a guitar that didn't sound right was the non-adjustable wrap around bridge. Generally, I LOVE that bridge, but there are times where I have found it doesn't pair well with a specific guitar. Can't pin point it 100% - I've always guessed it's some sort of odd tolerance stack up where the exact slots machined on a single bridge are a little off, dampening too much/causing the tonal issue. Especially with you using Drop C#, you may consider the PRS adjustable bridge. It usually brightens up the guitar a bit as well.

Hope this helps!

Eric
 
ibanez4life SZ! said:
This looks like one of the Satin versions of the original 'Singlecut' model (not an SC-250). It would have had #7 pickups stock.

My thoughts based on all info so far:

- The 32 and 42 strings on a 10-52 set are WAY too heavy for Drop C# compared to the others (tension/feel wise). That will give the guitar an overall rounded attack, but it sounds like you're ok with the bass string tone, and the primary problem is on the treble strings? 10-13-17 is a good choice for those.

- How is the setup on the guitar? You want minimal neck relief, with the bridge appropriately set. I've seen some PRS guitars set up with way too much relief, which then forces the bridge down very low to obtain a playable action. When you do it this way, it's possible the highest frets interfere with string vibration, and dull out the resonance of the strings.

- If above are all ok, then you definitely want to try a pickup with some more 'zing'. Duncan Custom, and even Duncan distortion may be good choices.

- Last random idea. Over owning hundreds of PRS guitars, I've bumped into one or two instances where I felt the tonal culprit of a guitar that didn't sound right was the non-adjustable wrap around bridge. Generally, I LOVE that bridge, but there are times where I have found it doesn't pair well with a specific guitar. Can't pin point it 100% - I've always guessed it's some sort of odd tolerance stack up where the exact slots machined on a single bridge are a little off, dampening too much/causing the tonal issue. Especially with you using Drop C#, you may consider the PRS adjustable bridge. It usually brightens up the guitar a bit as well.

Hope this helps!

Eric
Click to expand...
First of all thank you for the super in depth reply. I really appreciate it

Yeah the string tension is less than ideal, however they are kinda needed to remain proper tention IME. Technically it would be better to get the 10-46 and chuck in a 0.52 however that bottom string will sound bassy and dull anyways so why not match all three bottom strings.

I have a seven string set 10-56 on my Les Paul tuned to drop C and the stringiness is not there, but with the right pickups it does sound good tuned low. Standard tuning can sound a bit thuddy but still cool

I'm not a proper guitar tech or anything so dunno how accurate my test results are. I did the tap test to check relief and the neck seems alright, pretty straight with a bit of relief. Bridge is set to get the strings low while avoiding excessive buzzing from the 6th string. I will say over the paat few weeks the weather has changed a bit and that made the action higher but the neck seems alright. I haven't heard of the bridge moving up and down from temperature shifts but oh well.

Pickups: Oh boy, this is a dodgy one. As of now I'm planning on getting the BKP Painkillers which are like the Duncan Distortion but with less pickup clipping (higher headroom) more treble and tightness. I'm guessing this is what the Fishman Moderns are like to the EMG 81s. Anyways its in that ballpark.

I've been thinking about swapping out the bridge for a while but I'll swap out the pickups and do these later. Added brightness is a definite plus but the #7 neck pickup sounds just fine with it, its all the bridge pickups thats making me suffer. Yeah I'll look into the new bridge as well.

I'll check out the BKP and see how it goes. Hopefully this guitar isnt beyond salvation.
 
That’s definitely not a SC250.
SC250‘s came stock with the Phase 2 locking tuners, adjustable bridge, and open coil, non-covered pickups.
 
DISTORT6 said:
That’s definitely not a SC250.
SC250‘s came stock with the Phase 2 locking tuners, adjustable bridge, and open coil, non-covered pickups.
Click to expand...
I dunno, its still a PRS singlecut from 2007 with a 25" scale length.
 
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