Pickup recommendations for my PRS SC250

[jabps]

In no particular order -

PRS Tremonti - what I have in my PRS's.
Gibson 500T - What I have in my Gibsons.
Tonenerd PSykes - What I have in one of my Gibson Customs.

Common denominator is these are all ceramic. And I'm gonna open this can of worms as well, use an "uncovered" pup. In my Customs, both were covered, dropped in the uncovered PSykes in one, dropped in an uncovered 500T in the other and both came alive. I don't care what anyone says, I can hear a difference, always have and why I dislike covered pups in the bridge. I was just trying to keep those guitars stock looking, forget that. Make sure the pots are 500k. At one time I had three PRS Tremonti's all virtually the same year, one was a bit duller, tech narrowed it down to the pot. Replaced and was fine. And as was recommended above i'd personally replace that bridge with the PRS adjustable bridge.

If that don't work go active as that will eliminate some of the tonal properties of it being chambered IMO.

 

[jabps]

I've owned a handful of SC250s, and the stock bridge Tremontis in every one of them sounded great.

I went down the road of PRS pickups swaps on my Tremonti's only to come back to the stock pups and was like, wtf was I thinking, all that time and money, these are incredible. Haven't touched them nor do I ever plan on changing those pups in those guitars again. Love 'em.

 

[Rex Rocker]

In no particular order -

PRS Tremonti - what I have in my PRS's.
Gibson 500T - What I have in my Gibsons.
Tonenerd PSykes - What I have in one of my Gibson Customs.

Common denominator is these are all ceramic. And I'm gonna open this can of worms as well, use an "uncovered" pup. Make sure the pots are 500k. At one time I had three PRS Tremonti's all virtually the same year, one was a bit duller, tech narrowed it down to the pot. Replaced and was fine. And as was recommended above i'd personally replace that bridge with the PRS adjustable bridge.

If that don't work go active as that will eliminate some of the tonal properties of it being chambered IMO.

How do the PRS Tremonti and the Gibson 500T compare, IYO? I love the Gibson 500T. Might be one of my top 3 passives. I heard the Tremonti is more refined?

 

[jabps]

How do the PRS Tremonti and the Gibson 500T compare, IYO? I love the Gibson 500T. Might be one of my top 3 passives. I heard the Tremonti is more refined?

The Tremonit is more refined. It's less rough around the edges and bit sweeter. In the quest to change pups in the Tremonti's all those years ago, the last pup I put in there was the 500T. It was just a hair too much for those guitars.

Love em' in my Les Pauls in fact the best sounding guitar I own is a Standard with the 500T. When I finally gave up and just put the stock pup back in the Tremonti I was like holy crap, it's perfect.

 

[Rex Rocker]

How does that translate to EQ and output? Would you say the Tremonti has less high-end rasp? Less low-end boominess? Is it hotter? Not as hott?

 

[sloanthebone]

What you’re describing really sounds like a job for the PRS \m/ (Metal). It flys under the radar for some reason. No bass flub in that one at all. It’s a tight pickup with a prominent attack. It has a bit of a mid push, but not a pinched nasally type of push - it’s very open. I have yet to play another passive pickup with that level of heat that also has that level of openness and clarity.

Would love to know the difference between \m/’s and Tremonti’s. I have a pair of \m/‘s I bought years ago and never installed in anything. Keep wanting to drop them in my CU24 but the 57/08s sound so good.

 

[PiggySmallz]

Hahaha, I was just being facetious. But yeah, I'd swap the cover for sure.

Not a fan of the guy's music, but he does know tone.

I love a bunch of his music but admittedly everything after ABIII, his tone is just fizz dogshit to me lol

 

[PiggySmallz]

How does that translate to EQ and output? Would you say the Tremonti has less high-end rasp? Less low-end boominess? Is it hotter? Not as hott?

Tremontis are very hot pickups and I think they're a bit more upper mid focused than \m/ pickups. Older gen 1 tremonti pickups were incredible though

 

[anomaly]

How about just a Duncan JB? That's what Jerry Cantrell uses in a lot of his main guitars. They're perfect in dark sounding guitars.

 

[spguitar]

How about just a Duncan JB? That's what Jerry Cantrell uses in a lot of his main guitars. They're perfect in dark sounding guitars.

THIS

 

[Rex Rocker]

I have Fishman Classics in my Les Paul (Voice 2 is based on a really good-sounding JB the guys at Fishman have), and it's to-die-for.

 

[Rex Rocker]

Tremontis are very hot pickups and I think they're a bit more upper mid focused than \m/ pickups. Older gen 1 tremonti pickups were incredible though

I love hot pickups. I love the 500T, personally. I love how nasty and rough around the edges it is. Honestly, that's how most Gibson pickups I've tried are, and I love that.

I'd love to hear the Tremonti, though. I also really like the SD BW. Kinda on-paper, similar concept to the 500T. Just tighter and more attacky. And hotter.

 

[fearhk213]

Would love to know the difference between \m/’s and Tremonti’s. I have a pair of \m/‘s I bought years ago and never installed in anything. Keep wanting to drop them in my CU24 but the 57/08s sound so good.

To me the \m/ actually sounds like what you'd get if you took a PAF and made it super tight & high output while keeping the openness, attack, and clarity of a lower output PAF. It's really quite impressive how they managed it. The mid range openness is really impressive considering its output. Sounds awesome in a LP. If I had any critique, it's almost too prominent in that chirpy character some PAF's have. Some might also find it a bit stiff, but I actually like the feel. It makes me want to dig in and riff hard.

The Tremonti is a little more "typical" of a high output distortion-style pickup in voicing. That's not a knock. I really dig it. I'm just drawing a comparison to the \m/. It has more low end with less mids and top end, but don't take that as it being dark. It doesn't have an overblown bassy tone - it has great clarity. It's also tight enough and tracks great with a good attack imo. It's just not quite as tight and in your face with the attack as the \m/. It also has more compression with an easier to play feel under the fingers. It also has more cooked in grit/saturation to the tone, while the \m/ is cleaner.

They're pretty close in output. I've heard the older \m/ is pretty much about the same output as the Tremonti. However, it may be worth noting that the latest \m/ is actually lower DC than indicated on that website. According to PRS, the \m/ is now around 14.3k and is a little cleaner and slightly lower output. I have the latest \m/ and compared it directly to a new Tremonti and they aren't terribly far off in output, but the Tremonti is just a bit hotter and has more saturation.

 

[PiggySmallz]

I love hot pickups. I love the 500T, personally. I love how nasty and rough around the edges it is. Honestly, that's how most Gibson pickups I've tried are, and I love that.

I'd love to hear the Tremonti, though. I also really like the SD BW. Kinda on-paper, similar concept to the 500T. Just tighter and more attacky. And hotter.

I prefer the 500T but realistically I hate PRS trem guitars so it could be that factor that makes me dislike the newer tremonti pickups too. Just a pretty aggressive saturated upper mids and highs

 

[jabps]

I love hot pickups. I love the 500T, personally. I love how nasty and rough around the edges it is. Honestly, that's how most Gibson pickups I've tried are, and I love that.

I'd love to hear the Tremonti, though. I also really like the SD BW. Kinda on-paper, similar concept to the 500T. Just tighter and more attacky. And hotter.

Yep, 500T is just as you and I said. The have a great cut and have this really nice aggression in a Les Paul. They work so well with the Pauls maple, mahogany, rosewood combo. And to me, the more you play them you start finding how to bring out the nuances in them. Love them in Les Pauls.

The Tremonti as I said above is more refined than the 500T. Not drastically by any means in fact the Tremonti pup was based on the 500T. @fearhk213 actually detailed it out very thorough in his explanation above. I'll add as I did earlier, it has more sweetness to it than the 500T, at times almost an Alnico feel which is cool. You have to work a little more with the 500T to find that nuance. And I feel the Tremonti is just smidge hotter as well.

One thing to note, my Tremonti guitars are older so they have the original sized gen 1 pups, not the newer larger version.

 

[Caca_Spaniel_123]

Yep, 500T is just as you and I said. The have a great cut and have this really nice aggression in a Les Paul. They work so well with the Pauls maple, mahogany, rosewood combo. And to me, the more you play them you start finding how to bring out the nuances in them. Love them in Les Pauls.

The Tremonti as I said above is more refined than the 500T. Not drastically by any means in fact the Tremonti pup was based on the 500T. @fearhk213 actually detailed it out very thorough in his explanation above. I'll add as I did earlier, it has more sweetness to it than the 500T, at times almost an Alnico feel which is cool. You have to work a little more with the 500T to find that nuance. And I feel the Tremonti is just smidge hotter as well.

One thing to note, my Tremonti guitars are older so they have the original sized gen 1 pups, not the newer larger version.

Reviving this thread, I put the #7 bridge and also beat the crap out of my guitar. Its painful to look at now but I hope over time it will blend in and become more natural.

The guitar with the #7 is exactly how I remember it, full sounding across the spectrum, broad midrange with emphasis on low mids, little upper mids and treble. Its a weird feeling because the guitar sounds very balanced and tight both plugged and unplugged, but since it doesn't drive the upper mids and treble as hard I have to pay extra attention so my playing won't turn to a mushy mess.

The output is just perfect, not too hot or weak. It lacks that low output PAF zing and mid scoop, but sounds much middier than vintage hot PAFs that I've tried. Admittedly its a unique pickup, I definitely see why some folks absolutely detests it.

So far I'm totally OK with it. I'd love to try a BKP Riff Raft / Duncan WLH (supposed to be pretty similar to the BKP) / the brightest Dimarzio PAF / Friedman Classic +. It needs to be bright enough and I have no clue how exactly bright these are going to be in my PRS. Therefore as for now, stock it is.

Finally heres my beatup guitar. I now keep a towel on my table so it won't gouge the top like this.

 

[Dimebag11]

59/09, Suhr Aldrich, or Duncan Distortion will all
Get you there I would think.

 

[Dimebag11]

Having said that the \m/ pickups are just so sweet and addictive to play! Definitely got a healthy about of mids. I found the Tremonti to be a bit scooped, honestly the first Tremonti I really loved had a maple neck and Brazilian board so I think that must’ve added the mids in always missing with the Tremonti

 

[itsme]

PRS Tremonti pickups.

Agree