Who Has Changed Pickups in a PC-1?

[adampone]

something I've always thought about since getting a PC-1 last year has been changing out the pickups. but I've regularly led to believe that the PC-1 can be pretty particular about the pickups. so I'm curious about who has had success with different pickups in the PC-1. I've done some searches and scanned through the forum and have found very little on this... so I hope I'm not being redundant in some way.

what pickups? what results? any challeneges with the circuit board? tips? suggestions? etc.?



thanks!

[xenophobe]

PC-1 is a mahogany body. I particularly like the Super Distortion in mahogany. I would say I like the EMG 85 in mahogany as well, but I love that pickup as a bridge in any guitar, and no matter what anyone says, EMGs don't sound the same in every guitar...

I'm not a fan of anything Seymour Duncan really... I'd rather have a Jackson J-50, J-90 or J-95 than anything SD has to offer. That's just me though quite a few people here prefer SD over Dimarzio. I haven't tried many of the newer pickups, but I didn't particularly care for the Dimebucker. From the sounds of it, I'd probably like the Blackouts or some of those other super high gain distortion pickups.

I really like the newer EMG X pickups. They're designed to have more headroom, similar to running a regular EMG in 18v configuration, except they don't have that much and seem to have a bit mellower clip to them compared to the regular EMGs.

The board is for the Sustainer, isn't it? I honestly don't have much for you on that one. I'm sure others will chime in, some people leave them in, others find the signal degradation without them is much better. I haven't a clue cause I haven't had a PC1, though I did have a sustainer once, I never really found a good use for it.

[RCM78]

The neck pickup is also the sustainer driver, so you cant replace that unless you remove the sustainer. The stock bridge and middle pickups are DiMarzio Super 3 and HS-2. The HS-2's output is much lower then the Super 3, not a great match IMO. The Super 3 by itself is a good pickup. Very strong in the mids with rolled off highs. My problem with it was how different it sounded then my other guitars. I installed a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge position. It increased the high's and overall the guitar was better balanced but the sustainer affects the tone too much.

I ended up removing the sustainer and all it's components and installing a DiMarzio BC-1 in the neck position. Now the Aldrich sounds much better. Much more open and clear with an increase in output. The BC-1 matches well with a higher output humbucker since it is one in a single coil size. I dont use the HS-2, it's lowered down to get it out of the way...

If you do change the bridge pickup and keep the sustainer I was told by DiMarzio that ceramic magnet pickups work best with sustainer equipped guitars. The Super Distortion suggested above has a ceramic magnet and might work well...

[markD]

i have switched pickups in a couple PC-1s. it can be done rather easily. my current PC-1 has a JB in the bridge, nothing in the middle, and a di'marzio HS-3 in the neck. it is just wired to a 3-way tele switch (giving me bridge/bridge+neck/neck), and a volume knob. the tone is GREATLY improved.

the other PC-1 i switched pickups in, i put a di'marzio PAF pro in the bridge and kept all the sustainer circuitry intact. that was quite an improvement to my ears also.

if you want to keep the sustainer then you need to wire the new pickup to the board. in order to do that, you need to clip the little plug off the current pickup. that is wired according to a di'marzio wiring scheme. if you switch brands, then you need to do a little color code conversion between di'marzio and whatever brand you are installing. it is really no big deal.

[adampone]

thanks for the input so far.


see, I do keep hearing that the board colors the tone of the pickup. I do intend to keep the sustainer and the board in there. if/when the board craps, then it'll be open season to load it up however I want without the restriction of the board or working with just 2 pickup slots.

the stock pickups are ok, but they don't blow my skirt up either. a little more versatility from the middle position would be ideal. a single-size hum that splits nicely for a somewhat classic single-coil tone, but is still a barn-burner when in full humbucking mode. there are many 'rail' pickups, but you could drive a truck through the gap left by DiMarzio and Duncan in the selection available. Fast Track 2 and Super Distortion S and Hot Rail can be too thick and heavy. Chopper and Pro Track can be too weak or too PAF-ish. Little '59 is really close, if only it were a little louder.

as for the bridge, it seems to be commonly accepted that the sustainer circuitry chokes off some of the tone so I'm curious if something like a Super 2 might cut through a bit more. a higher output PAF Pro would seem ideal. a Duncan Full Shred or Alternative-8 or Original Parallel Axis look like interesting options for the bridge position.

the comment from DiMarzio on ceramic mags is interesting from a few perspectives.


curious to see who else has had success with this.