P-Rails vs. P-Rails HOT

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I'm going to install a pair of P-Rails on one of my guitars.
Now I see that there are 2 versions for this pup: Standard and HOT.
Anyone can tell from experiencing this 2 ?
Thanks

[Funkfingers]

I am reliably informed that the Hot P-Rail has an Alnico 8 magnets rather than the Alnico 5 in the regular P-Rail. The coil of the Hot P-Rail is wound with a different gauge of copper wire. (Presumably, finer, in order to fit more of it around the bobbins.)

Some forum members have reported that the Hot P-Rails is too fierce for their guitars. I am confident that Blueman335, DrAd, GuitarDoc and LtKojak will have something to say on this topic.

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Thanks a lot.
I would really appreciate all the input I can get from people who actually experienced the 2 types in the bridge position and can give a good perspective.
I'm located in Israel and the only way for me to get these pickups is eBay etc…I really don’t want to buy either and then find out I need the other.
If it helps, I'm looking for some nice fat metal sound in the bridge position.
Thanks.

[Funkfingers]

I'm looking for some nice fat metal sound in the bridge position.

Well, firstly, the P-Rails is not the immediately obvious choice for Metal styles. At high gain amplifier settings, the P90 and Rail modes will be prone to hum, buzz and interference from stage lighting running on dimmers.

If you desire the bridge position P-Rails to be moderately hotter than the neck position unit, the usual forum suggestions will be to put a stronger magnet into the regular bridge position P-Rails or try a weaker magnet in the Hot P-Rails.

Secondly, a pickup does not exist in isolation. The host guitar and your amplification, pedals, string gauges and playing style will all have some influence on the final sound. It would help to know what gear you are using.

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Thanks for the input.
The small rig is based on the new POD HD500 and the big one is based on a Carvin Quad-X pre amp, a t.c.electronic G.Major and Mesa 2:90, all that goes into 2 Thiele design boogie cabs loaded with EVM12L @ 200w each.
The playing style is all around progressive metal, rock etc…
The pickups I have now in the guitar (Jackson) are an EMG set, KH-20, it is a H/S/S (81,S,S).
I can say for sure that after a year with this pups I find them too sterile on clean, not enough fat when playing heavy distorted solo on the neck, and the 81 is missing mids, it is too compressed or something…it's like it does not cutting through the mix well
The sound I'm looking for today is a mix of almost strat bells like (clean - single coil) together with some old school rock and some modern fat blast when playing heavy rhythms in the bridge position (both coils) or solos in the neck pup (both coils).
I'm not looking for a Metallica/Disturbed/thrash sound, but more to a colorful reach with harmonics one i.e. the lord petrucci's.
Hope I explained myself well.

[AlexR]

I have only had the regular, but in full mode the sound is pretty thick and fat, even in a thin bodied SG guitar. If the hot is a lot thicker then it may make it too fat for fast notes in the Petrucci style.
The parallel mode is much more open and bright, but it is still ok for rock styles. Your bridge chimey tones would come from this mode - but I still think the normal version would be better for this.

My suggestion is a little different - Parallel Axis Trembucker. They are open and handle heavy distortion as easily as a nice clean tone. You can run them parallel too for a more single coil open lead tone.

PATB 3 - like a PAF pickup, good for making strat guitars with Floyd Rose trems sound more like a Les Paul
PATB 1 - for more drive, like a Custom series or JB.
PATB 2 - for full on metal

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I'll try to focus more my style:
Cleans will always be played on either the neck pickup (as a single or hum') or inner coils of the B+N (both pups are split=crispy).
I never play cleans on the bridge position.
The bridge will always be used with distortion / over drive etc…

[GuitarDoc]

OK, so I have to add my $.02. I don't play metal, mainly classic rock. I tried the P-Rails Hot in a couple guitars and with many mag swaps. It was very difficult to get acceptable tones from the Hot. I ended up mounting it upside down (with the rail toward the bridge and the P-90 toward the neck). I swapped out both A8 mags and replaced them with a polished A5 next to the P-90 and a UOA5 next to the Rail. The P-Rails Hot was just way too much for the A8's.

You might want to check out a thread I started a while back called " P-Rails...is it supposed to sound like this??". It goes through my experimenting and has some very good comments by other forumites about their experiences with this pup.

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Thanks.
any one with some input about the standard one ?

[GuitarDoc]

Awesome.

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well, i can play with diferent pups but im not going that deep into mag's swaping so....

[Funkfingers]

Get the standard P-Rail bridge pickup. IMO, the more time that you spend in P90 mode, the happier a guitarist you will be.

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the more time that you spend in P90 mode, the happier a guitarist you will be.

i dont have any expirience with p90, can you describe the sound in clean and distortion ?

[GuitarDoc]

i dont have any expirience with p90, can you describe the sound in clean and distortion ?

"Perfection" is the word that comes to mind.

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Well perfection is a little mystery for me to understand

For example I'm a person of hum' and I really love the way they sound clean (on a H/H setup) when splited and the 2 inner coils are on or both are full on together, and on the other side for me there is no substitute for a blasting bridge hum' with heavy distortion rhythm or siren singing lead on the neck hum' (both coils are on)
How would you compare the P-Rails p90 to that ?
How good will it sound when running both pups on the p90 and on the other side on the rail on both (clean and distortion) ?
Sorry for all the questioning here, last time I got Seymour pups I ended up with a FAIL and I promised myself not to buy pups again only because "I have a hunch" and what is written about them.
Thanks.

[soundgardener75]

Search for my post two years ago about my review when they first came out here in CA May of '08.

i dont have any expirience with p90, can you describe the sound in clean and distortion ?

Listen to Suede's Coming Up. You can easily mimic it's tones from the P-90 mode on the P-Rails.

Well, firstly, the P-Rails is not the immediately obvious choice for Metal styles. At high gain amplifier settings, the P90 and Rail modes will be prone to hum, buzz and interference from stage lighting running on dimmers.

I have no problems playing metal with mine's (both the J5 and N1), though I did experience first hand those two (hum and buzz) when we opened for Nitzer Ebb back December '09.

Recently, I flipped my J5's P-Rail (Rail facing bridge) as to experimenting with a different sound. Still fiddling with the pole pieces.

[GuitarDoc]

The P-90 is a better clean sound...more articulate, but still a very full and rich tone. Somewhere between a hummer and single coil, but retaining the best qualities of each.

Under heavy distortion, the P-90 outshines most hummers because of its clarity and articulation. Certainly there are a lot of hummers that do very well under distortion, but they need a lot of clarity or they become just thrashy mud.

For crunch a P-90 can't be beat.

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Well…..I read most of the P-Rails...is it supposed to sound like this?? topic and I watched few vids over the tube and also the demo they got here on the site for the p-rails and yea I'm aware that it's not the most clear sound quality but……my god they sound terrible to me, I'm not going for them after all.
The cleans are ok….but its not what im looking for and the crunch / distorted……don’t like
Back to the searching / checking table.
Thing is that I have a new custom guitar on process now over a guitar workshop, body is going to be mahogany AAAA with 16mm quilted maple top and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and this guitar should get something special.
As I mentioned….back to searching……
Thanks guys.

[bagouser]

I wouldnt use a P-Rails bridge for a fat metal sound.
Use a Custom/Custom 5/JB and if you gotta have a P-Rails, put one in the neck for your single coil tones.....