85/15 vs 57/08 vs 59/09

[bodia]

After a lot more time (the last few months) playing both, I can definitely say there is something magical about 57/08s.
85/15 are definitely great but there is just something animalistic about 57/08s.
If I EVER see a matching blue fade 2013 Experience model with 57/08s to match my orange one, I'm buying it:

Hmmm....if you're willing to have it shipped across the "pond"......

http://www.martinmusicguitar.com/st...-custom-24-artist-package-blue-fade-0360.html

 

[guitarman001]

That is VERY nice (love the maple fingerboard) but I think I'll wait for a used one in the UK - saw one for a great price but was sold not long ago. Ear to the ground...

I never knew that the 57/08 machine is used to wind the 85/15s!?
They should also get the 57/08s back... Is there a problem producing them? Is it just the one machine?

Just noticed they've got covers. The one I'll get has to have no covers. I'm so specific with this type of guitar. Man, it seems so rare.

 

[Whitecat]

You can still have 57/08s in an Artist Pack build. Or Private Stock, obviously!

I've owned both now and I have to admit the 85/15s are a clear winner for me... really prefer the top end on them and they work better at higher gain...

 

[XiXora]

I assume it is cheaper/easier to produce 85/15 across the full range rather than chopping and changing for each guitar.
I've not heard the 85/15 in person yet so I cannot comment on those yet.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I suspect it is because they are more popular. You can certainly still get the 57/08s.

 

[AP515]

That is VERY nice (love the maple fingerboard) but I think I'll wait for a used one in the UK - saw one for a great price but was sold not long ago. Ear to the ground...

I never knew that the 57/08 machine is used to wind the 85/15s!?
They should also get the 57/08s back... Is there a problem producing them? Is it just the one machine?

...

The machine doesn't wined them, it produces the wire. They use normal everyday winders like all the other pup makers. The wire is the special stuff. They use various wires off of that machine to produce all of the pups since the 57/08's first started the ball rolling (or were the 245's the first ones?). Anyway, they have plenty of wire. Whether or not they make a pup is a company decision based on business factors.

 

[The Fight]

Hey I have a question!

Do the 59/09 split better in the neck than the vintage bass? I hear the 59/09 are a bit on the dark side.

 

[AP515]

Hey I have a question!

Do the 59/09 split better in the neck than the vintage bass? I hear the 59/09 are a bit on the dark side.

I would describe the neck as HOT compared to the Vintage. It's much easier to drive the amp to breakup with the 59/09. I have the rotary so the split is a combination of both pups,. It's hard to say how the neck sounds in and of itself, but I like both the Vintage and the 59/09 split.

 

[Phyl]

Skipping right to the end... I have two Custom 24's and the very same three sets of pickups you mentioned in the original post. The 57/09's are for sale and the 57/08's and 58/15's are installed and in service in those two guitars because I love both of those sets of pickups above every other pickup PRS has ever made. The end.

I never played a 58/15 unfortunately, but definitely agree on 57/08's.

Eventually I found - quite luckily - an used set of 57/08's and bought them for my new Bernie's SE (the last available in the shop). I believe this is a much better solution than the 53/10's used by the limited edition in UK (not available aftermarket) as well as the BeastBuckers which seem better suited for upgrading LPs, while the SE BM is closer to a 245 vintage, and the 57/08's on that gear were just great.

 

[tonaholic]

I'm open to trading my covered 5708 set for a 5815 set! Get at me!

 

[tonaholic]

I suspect it is because they are more popular. You can certainly still get the 57/08s.

Negative, Paul explains the 8515 and 5815 as an extension of the 5xxx journey. They're basically the same overall design in the sense that a CST24, CST22 and McCarty-Trem share the same DNA. The devil is in the details. The new pups are a wire formula very similar to the old stuff but with altered response/dynamics that the team preferred.

For me, personally, the magnet/output strength overpowers the low wind on the 5708 to my taste. It's overly compressed for it's open sound. The 5815 is everything I wanted from the vintage styled PRS pickups in regard to open clarity, dynamics, heat and ability to stay together under gain.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Negative, Paul explains the 8515 and 5815 as an extension of the 5xxx journey. They're basically the same overall design in the sense that a CST24, CST22 and McCarty-Trem share the same DNA. The devil is in the details. The new pups are a wire formula very similar to the old stuff but with altered response/dynamics that the team preferred.

For me, personally, the magnet/output strength overpowers the low wind on the 5708 to my taste. It's overly compressed for it's open sound. The 5815 is everything I wanted from the vintage styled PRS pickups in regard to open clarity, dynamics, heat and ability to stay together under gain.

What? I meant that I think it's because the 85/15 / 58/15 pickups are more popular, responding to XiXora's suspicion that they are cheaper/easier to produce, which I don't think is the case.

 

[Michael_DK]

I think the 57/08 were discountinued immediately as they started with the 58/15s, as I recall....

 

[Whitecat]

I think the 57/08 were discountinued immediately as they started with the 58/15s, as I recall....

Discontinued in the sense they no longer use them in Core builds but they are still available for Artist Pack or Private Stock orders.

Me, I prefer the 85/15s, and it didn't even take me long to come to that conclusion. Just a better-sounding pickup for what I do.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

guitarman001…..Again, ya gotta try and get ahold of one with 53/10's. IMO they're better than any humbucker Gibson ever put in a Historic LP (and believe me, I own a few and have owned way more), and they have tons of character…..far from 'sterile'. Problem is, there aren't many out there and even fewer new ones coming through with them.

I, too, like the 53/10's but they can be a little dark (for my taste) if covered.

Uncovered 53/10's are rich and piano-like through a clean amp and burn like a raw nerve in a salt bath when you cook the tubes. Van Halen and AC/DC tones are easy peazy, given the right amp. Playing like Eddie and Angus... that's another story.

 

[HANGAR18]

I never played a 58/15 unfortunately, but definitely agree on 57/08's.

Eventually I found - quite luckily - an used set of 57/08's and bought them for my new Bernie's SE (the last available in the shop). I believe this is a much better solution than the 53/10's used by the limited edition in UK (not available aftermarket) as well as the BeastBuckers which seem better suited for upgrading LPs, while the SE BM is closer to a 245 vintage, and the 57/08's on that gear were just great.

Typo: 85/15's in my 30th Anniversary Custom 24. Not to worry though, if you actually did get your hands on a set of 58/15's, you are still in good shape because the 85/15's and the 58/15's are the same exact pickups except one is covered and one is not. SOrry for the lisdexia typo.

 

[Herr Squid]

Uncovered 53/10's are rich and piano-like through a clean amp and burn like a raw nerve in a salt bath when you cook the tubes. Van Halen and AC/DC tones are easy peazy, given the right amp. Playing like Eddie and Angus... that's another story.

This. My best guitar for butchering early VH is a maple-necked Custom 24 with 53/10s. Who'd a thunk?!

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Cool avatar, Mr. Cowley.

 

[Whitecat]

I still have a pair of virgin 53/10s... have thought about putting them into my Hollowbody 12, what do you reckon?

 

[shallbe]

I have not played the 58/15's. I do love the old Artist pickups from the 90's ? with Alnico 4 magnets. I bought a mint set off Ebay a few years ago and it made my CU22 Artist everything I wanted. Why they stopped making those I will never know. Beautiful chime, well balanced and not compressed. A great FEELING and responding (in terms of dynamics) pickup that does everything well.

My favorites are:
PRS Artist (uncovered)
DGT
Santana (in my old Santana II)

The only covered PRS pickups I really love so far are the DGT pickups.