HFS/VB vs 85/15

[Jesse]

To be honest, I have yet to play the 85/15's, Although I use to own a CU24 S2 in which I was told the pups in the s2 were very similar to the 85/15's. My current CU24 (core) has the HFS/VB in them. Have them going through a Mesa Mark 35 combo, and the sound is great. The question I have is which do you prefer? And what pups would be better for hard rock?

 

[Korina Jack]

I don't have experience with the 85/15's but have tons of experience with HFS/VB and Dragon II's playing hard rock. Others you might explore are the PRS 7's and maybe the McCarty pups. Thumbs up on those two to give you that mid-rangy snarl. Good luck!

 

[AP515]

The 85/15's are too new for my aging arsenal, but I'm a fan of the HFS/Vintage so if you are happy there, you are not alone. I also have a set of 59/09's in a Cu24 and they rock!

 

[ReptilianNosewood]

The HFS and Vintage Bass to my ears sounded like some of the best cleans ive ever heard, but when i kicked in the overdrive they sounded very nasaly, like a fuzz pedal when i didn't always want it to sound like fuzz. I put the 85/15's in the very same guitar and they solved that problem, the overdrive sound is amazing, able to go from slightly overdriven blues, to a very good metal and everything in between without going nasaly. The cleans are still very good but if im being honest the HFS and Vintage Bass were better, but its acceptable since the gain sounds worked so much better for me.

 

[László]

We're all different. I have the 85/15s and love them for the clean sounds in my 30th CU24, as well as the overdriven sounds. They're great pickups.

In the past I had the original HFS/VB pickups, and while they were pretty good, I always wanted to replace them with something else. I've never felt that need with any of the pickups that PRS has used on Core models since the 57/08 was introduced.

I think there's been improvement all over the PRS pickup line since the early days.

 

[Michael_DK]

OI like the 85/15 the best - I never could get along with ceramic pickups like the HFS/VB (something about the attack). That said, other people swear by them, and there are bands I KNOW use the HFS/VC combo that I really like the sound of.

You can use either set for hard rock no problem

 

[Mondront]

I know this is an older thread but would like to add my 2 cents here. All three of my first CU24's were VB/HFS. Oldest is pre-factory with very mellowed out tone. My newest came with the the 85/15's and it seemed like love at first note. At the store the salesman did not know what the pickups were and the hang tag was missing. When I plugged into a Marshal DSL40 I knew they were not VB/HFS. I have been practicing with this guitar since until last night. Just before practice I put on a fresh set of string on my Navarro and boy ... I really love the 85/15's a lot but I didn't know how much I missed the VB/HFS. I remeinded me of the old days when I worked all day in the Windows environment and would come home to my Mac's. Weird thing is after 30 years as IT guy in Window networks I've come to dislike Mac's for everything except recording. Maybe my taste for picks will "evolve" also.

 

[gush]

HFS is really good for low tunings

 

[solacematt]

Heart HFS/VB combo. favs are definitely the McCarty's though. Tried a few guitars with the 85/1's and never really made friends with them. I'll agree wth gush though, the HFS/VB combo definitely handles lower tunings very well.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

I was nervous about the HFS/VB because of all the negativity I'd heard about them, but once I tried them I really liked them.

 

[MichaelS]

To be honest, I have yet to play the 85/15's, Although I use to own a CU24 S2 in which I was told the pups in the s2 were very similar to the 85/15's. My current CU24 (core) has the HFS/VB in them. Have them going through a Mesa Mark 35 combo, and the sound is great. The question I have is which do you prefer? And what pups would be better for hard rock?

Have you tried them by now?
I just plopped HFS/VB into an SE CU22 and it's an awesome tone machine now. I felt the 85/15S were too scratchy and shrill. By all means they sounded better than anything else in the price range, but I was getting spoiled by the core Santana and the CE24.
The CE24 has 85/15 and they sound very good. The claim about clarity and highs is spot on. The low end claim is not clear to me. I enjoy them, but to me still not enough punch to run an Enter Sandman type Oompf (<-- highly technical term). The neck 85/15 could use some warmth for my taste, but maybe I should just look towards 58/15 then.
85/15 are GREAT pickups but do have some limitations for heavier genres. You can probably make it up with the right pedal.
I did have to retweak my amp settings to make them work. Plug and play I was disappointed at first.