So yesterday I decided to run through a bunch of my guitars with a variety of pickups, but focused on my 1990 CE which has VB + HFS pups.
If I put the bright switch on my Sweet 16, use the bridge pick up only (HFS), with tone and volume at 10, using a relatively bright setting on a dirt pedal, I can get it a little "too bright". Turn off the bright switch or turn down the tone, and it just sounds "nice and trebly, punchy", as it should.
I dunno, maybe I just have too much hearing loss in the high end to think "ice picks". But my wife agreed with my assessment, and her hearing is fine (as far as we know, I guess). I like my HFS+VBs - got them in the CE and in a 2002 CU24.
:shrug: (need a shrug emoji) ¯\_(ツ)
I think it depends on a bunch of factors. My younger son has a 2006 mahogany ce24 with vb/hfs and a 5 way. It sounds unbelievably good with his Morgan SW 50R amp. I use a 2 channel 20 or 30, or a Tech 21 trademark 60. They like PRS pickups, except I didn’t Like the sound of the hfs. So we have body wood, neck wood, fingerboard wood, tailpiece type, player’s technique, music types, and volume levels all affecting the sound. And there are numerous other factors. For me, the fun is learning what other people hear and play that they like. We’re not better or worse, just different. I do go from a basic rhythm sound to solo sound, when I play, so there’s no time to tweak other than the basic settings I use for each song. By the way, I’m a humbucker guy.