85/15 vs 57/08 vs 59/09

[Boogie]

Earlier, I saw someone draw a comparison between the 59/09 and the DGT bridge pups. In my rig and my application, I find the two extremely different. The 59/09 is more raw with a modern-ish voicing and the DGT is not. The DGT leans heavily toward the vintage side but has a surprising amount of power/output for a vintage pup. It responds better to the volume control than most other pups.

 

[MA Pete]

Wow, great thread, just read all the way through and watched a bunch of the videos.

I have been along for the ride since 2008 starting with the 5708's, had a ton of guitars with of those, a ton with 5909's, some 5310's, a Guitar of of 5815's, and 11 guitars with 5815 LT's. (3 of the 594's had something other than 5815 LT's in the bridge, 2 Righteous WL 594's with 5708's in the bridge, and a Brian's WL with an uncovered 5909 Bridge, all 3 with 5815 LT's still in the neck. Both of those were great combinations!)

I just scored two sets of 5815's, they are inbound now, will try a set of those with my PS 594 Trem.

I am eager to find a set of DGT pickups, and covered 5909's.

I have had a ton of fun this year with pickup swaps in the 594's with great results, Lollar Imperials in both the regular and High Wind versions, ThroBak Peter Greens, Throbak MC-102B's, and some Kinman Humbucker Shaped P-90's, plus another set of Kinman Humbuckers.

Circling back now to try various PRS Pickups in the 594's...

 

[Rider1260]

You did not make a mistake getting a CU24 ( I have both CU22 and 24 ) depending on pickups the 22 can be a bit ( a small bit IMHO ) fatter sounding in the neck pickup BUT my CU24 with 57/08s in it is a big full sounding rock monster.
and yes there are TONS of PRS options I am doing my best to have them all
remember PRS controls work really well you have to use them ( Vol , Tone ) to get everything out of a PRS

I posted this in another thread but thought I'd do so here, too. Did I make a mistake going for Cu24s if I want "the sound"? I need to try some more out.

I MUST try a custom 22. There was a demo on youtube of a Cu24 vs a Cu22 and the Cu22 sounded MUCH better but had different pickups, so not a valid test. I suspect the larger distance between pups made the Cu22 a lot warmer. However I chose my 24s based on the ease of playability factor (easier to get to higher frets). Starting to doubt myself. There are just so many variations... I've yet to try a 513, never tried a 408... people keep saying DGTs are great... but if I want a more Les Paul tone I'd best go for a McCarty model. Gah!

 

[dubber]

I tend to disagree about that. I've went through a few different sets of BK pickups and found to suit guitars other than PRS.
For instance I installed BK mules in a cu24, they were ok, and I actually liked them. But once I went to 57/08 it was night and day difference, much more responsive and volume went up. I've also installed the vhii set and though I liked them at first (ce24 w/ all maple necks are very picky) comparing to my other PRSi I found them weak. I finally bought a sqabin 59/09 bridge and the guitar strait up started singing. This is just my experience, and I'm convinced bcs I've spent the money to know the difference. I just believe PRS pickups a specificity designed for PRS guitars. Most stock Gibson/Epiphone guitars come

I don't want to be negative about PRS pups, because they are great. But IMHO, the couple sets of BKPs I have are as good and mostly better than the stock ones they replaced. They just seem to have all the openness/clarity we love about the 5x/xx series, but more range/options as far as output levels and EQ. Again YMMV. Flame-suit on.

Interesting, I've one of the limited run DGTs, it came with a DGT bridge and a covered 59/09 in the neck. The 59/09 was great split, but was honky and dull with both coils. I could get some good sounds with bridge and neck blended, but ultimately swapped both out for BK Mules. The Mules are great, but compared back to back with the 59/09, not quite as good split and not quite as open/touch sensitive, but overall a much better package for me .... maybe the 57/08s are my Holy Grail ... or an unpotted version of The Mule!