How much do you like/dislike HFS pickups?

[Guithartic]

For hot pickups, playing high gain rock/metal, how much do you like or dislike what the HFS pickups do?
Just curious how others find them. I'm getting a Vernon Reid signature in the mail soon, and they have two HFSs.

 

[Stephen J.]

It has been a while since I have had one, but I always liked it. I had a ‘96 CE24 with the rotary. My favorite position was the middle with one coil of each pickup. The only reason I moved on was because I was interested in a 22 fret guitar.

 

[Gtrbldr]

I generally dont like higain puckups.

Only interesting one I ever played was a Steve's Special (DiMarzio), because it has a little bit of a classic mid scooped EQ profile. HFS has a mid forward profile, which does not work for me.

 

[bodia]

I've never been put off by them.

 

[thewesdavis]

I like them, but I never split them (via the 5 way rotary) in my old Custom 24... so I got a set of HFS/VB for my 97 CE22 (as I prefer the 22 fret models to the 24) and I find the HFS a little more to my liking than the Dragon 1 for drop tuned stuff (nothing crazy - this is my drop-D guitar...I also swapped the 5-way for a 3-way switch). I keep my Dragon 2s in standard.

 

[veinbuster]

I like them a lot, but they are more specialized than just about anything else PRS has made.

Mine are in a SAS that also has a middle Duncan rail. You can get a searing lead out of it.

They aren’t my favourite pickup, or my most used, but they are great at what they do.

 

[thewesdavis]

They aren’t my favourite pickup, or my most used, but they are great at what they do.

^^ This. is probably the best, most straightforward description.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Great for heavy stuff

 

[The Bird]

I love the HFS/VB pickup combo and miss it. I don't have a guitar with those pickups anymore, but I kinda wish I did. Great for a lot of stuff, great interaction with the volume knob.

I dug all the different sounds my Custom 24 had with those pickups. Clean and dirty. I'm not a metal player, I used them for everything really. Not my favorite pickup, but a classic for sure.

 

[DISTORT6]

My first PRS - 1994 CE24 - had them. Thrashtastic.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Is there a worse than “hate them” option?

 

[Texsunburst59]

I have them in my ‘88 Goldtop 24 Special, and my ‘95 Purple Custom 24.

I love them for the high gain stuff, which they do a fine job of.

I don’t automatically pull the stock pickups like a lot of players, and install my favorite set of HB’ers.

I like my guitars to have their own sound and do what they do best.

So in this regard, I love HFS pickups for what they are.

 

[Simon Says]

My '99 standard came with bridge HFS, and it was great at nothing in particular. I got it swapped for a set of 59/09 (much better), then Tremonti treble (back to dull station) and finally Alnico Metal TCI when it blew my brains out and still blowing.

The main thing I liked about a set of HFS/VB is how fast it got sold on Reverb

 

[Guithartic]

HFS has a mid forward profile

Does that mean upper mids are prominent? Or mids are prominent? I couldn’t tell if “forward” was referring to the mids or the overall profile.

 

[dogrocketp]

As heavy pickups, I think they sound great, especially with Marshall , Mesa Boogie, or other brawny amps. I don’t play anything close to that, so no thank you.

 

[watelessness]

my '07 cu24 has all kinds of power, a neck that seems chunkier than a pattern, and sustain for days. heavy though. dangit, now i need to go play it.

 

[László]

They're probably good if you're a metal or thrash player, etc.

Not being that guy I found them not to my taste when I bought my 1991 from my dealer, and had his tech change them to something from Gibson.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Did about the same with my 92 CE. Put some SD 59s in there. Worked a whole lot better to my taste.

 

[László]

Did about the same with my 92 CE. Put some SD 59s in there. Worked a whole lot better to my taste.

It was an improvement (for me), but they weren't as "PAF sounding" as I'd hoped. I should have gone with Duncans, but I wasn't used to pickup changes and didn't know quite what would work at the time. So I figured the Gibson pickups would be a safe bet.

This was long before the plethora of pickups builders who are now popular were offering more authentic vintage sounding sets.

 

[Gtrbldr]

It was an improvement (for me), but they weren't as "PAF sounding" as I'd hoped. I should have gone with Duncans, but I wasn't used to pickup changes and didn't know quite what would work at the time. So I figured the Gibson pickups would be a safe bet.

This was long before the plethora of pickups builders who are now popular were offering more authentic vintage sounding sets.

We are lucky to have those indeed. And i did the swap in 2013 I think, after owning the guitar for about 4 yrs. However I was not much more knowledgeable at the time than SD and DiMarzio as far as PUs go. Ah well. Times have changed ;-).