Is there a direct clone of the 85/15 pickup on the market?

I

ItsGiusto

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I'm looking to try a replacement set in my Custom 24 SE. Like many, I've never been a big fan of the stock pickups, they're kinda dull.

I'd like to try something which is as close to the core 85/15 pickup as possible, so I can see if I like the sound of it. If I do, then one day I'll buy a real core custom 24. I've looked at buying a real 85/15 to swap in, but it's just too pricy. I'm looking to keep it to $200 to $300 for the set, max.

Is there any manufacturer who makes a direct clone of the core 85/15?

If not, then what might be the closest I could get? I like Seymour Duncan, do they make something that's in similar sonic territory as the 85/15?
 
I know a guy who does his own which are incredibly close. He’s overseas at the moment but he’s based out of HI
 
To my ear, the 85/15 TCI's that are in my Core Custom 24 are in the vein of a hot rodded PAF. Something like the Bare Knuckle VHII or Riff Raff may be worth a try.
 
I don't think my answer will directly answer your question; however I would suggest looking into some of Vaughn Skow's replacment pickups for PRS, here:
www.vaughnskow.com

PRS PICKUPS | vaughn skow pickups

www.vaughnskow.com www.vaughnskow.com

He claims that they are "Tweaked specifically for Paul Reed Smith / PRS guitar" and that he has replaced more pickups in PRS guitars than any other brand. If he's accurate in having tweaked them specifically for PRS guitars, then they shouldn't be that far off the 85/15 target. There's also a video of Brian Wampler trying them out in an SE Custom 24 here:

Again... I have not experienced these pickups directly, but I have to believe that he's either (A) onto something good here, or (B) completely off his rocker (which I do not strongly suspect he is). Buyer beware and/or YMMV still applies, though.
 
So WTH is wrong with my ears? The replacement pickups in Brian's SE sound fine; I like them.

But I've heard the "dull" complaint about 85-15 S pickups before. And I 'bout choked on my Cheerios when Brian said the original 85/15s were muddy. Muddy? Muddy? They didn't sound muddy to me (and don't in my SEs). If anything, they border on over-brightness. And they can certainly be strident (and thin) in single-coil mode.

(I don't really know how the replacement Vaughn Skows sound when split in Brian's guitar, because the single-note licks he played when demo-ing the VS pups had nothing in common with the strangled jangle chords he played on the original pups.)

The Vaughn Skows sound warmer to me, and fatter. Not less "muddy."

Is my ear that off?

I once had a small slew of Wampler dirt boxes, and eventually sold them off because they weren't working for me. There was nothing in common among them all that I can point to - they just weren't lighting me up. I had concluded Brian's ears and mine are calibrated very differently. Several months ago I re-adopted the Euphoria, and added the Pantheon and Belle. They're working for me; I've been playing the whole range of SEs through what seems (for the moment, anyway) the magic stack of the Pantheon into the Origin Revival Drive Compact and a Keeley GC-2 "Limiting Amplifier" compressor (just to control peaks), all on the front end of a modeler with a clean Lonestar patch.

And now Brian tells me SE pickups suck.

I just don't know what to think.

Also, I guess don't care. I'm pleasing my ears.
 
I wish I knew the answer. You can buy the 85/15’s TM used. But for what they are going for used, my tight azz would appreciate a sub. And the TCI’s are waaaaaay out of my budget.
 
Last edited:
Proteus said:
So WTH is wrong with my ears? The replacement pickups in Brian's SE sound fine; I like them.

But I've heard the "dull" complaint about 85-15 S pickups before. And I 'bout choked on my Cheerios when Brian said the original 85/15s were muddy. Muddy? Muddy? They didn't sound muddy to me (and don't in my SEs). If anything, they border on over-brightness. And they can certainly be strident (and thin) in single-coil mode.

(I don't really know how the replacement Vaughn Skows sound when split in Brian's guitar, because the single-note licks he played when demo-ing the VS pups had nothing in common with the strangled jangle chords he played on the original pups.)

The Vaughn Skows sound warmer to me, and fatter. Not less "muddy."

Is my ear that off?

I once had a small slew of Wampler dirt boxes, and eventually sold them off because they weren't working for me. There was nothing in common among them all that I can point to - they just weren't lighting me up. I had concluded Brian's ears and mine are calibrated very differently. Several months ago I re-adopted the Euphoria, and added the Pantheon and Belle. They're working for me; I've been playing the whole range of SEs through what seems (for the moment, anyway) the magic stack of the Pantheon into the Origin Revival Drive Compact and a Keeley GC-2 "Limiting Amplifier" compressor (just to control peaks), all on the front end of a modeler with a clean Lonestar patch.

And now Brian tells me SE pickups suck.

I just don't know what to think.

Also, I guess don't care. I'm pleasing my ears.
Click to expand...
It's fine to like the 85/15 S pickups, there's nothing wrong with that. For all I know my dislike of them could just be power of suggestion, knowing they're priced cheaper and that everyone complains about them. Believe me, I'm very skeptical in general about guitar voodoo and sympathetic to the notion that the pickups are fine and it's all just placebo effect. That said, I wouldn't mind trying to get closer to the core pickup sound anyway.

It is possible for something to be overly bright and also muddy. In fact I feel like if you plug a guitar directly into a sound board, that's kinda what you'd get, something that's both shrill and muddy. But it's been a while since I've done that, so I might be misremembering.

For a pickup to be both shrill and muddy, the brightness can be bright in the wrong places so it can sound ice picky and shrill (like maybe concentrating at 4kh), and the lows can be concentrated in the wrong places so it can sound overly congested (like maybe 150 to 200hz). Truly, the frequency spectrum is a wide space, so it can hit things differently. If the high and low peaks were each a little higher up in the spectrum (like just guessing maybe 400hz for the bass frequencies and 6khz for the highs), then it'd sound way different, noticeably, while still having "brightness" and "warmth".

But it's also possible that it's just the power of suggestion.
 
Last edited:
Proteus said:
So WTH is wrong with my ears? The replacement pickups in Brian's SE sound fine; I like them.

But I've heard the "dull" complaint about 85-15 S pickups before. And I 'bout choked on my Cheerios when Brian said the original 85/15s were muddy. Muddy? Muddy? They didn't sound muddy to me (and don't in my SEs). If anything, they border on over-brightness. And they can certainly be strident (and thin) in single-coil mode.

(I don't really know how the replacement Vaughn Skows sound when split in Brian's guitar, because the single-note licks he played when demo-ing the VS pups had nothing in common with the strangled jangle chords he played on the original pups.)

The Vaughn Skows sound warmer to me, and fatter. Not less "muddy."

Is my ear that off?

I once had a small slew of Wampler dirt boxes, and eventually sold them off because they weren't working for me. There was nothing in common among them all that I can point to - they just weren't lighting me up. I had concluded Brian's ears and mine are calibrated very differently. Several months ago I re-adopted the Euphoria, and added the Pantheon and Belle. They're working for me; I've been playing the whole range of SEs through what seems (for the moment, anyway) the magic stack of the Pantheon into the Origin Revival Drive Compact and a Keeley GC-2 "Limiting Amplifier" compressor (just to control peaks), all on the front end of a modeler with a clean Lonestar patch.

And now Brian tells me SE pickups suck.

I just don't know what to think.

Also, I guess don't care. I'm pleasing my ears.
Click to expand...
Nah, I have a Santana SE that came with 85/15S pickups and feel the same way.

I don’t love 85/15’s.
 
ItsGiusto said:
It's fine to like the 85/15 S pickups, there's nothing wrong with that. For all I know my dislike of them could just be power of suggestion, knowing they're priced cheaper and that everyone complains about them. Believe me, I'm very skeptical in general about guitar voodoo and sympathetic to the notion that the pickups are fine and it's all just placebo effect. That said, I wouldn't mind trying to get closer to the core pickup sound anyway.

It is possible for something to be overly bright and also muddy. In fact I feel like if you plug a guitar directly into a sound board, that's kinda what you'd get, something that's both shrill and muddy. But it's been a while since I've done that, so I might be misremembering.

For a pickup to be both shrill and muddy, the brightness can be bright in the wrong places so it can sound ice picky and shrill (like maybe concentrating at 4kh), and the lows can be concentrated in the wrong places so it can sound overly congested (like maybe 150 to 200hz). Truly, the frequency spectrum is a wide space, so it can hit things differently. If the high and low peaks were each a little higher up in the spectrum (like just guessing maybe 400hz for the bass frequencies and 6khz for the highs), then it'd sound way different, noticeably, while still having "brightness" and "warmth".

But it's also possible that it's just the power of suggestion.
Click to expand...
400hz is still midrange, it’d be honky city (or Iowa) if they boosted that frequency.
 
sergiodeblanc said:
400hz is still midrange, it’d be honky city (or Iowa) if they boosted that frequency.
Click to expand...
That's not my point, my point is that there's many frequency bands in each large range that we might call bass or treble, and cutting or boosting different ones and by different amounts may have various pleasing or non pleasing effects, that are distinguishable from one another. Bassy and warm may in fact be different frequency ranges and ratios, like sizzle vs chimy vs ice picky are different treble sounds you get from different ranges
 
I wouldn’t call them dull. Not in the one I have anyway. Maybe the manufacturing tolerances are a bit vague (or nonexistent) such that the output and tone varies?

More likely, it’s the power of suggestion. Either way, if you think you don’t like something it’s tough to change your own opinion.

If I was in your shoes I’d probably change to a different guitar. Honestly. And if it were brightness I was looking for I’d be looking at something with a bolt on neck and single coils perhaps. A SE Silver Sky? Yes please.
 
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