So I just received my new Custom 24 30th and just thought I'd comment on the new 85/15 pickups since there doesn't seem to be too much on them yet.
I am coming from my PRS SE 245. The pickups in that guitar are quite good, but on a different level than the 85/15s.
** I play through a Bogner Alchemist 112 combo retubed with JJ power tubes, Sovtek, Mullard and Rubys in the pre-amp section. Oh yeah!
**
The SE pusp are as follows: The bridge is responsive, bright and very hot. It really drives an amp but also cleans up very very well, even on high gain and with the stock tone and volume pots (Alphas). The neck is really really warm, but borders on muddy sounding when playing clean or chords. It almost sounds as if you stuck your head into a bucket or something. I had my amp tech install a coil tap on that pup and man it sings when it's engaged. But the neck pup does sound good with gain, when playing the high notes on the neck.
Overall there is a very noticeable difference between the bridge and neck humbuckers, and I would say that they tend to color your sound a bit. Definitely getting compression in the tone. Essentially, it sounds as if the pickup is doing a lot of the tone work on the SE.
Now the pickups on the Custom24, 85/15s: The first noticeable difference is that there isn't a large difference between the neck and bridge humbuckers. Both, tonally sound very similar, yet the neck is more warm and creamy, without getting muddy at all. The bridge is brighter and snappier, but yet it's not harsh or scratchy. You don't switch to the neck and suddenly everything sounds drastically different...which is a good thing.
The 85/15s definitely have a more dry, just slightly old school feel to them. They DO NOT color the sound at all, and you really really feel that the wood of the guitar is producing the tone, it's not the pickups doing all the work. They are very natural sounding. AMAZING clean tones. Holy crap the cleans are amazing. The clarity is unbelievable.
The gain tones are super crunchy and saturated, yet very airy and open sounding. You don't lose any articulation if you drop it down to Drop-D tuning and play some power riffs. I can literally max out the gain on the Alchemist and yet the sound doesn't get fizzy at all...a "problem" I definitely experienced on my SE 245, Schecter C1+ and other past guitars.
Responsiveness is great, they clean up amazingly and the tone knob is actually useful. You can turn the tone all the way down and STILL have great sound. I've never owned another guitar where turning the tone down a little, let alone all the way was even slightly usable.
Paul knocked this one out of the park by a mile with these pickups! I don't know that I would necessarily recommend them for metal and heavy metal playing (unless you have a crazy high high gain amp, like a tripple rec or something). But for anything else, they're fantastic. Unbelievably versatile.
Side note: Does anyone have the specs for what exactly each position on the pickup selector gives you? I'm wondering which pickup combos exactly are in the "in-between" positions.
Thanks!
I am coming from my PRS SE 245. The pickups in that guitar are quite good, but on a different level than the 85/15s.
** I play through a Bogner Alchemist 112 combo retubed with JJ power tubes, Sovtek, Mullard and Rubys in the pre-amp section. Oh yeah!
**The SE pusp are as follows: The bridge is responsive, bright and very hot. It really drives an amp but also cleans up very very well, even on high gain and with the stock tone and volume pots (Alphas). The neck is really really warm, but borders on muddy sounding when playing clean or chords. It almost sounds as if you stuck your head into a bucket or something. I had my amp tech install a coil tap on that pup and man it sings when it's engaged. But the neck pup does sound good with gain, when playing the high notes on the neck.
Overall there is a very noticeable difference between the bridge and neck humbuckers, and I would say that they tend to color your sound a bit. Definitely getting compression in the tone. Essentially, it sounds as if the pickup is doing a lot of the tone work on the SE.
Now the pickups on the Custom24, 85/15s: The first noticeable difference is that there isn't a large difference between the neck and bridge humbuckers. Both, tonally sound very similar, yet the neck is more warm and creamy, without getting muddy at all. The bridge is brighter and snappier, but yet it's not harsh or scratchy. You don't switch to the neck and suddenly everything sounds drastically different...which is a good thing.
The 85/15s definitely have a more dry, just slightly old school feel to them. They DO NOT color the sound at all, and you really really feel that the wood of the guitar is producing the tone, it's not the pickups doing all the work. They are very natural sounding. AMAZING clean tones. Holy crap the cleans are amazing. The clarity is unbelievable.
The gain tones are super crunchy and saturated, yet very airy and open sounding. You don't lose any articulation if you drop it down to Drop-D tuning and play some power riffs. I can literally max out the gain on the Alchemist and yet the sound doesn't get fizzy at all...a "problem" I definitely experienced on my SE 245, Schecter C1+ and other past guitars.
Responsiveness is great, they clean up amazingly and the tone knob is actually useful. You can turn the tone all the way down and STILL have great sound. I've never owned another guitar where turning the tone down a little, let alone all the way was even slightly usable.
Paul knocked this one out of the park by a mile with these pickups! I don't know that I would necessarily recommend them for metal and heavy metal playing (unless you have a crazy high high gain amp, like a tripple rec or something). But for anything else, they're fantastic. Unbelievably versatile.
Side note: Does anyone have the specs for what exactly each position on the pickup selector gives you? I'm wondering which pickup combos exactly are in the "in-between" positions.
Thanks!
