PICKUPS: S2-HFS vs Core-HFS vs other

[The Wolf]

Hello everyone! This is my 1st post as I'm finally new to the PRS family! I wish I could afford a core PRS but I just bought the S2 Custom 24 in Antique White and I LOVE it!

My questions is about the pickups. I'm wondering if I upgrade from the stock "S2-HFS" pickup to the core "HFS" pickup, will I notice a big difference?

What other PRS pickups do people like here? I love all kinds of music but I need something that can handle "heavy" when needed.

HFS, 59/09, the new PRS "metal" pickup, Bare Knuckles?

I know these S2 guitars are new and there might not be that much info, but any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[Egads]

Welcome and congrats on the purchase! I can't comment on the S2 HFS, since I haven't heard it. Depending on how heavy and how often, the 59/09 might be a good choice. Hot vintage is always a good option! The \m/ is going to be the hotter of the PRS pups. It really just depends on what you are looking for. Personally, I like the 57/08s a lot, but my version of heavy is STP, Pearl Jam, or some 70s rock. I don't really do "heavy."

 

[NomadMike]

I'm new to PRS also and have yet to figure out what characteristics each pickup has.

 

[Bob Sherwood]

I have a SE custom 24 with HFS. Bought a S2 custom 24 with HFS. Traded the S2 for a CORE Custom 24 with HFS.
I don't hear a lot of difference in any of the three. But, the CORE is light years ahead in workmanship, detail and plays better.

 

[John Beef]

I'm a hard/loud rock player but don't really venture into metal territory much. I had a USA HFS in the bridge position of my Mushok baritone for a while. That was THE metal tone. It was just too much for me. The Suhr SSV+ that's in there now is by far my fave out of the five or six pickups I tried in that guitar.

Now I'm playing in the same B standard tuning on a SE Lowery with a SE HFS pickup in the bridge, and it's basically doing what I want it to do. The guitar woods are different, as are the scale lengths and the string gauges. The Lowery itself doesn't have the same sharp attack you get with the Mushok's maple neck/ebony fretboard combo. The pickup reflects that warmer sound. I was considering getting a better set of pickups for the guitar, but at this point all I'm thinking of doing is installing a brighter sounding magnet in the neck pickup, Alnico 4 maybe, assuming the neck pickup is using Alnico 2 like its USA counterpart.