PRS TCI ”S” VS 85/15 ”S” Pickups

[ZayRRow]

Hi everyone! I wanted to ask what’s the difference between the TCI S and the 85/15 S pickups that are in PRS guitars because I have seen 2 guitars and one has the TCI and the other has the 85/15 and I don’t know which one to choose (and honestly the 85/15 S sounds killer but the one with the TCI S looks much better)

 

[Ruffone]

There are a bunch of threads going on currently concerning the TCI pickups. In short they are tuned versions of the same pickup they are replacing.

PRS Explains Pickup Design - I was right!

I'm so happy PRS released this information to the public in their latest video: I wrote an article earlier this year explaining what I believed was PRS's TCI process (link: https://guitarpickupdatabase.com/prs-tci-pickups-explained/). Every time I heard Paul describe how pickups have a...

forums.prsguitars.com

 

[Mozzi]

Hi everyone! I wanted to ask what’s the difference between the TCI S and the 85/15 S pickups that are in PRS guitars because I have seen 2 guitars and one has the TCI and the other has the 85/15 and I don’t know which one to choose (and honestly the 85/15 S sounds killer but the one with the TCI S looks much better)

The 'S' versions are 'overseas' made Pickups designed to 'sound' similar to their US equivalents.

The 85/15 'S' pickups are the overseas variant of the 85/15's which are currently used in the Custom 24 and designed for their SE version. The TCI 'S' Pickups are the 'Overseas' equivalent of the 'TCI' pickups that are currently used in the Paul's Guitar and designed for their 'SE' Paul's guitar. However, since their introduction, they have also been used in their SE 24-08 models (similar switching I guess) and also in the Santana SE SC gold top.

It can get quite confusing because you have Pickups named after the TCI process as well as that process itself too. According to PRS, all the US made Pups have gone through that 'TCI' Process so you have 85/15's that are TCI tuned but also TCI pups (in the US Paul's). I don't know that they have implemented the TCI process for their overseas Pickup production, but regardless, the TCI 'S' pups are the 'SE' equivalent versions of the TCI pups designed for the SE Paul's Guitar and therefore 'named' after those, not necessarily indicating they have been through the TCI process. Much like the JM635 'S' pups which were 'designed' to sound similar to the JM635 pups in the US Silver Sky.

Personally, I would think that the 'S' range of Pickups have not been through the TCI Process and that the TCI 'S' Pups are only called 'TCI' because they are named after the TCI pups found in the US Paul's guitar. Just like you don't expect the JM635 'S', 85/15 'S', 58/15 'S' etc to have been through the 'TCI' process like their US counterparts, I wouldn't expect the TCI 'S' to have been through it either. If they have, great but I haven't heard anything to suggest they had. It just made sense to me that the TCI 'S' pickups were the SE equivalent of the TCI's in Paul's Guitar and made to sound 'similar' to the US versions - no different from 85/15 vs 85/15 'S' or 58/15 vs 58/15 'S'...

 

[elmariach311]

What's interesting is I tested my 16' CE24 (85/15 pre-TCI) against a 21' Paul's Guitar (SE TCI-S) back to back. Expecting them to be different, they were dead on the same. My mind was blown. Playing Paul's Guitar, I swore it had a different sound but once I tried them side by side I couldn't hear a difference.

Moral of the story: go with what you like. Lolol