Published Official 85/15 S Pickup Specs?

[seanrosedotcom]

Hello all, I picked up a new SE and it's got import, uncovered 85/15 S pickups. I have searched all over the web (and here) and the specs for these pickups people list vary WIDELY. Resistance from 7.5 to 9k and 50/50 on the magnets being A2 or A5... It is so off the wall, none of it can be considered reliable.

First off, I am not immediately sold on them. I have been playing with height and pole heights and it's better... but I also have a bunch of magnet slugs I could swap out, if I knew what to swap from as a starting point. I am trying to give these a fair shot before I replace them completely.

Are there any officially published pickup specs out there? Thanks!

 

[SinSir]

The S pickups are so supposed to approximate the core counterparts I'd use that as a baseline.

I personally have never cared for the 8515S. There are also a few versions of them over the years. First guitar I thought they weren't half bad in is the seSAS, but even those I'd end up swapping as I would buy the guitar for a project floating around my head.

 

[h-pr]

As far as I know, they updated the 85/15 S pickup some time around 2017, so that there are older (up to 2017) and newer (post-2017) versions of the 85/15 S pickups, which might explain the different specs that you found. I had the older ones in my Custom 22 and the newer ones in my Custom 24, and they sound noticeably different (the older ones are kind of flat, the newer ones much better). I ended up replacing the older 85/15 S in my Custom 22 with 57/08, but kept the newer 85/15 S in my Custom 24.

 

[seanrosedotcom]

Thanks everyone. I have some magnets from StewMac, so I am going to do some swaps and see how it goes before I buy something else. I know on my S2 Vela, I ended up putting 2 Seymour Duncan Phat Cats in it and was happy with the change.

 

[Prina]

DCR's on my '22 S2 594 85/15: 8.49 bridge, 8.19 neck. Also have considered upgrading them with either SD Pearly Gates or Wolfetone Dr V's.

Good luck with the magnet swaps and let us know how it turns out.

 

[aphantomvaper]

The 85/15s pickups are my favorites of any SE pickup. I've only had post 2018 SE though.

I think they are stellar!

 

[garrett]

Are there any officially published pickup specs out there?

No. In all the years I've been following PRS I've never seen them publish specs for any of the overseas pickups and only rarely have they published even minimal specs on the USA pickups. A decades-long frustration for spec nerds like me.

Self-reported specs can be unreliable and one part of that is PRS will change specs of a pickup model over time without telling anyone.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

No. In all the years I've been following PRS I've never seen them publish specs for any of the overseas pickups and only rarely have they published even minimal specs on the USA pickups. A decades-long frustration for spec nerds like me.

Self-reported specs can be unreliable and one part of that is PRS will change specs of a pickup model over time without telling anyone.

Is that they refer to as the “secret sauce”?

 

[seanrosedotcom]

So getting this updated since I finished up the guitar. I tried new magnets, and it helped. The neck pickup didn't sound right when I got it. It was dark and really scooped, but minus the high end. The bridge was ok. Swapping magnets fixed that mis-match, so maybe I got a bad pickup. I played it like that a few weeks. Still, I didn't gel with the 85/15 S I got, which BTW were: 7.25K and 7.75K. They sounded OK, but playing my other guitars with Seymour Duncan and the big G pickups, just kept reminding me they had something the 85/15 S were clearly missing.

So, I did the same thing as I did with my Vela. I put in CTS pots and ordered a set of SD 59s. And whatever gives you the crazy rich harmonic content... well it's there now. I love my S2 and my SE, but I love both more with the upgraded electronics and pickups.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Cool! I must admit I get it. Somehow the import PUs miss that mojo preium PUs have. The USA counterparts, but also akin PUs from industry standards like SD, Lollar, BKP simply have more.

Great you enjoy them!