What did you replace your 85/15's with?

frankencat

Guitarded
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May 8, 2012
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Tampa Bay, FL
I am digging my new Standard 24 S2 but I feel like the pickups could be better. They are not bad mind you but not great either. I know lots of folks love the 85/15 and thats fine, but am curious to see what others were replacing them with. Personally I am a fan of Dimarzios and Seymour Duncans and I was thinking of either a 36th PAF/Super Distortion set or an Alnico 2 Pro or Pearly Gates set from Duncan.
 
Bare Knuckle Stormy Mondays. They are sweet. I would have never paid full freight though, they are pretty spendy.
 
The pickups in your S2 Standard 24 are the korean 85/15 "S" pickups from G&B. To achieve a top sounding guitar, you should swap them out as soon as possible. I suggest to choose the core line PRS 85/15 pickups.
 
Why would I put the same pickups in? I have a lot of respect for G&B honestly. They have made some great sounding pickups over the years. I just think the voicing on the 85/15s is not for me and I doubt it is much different from the core line pickups. Now a set of Dragon II's I could get down with. :)
 
Why would I put the same pickups in? I have a lot of respect for G&B honestly. They have made some great sounding pickups over the years. I just think the voicing on the 85/15s is not for me and I doubt it is much different from the core line pickups. Now a set of Dragon II's I could get down with. :)

Yeah if the voicing is not ringing your bell, Dragon IIs will be different enough. If going for something vintagey, maybe 57/08.

I took the 85/15 bridge out of my Cu24 and put it in my McCarty (love it there) then replaced it in the Cu24 with a 57/08. I haven’t decided what to do with the 85/15 neck but I knew it had to come out of that Custom.

Outside of PRS pickups, I’d try those SD Pearly Gates or something similar from Bare Knuckles in your guitar. I once put those Pearly Gates in a cheap LP studio and it brought the thing to life. They gave the guitar a personality.
 
If you want more clarity, try replacing the volume and tone controls with high quality low tolerance ones made in the USA. They woke up 2 of my guitars for very little money.
 
I may do that first. I was going to build up another pickguard and swap it in but I may swap the electronics first and see if that wakes it up a little bit.
 
I am digging my new Standard 24 S2 but I feel like the pickups could be better. They are not bad mind you but not great either. I know lots of folks love the 85/15 and thats fine, but am curious to see what others were replacing them with. Personally I am a fan of Dimarzios and Seymour Duncans and I was thinking of either a 36th PAF/Super Distortion set or an Alnico 2 Pro or Pearly Gates set from Duncan.

What kind of amp are you using?
 
Oh snap! Are there 85/15LTs now? I would love those.

I've only seen 1 in the wild. Almost got my hands on it, but I lagged in calling the shop. I think that would be a good one to pair with a 59/09 bridge so it doesn't overpower it.
 
Oh snap! Are there 85/15LTs now? I would love those.
58/15LT's

In a number of threads recently it seems that there has been talk of replacing the 58/15 or 58/15LT pickups. What I think is going on here is that anyone who has been accustomed to rolling the tone and volume knobs to 10 and leaving them there for years on end will not gracefully take well to these new pickups. PRS guitars with those pickups installed are not designed to be played that way. Assuming that you already have a very good amp and your tone doesn't suck because your amp sucks, rolling the VOL & TONE knobs to 10 will give you a maximum overdrive tone (so to speak). So unless you are in a Judas Priest cover band, you will want these knobs to live around the number 7 position and only kick it into overdrive when you really need to kick it up a notch. You wouldn't want to drive all the way to Albuquerque using only the passing gear, would you? Your transmission would blow up.

Not only that, but unlike many other guitar brands out there, the 1-6 range is a useless muddy swamp. But on a new PRS guitar, the 1-6 range is actually a usable range. So IMHO, YMMV getting rid of the 58/15 or 58/15LT pickups is unthinkable.
 
58/15LT's

In a number of threads recently it seems that there has been talk of replacing the 58/15 or 58/15LT pickups. What I think is going on here is that anyone who has been accustomed to rolling the tone and volume knobs to 10 and leaving them there for years on end will not gracefully take well to these new pickups. PRS guitars with those pickups installed are not designed to be played that way. Assuming that you already have a very good amp and your tone doesn't suck because your amp sucks, rolling the VOL & TONE knobs to 10 will give you a maximum overdrive tone (so to speak). So unless you are in a Judas Priest cover band, you will want these knobs to live around the number 7 position and only kick it into overdrive when you really need to kick it up a notch. You wouldn't want to drive all the way to Albuquerque using only the passing gear, would you? Your transmission would blow up.

Not only that, but unlike many other guitar brands out there, the 1-6 range is a useless muddy swamp. But on a new PRS guitar, the 1-6 range is actually a usable range. So IMHO, YMMV getting rid of the 58/15 or 58/15LT pickups is unthinkable.

Yes, 7 in the magic knobby knobs number. At least it is for my PRS guitars.

But are there actual 85/15LT pickups? I have 58/15LT pups... I’ve seen articles and spec lists mentioning 85/15LT but I don’t know if it’s a typo or a real pickup.
 
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