What PRS pickup has less high end? The 59/09 or the 57/08? And other questions

[Rod/]

Curious. I got a thing about to much high end.
Which of those 2 pickups is warmer?
Does one have more mids than the other?
thanks as always for your help… such a great non judgmental forum….

 

[GuitarJammin]

I'll let others chime in as well, but in my experience with them the 57/08 was fatter and less bright.

I've only had one CU24 with 59/09 and that was brighter than my CU24 artist with 57/08. I owned those two guitar side by side at one point. All in all in my opinion the 57/08 is warmer than the 59/09. The 59/09 was brighter.

All that said I've had 57/08s in 5 guitars and the guitars sounded different. Fattness was usually a common trait across the board....but in my private stock SC250 those beasts break the norm....they are bright...but they are fat. I've also had them in a 83 Gibson LP custom...and a Gibson SG standard (current). They were really dark sounding in the LP...still sounded great...and I have them in my Gibson SG standard...and they ROCK in that thing.

I just finished playing my CU24 with 57/08s...I've had that guitar since 2015.....still gives me a good feeling every time.

 

[Ivancy]

Don’t know about these but definitely the original McCarty ones are very dark and there are sometimes some for sale.

 

[Gtrbldr]

I'll let others chime in as well, but in my experience with them the 57/08 was fatter and less bright.

I've only had one CU24 with 59/09 and that was brighter than my CU24 artist with 57/08. I owned those two guitar side by side at one point. All in all in my opinion the 57/08 is warmer than the 59/09. The 59/09 was brighter.

All that said I've had 57/08s in 5 guitars and the guitars sounded different. Fattness was usually a common trait across the board....but in my private stock SC250 those beasts break the norm....they are bright...but they are fat. I've also had them in a 83 Gibson LP custom...and a Gibson SG standard (current). They were really dark sounding in the LP...still sounded great...and I have them in my Gibson SG standard...and they ROCK in that thing.

I just finished playing my CU24 with 57/08s...I've had that guitar since 2015.....still gives me a good feeling every time.

Interesting, I have not played them side by side, but from the specs I expected the 57/08 to be brighter, because I thought they had a lower dc resistance and that often means lower number of turns

 

[Rod/]

I'll let others chime in as well, but in my experience with them the 57/08 was fatter and less bright.

I've only had one CU24 with 59/09 and that was brighter than my CU24 artist with 57/08. I owned those two guitar side by side at one point. All in all in my opinion the 57/08 is warmer than the 59/09. The 59/09 was brighter.

All that said I've had 57/08s in 5 guitars and the guitars sounded different. Fattness was usually a common trait across the board....but in my private stock SC250 those beasts break the norm....they are bright...but they are fat. I've also had them in a 83 Gibson LP custom...and a Gibson SG standard (current). They were really dark sounding in the LP...still sounded great...and I have them in my Gibson SG standard...and they ROCK in that thing.

I just finished playing my CU24 with 57/08s...I've had that guitar since 2015.....still gives me a good feeling every time.

Thanks @GuitarJammin .. it certainly depends (as you pointed out) what instrument they go in that influences tone….appreciate the rundown…

 

[GuitarJammin]

Interesting, I have not played them side by side, but from the specs I expected the 57/08 to be brighter, because I thought they had a lower dc resistance and that often means lower number of turns

Yea the 57/08s are definitely the darkest pickups of my jam room....my private stock SC250 anomaly aside. I've got this list of humbuckers installed in guitars: Bareknuckle Mules, BK rebel yells, BK Blackdogs, old school HFS/VB, Suhr Thornbuckers (The Brightest), Suhr Thornbucker plus, 57/08s, and some others that came stock from their respective factories.

Out of all that the 57/08s are my favorite, and my PRS guitars are my favorite...but the 57/08s are not the perfect fit for everything. My favorite Non-PRS pickup is the BK mules I have in my CS Gibson LP standard.

 

[azzkkr]

Curious. I got a thing about to much high end.
Which of those 2 pickups is warmer?
Does one have more mids than the other?
thanks as always for your help… such a great non judgmental forum….

57/08 definitely

 

[Going Modal]

Warmer? Kinda maybe the 59/09--they've got more mids and lows and I think could be considered as warmer. But hear me out...

To me the 59/09 have a rather hard/immediate attack, which pushes out those mids and high-end quite forcefully. (On the contrary, to my senses, the 57/08 are much more scooped and compress a bit, very much like the original McCarty pickups, and isn't as forcefully hard or immediate. I tend to refer to this immediacy of attack as being a "modern tone" trait, also present in the 85/15 pickups.) So in practice, I find my 59/09 to be quite cutting & bright. Not a bad thing necessarily, but it's their nature.

@Gtrbldr mentioned that--according to the specs--you'd expect the 57/08 to be brighter due to lower turns/dc resistance. This would seem true--in fact, you'd probably expect the 53/10 to be brightest, then the 57/08, then the 59/09 to be darkest. But in reality, I find the exact opposite in my guitars--the 59/09 (I've had a few of them) is the apparent brightest, then the 57/08 (my favorite, and I have them in 3 guitars), and the 53/10 are darkest but still great and extremely versatile (sadly only have 1 set of them). The old McCarty's... even darker.

 

[László]

DC resistance isn't much a predictor of pickup tone. There are other things that matter regarding frequency response, such as the resonant frequency, etc. A resonant peak occurs at the point the higher frequencies begin to roll off. This can't be predicted via DC resistance, for example. And that peak makes certain tones seem brighter.

The 57/08 is not as bright as the 59/09, I have both.

53/10s are wonderful pickups that aren't bright, either, but they're hard to find. I had an SC58 Artist that came with them, and it was fantastic. I wouldn't call them dark, they were simply very well balanced.

However, tone control knobs on PRSes work really well. I routinely use mine with the guitar I have that came with 59/09s, and they're very well-controlled in the higher frequencies. If you're using the tone controls, I don't see either pickup giving you a problem.

 

[SinSir]

Yes, I'd agree 57/08 are less bright. Though, the 59/09 are amazing and the best way I can describe them to the 57/08 is more. The covers on 57/08 probably contribute to the brightness too.

Listed ohm spec on the 57/08 and 59/09 are pretty similar these days.

Pick-Ups

PRS Pickups are made in the USA, wound in our factory in Stevensville, MD and designed by the mindful ears of Paul Reed Smith himself.

us.prsaccessories.com

Consistently I do prefer the 59/09 bridge and neck is dealers choice but you really can't go wrong with either.

 

[bodia]

I gotta agree, 57/08 would be less bright, but the 59/09 is my favorite PRS pickup. Can’t go wrong with a 59/09 in the bridge and a 57/08 in the neck.

 

[GuitarJammin]

I've definitely been wanting to get my hands on some 53/10s!

 

[Black Plaid]

My experience has been the opposite of everyone here, but perhaps the Dirty 100's shorter scale length is making the guitar sound darker with the 59/09s than the other three 25" scale len guitars that have 57/07s.

But honestly none of the guitars sound the same to me, so either there's a large amount of variance in the pickup manufacturing or there's something to the whole wood-makes-a-difference-in-sound thing.

 

[bodia]

I've definitely been wanting to get my hands on some 53/10s!

Me too.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

There’s a listing on reverb for the special 57/08’s if you’re interested.

PRS 57/08 Humbucker Set | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.

reverb.com

 

[László]

My experience has been the opposite of everyone here, but perhaps the Dirty 100's shorter scale length is making the guitar sound darker with the 59/09s than the other three 25" scale len guitars that have 57/07s.

But honestly none of the guitars sound the same to me, so either there's a large amount of variance in the pickup manufacturing or there's something to the whole wood-makes-a-difference-in-sound thing.

So true. It's going to vary from guitar to guitar.

Ever since PRS came out with the 57/08, I've loved their pickups. I've got a soft spot for the 57/08s, but have had them all and was never disappointed.

 

[Rod/]

Thank you all for your informative responses.. After playing a terrific long 4 set outdoor gig yesterday I realized that i need a bridge pickup that has well, more punch and mids. (I can tame the highs if needed with my tone control).
i went with a 59/09 bridge. Seems like the right choice? I hope so…

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

My experience has been the opposite of everyone here, but perhaps the Dirty 100's shorter scale length is making the guitar sound darker with the 59/09s than the other three 25" scale len guitars that have 57/07s.

But honestly none of the guitars sound the same to me, so either there's a large amount of variance in the pickup manufacturing or there's something to the whole wood-makes-a-difference-in-sound thing.

Was the Dirty 100 a short scale? I always thought it was standard 25”.

 

[bodia]

Was the Dirty 100 a short scale? I always thought it was standard 25”.

Short scale….24.5”

 

[László]

Thank you all for your informative responses.. After playing a terrific long 4 set outdoor gig yesterday I realized that i need a bridge pickup that has well, more punch and mids. (I can tame the highs if needed with my tone control).
i went with a 59/09 bridge. Seems like the right choice? I hope so…

Rod, there are no wrong choices, and the 50.09 is also a great pickup.