For anyone watching this after late 2020: If you're not a big fan of the stock pickups in the new SE Custom 24, before changing out the pick-ups, ADJUST THEIR HEIGHT AND TILT. Wasn't a big fan of them before, they sounded thin and lacked separation between the notes, but I spent 5-10 minutes adjusting them and now the pickups sounds way better, and the coil tap sounds magical!!! May not work for you, but do give it a try before replacing them. You won't regret it.
@@JH-qg5ho Hello :) Yes sure! First, Find the screws on either side of the pickups mounting them to the ring (the corner ones mount the ring to the body, the larger middle ones adjust pickup height). Next, move the pickups relative to the strings: moving them up/closer will make them brighter, more detailed but also more shrill and sharp if you go too far, and down/farther more mushy and lifeless, so a good in-between point/sweet spot needs to be found. Also make sure you have a tilt to emphasize the treble frequencies as they tend to not be as loud as the bass (have the High E side of the pickup closer to the strings than the low E side). Do this for both pickups, then switch back and forth between them and the middle position and look for volume/detail/tone differences between the two that you can adjust. Finally, once you are happy with this, check with the coil splits and make sure you get the sound you want. When I adjusted mine, I adjusted the humbuckers perfectly, which makes the split coil configuration too bright, so when I use it, I roll the tone down to 3-5. Hope this helps, please let me know if you see any improvement! Paul
Thanks for the tip, will try this one to see if they can sound better. I actually like stock pickups on SE Custom 24. The might not be metal machines, but they sound very sweet on clean tones.
@@GiltleyRage Great! Please let me know how it goes. Not guaranteed you'll get exactly the tone you want from it, but it's free and super easy with a phillips head screwdriver so no point in not trying
I am very surprised and disappointed at this video as I have watched a lot of your reviews and had put some trust into what you were saying, but this is nothing more than a paid commercial for vaughn skow and it borders on deceiving the public. Your cheap PRS SE would normally have 58/15 S pickups which are the cheapest PRS pickup and you should have brought this to the publics attention. You complain that you were not happy with the pickups and then found someone who made "pickups specifically for the PRS" and they are "FANTASTIC. First and foremost PRS make a wide range of pickups WHICH ARE AVAILABLE TO BE BOUGHT BY THE PUBLIC, and the majority are cheaper than vaughn skow. Anybody can replace their cheap SE pickups with GENUINE PRS PICKUPS, such as 57/09, Tremonti, HFS, Dragon II and even the "M" metal pickup, and all are cheaper and better sounding than a vaughn skow, At no point in this video did you say that it is a sponsored video by vaughn skow and you tried to pass it off as you just came across them by accident after a year of searching, while this video being advertised on their website, for someone in business with wampler pedals and an influencer on youtube this is disgraceful .
WHAT!!! OMG you mean Brian did a paid product endorsement!!! where the hell does he think he is ...AMERICA??? Calm down and play some guitar...we all make our own choices and no one is made to watch or purchase anything. Are you maybe living in Venezuela or Cuba?
@@donstout3746 Regardless of being in the usa which thankfully I am not, he is deceiving the public pretending it is a genuine video rather than a paid endorsement, Are all His reviews of pedals and products on his channels paid ads or genuine reviews, even young RUclipsrs are honest enough to say when it is a paid for ad, Now I will get rid of my Wampler pedals and then play my Guitar...
they come stock with 85/15 and now 85/15 S not 58/15 and to be honest I wish they did come stock with 58/15 because to my ear they sound a lot better than the 85/15. To each their own huh?
I just checked sweetwater and the PRS pickups are 200 or so each. the ones he's showing here are i think 285 for a set of two, so i believe these skow ones are cheaper.
@@doghouse010 You may be right. but I still think deliberately deceiving the public with a " paid for commercial" from a respected business owner is extremely underhand. I also know that if you buy a PRS SE model that you probably don't have the money to buy the better PRS Pickups, but al least tell the public that they ARE available to buy, and separately, Vaughan Skow are no match for top of the range PRS pickups, and Wampler with all his money didn't have to pretend he waited a year to find a better pickup when he could have bought any of the PRS pickups on sale, the more I think of it the more dishonest it becomes and as I had said, I used to watch his pedal reviews but now they may be just paid for commercials because you can't trust the man.
@@matt_glista i honestly think the "new" TCI pups in the pauls and 24-08 SE arent bad dont know if you have heard those yet obviously not on the level of American made 85/15's but still not bad
@@matt_glista 0:47 and 2:55 are the comparisons. Night and day is a total hyperbole. The one thing everyone fails to show is how high PRS sets their pickups out of the factory. Drop them a bit, tone is absolutely near identical.
Changed my PRS SE pickups from stock to Gibson Classic '57s. It seems to be based only on observation that changing pickups is almost considered a standard thing to do on these guitars. But they play like a dream, the action is wonderful, and they are incredibly stable: they hold a setup like nothing else. Even with cost of new pickups, I think these guitars are fairly priced. Really good workmanship.
smart man, the Gibby 57 Classics were designed by Tom Holmes and his own versions sells for $600. So many swap out the 57's and install inferior replacements not even realizing what they are doing! In an old Guitar Magazine Pup shoot-out the Tom Holmes can in #1 and the Gibby 57 Cassics #2, and duncans dimarzios, you name it were in that pup shoot-out! The 57's just have those compelling mids most other pups lack! If you use 500k vol/tone pots, w/mini switchable .001/.010 (ceramic orange drops) and /.033 (oil caps) & a tone control bypass mini switch, the 57's tone will crush almost everything out there regardless of price! I owne/owned at least 60 different pups from many different makers and even after 40 yrs of searching the 57 Classics are still my all time fav pups! My #2? that would be the Dimarzio DP100 Super Distortion in a Les Paul of course! It is the sound of 70's go's hard rock! Also the key to pro tone is to use a graphic EQ pedal to front end your amop and one in the loop too for molding distortion, as %99 of all the pros always use an EQ pedal to compensate for their amps frequencies will fluctuate all the time depending upon the level and quality of input voltage, ampient temp, humidity, barametric pressure, etc. etc.
I purchased these pickups last week, I feel a little intimidated installing them, I’ve done pickups before too, mainly fender. The capacitor is kind of where I’m hung up on. Ah what’s the worst that can happen. Thanks for the video, I have the same guitar and have similar feelings about it, felt good to play just sounded blah.!
Soldering in and of itself isn't what intimidates me. I learned to solder in 1992. What gives me jitters is getting the pickups/springs/brackets/screws all nicely back into place. Thats what keeps me from replacing pickups. So, after a year, how do you like yours?
Honestly i would had loved to have heard how those original pups would had sounded with the 022cap you got with the custom pops, and im curious wether or not the height/angle had been adjusted on the PRS pups (im just going to asume they had as you should always do this)
I didn't notice him working the volume pot; PRS SE CUSTOM 24 demos *from* PRS highlight the volume knob as intricate to the sound of the pickups. Watch anyone demoing any gtr: if they're turning the volume to 10 & playing....watch out.
An unbelievable transformation. What's ever more unbelievable is the need to change the pickups in the first place. Those guitars are not cheap but it sounded cheap until you changed the pickups!
Well they are "cheap". I have the SE Santana yellow and it's not a perfect guitar by any stretch of imagination. I have uneven rough frets, the bridge is unstable (when you bend a lot it goes out of tune) and the humbucker it came with are so fuzzy sounding. No life. Just thin and fuzzy. I'm going to buy the pick ups in the video. They're cheaper than others.
The se models are student edition models their 800.00 I have one. The pick ups are a little muddy and a little to brittle sounding for me. I like mine fine though.
Give a monkey a typewriter and you’ll get a word eventually. My bandmate has a superb SE model but had to try quite a few. Gibson obviously a more extreme version of this sadly at higher price points. I don’t own a guitar that still has stock pickups, even custom shop models - to each their own ears!
You are correct. The SE’s 85/15 “S” pickups sound terrible, and when you change to something of higher quality, you may have to swap out the capacitor, too.
Nice improvement. Don't be disappointed if you can't find the "magic" height adjustment on your orig. pickups. It is worth a try though. I hate to have to replace pu's (amongst other things) on a guitar that costs $800 but upgrades can be fun.
PRS SE 24 on sale for $700 PRS locking tuners-$95 John Mann 3 piece all brass trem $200 Vaughn Skow pups $240 For $1235 I’ll put it up against core models all day long, it’s perfect! (Same color as yours btw)
ARK I’ve played core models, but I don’t own one. From a resale standpoint if I only got 600 for my SE, I would only lose 635. I almost bought a wood library DGT in perfect condition from a guitar center for 2650. That’s a guitar that was 4400 new with a case in like new shape. I played it and it was amazing, but not 1415 bucks more amazing than my SE, and certainly not 3165 bucks more amazing, had I bought it new.
@@bcrocks3935 dude i have seen videos comparing high end PRSs to the SEs and there have always been very little differences in the tone ! and that is quite amazing considering its a 3000 dollar difference in cost ! just a few upgrades and the SE is pretty much high end ! and i know this because i have the Trampas Green SE with upgrades !
I think SE's use softer fret wire. They definitely use smaller potentiometers. Other than that, pickups, tuners, and bridge, what else can even be different?
Mounted Gibson Classic 57 (alnico2) on PRS-SE Single Cut Korina, it's freaking great. BTW, got my SCK for €250... Now they're discontinued, within the 5 last years, the SCK now sells at €1000 on the 2nd hand market but THERE'S A VERY BAD NEWS!!! PRS has stopped working with Korean ghostbuilder WMI (World Musica Instruments) the switched to Cort/Indonesia... So you can expect the same quality as the numerous Squier or Ibanez, etc, all ghostbuilt at the Cortek's Indonesian plant. WMI never made student guitars, only well made quality ones.
Yep I got one of the last PRS set to come out of world music it’s a rosewood se Sweetwater edition..I noticed right after I bought it they started saying Indonesia or the headstock and not Korea..So happy I purchased it..
Best pu's for an se are core model pu's. Never found aftermarkets that I liked in a PRS. SE pickup's for import pu's aren't horrible but not great for sure.
Because those pickups are $269 for the pair. Way too pricey for a $579 guitar. The PRS SE 85/15S pickups are made by Korean G&B company and cost them probably $20 for a pair, at most.
@@elzafir too expensive? I got my se for 300 used. I’m willing to spend up to 300 on pickups. Thats to be expected. Ive got many guitars for 100 used and put pickups in that cost more than what i paid for the guitar. The best way to cheap tone is to put all your upgrade money into pickups
@@Ottophil that's your sickness. That shit wouldn't fly with a factory guitar. If PRS SE put a $250 pickup on a $500 guitar and sell them for $750, you people would still gladly install an aftermarket pickup on it, because clearly, nothing cheap can be good.
I have a SE Custom 24 with the Rosewood top and it plays great. The 85/15s are decent but not exceptional. The Vaughn Skow pickups and capacitor made a noticeable improvement for me. The split tone is more pronounced and the humbucker tone reminds me of my old tar backs. I would highly recommend these for a more classic paf tone. He had them built and shipped out within a few days. I kept the reverse zebras but he has other options for black, cream, white, vintage Nickel or polished nickel covers.
If you ever want to sell that rosewood SE I will gladly take it. I have the exotic ebony, zebrawood both gloss and satin, ziricote, and burled something.
I agree that the pickups are the weak link on a PRS, at least on the S2s and lower priced guitars. I must say I have never tried the 58/08, 58/15s or whatever the high pickups are called. I will not be trying those because these Vaughan Skows are the pickups that will stay in my S2. I have a boneyard of HBs from many makers and my search is over. The coil split tone is outstanding and almost difficult to tell the difference in volume between normal HB and split mode. I can play any style of music too. I always thought low output HBs were the way to go with HBs, but this pickup has changed my thoughts on what makes a HB great. Thanks Vaughn Skow!
Quick question..If I were to order a set of upgraded pickups for mine, do I need a certain type of pickup to retain the ability to go from single coil to Humbucker? I want new pickups as well but not at the cost of losing the single coil function. Thank you to whoever can answer this.
It sounds like the original pickups just needed to be raised. I had the same issue with my custom 24, which also had 10s from the factory. The sound was a bit warm and muddy for me. I raised the pickups, lowered the action a bit, and switched to 8.5s. The difference was night and day.
I like that it has the matching headstock color, my custom 24 has a maple colored headstock on a charcoal body. I wish it had a matching colored headstock or at least a darker color, like the could of stained the headstock a darker color.
I was just going to type that I think your new pickups sounds great just to realize, you are playing the original pups and have not swapped for the new ones yet haha 😂 The stock PRS SE pickups is actually pretty good for the price they are asking for the guitar. I think however I will swap them out for a Dimarzio Super Distortion and Dimarzio PAF PRO set in zebra color on the PRS SE Standard Vintage Red, that guitar to me looks amazing and cost me like 550€ which is a steal for what it is. I saw they are starting to replace the SE line with new guitars 2023 that cost like 200€ more and have a less good looking body shape (Violin carved top they call it) and not zebra colored pickups anymore, I could not find anything positive/new they added to the guitars but they added around 200€ 😭
I recently got an SE and I'm not satisfied with its tone, mainly in heavy distortion. Not sure if it's thanks to the pickups or some other compromised electronic parts. I got them higher, way closer to the strings, but it still sounds like there is a cheap mixer in the route. Do you feel a significant difference after the replacement? Will the humbucker/single split still work for any replacement?
Thanks Brian, I’ve heard other Vaughn skow pups and I’m getting a set for literally the exact same guitar. Try the PRs locking tuners for it and a John Mann bridge. With the stock nut I can still stay in tune for a couple days at a time.
Got an SE Custom 24 for Christmas -- absolutely HATED the sound. The thing sounded like you were playing underwater or listening from next door. I tried everything to get the tone I wanted and never did, which is how I wound up watching this video -- ordered the Vaughn Skow's immediately, had them installed ASAP and it's made ALL the difference in the world to me. lf anyone is on the fence, just spend the extra money and do it -- still cheaper than the next level up and tone is amazing with the VS pickups. Highly recommend.
Great video. I have the same PRS Se, but Trampas Green. I replace the pickups with Bill Lawrence pickups (I do this for all my gtrs). They sound great too and no noise at all. Do you have experience with Bill Lawrence pickups?
Imo just try adjusting the pickup height before swapping. It will make a difference. I have an SE and the only thing I changed is the tuners into a locking one.
I did everything with mine, and after playing a Gibson '59, I realized a pickup change was necessary. Threw some Pearly Gates into my SE custom 22 semi-hollow, and it came to life! My stock pickups were good, but not great.
For years I hated PRS until the Paul was released, alongside the TCI pickups. Before that their pickups were really lacking, which not all ears detected. That being said I don’t own a guitar with the original pickups except one with the stock ‘64 Gibson HBs. If the wood is resonant and the luthier did and exceptional job, that’s the goal! My rules are they need to be asymmetrically wound, and low mass guitar = higher output, high mass guitar = lower output.
I've seen many posts and videos regarding SE's muddy sound. I noticed that the volume pot may be the reason for the problem. When it is on max, it will output an already overdriven sound, which causes the muddiness on distortion. Turn it to 6 or 7, and it should be fine.
Every player has their own ear for guitar, pickups and gear. I'm quite happy with the 85/15s in my new SE, at least for now. I might drop skows into my Harley Benton CST 24 just for the hell of it - the guitar is fine but the pickups aint great. (Will always be a 75 Fender Strat single-coiler actually).What really made a brilliant up in tone was fitting Jensen 12s into my Fender combo...
yes, the stock pickups are really on the treble side and sound 2- dimensional and cheap.. I put in DiMarzio Transitions, Gotoh locking tuners, a Graph Tech nut and lampshades in my SE Custom 22 semi...and finally oiled/ waxed the back of the neck ...love it!
I’d never heard of vs pickups before and wouldn’t care if I never did again. These sound like the old Chinese rip offs of Seymour Duncan’s. Not sure what you did to that poor prs but it sounds garbage post swap 👎
I love PRS and my 24 Custom is my absolute favorite guitar. I have the 25th anniversary Floyd Rose edition. The one thing I don't like about it is the oreo pickups. Theyre hideous especially against my quilted red top. Noticed you changed out oreos for oreos lmao
People selling pickups want you to believe that the pickups in your se 24 are crappy because THEY WANT TO SELL YOU PICKUPS! What a massive load of poop. Rubbish peddlers.
@@beefnacos6258 Thanks for the explanation. Appreciate it. I just never liked how 24 fret guitars felt, but every player is different. I like singlecuts, 22 frets but I have all medium jumbo frets except my one PRS S58 with jumbos. My tech went thru a period where he was replacing all his frets with stainless jumbos. Since then, he's gone back to using whatever is stock on the guitar. I enjoy jumbos but I like medium jumbo just as much. Different feel for sure. Thanks.
I have an SE custom 24. I'm looking to buy some Vaughn Skow pups for it and a Gibson SG Std. The Std is first. Perhaps the 59/60. I'll do more research. Oh , I'm not a braggart however, I Own a 2017 CE 24 and I wouldn't change the stock pups in it. Played thru a dsl50 into a Marshall 4 12 greenback cab made in England. Almost sounds like a cello at times so beautiful to hear. Yeah, I'm not a guitar snob, I am a tone junky.
Mr. Sevennotes I have a 2017se custom 22 fret. I really like it, thought the pups sounded great. I'm thinking about all new cts pots and a treable bleed. Any suggestions. Should I leave it alone or try this mod. I'm playing thru a dsl 1 watt thru a Marshall 2×12 slanted cab. Live in a condo, love the 1 watt dsl, can actually press a button and cut it to a quarter watt. So I can get the tubes screaming at low levels.
Hello Robert. I'm not an expert. I know I like the stock CE pickups. I think my SE could use some SD or stock, used, PRS pups. I have my hands full at the moment of other needs for what money I am allowed to keep. It would be fun. God Bless you and yours. @@robertwillett4122
@@mhball i will have to come back later to give a fair assessment. Upon initial install I am disappointed. The neck pickup is extremely bright and ice picky on the g,b,e strings. There could be a potentiometer issue being out of spec causing this. I am rewiring with cts pots, new jack and new 3 way blade switch to give it all usa electronics. Once that's complete I will come back to update. I will say the note clarity is better but I can't give an assessment on tone just yet.
@@mhball got the rewire done today. After playing with pickup height and putting a radius on the pole pieces, I found my sweet spot. I did dual cts push pull pots so I can split each pickup individually. New upgraded 3 way switch, tone pros output jack and pushback cloth wire. Basically I gutted it and started over. It was completely worth it. It is 2:15am right now and I am having trouble putting the guitar down. I finished the rewire about 6pm. The tones are amazing and the notes are so clear. Highly recommend the upgrade!!!
I bought my prs se custom 24, I had it all set up snd plexed and all the blah blah's. It was so muddy when I got it, I really couldn't stand it. It sat in it's case for about a year. Installed Seymore Duncan's hot rodded set, a whole new different guitar!
The only SE model I've ever really liked is the Hollowbody II Piezo. And even that needed a PLEK to sort out the frets. I've fitted PRS Locking Tuners, but I still need to upgrade the pots because they feel cheap and a million miles away from the quality of those you would get in a Core PRS. The stock buttons also look cheap. I bought a PRS SE Custom 24 online, used, but mint condition. Turned out I hated the neck and hated the pickups. It had terrible tuning stability too. I had the nut cut a bit better, got the action a little lower and fitted PRS Locking Tuners. I still hated it. I'm done buying SE models. I wouldn't bother with the S2 range either. SE hardware and pickups for twice the price of a SE because you're largely paying for US labour costs. My advice is save up for a Core PRS or if that's just too much money look for a good used CE.
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For anyone watching this after late 2020:
If you're not a big fan of the stock pickups in the new SE Custom 24, before changing out the pick-ups, ADJUST THEIR HEIGHT AND TILT.
Wasn't a big fan of them before, they sounded thin and lacked separation between the notes, but I spent 5-10 minutes adjusting them and now the pickups sounds way better, and the coil tap sounds magical!!!
May not work for you, but do give it a try before replacing them. You won't regret it.
Hi Paul, that sounds fantastic and probably worth a try. Any tip on how you proceeded ?
@@JH-qg5ho Hello :) Yes sure!
First, Find the screws on either side of the pickups mounting them to the ring (the corner ones mount the ring to the body, the larger middle ones adjust pickup height).
Next, move the pickups relative to the strings: moving them up/closer will make them brighter, more detailed but also more shrill and sharp if you go too far, and down/farther more mushy and lifeless, so a good in-between point/sweet spot needs to be found.
Also make sure you have a tilt to emphasize the treble frequencies as they tend to not be as loud as the bass (have the High E side of the pickup closer to the strings than the low E side).
Do this for both pickups, then switch back and forth between them and the middle position and look for volume/detail/tone differences between the two that you can adjust.
Finally, once you are happy with this, check with the coil splits and make sure you get the sound you want. When I adjusted mine, I adjusted the humbuckers perfectly, which makes the split coil configuration too bright, so when I use it, I roll the tone down to 3-5.
Hope this helps, please let me know if you see any improvement!
Paul
@@paulcobee355 Hi Paul, what a detailed answer, thanks a lot. I will install my new nut then will give it a try. Really helpful thanks.
Thanks for the tip, will try this one to see if they can sound better. I actually like stock pickups on SE Custom 24. The might not be metal machines, but they sound very sweet on clean tones.
@@GiltleyRage Great! Please let me know how it goes. Not guaranteed you'll get exactly the tone you want from it, but it's free and super easy with a phillips head screwdriver so no point in not trying
I'm gonna try some SD pearly gates...
I did this swap and it's amazing.
I did Saturday Night Specials in my TremontiSE.
Wired it Grissom circuit.👍🏽
Screw the Marshall. That guitar is dying on the vine for you to plug into those orange cabinets and amp head. Is that a rockerverb behind you
Yup.. I think the orignal PuPs sound muddy in the low end and kindof tinny on the highs. Did you change anything else.
I am very surprised and disappointed at this video as I have watched a lot of your reviews and had put some trust into what you were saying, but this is nothing more than a paid commercial for vaughn skow and it borders on deceiving the public. Your cheap PRS SE would normally have 58/15 S pickups which are the cheapest PRS pickup and you should have brought this to the publics attention. You complain that you were not happy with the pickups and then found someone who made "pickups specifically for the PRS" and they are "FANTASTIC. First and foremost PRS make a wide range of pickups WHICH ARE AVAILABLE TO BE BOUGHT BY THE PUBLIC, and the majority are cheaper than vaughn skow. Anybody can replace their cheap SE pickups with GENUINE PRS PICKUPS, such as 57/09, Tremonti, HFS, Dragon II and even the "M" metal pickup, and all are cheaper and better sounding than a vaughn skow, At no point in this video did you say that it is a sponsored video by vaughn skow and you tried to pass it off as you just came across them by accident after a year of searching, while this video being advertised on their website, for someone in business with wampler pedals and an influencer on youtube this is disgraceful .
WHAT!!! OMG you mean Brian did a paid product endorsement!!! where the hell does he think he is ...AMERICA??? Calm down and play some guitar...we all make our own choices and no one is made to watch or purchase anything. Are you maybe living in Venezuela or Cuba?
@@donstout3746 Regardless of being in the usa which thankfully I am not, he is deceiving the public pretending it is a genuine video rather than a paid endorsement, Are all His reviews of pedals and products on his channels paid ads or genuine reviews, even young RUclipsrs are honest enough to say when it is a paid for ad, Now I will get rid of my Wampler pedals and then play my Guitar...
they come stock with 85/15 and now 85/15 S not 58/15 and to be honest I wish they did come stock with 58/15 because to my ear they sound a lot better than the 85/15. To each their own huh?
I just checked sweetwater and the PRS pickups are 200 or so each. the ones he's showing here are i think 285 for a set of two, so i believe these skow ones are cheaper.
@@doghouse010 You may be right. but I still think deliberately deceiving the public with a " paid for commercial" from a respected business owner is extremely underhand. I also know that if you buy a PRS SE model that you probably don't have the money to buy the better PRS Pickups, but al least tell the public that they ARE available to buy, and separately, Vaughan Skow are no match for top of the range PRS pickups, and Wampler with all his money didn't have to pretend he waited a year to find a better pickup when he could have bought any of the PRS pickups on sale, the more I think of it the more dishonest it becomes and as I had said, I used to watch his pedal reviews but now they may be just paid for commercials because you can't trust the man.
Not hearing much of a difference here TBH
The only difference I honestly heard was the split coil audio. Other than that, tone matches identically.
0:41 vs 2:55 is night & day. The only stock PRS pups that sound fantastic in my experience are TM 85/15's in the core models.
@@matt_glista i honestly think the "new" TCI pups in the pauls and 24-08 SE arent bad dont know if you have heard those yet obviously not on the level of American made 85/15's but still not bad
@@matt_glista 0:47 and 2:55 are the comparisons. Night and day is a total hyperbole. The one thing everyone fails to show is how high PRS sets their pickups out of the factory. Drop them a bit, tone is absolutely near identical.
If you’ve spent the money, you’ll hear a difference. Guaranteed! 😉
Changed my PRS SE pickups from stock to Gibson Classic '57s. It seems to be based only on observation that changing pickups is almost considered a standard thing to do on these guitars. But they play like a dream, the action is wonderful, and they are incredibly stable: they hold a setup like nothing else. Even with cost of new pickups, I think these guitars are fairly priced. Really good workmanship.
smart man, the Gibby 57 Classics were designed by Tom Holmes and his own versions sells for $600. So many swap out the 57's and install inferior replacements not even realizing what they are doing! In an old Guitar Magazine Pup shoot-out the Tom Holmes can in #1 and the Gibby 57 Cassics #2, and duncans dimarzios, you name it were in that pup shoot-out! The 57's just have those compelling mids most other pups lack!
If you use 500k vol/tone pots, w/mini switchable .001/.010 (ceramic orange drops) and /.033 (oil caps) & a tone control bypass mini switch, the 57's tone will crush almost everything out there regardless of price! I owne/owned at least 60 different pups from many different makers and even after 40 yrs of searching the 57 Classics are still my all time fav pups! My #2? that would be the Dimarzio DP100 Super Distortion in a Les Paul of course! It is the sound of 70's go's hard rock!
Also the key to pro tone is to use a graphic EQ pedal to front end your amop and one in the loop too for molding distortion, as %99 of all the pros always use an EQ pedal to compensate for their amps frequencies will fluctuate all the time depending upon the level and quality of input voltage, ampient temp, humidity, barametric pressure, etc. etc.
PRS easily makes some of the worst sounding pickups i've ever heard in my life. My CE24 just sits at the moment. Debating on pickup swap.
I bought pickups from Planet Tone. A 59 special for the neck, and a Blues heritage for the bridge. Both with nickel covers. Sounds awesome.
I purchased these pickups last week, I feel a little intimidated installing them, I’ve done pickups before too, mainly fender. The capacitor is kind of where I’m hung up on. Ah what’s the worst that can happen. Thanks for the video, I have the same guitar and have similar feelings about it, felt good to play just sounded blah.!
Soldering in and of itself isn't what intimidates me. I learned to solder in 1992. What gives me jitters is getting the pickups/springs/brackets/screws all nicely back into place. Thats what keeps me from replacing pickups. So, after a year, how do you like yours?
Yeah. Sorry I get the same tones from my stock pickups. Money saved.
Honestly i would had loved to have heard how those original pups would had sounded with the 022cap you got with the custom pops, and im curious wether or not the height/angle had been adjusted on the PRS pups (im just going to asume they had as you should always do this)
I didn't notice him working the volume pot; PRS SE CUSTOM 24 demos *from* PRS highlight the volume knob as intricate to the sound of the pickups. Watch anyone demoing any gtr: if they're turning the volume to 10 & playing....watch out.
An unbelievable transformation. What's ever more unbelievable is the need to change the pickups in the first place. Those guitars are not cheap but it sounded cheap until you changed the pickups!
Well they are "cheap". I have the SE Santana yellow and it's not a perfect guitar by any stretch of imagination. I have uneven rough frets, the bridge is unstable (when you bend a lot it goes out of tune) and the humbucker it came with are so fuzzy sounding. No life. Just thin and fuzzy. I'm going to buy the pick ups in the video. They're cheaper than others.
The se models are student edition models their 800.00 I have one. The pick ups are a little muddy and a little to brittle sounding for me. I like mine fine though.
Give a monkey a typewriter and you’ll get a word eventually. My bandmate has a superb SE model but had to try quite a few. Gibson obviously a more extreme version of this sadly at higher price points. I don’t own a guitar that still has stock pickups, even custom shop models - to each their own ears!
WOW,, what an improvement in tone.
You are correct. The SE’s 85/15 “S” pickups sound terrible, and when you change to something of higher quality, you may have to swap out the capacitor, too.
Nice improvement. Don't be disappointed if you can't find the "magic" height adjustment on your orig. pickups. It is worth a try though. I hate to have to replace pu's (amongst other things) on a guitar that costs $800 but upgrades can be fun.
Why spend $800-900 you can pickup used SE's for $400-600 all day
PRS SE 24 on sale for $700
PRS locking tuners-$95
John Mann 3 piece all brass trem $200
Vaughn Skow pups $240
For $1235 I’ll put it up against core models all day long, it’s perfect!
(Same color as yours btw)
ARK I’ve played core models, but I don’t own one. From a resale standpoint if I only got 600 for my SE, I would only lose 635. I almost bought a wood library DGT in perfect condition from a guitar center for 2650. That’s a guitar that was 4400 new with a case in like new shape. I played it and it was amazing, but not 1415 bucks more amazing than my SE, and certainly not 3165 bucks more amazing, had I bought it new.
No problem! 👍
The SE's are great guitars, but you're only fooling yourself and I think you know that.
@@bcrocks3935 dude i have seen videos comparing high end PRSs to the SEs and there have always been very little differences in the tone ! and that is quite amazing considering its a 3000 dollar difference in cost ! just a few upgrades and the SE is pretty much high end ! and i know this because i have the Trampas Green SE with upgrades !
I think SE's use softer fret wire. They definitely use smaller potentiometers. Other than that, pickups, tuners, and bridge, what else can even be different?
Mounted Gibson Classic 57 (alnico2) on PRS-SE Single Cut Korina, it's freaking great. BTW, got my SCK for €250... Now they're discontinued, within the 5 last years, the SCK now sells at €1000 on the 2nd hand market but THERE'S A VERY BAD NEWS!!!
PRS has stopped working with Korean ghostbuilder WMI (World Musica Instruments) the switched to Cort/Indonesia... So you can expect the same quality as the numerous Squier or Ibanez, etc, all ghostbuilt at the Cortek's Indonesian plant.
WMI never made student guitars, only well made quality ones.
I have 3 Ibanez SAS32 made by WMI. Great instruments in every aspect.
Yep I got one of the last PRS set to come out of world music it’s a rosewood se Sweetwater edition..I noticed right after I bought it they started saying Indonesia or the headstock and not Korea..So happy I purchased it..
Are schecter still made in South Korea?
FWiW I got a Pauls SE that is Indonesia and it is the best SE ive played far and the build looks flawless to my eyes.
Best pu's for an se are core model pu's. Never found aftermarkets that I liked in a PRS. SE pickup's for import pu's aren't horrible but not great for sure.
I’m surprised that PRS aren’t using these pickups even though the stock pickups sound fine too.
Because those pickups are $269 for the pair. Way too pricey for a $579 guitar. The PRS SE 85/15S pickups are made by Korean G&B company and cost them probably $20 for a pair, at most.
@@elzafir too expensive? I got my se for 300 used. I’m willing to spend up to 300 on pickups. Thats to be expected. Ive got many guitars for 100 used and put pickups in that cost more than what i paid for the guitar. The best way to cheap tone is to put all your upgrade money into pickups
@@Ottophil that's your sickness. That shit wouldn't fly with a factory guitar. If PRS SE put a $250 pickup on a $500 guitar and sell them for $750, you people would still gladly install an aftermarket pickup on it, because clearly, nothing cheap can be good.
@Ottophil that went way over your head.
Tuners and pickups is your best spent money on an SE
Now that sounds soo much fatter in the low mids. There are probably many pups that can do this though.
awesome will check them out definitely an improvement
I have a SE Custom 24 with the Rosewood top and it plays great. The 85/15s are decent but not exceptional. The Vaughn Skow pickups and capacitor made a noticeable improvement for me. The split tone is more pronounced and the humbucker tone reminds me of my old tar backs. I would highly recommend these for a more classic paf tone. He had them built and shipped out within a few days. I kept the reverse zebras but he has other options for black, cream, white, vintage Nickel or polished nickel covers.
If you ever want to sell that rosewood SE I will gladly take it. I have the exotic ebony, zebrawood both gloss and satin, ziricote, and burled something.
I've never heard of the PRS SE pickups being "muddy". In fact the complaints have tended to the opposite. Mine certainly aren't "muddy".
They're garbage, is that more accurate?
Definitely don't hear the same volume drop, when you coil split, as with the PRS pickups
Before:
Clean 0:40
Dirt 1:10
After
Clean 2:55
Dirt 3:52
I agree that the pickups are the weak link on a PRS, at least on the S2s and lower priced guitars. I must say I have never tried the 58/08, 58/15s or whatever the high pickups are called. I will not be trying those because these Vaughan Skows are the pickups that will stay in my S2. I have a boneyard of HBs from many makers and my search is over. The coil split tone is outstanding and almost difficult to tell the difference in volume between normal HB and split mode. I can play any style of music too. I always thought low output HBs were the way to go with HBs, but this pickup has changed my thoughts on what makes a HB great. Thanks Vaughn Skow!
Quick question..If I were to order a set of upgraded pickups for mine, do I need a certain type of pickup to retain the ability to go from single coil to Humbucker? I want new pickups as well but not at the cost of losing the single coil function. Thank you to whoever can answer this.
Any 4-wire humbuckers should be okay to coil split
Wow! The new pickups sound great. I’ve never liked PRS pickups. They’re just awful to my ears.
stock pickups are ick
Terrible. Embarrassingly bad actually.
It sounds like the original pickups just needed to be raised. I had the same issue with my custom 24, which also had 10s from the factory. The sound was a bit warm and muddy for me. I raised the pickups, lowered the action a bit, and switched to 8.5s. The difference was night and day.
I like that it has the matching headstock color, my custom 24 has a maple colored headstock on a charcoal body. I wish it had a matching colored headstock or at least a darker color, like the could of stained the headstock a darker color.
I was just going to type that I think your new pickups sounds great just to realize, you are playing the original pups and have not swapped for the new ones yet haha 😂
The stock PRS SE pickups is actually pretty good for the price they are asking for the guitar.
I think however I will swap them out for a Dimarzio Super Distortion and Dimarzio PAF PRO set in zebra color on the PRS SE Standard Vintage Red, that guitar to me looks amazing and cost me like 550€ which is a steal for what it is.
I saw they are starting to replace the SE line with new guitars 2023 that cost like 200€ more and have a less good looking body shape (Violin carved top they call it) and not zebra colored pickups anymore, I could not find anything positive/new they added to the guitars but they added around 200€ 😭
Imagine how many prs guitars would have been bought by now if they didn't come with lousy pickups
On a 24 fret PRS, l was wondering flipping the neck pickup, so the coil (that's isolated) is closer to the neck when split?
I recently got an SE and I'm not satisfied with its tone, mainly in heavy distortion. Not sure if it's thanks to the pickups or some other compromised electronic parts. I got them higher, way closer to the strings, but it still sounds like there is a cheap mixer in the route.
Do you feel a significant difference after the replacement?
Will the humbucker/single split still work for any replacement?
Why does every guitar demo always skip the mid position on a 2 humbucker 3 position switch?
The reason PRS sound soulless and no mojo is because their pickups suck.
Besides that they are super well made guitars.
It sounds much warmer. And there is a difference when you split it.
OMG the first part is the worst ever sound for a PRS
Sounds really good !! Having a good price guitar , that looks pretty , plays well and sounds good. Is the dream
Thanks Brian, I’ve heard other Vaughn skow pups and I’m getting a set for literally the exact same guitar. Try the PRs locking tuners for it and a John Mann bridge. With the stock nut I can still stay in tune for a couple days at a time.
The John Mayer bridge drops right in?
Did you’ve change the nut!? Try a bone material for it... will change more than changing the pickups...!
Great guitar I’ve never been thrilled with the pick up ether
Got an SE Custom 24 for Christmas -- absolutely HATED the sound. The thing sounded like you were playing underwater or listening from next door. I tried everything to get the tone I wanted and never did, which is how I wound up watching this video -- ordered the Vaughn Skow's immediately, had them installed ASAP and it's made ALL the difference in the world to me. lf anyone is on the fence, just spend the extra money and do it -- still cheaper than the next level up and tone is amazing with the VS pickups. Highly recommend.
Great video. I have the same PRS Se, but Trampas Green. I replace the pickups with Bill Lawrence pickups (I do this for all my gtrs). They sound great too and no noise at all. Do you have experience with Bill Lawrence pickups?
Can you tell me the model of this guitar?
Thank's.
Imo just try adjusting the pickup height before swapping. It will make a difference. I have an SE and the only thing I changed is the tuners into a locking one.
I did everything with mine, and after playing a Gibson '59, I realized a pickup change was necessary. Threw some Pearly Gates into my SE custom 22 semi-hollow, and it came to life! My stock pickups were good, but not great.
Put seth lovers in everything.
How is the coil split on those? Does it lose much volume?
The default pickups sound's better for me...
For years I hated PRS until the Paul was released, alongside the TCI pickups. Before that their pickups were really lacking, which not all ears detected. That being said I don’t own a guitar with the original pickups except one with the stock ‘64 Gibson HBs. If the wood is resonant and the luthier did and exceptional job, that’s the goal! My rules are they need to be asymmetrically wound, and low mass guitar = higher output, high mass guitar = lower output.
Fluence classic Humbuckers. Killer sound and two separate voices for each pup.
I've seen many posts and videos regarding SE's muddy sound. I noticed that the volume pot may be the reason for the problem. When it is on max, it will output an already overdriven sound, which causes the muddiness on distortion. Turn it to 6 or 7, and it should be fine.
Every player has their own ear for guitar, pickups and gear. I'm quite happy with the 85/15s in my new SE, at least for now. I might drop skows into my Harley Benton CST 24 just for the hell of it - the guitar is fine but the pickups aint great. (Will always be a 75 Fender Strat single-coiler actually).What really made a brilliant up in tone was fitting Jensen 12s into my Fender combo...
yes, the stock pickups are really on the treble side and sound 2- dimensional and cheap..
I put in DiMarzio Transitions, Gotoh locking tuners, a Graph Tech nut and lampshades in my SE Custom 22 semi...and
finally oiled/ waxed the back of the neck ...love it!
I’d never heard of vs pickups before and wouldn’t care if I never did again. These sound like the old Chinese rip offs of Seymour Duncan’s. Not sure what you did to that poor prs but it sounds garbage post swap 👎
I have a Tremonti SE. (2nd. gen.) Ain't nothing wrong with the stock pickups.The nut on the other hand......
Like I said the old ones don't sound bad, but the Skow pups are a definite improvement IMO.
I love PRS and my 24 Custom is my absolute favorite guitar. I have the 25th anniversary Floyd Rose edition.
The one thing I don't like about it is the oreo pickups. Theyre hideous especially against my quilted red top.
Noticed you changed out oreos for oreos lmao
What do you think of the Bareknuckle the mule pickups?
Your finishing strums really irritated me for some reason lol
What distortion settings were used? Liked it
I just bought a core custom 24 ten top with 59/09 pickups and currently have an SE with 85/15s pickups and I'm so excited
The new PRS SE “S” pickups are not bad. But those previous ones were pretty bad.
Theme music recording is 2 guitars, which of course is going to sound thicker.
How do they sound for Jazz?
The Marshall DSL is not great harsh
That thing sounds HUGE!
Long or short leg?
Waaaayyy better!!!
People selling pickups want you to believe that the pickups in your se 24 are crappy because THEY WANT TO SELL YOU PICKUPS! What a massive load of poop. Rubbish peddlers.
Yep
They're bad man.....
jbe is supposed to be the best, but its very expensive, nah.
Goodness, I hate 24, fret guitars. Never understood why anyone needs 24 frets. Lol.
They feel better if you like jumbo frets and your hand feels less crammed between frets. That's why.
@@beefnacos6258 Thanks for the explanation. Appreciate it. I just never liked how 24 fret guitars felt, but every player is different.
I like singlecuts, 22 frets but I have all medium jumbo frets except my one PRS S58 with jumbos.
My tech went thru a period where he was replacing all his frets with stainless jumbos. Since then, he's gone back to using whatever is stock on the guitar. I enjoy jumbos but I like medium jumbo just as much. Different feel for sure. Thanks.
I went back and forth from the originals and the Vaughn Skow, and I just don't see how that's worth the "upgrade"
You have good ears and good stuff between them too!
@@ioodyssey3740 He doesn't because he barely hears a difference. The difference is like day and night. Get your ears checked.
I have an SE custom 24. I'm looking to buy some Vaughn Skow pups for it and a Gibson SG Std. The Std is first. Perhaps the 59/60. I'll do more research. Oh , I'm not a braggart however, I Own a 2017 CE 24 and I wouldn't change the stock pups in it. Played thru a dsl50 into a Marshall 4 12 greenback cab made in England. Almost sounds like a cello at times so beautiful to hear. Yeah, I'm not a guitar snob, I am a tone junky.
Mr. Sevennotes
I have a 2017se custom 22 fret. I really like it, thought the pups sounded great. I'm thinking about all new cts pots and a treable bleed. Any suggestions. Should I leave it alone or try this mod. I'm playing thru a dsl 1 watt thru a Marshall 2×12 slanted cab.
Live in a condo, love the 1 watt dsl, can actually press a button and cut it to a quarter watt. So I can get the tubes screaming at low levels.
Hello Robert. I'm not an expert. I know I like the stock CE pickups. I think my SE could use some SD or stock, used, PRS pups. I have my hands full at the moment of other needs for what money I am allowed to keep. It would be fun. God Bless you and yours. @@robertwillett4122
How would you say these stack against something like a comparable Bare Knuckle set? Like maybe the Mule or Black Dog?
BK are possibly the best pickups I've ever heard.
@@beefnacos6258 I see. What application do you use BK pickups for?
I recommend mim strat
what kind of overdrive are you using?
its a Marshall DSL amp !
your video sold me. I have a set coming this week for my SE Custom 24 Ziricote. This is exactly what I have been looking for.
How'd it work out? Did you get the same improvement as in this video?
@@mhball i will have to come back later to give a fair assessment. Upon initial install I am disappointed. The neck pickup is extremely bright and ice picky on the g,b,e strings. There could be a potentiometer issue being out of spec causing this. I am rewiring with cts pots, new jack and new 3 way blade switch to give it all usa electronics. Once that's complete I will come back to update. I will say the note clarity is better but I can't give an assessment on tone just yet.
@@gkott78 Thanks for the info. Hope you manage to get it sorted
@@mhball got the rewire done today. After playing with pickup height and putting a radius on the pole pieces, I found my sweet spot. I did dual cts push pull pots so I can split each pickup individually. New upgraded 3 way switch, tone pros output jack and pushback cloth wire. Basically I gutted it and started over. It was completely worth it. It is 2:15am right now and I am having trouble putting the guitar down. I finished the rewire about 6pm. The tones are amazing and the notes are so clear. Highly recommend the upgrade!!!
@@gkott78 Nice work! Thanks for the info. I've been on the fence about these but will give them a go.
I bought my prs se custom 24, I had it all set up snd plexed and all the blah blah's.
It was so muddy when I got it, I really couldn't stand it. It sat in it's case for about a year. Installed Seymore Duncan's hot rodded set, a whole new different guitar!
Did you consider the Alnico Pro II?
No difference.
Yep. The Emporer has NO CLOTHES !
I can hear a HUGE difference. (especially on clean). Which is surprising, because I normally can't.
The only SE model I've ever really liked is the Hollowbody II Piezo. And even that needed a PLEK to sort out the frets. I've fitted PRS Locking Tuners, but I still need to upgrade the pots because they feel cheap and a million miles away from the quality of those you would get in a Core PRS. The stock buttons also look cheap.
I bought a PRS SE Custom 24 online, used, but mint condition. Turned out I hated the neck and hated the pickups. It had terrible tuning stability too. I had the nut cut a bit better, got the action a little lower and fitted PRS Locking Tuners. I still hated it.
I'm done buying SE models. I wouldn't bother with the S2 range either. SE hardware and pickups for twice the price of a SE because you're largely paying for US labour costs.
My advice is save up for a Core PRS or if that's just too much money look for a good used CE.