PRS 85/15 replacement pickups & alnico 4 magnet swap results?

[mrfunnyman]

I have a 2014 & 2017 Core PRS Custom 24, and have decided the stock 85/15 pickups in the guitars are just not cutting it anymore.
I don't know if it's just me, but after playing the guitars all weekend, thru a Mesa Triple Rec, & a Marshall 2555X Silver Jubilee, I walked away thinking that the 85/15 pickups sound very lifeless, flat, harsh and sterile.
I have the following SD pickups laying around that are possible contenders for the PRS guitars:
-SH2-n
-SH-4b
-TB-4b
-SH-5b
-SHPG-1 set
-SD Pegasus & Sentient set
However, I've decided to swap out the stock magnets in the SD's for roughcast A4's in the bridge pickups, and polished A4's on the neck pickups.
I know alot of us on here swap magnets out, and I've actually installed A4 magnets in a Seth Lover set with successful results. I'm just curious if anyone has anyone installed A4 magnets on the pickups that I've listed?
If so, what were your results?

 

[jeremy]

i have not, but i do like a4. what do you want out of the guitar?

 

[mrfunnyman]

i have not, but i do like a4. what do you want out of the guitar?

What I'm wanting out of this guitar, is to find a set of pickups that accommodate the guitar and help make the guitar sound more fuller than it does. The neck pickup, no matter how I adjust it, has way more output than the bridge pickup.
The other reason I'm looking to swap out the pickups is also due to lack of pickup adjustment height.
The stock pups are long legged, not as long as Gibson pickups, but they still have some length. When I try to adjust the pickups, they, bottom out and come off the screws around 3/32's and it's frustrating.

 

[xxxplorer]

I have not stuck A4 in those pickups, but I have them in Motor City black belts (8.2 ish K PAFs) and they sound great.

I also have a high output Wagner Ironman with A4 swapped in that sounds good too.

I have grown to like A4 quite a bit. To my ears it opens the pickups up a bit. Hard to describe sound though.

 

[mrfunnyman]

I have not stuck A4 in those pickups, but I have them in Motor City black belts (8.2 ish K PAFs) and they sound great.

I also have a high output Wagner Ironman with A4 swapped in that sounds good too.

I have grown to like A4 quite a bit. To my ears it opens the pickups up a bit. Hard to describe sound though.

Thank's for your input. I decided last Friday that I was going to swap out the A2 magnet on the 85/15's to see how they sound with a rough cast A4 mag in the bridge, and polished A4 mag in the neck. The pickups sound better, but they still have a really shrill sound to them... it almost sounds like and artificial brightness. I had a 3am thought hit me this morning, that maybe the harshness, and shrillness is from the treble bleed cap that is soldered on the volume pot? So my next step, is to remove a leg of the 180pF cap on the volume lug, and see if that helps get rid of that brightness.

 

[jeremy]

im not a fan of treble bleeds most of the time

 

[nienturi]

I have a set of PRS 85/15 from a SE model. Both have ~300G flux on top of the pole pieces. That's a slightly lower value for humbuckers with A5. There are hb with A5 magnets within much higher like Norton (>400G) or some JB's that i have (~400G) and some lower than 300G. For most of the humbuckers with A4 i have measured gauss values around 250-350G. Hence magnet swapping from A5 to A4 might not get your expectations to happen. Maybe to A3...