408 vs. Custom 22(57/08's) vs. Custom 22(Dragon II)

buckd

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I'm narrowing my PRS search and I'm considering 3 models right now. All used.

A 408, a Custom 22(57/08's) and a Custom 22(Dragon II).

Has anybody owned of these? What are the differences tone wise? The 408 tones seem pretty varied. But I do like the CU22 tones that I've heard.

Thoughts?

Chris
 
My top two favs for PRS neck pickups are DII’s slightly edged out by 57/08’s, so it’d have to come down to how much more expensive the 57/08 equipped one is and what colour.

I haven’t had a “Wow!” moment with any 408’s thus far.

Ymmv.
 
My first PRS was a CU22 with dragon II and I haven’t tired of it yet.
I have 57/08 in a HB and SCT and quite like them, but I prefer the tone control with the dragons.
I find the 408s the most versatile, but not my favourite if I’m not fiddling controls.

All other things being equal, I would take dragons.
 
The 408 have a pretty wide variety of tones, and the electronics give you a little more flexibility in mixing single coil combinations together. They do trend towards more modern tones. The 57/08s will likely sound more vintage (although there has been quite a bit of variety in terms of output over the years). I've never played them in Cu22, only in a singlecut. I've never played Dragons.
 
I've owned both a 408 and a CU22 w/dragon II's, but not anything with 57/08's. What I can say is the 408 covers a lot of ground tonewise and does a lot of things well (clean tones, semi dirt, hard crunch) like a swiss army knife. My CU22 w/ dragon II's did hard rock and metal a lot better than the 408 but it was less versatile for clean tones.

I think it boils down to what you want to use it for, if you want a hard rock/metal guitar it's hard to beat the dragon ii's, but if you want to cover a lot of ground the 408 would be better.
 
I love my 408 for clean and twangy tones, which suit this old Tele player in the modern age.

Don’t believe I’ve experienced Dragons.

My CU 22 is a great guitar distorted, and fairly versatile, but the 408 can easily out twang it.
 
My guitar with 408 pickups is the most beautiful sounding in my little arsenal, especially clean, where it truly shines.

In general, the 57/08s have been my most-often-used pickups, and I think they have a wonderful PAF sound.

I always wanted to replace the pickups in my CU22s that had Dragon IIs with something a little clearer, but they aren’t bad pickups at all, they just weren’t designed appeal to my somewhat vintage tastes.
 
All of my CU22s have had Dragon 1s or Dragon 2s. Of them I prefer the 2s........But I haven't had the 57/08s in my hands long enough to give an adequate comparison on them.

As far as my preference in PRS's, well, I think that it is pretty well known that I am a 22 fan.
 
I have a Cu22 that had Dragon IIs in it. They were fine, for me. Nothing really wrong with them. I was looking for something a little different, and had a 59/09 installed in the bridge, and a 57/08 in the neck. That is just what I was after. One of my favorite guitars.

I also had a RW neck 408. I just never really got along with it. Maybe a tad to "sterile"? I do have a 509 now, which I enjoy a lot more than I did the 408.
 
I've had or have them all :)

408 - Just works for me , splits that don't loose volume :) really flat EQ curve plays well with many amps and styles

CU22 - Dragon II might be the best neck pickup ever ( IMHO ) Bridge was just not for me

CU22/24 -57/08 I like the 57/08s a lot like it better in the CU24 , 57/08 bridge is something special on MY CU22 the neck was a bit to dark just not as good as the Dragon II.
in the CU24 the 57/08 set is heaven

I vote 408 :)
 
I would get the cu22 with 5708s. Dragon 2 pickups can be purchased used at a pretty reasonable price so if you wanted to swap pickups it wouldn't break the bank.
 
Congratulations. I really like my 57/08’s. Really vintage sounding clean, and magnificent with overdrive.
 
Well, I pulled the trigger...2011 Custom 22 with the 57/08's. I'll post pics when it get's here. Thanks again for all the advice.

Now I have to sell something.

Plasma. Sell plasma. Easier to get more of that than guitars.
 
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