Best PRS Clean???

aristotle

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
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So, it's not like there are a bunch of places where you can audition PRS amps locally. Around these parts (ironically, Maryland), Chuck Levin's is a dealer that has pretty good PRS selection, but not so much in the way of amps. Guitar Center doesn't have a ton of amps, so there isn't a convenient place to try these things out. I've been nothing but impressed with the HX/DA, the MDT, and most definitely the DG30. All super high end amps that I got on faith from non-local dealers that have a liberal return policy (well...the DG30 was picked up at Experience, and I was pretty certain that it was the bomb...and it is...)

But a local forum member was kind enough to come by one of our gigs a couple of days ago and drop off a 2-Channel C for me to play with. While it was a super act of kindness on his part (and I'll let him self-announce if he wishes) I hadn't really ever thought too much about channel switching PRS amps (they are often a compromise, PRS or otherwise.) I was definitely interested in checking it out, but more out of curiosity than anything else, and wasn't expecting much to be honest.

I took it home after the gig but was busy yesterday, so it wasn't until this evening that I set it up and played through it.

DSC_0283_zps9f64e5ab.jpg


Plugged my vintage '54 goldtop straight into the amp. The amp was set to the dirty channel when I started, which was just fine. Really nice actually, and no complaints whatsoever. I was thinking to myself at that point that the amp was really quite good. You could definitely get a Santana creamy saturated vibe from it and the Master Volume was very nicely implemented.

Then I set it to clean and started monkeying around. That was where the real magic was. It happened to be set with the volume (gain) setting rather low, but after playing around with it, I tweaked the eq and cranked the volume (gain) to about 80%. Re-adjusted the master to something rather low (I was at home after all...) and it was a WOW moment. I don't know anything about the topology of this amp, but it comes closest to anything I've ever played through to my vintage Gibson GA-40 that I've ever experienced. A "3-D" sort of thing going on.


In the video above, it's guitar straight into the amp. Bridge pickup was full-on with tone backed off to about 3/4, and the neck pickup was set to about half, with tone full-on. The difference you hear in gain tone is simply from me switching from the neck to the bridge pickup. With this guitar at least (and the amp seems to like P90s best of all in my limited experimenting) the change in amp output volume and gain tone as a result of guitar volume changes is as near to perfect as you could ever want. I didn't do it in this quick clip, but it also responds super well to an overdrive pedal (Exotic BB in my case...) What a nice amp!
 
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Great tones. got my attention now. The PRS amps haven't been on my map. been playing some different styles, but that is a killer tone...Helps that you can play a little bit too.:D
 
Great demo and very nice playing BTW. Didn't know much about the 2-channel C amp until now. It sounds very smooth and rich.
 
Thanks guys. The recording was done with a nice ribbon mic run into a cheap Zoom R8. I did load it into Audacity, but only to add a bit of volume. The reverb is from the amp (and quite nice I think...) I tend to record at a lower level just to make sure that I don't clip and then do a level adjust afterwards to the right output level (poor technique, I know, but oh well...)
 

Forgive me for my lack of taste and knowledge, but what is the song that you are playing at the beginning? It's great and a great way to showcase that amps sound. I apologize, I was brought up on Nirvana and Metallica with a genetic predisposition for blues. I did look up Horses for Courses and instantly fell in love though...thank you LSchefman!
 
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Ha! That's a (not particularly accurate) "version" of the intro to Crazy on You by Heart. I don't actually know the song to play it (it's actually done on an acoustic). I can hear it in my head though for the most part and unless I were to actually sit down and figure it out for real from the recording, this is as good as it gets for me. Same goes for the Mood for a Day. Don't know how to actually play it, but the guitar / amp combination just seemed to suggest those tunes. Thanks for the compliment though!
 
You play well, Aristotle. The amp sounds great, too.

So are you getting the GAS for one?
 
Ha! That's a (not particularly accurate) "version" of the intro to Crazy on You by Heart. I don't actually know the song to play it (it's actually done on an acoustic). I can hear it in my head though for the most part and unless I were to actually sit down and figure it out for real from the recording, this is as good as it gets for me. Same goes for the Mood for a Day. Don't know how to actually play it, but the guitar / amp combination just seemed to suggest those tunes. Thanks for the compliment though!

Thanks. I am looking into those tunes as soon as I get a chance.
 
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