Best Prs (value money) studio work

Check into a 513. Nothing I’ve used bridges a Strat and Les Paul better.

I realize that wasn’t in your option list… I’m responding more to what you’re using it for. As a reference, the guy who got me looking at them was playing in the house band for a nationally televised singing competition, and had to cover all kinds of popular music with one guitar… his 513. I bought one, and it is, indeed, all that.

Only available used now, in case you are interested.
 
The Customs have a maple top, where as a Standard will be all mahogany. So there is a difference in appearance. But, there will also be a difference in sound. I liked and played Standard mahogany PRS guitars for years, because I liked the sound better. But these were older guitars with pickups that I didn't like. So I would swap a set of Filtertron type pickups, into my Standards. I currently have a 2017, S2 Standard 24 Satin, that sounds great with the PRS 85/15S pickups. In my opinion, the PRS pickups have improved over the years.



When I was doing studio work, I had a bunch of guitars. I was working for Nashville artist's, so I always carried a Tele. But I ended up using a PRS Swamp Ash Special, on all the recordings. It's a discontinued model, with an ash body and a Maple bolt on neck.



It's a hard time, to visit guitar shops. But I would recommend that you try some of these models, rather than take advise from us on the forum. Once you have a better idea of which guitars you might like, it would be easier to make an informed, internet purchase. Some of my best purchases, were used S2 guitars. Unfortunately, out of my 8 PRS guitars, 6 of them have been discontinued.

I hope that this is some help. Sometimes I feel like the more I type, the more I tend to confuse people.
These are some fine looking guitars, thanks for your advice :)!
 
What ever route you chose, as AP515 on pg 1 said, "buy the best you can afford." And maybe even stretch a little bit. You'll never regret it. I know not all on this forum agree, but I'd bet the S2 line has more consistency in quality than the SE, and the Core line more quality consistency than the S2, and the Private Stock more than the Core. So, without going BK in the process, buy the best you can.
 
Still blows my mind the tones that come from a hum bucker guitar.

When you record a humbucker guitar with an amp set up for it, it's sometimes surprising, given expectations that humbuckers do a certain thing.

They can be very bright and snappy! Of course, a lot depends on the woods, the design, the electronics, the hardware... etc etc etc.
 
When you record a humbucker guitar with an amp set up for it, it's sometimes surprising, given expectations that humbuckers do a certain thing.

They can be very bright and snappy! Of course, a lot depends on the woods, the design, the electronics, the hardware... etc etc etc.

You are so right Sir.

I haven’t watched the video recently, but I believe he plays quite a lot on the neck pickup too, which should be the rounder tone!

But as you’ve said, a lot of factors come into play.
 
My son it the music director for a local mega church. They also record their own original praise and worship music.

Recently they went into their own in house studio record some new music, and my son took my '09 PRS DGT to lay down rhythm and lead tracks.

He said the guitar was amazing for the cleans reverb/delayed bathed rhythm tones, and sounded equally amazing for the thicker lead tones on the tracks.

I personally have an huge collection of quality guitars in my collection, and my son said he could probably utilize the DGT for most of the music he'd need to play live during service and guitar tracks in the studio.

My son has many years of live and studio experience, and has played many guitars over the years, so when he tells me could use just the DGT to cover just about everything, I take it as the truth.
 
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Will there be a noticeable difference in the CE24 standard satin vs CE24 custom? Price difference here in europa is around 900 euros.. You can buy an SE with that
 
I like the satin finish. And if you didn't like a gloss neck, I would jump on it. The S2 satin Standards, just jumped $330 (40%), in the US.


Thats a lot, but soundwise? Will there be a lot of difference with the maple top on the CE?
 
Thats a lot, but soundwise? Will there be a lot of difference with the maple top on the CE?

There is a sound difference. I own core and S2 maple topped, Custom 22's and a S2 Standard 24. Both sound good to me. The 22 fret guitars will have a deeper sound, than a 24 fret model. The satin Standard has a much thinner finish, and sounds more open (acoustic), to me. Some prefer the all mahogany guitars. The S2 Vela and SE Starla are also, great sounding mahogany guitars, if you don't need a tremolo.

Correction on the price: My S2 Standard 24 went up in price 40%, over the last few years. Only 35% of the price increase, was last week!
 
I do pop, country, singer-songwriter and rock sessions. Having gone through many PRS guitars, I found the Modern Eagle V covers every tone I need. It's worth every dollar, and much like Les said, it has paid for itself. However, based on my experience with the PRS line if I was on a budget, I would chose either a Vela or a CE24 Semi-hollow. Neither is exactly that strat/les paul split, but bith offer clear, articulate, and strong tones with gorgeous split pickup options. Of the two I'd leaning more to the Vela.
 
Does it matter if the store sells a CE24 manufacturing year 2019 instead of 2021? Or shouldnt this make any difference?
 
Does it matter if the store sells a CE24 manufacturing year 2019 instead of 2021? Or shouldnt this make any difference?

It shouldn't make any difference. I buy NOS all the time.

I've done it many times, too. If the guitar you want has been in the store for a couple of years, especially during 2020-21 from COVID? It's a new guitar.
 
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