Charcoal Phoenix first impression

[Moondog Wily]

Congrats and enjoy! What a knock out!!

 

[James Stephanidis]

Very nice!! Can you share when/where you ordered it? I am waiting for mine from Sweetwater and they just say, "By the end of June."

With these limited editions, they dole them out slowly to all the stores. Sweetwater is one of the largest stores and they had a few of the first batch. They'll get more, but the other stores need to get some too. Mine came from Sight and Sound Music Center in Muncie, Indiana. They have a huge PRS section.

 

[James Stephanidis]

Congrats and thanks for the great review.
Happy to hear these are as special and unique as I suspected…but it’s making the wait to receive mine seem a little longer

You're in for a treat. It's another addicting tone that is fun to play.

 

[James Stephanidis]

Inline

Thanks for reposting the image. I thought I had it figured out. lol.

 

[Mr5150]

With these limited editions, they dole them out slowly to all the stores. Sweetwater is one of the largest stores and they had a few of the first batch. They'll get more, but the other stores need to get some too. Mine came from Sight and Sound Music Center in Muncie, Indiana. They have a huge PRS section.

Thank you.

 

[tyfu20]

Congrats, it's beautiful! I was just being curious and asked the PTC team how much it would be to modify the TCI pickups that I have in my '23 Paul's guitar or '24 S2 24-08, they came back with $162. They also said that the pickup specs are constantly being updated so no guarantee that it would sound like the '25 version.

 

[Phobos]

I have my Charcoal Phoenix coming in this Friday. My thought process is that this model is as close to a Private Stock (wood selection, top, etc..) as you can get without being custom (12k+). Would you agree with this? Basically a half price John McLaughlin (-Trem).

Guitar appears to be sold out everywhere, though a few shops (1 at the moment) has them on Reverb.

 

[jkornel]

Congrats and happy NGD !

 

[soikeu78]

Just Amazing! Anybody like me waiting for the Phœnix in Europe? Any delivery date?

 

[soikeu78]

Just Amazing! Anybody like me waiting for the Phœnix in Europe? Any delivery date?

prs Europe confirms the Phœnix in about 2 weeks..

 

[Shreddy]

Damn......

Gorgeous.

Congrats!

 

[Monahan]

Hi everyone, I just received the 40th anniversary Charcoal Phoenix... This is completely different. It took me some time to get used to the tone. As it turns out, when the EQ is on, the tone knob becomes more of a second volume control for the high frequencies. If I turn the EQ off and the tone down to zero, you get your normal - no high frequencies, muffled bluesy tone. Leaving the tone at zero and flipping the switch, instant high frequency clarity. TBH, it’s freaking me out. I love it. It adds a new variety to my collection that will be fun to experiment with. Great job, Paul.

This is what I've been hoping to see from PRS; new pickup/electronic development that disregards the tradition of trying to make pickups that sound like those of other companies.

Paul has alluded to doing this for a few years when talking about the TCI process and all they've learned via new measurement/analysis equipment. It would be great to have models with tones unique to PRS (while maintaining models with traditional tones). It's a tall order as most customers will be looking for what has been, and being honest-- few of us are quick to embrace change (i.e. all the hubbub regarding the new tuner buttons...).

That's a beautiful guitar-- congrats!!

 

[meidinad]

Hi everyone, I just received the 40th anniversary Charcoal Phoenix. This is just a short and sweet description of my first thoughts. Upon opening the case, the nitro aroma hits my senses. The signed card is dated 3/12/2025, so it’s 2 weeks old, fresh as can be. As advertised, the maple cap is insanely detailed, not much different than the website photos. This guitar could have easily sold as a private stock. Maybe that’s Paul’s way of offering a limited edition at a sweet price point. The biggest thing that hit me is the EQ switches. I own the core custom 24-08 and the se custom 24-08. This is completely different. It took me some time to get used to the tone. As it turns out, when the EQ is on, the tone knob becomes more of a second volume control for the high frequencies. If I turn the EQ off and the tone down to zero, you get your normal - no high frequencies, muffled bluesy tone. Leaving the tone at zero and flipping the switch, instant high frequency clarity. TBH, it’s freaking me out. I love it. It adds a new variety to my collection that will be fun to experiment with. Great job, Paul.

Congratulations! If you're up to it, could you shoot some photos from inside the control cavity? I'd love to know more about the wiring. If you could get a clear closeup of the mini switches, the capacitor, and resistors, as well as get the value of the capacitor and resistors and the pot values that would be MUCH appreciated.

I have a 2024 Custom 24-08 wood library 10-top I'd really really like to convert to the EQ switches but they don't have a diagram out.

Again, congratulations. What a crazy beautiful guitar.

 

[mmarchi]

Mine landed, 95% in tune, and I'm really happy with my decision. Looks great and plays great (as expected). I do like the pickups and some of the in between settings. Would upload a photo but it appears I need to upload it someplace else first and link to it. Too hard. The Gear Page makes it much easier. (Please educate me if I'm incorrect!)

 

[Glide-bpm]

I only see one picture, the electrical cavity cover.

 

[Phobos]

I updated the post. You should see the images now. Let me know what you can derive from them. It says the post is awaiting moderator approval currently. So it may be invisible to you.

 

[Glide-bpm]

I updated the post. You should see the images now. Let me know what you can derive from them. It says the post is awaiting moderator approval currently. So it may be invisible to you.

Yeah, it's still invisible. Lol

 

[Phobos]

Here is a link to an album with all of the pictures from the electronics. Interesting thing I discovered is the electronics cavity is shielded with a grounded copper backplate. I added too many pictures all at once so it was flagged for moderation. Please click the last link to see all of a dozen+ photos. This instrument just keeps getting better and better.

Capacitor is a CDE715P600V 3333J 2506

The resistor appears to be 230 kΩ ±1% [Red, Orange, Black, Orange, Brown] using online color decoders.

https://imgur.com/CLV0Yki

https://imgur.com/Xx2FBtv

https://imgur.com/mqCRGG0

Click this link below for full album.

https://imgur.com/a/vkyGeeC

 

[meidinad]

Here is a link to an album with all of the pictures from the electronics. Interesting thing I discovered is the electronics cavity is shielded with a grounded copper backplate. I added too many pictures all at once so it was flagged for moderation. Please click the last link to see all of a dozen+ photos.

Capacitor is a CDE715P600V 3333J 2506

https://imgur.com/CLV0Yki

https://imgur.com/Xx2FBtv

https://imgur.com/mqCRGG0

Click this link below for full album.

https://imgur.com/a/vkyGeeC

Thank you SO much!

@Floyd_Argus , can you make heads and tails out of this?

 

[Floyd_Argus]

Thank you SO much!

@Floyd_Argus , can you make heads and tails out of this?

The 2 way switches in this guitar are doing a second function in addition to turning the voicing on and off, but that's only because the pickups in this guitar are those TCI narrow bobbin pickups and not normal sized humbuckers. (These TCI narrow bobbin pickups are voiced differently than humbuckers w normal sized bobbins). That second function being, whenever either of the 2 voicing switches are turned "on", a resistor with resistance of [edit: 30K Ohms - based on newer photos added by Phobos with less onstructed view of the color bands) is placed in the path of the wire coming off the left lug of the tone pot that runs to ground. So, this 2nd function is not applicable/not needed for your custom 24-08, or really any guitar where the pickups are normal sized humbuckers.

The photos Phobos added were helpful in seeing clearly, the colors of the bands on the resistors and the value of the caps that are part of the voicing function of the two 2-way switches.

The color of the resistance bands on those 2 resistors are Red-Orange-Black-Orange and a Tolerance band of Brown. That translates to a resistance value of 230K Ohms with a tolerance rating of +/- 1%.

The numbers on the caps are "821" which translates to 820 picofarads (pF), or in units of microfarads (mF), 0.00082 mF.

The cap and Resistor in each 2 way voicing switch, are wired together in parallel.

It's the Hot lead wire of each pickup that's wired to the middle lug of the 2 way switch. When the switch is off, the signal from the hot wire bypasses the cap & Resistor and routes to the 3 way pickup selector. When the 2 way switch is on, the signal from the hot wire of the pickup runs through that combined cap & Resistor before going to the 3 way pickup selector switch.