So I'm feeling the itch, and I've been drooling over these two guitars, alternatively, for quite a few months now.
I tend to play clean to mid-gain (think overdriven vintage marshall at the dirtiest), from singer-songwriter folk to jam bands. I like sweet, warm, round sounds, and tend to play melodically rather than ripping off fierce licks. (Jerry Garcia, Duane Allman, early Clapton, and Trey Anastasio are probably the guys who inspire me the most).
I've been going back and forth quite a bit.
S2 594 pros:
I love the coil tap sounds.
Really like independent volume and tone knobs for the pickups.
Really like the scale 24.5 scale length of my Chris Robertson, this will be closer to that. (Never had a 25.0 scale length guitar, so might love it, who knows!)
Would love to have an American-made PRS. The whole "les paul as made by PRS" thing is very appealing to me.
The biggest con is that I'm more likely to eventually be able to afford a core 594, so this might be less likely to be a "forever guitar."
SE HBIIP Pros:
A lot of music I play out, I absolutely will use the piezo, as I currently bring two guitars. The idea of being able to blend the sounds, and run to two amps, is very appealing, as are the looping possibilities (although in truth I've struggled to get into doing much looping, so that may be more theoretical). But seamlessly being able to go from acoustic sounds to electric mid-song, or even use both? I will use that all the time.
I've always wanted a PRS HB since I first played one.
Good lord these things are gorgeous. (The black gold is one of my favorite PRS finishes, as well. It's what I'd probably want on a core, although man there was a red 10 top HB somebody posted pictures off here once which was ... drool.)
It's a little (but meaningfully) cheaper. This may be a smaller impact that it looks because I'll probably be buying a second wireless system for the piezo jack.
Cons: I won't have the chance to play in advance, so I'm taking a bit of a leap of faith on the size. I know I like the traditional McCarty shape, but these are a little bigger.
I know the standard advice is to go play them both, but given the state of the world, that's not exactly an option at the moment.
Any and all thoughts welcome!
I tend to play clean to mid-gain (think overdriven vintage marshall at the dirtiest), from singer-songwriter folk to jam bands. I like sweet, warm, round sounds, and tend to play melodically rather than ripping off fierce licks. (Jerry Garcia, Duane Allman, early Clapton, and Trey Anastasio are probably the guys who inspire me the most).
I've been going back and forth quite a bit.
S2 594 pros:
I love the coil tap sounds.
Really like independent volume and tone knobs for the pickups.
Really like the scale 24.5 scale length of my Chris Robertson, this will be closer to that. (Never had a 25.0 scale length guitar, so might love it, who knows!)
Would love to have an American-made PRS. The whole "les paul as made by PRS" thing is very appealing to me.
The biggest con is that I'm more likely to eventually be able to afford a core 594, so this might be less likely to be a "forever guitar."
SE HBIIP Pros:
A lot of music I play out, I absolutely will use the piezo, as I currently bring two guitars. The idea of being able to blend the sounds, and run to two amps, is very appealing, as are the looping possibilities (although in truth I've struggled to get into doing much looping, so that may be more theoretical). But seamlessly being able to go from acoustic sounds to electric mid-song, or even use both? I will use that all the time.
I've always wanted a PRS HB since I first played one.
Good lord these things are gorgeous. (The black gold is one of my favorite PRS finishes, as well. It's what I'd probably want on a core, although man there was a red 10 top HB somebody posted pictures off here once which was ... drool.)
It's a little (but meaningfully) cheaper. This may be a smaller impact that it looks because I'll probably be buying a second wireless system for the piezo jack.
Cons: I won't have the chance to play in advance, so I'm taking a bit of a leap of faith on the size. I know I like the traditional McCarty shape, but these are a little bigger.
I know the standard advice is to go play them both, but given the state of the world, that's not exactly an option at the moment.
Any and all thoughts welcome!