New S2 Studio!

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It seems that the Studio has the same pickups as the Starla and Vela.
 
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Even though I'm playing my Les Paul Deluxe in the attached photo, my main gigging guitar for the last 2 years has been my PRS S2 Mira. I just ordered my PRS S2 Studio in Frost Green Metallic, after spending an hour playing one the other day, and I can't wait to get it! The Mira is a great sounding and great playing guitar, that is good for almost any style, from country to blues to hard rock. Probably not extreme enough for death metal, but still very versatile. My impression of the Studio was that it will fit the bill perfectly for the same width of genre's. The Starla bridge pickup is bright and articulate, but with enough balls and warmth, to get nasty when you want to! The area where the Studio really excels is in the switching set up with the D-Type Single Coils! These pickups are wonderful sounding, and fit between a strat-style single, and a P-90, but with even more girth. The second position gives you the neck D-Type and the outsode coil of the Starla bridge, and is a fantastic sound, hard to compare to much else. The middle D-Type gives you all the spank of a Tele, but with some warmth and complexity. Country players and older classic rock players, may well live on this middle position! The D-Type's really give this guitar a character, and depth that you don't find in most modern guitars. You can always add enough distortion to push a guitar to scream, but you can't make a crappy guitar sing with depth and color in the tone.
False harmonics, will jump out of the Starla bridge pickup when overdriven, and still give you a complex and musical sound, rich with overtones. So when you need to get the crowds attention, just squeeze out a few screaming leads with this baby! The feel of course is fantastic, and build quality is just what you'd expect from PRS, excellent!
Wrap your hands around one of these bad boys ASAP, then let journey begin!
 
DetourAxeman said:
Even though I'm playing my Les Paul Deluxe in the attached photo, my main gigging guitar for the last 2 years has been my PRS S2 Mira. I just ordered my PRS S2 Studio in Frost Green Metallic, after spending an hour playing one the other day, and I can't wait to get it! The Mira is a great sounding and great playing guitar, that is good for almost any style, from country to blues to hard rock. Probably not extreme enough for death metal, but still very versatile. My impression of the Studio was that it will fit the bill perfectly for the same width of genre's. The Starla bridge pickup is bright and articulate, but with enough balls and warmth, to get nasty when you want to! The area where the Studio really excels is in the switching set up with the D-Type Single Coils! These pickups are wonderful sounding, and fit between a strat-style single, and a P-90, but with even more girth. The second position gives you the neck D-Type and the outsode coil of the Starla bridge, and is a fantastic sound, hard to compare to much else. The middle D-Type gives you all the spank of a Tele, but with some warmth and complexity. Country players and older classic rock players, may well live on this middle position! The D-Type's really give this guitar a character, and depth that you don't find in most modern guitars. You can always add enough distortion to push a guitar to scream, but you can't make a crappy guitar sing with depth and color in the tone.
False harmonics, will jump out of the Starla bridge pickup when overdriven, and still give you a complex and musical sound, rich with overtones. So when you need to get the crowds attention, just squeeze out a few screaming leads with this baby! The feel of course is fantastic, and build quality is just what you'd expect from PRS, excellent!
Wrap your hands around one of these bad boys ASAP, then let journey begin!
Click to expand...


I'd like to try a guitar with the d type pickups but nobody stocks them where I live.

The Starla bridge pickups are surprisingly sensitive to height adjustments and pole piece setup. If anyone has one or buys one, have a play around with it, you will be surprised how snappy and fat they can be
 
Mine shipped out yesterday. :D
s2studio.png
 
I've had my S2 for over a month....I have a 1989 PRS Studio and a 2010 SE Custom 22....it blows those away with tone. It took a bit getting used to since I have high output pickups in all my guitars and these are low output. I had to adjust to changing gains, but I've found that the volume and tone knobs are much more useful. So far it is now my main guitar for playing (in contemporary worship)....I like the bridge, but the only thing it is missing is to dial in a more aggressive humbucker sound closer to a Les Paul, but I have one of those if needed.....
 
I had one on preorder, but cancelled it in order to get my dream CE24 (Blue Matteo :D). Hoping to pick one up on the used market later on. In the meantime, I'm taking an old strat I had laying around and converting it to HSS to help fill that hole.
 
Admittedly we are in the honeymoon stage, but "Man I dig this guitar!" When I ordered it I thought it would make a cool backup for my Vela and since it may not make it into the PRS catalog as a staple, there's the quasi "Limited Run" thought. I was never expecting it to have such a cool vibe. Almost like a vintage meets modern thing. I really didn't expect the middle pickup to add anything significant but I stand corrected. My initial reaction is that it's a little more refined than the Vela (for good and bad) but with some seriously usable tonal options and a rock solid tremolo. If the Vela were to be comparable to a Tele tone, this would be more Strat-ish. I am even starting to overlook the missing birds. So far it more than I expected. PRS has defiantly hit it out of the park on the S2 Studio in my opinion.
 
bstaggs said:
Admittedly we are in the honeymoon stage, but "Man I dig this guitar!" When I ordered it I thought it would make a cool backup for my Vela and since it may not make it into the PRS catalog as a staple, there's the quasi "Limited Run" thought. I was never expecting it to have such a cool vibe. Almost like a vintage meets modern thing. I really didn't expect the middle pickup to add anything significant but I stand corrected. My initial reaction is that it's a little more refined than the Vela (for good and bad) but with some seriously usable tonal options and a rock solid tremolo. If the Vela were to be comparable to a Tele tone, this would be more Strat-ish. I am even starting to overlook the missing birds. So far it more than I expected. PRS has defiantly hit it out of the park on the S2 Studio in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Sweet write up! Glad to hear you're diggin' it!
 
bstaggs said:
Admittedly we are in the honeymoon stage, but "Man I dig this guitar!" When I ordered it I thought it would make a cool backup for my Vela and since it may not make it into the PRS catalog as a staple, there's the quasi "Limited Run" thought. I was never expecting it to have such a cool vibe. Almost like a vintage meets modern thing. I really didn't expect the middle pickup to add anything significant but I stand corrected. My initial reaction is that it's a little more refined than the Vela (for good and bad) but with some seriously usable tonal options and a rock solid tremolo. If the Vela were to be comparable to a Tele tone, this would be more Strat-ish. I am even starting to overlook the missing birds. So far it more than I expected. PRS has defiantly hit it out of the park on the S2 Studio in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update.
I'm really expecting to love the D-Type pickups but I've got mixed feelings on the Starla bridge pickup, given your experience with the Vela and now the Studio how would you describe it?
 
Short answer: I believe the Starla bridge pickup plays a major role in the versatility and tonal range of the Vela and the S2 Studio. Coupled with the Type-D it just works! It’s certainly not a high gain pickup but for classic rock, blues, rockabilly and country it’s a solid choice. It’s bright but not icepicky, splits well (though there is some volume loss) and responds well to the tone knob.


Long answer: Interesting that you would ask about the Starla bridge pickup as I have waffled back and forth about it. After I wore some of the “new” off my Vela I started to think I would really prefer a more “humbucker-ish” bridge pickup (darker with more growl). I even purchased a 57/08 with the intent of swapping out the Starla pickup but then I started warming back up to it and tanked that idea. I did consider purchasing another Vela and putting in the 57/08 but the more I played the Vela the more I realized that it’s more than just the Type-D, but rather it’s the sum of its parts thing. The pairing of the Type-D and the Starla is well thought out, and for me, I think it might just lose some of the “magic” if I touched it. So even though I am a chronic guitar modifier, I have elected to never touch the Vela or the Studio.
 
Thanks for the great reply.
I've not even got mine yet but your journey sounds like what I was expecting to happen to me: the Starla perhaps isn't what most people want from a humbucker but as a group of 3 pickups it extends the range of tones.
 
I have gone round and round about this guitar. I already have a Vela and two Strats and a Tele. I can't figure out what a S2 Studio would bring that I can't already cover with my current instruments. I have a 2408 on order that should be arriving soon. I don't need an S2 Studio. I really don't.

I've played one for about two hours. I really want one.
 
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