Paul's Guitar - wow!

[Skeeter]

So I've been tangentially interested in Paul's Guitar just through investigating the various 408 models. I've generally had a 408 on my future radar cause I personally like the feel of the big bridge for heavier rock. And I wasn't exactly sure what the upside of the narrow 408 bridge idea was at first. I know these guitars are beautiful, with awesome color options (copper and FBJ rule!) with cool birds and there have been a number of great NGD's lately...

Anyways, I was just checking out one of PRSh's demos from NAAM 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYZOis9IQWw

And WOW, I was just blown away by the tone he's getting - such cool overtones, and a great singing vocal quality, which makes sense - continuing the whole PRS/Santana -> (usually Boogie) liquid vocal tone mythos that has always surrounded PRS guitars imho. Also the "obo-like" tone at the end - really unique. I also watched Chappers' demo and review, which was very impressive in showing how funky and aggressive this guitar can get:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-ZzETD49E

Are you guys getting these types of tones at home? Is a lot of it Paul's MDT (an amp I also really like)? Does the neck 408 on the regular 408 production model approach some of these tones? Are the new brass spotted bridges making a noticeable difference? The guitar seems like it would be really great for fusion, jazz, blues...like mini-hums on a LP. I know these are just general, subjective questions - really Just kinda curious how these are playing out in the wild, with peoples different rigs, etc...

Congrats to all of you that have been snatching these beauties up, they seem quite popular and I can see why!:congrats:

 

[Hopeful Sinner]

I am personally getting tones that are completely different from any of my other guitars and I'm loving it!

I can't really comment on the impact of the bridge's brass inserts on tone as I haven't played another 408 equipped stoptail guitar...but the thing just sounds spectacular when I played acoustically. Has a beautiful ring, know what I'm saying?

However, I can say that the sounds I'm finding are very sweet and have a purity that a lot of other guitars I've played don't seem to achieve. The split tones are giving me interesting textures with the lack of any volume loss. I have found myself recording several layers of guitars with the same amp settings but changing things like pickup combinations, adjusting the volume & tone controls and it has a huge impact on the tonal variations. I'm ending up with tracks that sound like several different types of guitars have been used, but like I said the guitar has a character unique to its self.

It is a super versatile guitar capable of handling all the styles my friends and I have thrown at it with ease and there just seems to be something really special about the pickups. They just sound so damn sweet. That is the only term that adequately describes my impression of the tones I'm getting.

The guitar kicks some serious butt. Try one, buy one and you will not be disappointed!!!

 

[Kine]

Are you getting noticeable different tones when the pickups are tapped? Reason I ask is that I recently saw a youtube review where they were having trouble telling the difference between the pickups when tapped and not. It could have been their particular equipment.

I'm at work at the moment, so unfortunately I can't search youtube for the particular review. However, it's with two British guys who do quite a lot of reviews.

 

[László]

Are you getting noticeable different tones when the pickups are tapped?

People mention this in connection with the 408, too, and the answer is that yes, you get the sound of that pickup as a single coil. If you switch to the bucker position, you get the typical lower midrange bump and thickness associated with buckers. If you switch from there to single coil, you get what that pickup sounds like as a single coil pickup, i.e., the midrange bump goes away, the lower end becomes less thick.

But in either mode, the pickup retains its personality, if you get my drift.

It's not like a traditional humbucker being split, nor is it like the typical split switching positions on most guitars that create different sounds as a result of phase cancellations between the pickups and the various combinations etc., but still refer to them as split coil sounds, which they purely aren't.

This is a subtle difference for some people.

If you understand the principle of what the guitar is supposed to do, you know exactly what to listen for, and the difference is quite obvious. If you've ever said, "I love the sound of this pickup, I'd love to find this sound in a single coil," this is your guitar.

It's a different concept from what has gone before, and it works; you do get single coil sounds, true ones, and they sound like THAT pickup, only without the midrange hump and lower mid emphasis. Just as loud, but a real single coil version of the sound of the pickup.

You'd be surprised how useful this can be at a session (or a gig). But it's not like the usual blunt instrument, "this sounds like a different guitar now" pickup switching scheme. It's a more surgical approach. And as I mentioned in my own thread, in the heat of a session, it works.

Once you grok all this, you can combine them in different ways. And that's where things get even more interesting. Is the guitar a departure from the norm? Certainly. Is it for everyone? I think that many PRS players have the ear and sophistication to appreciate it. But nothing works for every player, especially the player who has different needs or expectations.

I've seen the British guys' reviews, and I'm not sure how good they are at this stuff. YMMV.

 

[alantig]

To add to Les's comments, the more gain you use, the less distinct the single and humbucker modes sound, at least to me. There's a much more distinct difference when you're playing clean. I do think the lack of volume drop throws people - we've become kind of conditioned to single coil mode = quieter. And that's not true here.

My 408 has become pretty much my #1 - I've yet to find a tone that I can't cover with it, save for the in-between sounds on a Strat. And I've got other guitars that can get that, but I really don't use it all that much. But anything else I've looked for, I've found. When people say "it doesn't sound like a Strat", well, it's not, but I go back to what David Grissom (who's opinion on tone is far more informed and respectable than mine) said when he demoed his DGT at Experience a few years ago. He popped it into single coil mode and talked about how good it was, and he said, "Does it sound exactly like a Strat? No, but it's close enough for me." If it's close enough for him, who am I to say it's not good enough?

 

[Skeeter]

I feel like its a little unforunate that all discussions re 408 guitars inevitably devolve into a split/single coil debate. That being said ...from my limited experience playing some, a key thing i noticed was that 408 "splitting" changes the feel and response of the guitar and the change seems more pronounced on the cleaner side of good amps.

ANYWAYS, it's nice to hear about how they perform simply as humbuckers in narrow or wide form. I like the thought and direction of these guitars because it has Paul going back to doing his own thing (after chasing 50's ghosts - albeit with great results), creating new concepts and sounds.

 

[Suppalak Klabdee]

I have both Paul's and 408MT BRW. My main amp is Mesa Boogie Mark V.

They could sound relatively the same with some setting, but their tonal range are quite different. My 408MT BRW leans toward the darker, heavier tone and the Paul's is on the bright side.

"Does the neck 408 on the regular 408 production model approach some of these tones?"

Yes, the 408 is a very versatile guitar. Although if I switch between the 2 with the same amp setting, they sound different but playing around with Vol and Tone on the guitars, they could sound quite similar.

"Are the new brass spotted bridges making a noticeable difference?"

YES!!! Just strum it, acoustically without plugging in, you will immediately notice that sweet, complex "ring". Plugging in, clean, with both pups tapped in middle position, it is almost sound like I have a piezo in it!

Get your hands on them and you will find it for yourself. The Paul's guitar is not just beautiful, they sound great, play great and with a very, very attractive price tag for what it is!

 

[Kine]

I feel like its a little unforunate that all discussions re 408 guitars inevitably devolve into a split/single coil debate.

My bad bro... However, I did learn quite a bit from all the comments and it's helped my decision making since I'm seriously considering Paul's guitar.

 

[László]

No question that the more gain, the less distinct the differences, but that is true with any pickups. When an amp goes into clipping, what it is doing is clipping off the round tops of the sine wave going into the amp, and creating a square wave. This adds bass, decreases treble, and blurs the sonic distinction between pickups. Essentially, the amp becomes a giant fuzz box.

So if you have a pickup like the 408 that maintains its sonic footprint when split, there isn't going to be a huge difference between the split coil sound and the full bucker sound through a gainy distorted amp or high gain pedal. That's to be expected.

I think the 408 (and the bridge pickup on the Paul's guitar) is a great pickup. Fantastic, does what it's designed to do extremely well.

But if you're the player who wants to hear something really, really different when you split the coils, especially with distortion, it might not be the guitar for you, and you really need to try one before buying, or buy from a dealer who will give you time to try it out and return it if it's not your thing. In my estimation, the 408 is a guitar for the player who makes use of the volume and tone controls to vary the sound, and appreciates the subtlety the guitar is capable of.

As I have said, when I have a session and am pretty much experimenting with what I want to hear, it's the guitar I choose, not because it gets a million tones, but because the tones it gets are, for lack of a better word, authentic. Authentic bucker tones, authentic single coil tones. The real deal no matter where you set it.

 

[Rango]

My experiances with my Paul's match the above comment. I though Les's first post covered it well.

I with some gain applied for me it's more like an "EQ" choice than "single coil/humbucker" choice....
Clean the difference is much more pronouced.

I'm still taken back by how useful the controls are on this guitar. The volume in particular - it ONLY turns down the volume - it doesn't roll off the treble! Very useful!

 

[RDNZL]

Thanks for sharing that video. I have been binge-watching PG videos and somehow missed this one.