I plugged into a Mesa Rectoverb combo not super quiet, not really loud....probably enough to be slightly annoying
I played mostly through the clean channel and toggled between the clean/pushed modes. Just a bit though channel 2 most in raw & vintage modes. I picked this amp because I'm fairly familiar with it and I didn't wanna screw around dialing in clean tones on an amp I didn't know.
I played:
SAS Special(I actually owned one of these for awhile)
SAS Narrowfield
P22
Studio 22
DC3
305
The DC3 & 305 I only plugged in really briefly to hear them - I'm just not a Stratty kinda guy at all.
SAS Special - was kinda how I remembered it. Really liked the variety of tones, both tapped and humbucker. I didn't love the single coil in the middle all by itself, but that might just be my slight aversion to single coils. I think it could've benefited from some pickup height adjustments.
SAS Narrowfield - Really enjoyed this guitar. I like the narrowfield pickups all by themselves and in combination with each other. Liked every position on the 5 way switch. I liked how backing off the guitar volume got you to a more single coil world. I think what I like is that I could keep it a little thicker than single coil tones but was still damm close. LOVED the neck - the naked, unfinished feel is far better than the feel of the SAS Special to me. It was natural finish on the body - which is what I'd buy if I were getting one. Also liked the NFs on channel 2 quite a bit. I wish there would've been a soapbar guitar to compare with.
Studio 22 - Liked this guitar a lot as well. It was like a darker, thicker version of the SAS NF. All the things you'd expect the difference to be between a swamp ash/maple neck vs. mahogany/maple/mahogany set neck. I was curious about the rumor I've heard of the 57/08 being underpowered to the NF's. Now the 5708 was set REALLY low, so not sure I can make good judgement here. When I played clean channel, it was not as noticeable to me. I didn't find it to sound underpowered. Was noticeable when I went on to channel 2 though....when I clicked over and wanted to get kicked in the gut with some gain, it did seem quieter than the NF's. I'd have to play with pickup heights to make a decision on that issue. Overall, this was a guitar I felt very comfortable on - closer to my normal home of McCarty and SC.
P22 - I plugged the piezo pickup into a separate amp on the clean channel(there was no acoustic amp in room) and kept the mag side plugged into the rectoverb. I could probably get lost for several days dialing in combos of tones here I might disappear from the world for a bit with a PA and my amp rig. The jury is still out on how I like the 5310 pickups, I spent very little time focusing on JUST the regular mag sound. This guitar would be most useful for me in my band, being the only guitar player. Endless possibilities there. I still wanna hear the piezo thru a DI or acoustic amp, I can only imagine.
So the SAS Nf narrowly getting edged out by the P22 as my favorite of the day....mostly because I don't have anything that can do the piezo thing and it's a guitar that would be very useful in my band. All in all a great day trying out some unfamiliar PRSi.
I played mostly through the clean channel and toggled between the clean/pushed modes. Just a bit though channel 2 most in raw & vintage modes. I picked this amp because I'm fairly familiar with it and I didn't wanna screw around dialing in clean tones on an amp I didn't know.
I played:
SAS Special(I actually owned one of these for awhile)
SAS Narrowfield
P22
Studio 22
DC3
305
The DC3 & 305 I only plugged in really briefly to hear them - I'm just not a Stratty kinda guy at all.
SAS Special - was kinda how I remembered it. Really liked the variety of tones, both tapped and humbucker. I didn't love the single coil in the middle all by itself, but that might just be my slight aversion to single coils. I think it could've benefited from some pickup height adjustments.
SAS Narrowfield - Really enjoyed this guitar. I like the narrowfield pickups all by themselves and in combination with each other. Liked every position on the 5 way switch. I liked how backing off the guitar volume got you to a more single coil world. I think what I like is that I could keep it a little thicker than single coil tones but was still damm close. LOVED the neck - the naked, unfinished feel is far better than the feel of the SAS Special to me. It was natural finish on the body - which is what I'd buy if I were getting one. Also liked the NFs on channel 2 quite a bit. I wish there would've been a soapbar guitar to compare with.
Studio 22 - Liked this guitar a lot as well. It was like a darker, thicker version of the SAS NF. All the things you'd expect the difference to be between a swamp ash/maple neck vs. mahogany/maple/mahogany set neck. I was curious about the rumor I've heard of the 57/08 being underpowered to the NF's. Now the 5708 was set REALLY low, so not sure I can make good judgement here. When I played clean channel, it was not as noticeable to me. I didn't find it to sound underpowered. Was noticeable when I went on to channel 2 though....when I clicked over and wanted to get kicked in the gut with some gain, it did seem quieter than the NF's. I'd have to play with pickup heights to make a decision on that issue. Overall, this was a guitar I felt very comfortable on - closer to my normal home of McCarty and SC.
P22 - I plugged the piezo pickup into a separate amp on the clean channel(there was no acoustic amp in room) and kept the mag side plugged into the rectoverb. I could probably get lost for several days dialing in combos of tones here
I might disappear from the world for a bit with a PA and my amp rig. The jury is still out on how I like the 5310 pickups, I spent very little time focusing on JUST the regular mag sound. This guitar would be most useful for me in my band, being the only guitar player. Endless possibilities there. I still wanna hear the piezo thru a DI or acoustic amp, I can only imagine.So the SAS Nf narrowly getting edged out by the P22 as my favorite of the day....mostly because I don't have anything that can do the piezo thing and it's a guitar that would be very useful in my band. All in all a great day trying out some unfamiliar PRSi.
