PRS HB II vs PRS JA 15

[CVS]

I have been contemplating picking up a PRS JA 15. I am fortunatle to already have a PRS HB II with 57/08's. Primary use of the JA 15 would be for Smooth Jazz songs - chords and solos. If any of you have both of these guitars, do you think there is enough of a tonal difference to warrent adding a JA 15 to my arsenal?

Thx for your feedback.

 

[VHTStark]

I have owned a JA-15 for a few years now and have owned a HBII piezo. The JA-15 is more traditional hollowbody both in feel and tone: big, warm and strong acoustic fundamentals on every note.

The HBII is more "PRS" in its feel and it's hollowbody sound is brighter and leaner....which makes it pretty versatile. Never had any issues feedback wise gained up.

For ME: I kept the JA-15 and it is really one of my favorite PRS's ever. My go to when I want that hollowbody clean sound and it can still "rock" surprisingly well.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

If you have never played an Archtop it’s a sizeable difference from an HB.

The aspect I like about the JA is the spruce top and 53/10’s. I’ve played spruce Archtops with maple backs and I don’t care for them as much as my HB Spruce with mahogany back.

That’s just my $0.02

 

[Bogner]

Plenty Of Tonal Difference In My Opinion. Some May Say The Guitars Are Similar And it Some Ways That Might Hold Water But Overall I Feel They Are Very Different And Both Great. The JA-15 Being More Traditional And The HB Being A Bit More Contemporary.

 

[veinbuster]

They are very different guitars.
JA15 is a legit jazz guitar, more so than anything else PRS has made.