PRS SE 245 or PRS SANTANA

[Jen99514]

Hello Guys , Im looking to buy a PRS SE Guitar as my first elctric guitar, but I cant choose between the SANTANA OR SE245. I am considering the Custom 24 as well, but mainly the above two. Could someone give me some opinions?

 

[Deleted member 7139]

The custom24 will be way more versatile.
However, the SE245 is more les paul-ish, more mellower, and heavier too due to his body thickness.
Really depends on what you're looking after
The custom24 is the ultimate versatile axe.

 

[andy474x]

They're all superb axes! The Santana is a nice middle road between the 24 and the 245, it has the 24.5" scale of the 245 and the trem like the 24. The pickups are also the same on the Santana and 245, and personally I think they're the best pickups PRS has put in an SE yet. But the 24 does have coil splitting, which as Ray said, makes it very versatile. If you can try them all, see which one you bond with most. Like I said, they're all great, you can't go wrong.

Or, think of it this way: a few years from now, it won't be a question of which one you got, it'll be a question of which one you got first!

 

[László]

It's fun to kick ideas around, but it should really boil down to finding a guitar you bond with, something that has the tone and feel you simply like. And maybe the looks and personal appeal for you count, too.

It's nice to have a "do it all" guitar like the CU24, but there's also something to be said for a guitar that gives you exactly what you want, one that you just get down to business with. And that kind of choice is going to vary for different people.

In your case, first electric guitar, it's more difficult because you really haven't got the experience. However, the good news is that you can play any style of music on any of the three guitars you mentioned, the tones can be varied in different ways using the controls (including blending the pickups), and it's hard to make a mistake with any of the three choices.

I say play all three, and see how you feel about them. Go with your gut feeling.

 

[tyt921]

When I first began just shy of 5 months ago, I bought my first guitar, MIM Fender Strat. Didnt like the twang, returned it. Bought a Les Paul afterwards, by Epiphone, felt alot cheaper than Fender's guitars and tonality was a bit too mellow for me. From there on, I did immense amount of research online and listened to many tones offered on youtube and ended up on this forum asking the very same question that you asked. I was basically recommended with the same options: 245, Bernie, Santana, or CU24. I tried myself the the SE single cut, SE Santana, a CU24, and a Paul Allender with active pickups. I enjoyed the Santana and Paul Allender the most but couldnt handle the bats inlays. I couldnt find a right price on any of them, so I settled for the CU24 for which they called the staple of PRS. I grabbed the PRS CU24 for about 550 shipped. I love my CU24 SE however, I think it could use a little more bite or punch, which I think the 245 or Bernie would suffice. But the thing is, you dont know what you want until you have played enough to see what you guitar is missing. Funny enough my go to guitar nowadayz is still my starter crappy ESP F-10 which cost like 199 shipped. It comes with amp and everything. I dont like the tone at all, but the neck, its nice. I cant really put it into words and that satin neck really gives me some fast action through the frets. For now I am just gonna hone my skills till I get better to buy another one. I want a 245 next time around...

But for me personally I dig the original shape of the guitar of the Santana. I love the corners versus the rounded off body of the Bernie les paul style guitars. Also For me the CU24 was a bit heavy so I am not sure if the bernie would be heavier. Many factors goes to feel!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Santana all day.

 

[DHW]

Hello Guys , Im looking to buy a PRS SE Guitar as my first elctric guitar, but I cant choose between the SANTANA OR SE245. I am considering the Custom 24 as well, but mainly the above two. Could someone give me some opinions?

Just pick whichever you can get the best deal on today. You will end up with all 3 anyway :evil:

I love my se 245 but the custom 24 is definitely next on the list. Just gotta decide if I am going se, s2, or core.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

First off... try them all and go with the one that speaks to you the most.

All I can add after that is... Give the Bernie Marsden a shot if you can find one. Similarish to the SE245 but you have a bound neck and more classic looks. The neck is a joy to play.

 

[Duffy]

Hello Guys , Im looking to buy a PRS SE Guitar as my first elctric guitar, but I cant choose between the SANTANA OR SE245. I am considering the Custom 24 as well, but mainly the above two. Could someone give me some opinions?

I have a new Santana SE in Santana yellow that I like a lot. But I just bought another SE. It is the PRS SE Tremonti Custom with a black/grey flame maple top. It is beautiful and sounds great. It has the same pickups as the Santana, SE 245's, but it sounds really different, more bright and powerful than the Santana. The neck pickup is more mellow, being the "bass" pickup. The bridge is the "treble" pickup. It has four knobs. A separate volume and tone knob for each pickup, which makes it great for setting the tones that you like for the neck or bridge switch position and just leaving them their when you flip between pickups.

The Tremonti Custom has the same body style as the SE245 but may be a little thicker. It also has a maple set neck, which is very beautiful, and easy to play. It is my favorite of the four SE's that I own, but the Santana and Singlecut Tremolo are very close to it.

The Tremonti feels great in my hands, especially the wide/thin neck. The feel of a guitar seems to be just as important as its sound, and the color seems to be about the least important aspect to consider when selecting a guitar. I wanted the black/grey flamed maple color though, and was able to get a guitar that also felt and sounded great.

I have, however, made the mistake in the past of buying a guitar because of its color rather than its sound and feel and I have regretted that. Live and learn, I guess. Hopefully so anyway.

I'd say to also consider the black/grey Tremonti SE Custom. It is a great guitar and is similar to the 245. It costs less than seven hundred at some of the largest internet places like m friend or American m supply.

Good luck with your guitar quest, and be sure to try to talk them down a little. They usually will go down five per cent without haggling. Also see if they will throw in an extra set of strings. Probably not, but they should give you at least the five percent off. And, online, you don't pay sales tax.

I hope this helps you at least a little. My next PRS SE might be a Custom 24, but I'm not sure yet. Like you have seen, there are a lot of great options. Even those S2's look nice for about twice the price. Don't worry though, you are definitely going to be more than fine with an SE. SE's are the favorite guitars that some of us own, and not a small number of people either.