Hi All,
First post, and my first PRS.
I normally play on a Fender Strat with Frailin pickups and have a Kemper guitar system.
I was looking for a decent guitar that had humbuckers and a little more depth and bite than one can achieve through single coils. In the sub $1500 catagory, PRS SE Custom 24 came up over and over again as the best value in the industry at this time.
Accessories
First, while the gig bag is of high quality for a gig bag, I will be getting a hard case for it. This for me is not optional as I like to keep my gear well protected when I gig.
The extra spring is a nice add (especially since I intend to put 10's on the guitar). Truss rod adjuster .... check.
Not sure why a guitar cable is included. Perhaps not everyone has a really good guitar plug already. I suppose this may be the case for some since the price of this guitar is quite low.
Fit and finish
Very nice. The new SE for 2017 is a very nice looking guitar (mine is whale blue). It is a bit darker than one might think from the picture on PRS, but is still quite beautiful.... especially for a $700.00 guitar.
Setup out of box
Intonation was pretty good (not perfect). The string height was a little high (I haven't done a proper setup yet), but was acceptable. The strings only buzz slightly if banged to heavily.... I believe that part of this is just how 9's are, and to some degree, this will happen on any guitar.
Tone
Ok, really, this is where the rubber hits the road. Again, mind you that I have yet to setup this guitar to my own taste, so the pickup heights, strings, and adjustments are all stock.
I certainly have more complex harmonic make-up than with the Strat! I spent a few hours working up a few Kemper rigs setup especially for the PRS. The pickups are both a little bright (b and high E), and unfortunately, a little flubby on the E string to my ears. For the most part, I am able to eq around this. Additionally, keep in mind that my ears may not be accustomed to a higher gain pickup having spent the last 30 years playing strats.
The high notes really sing high up on the neck. Some of the best sounding stuff I have ever heard up there. The sustain is a little weak IMO. It is better than any of my strats, but I was hoping for a bit more. Furthermore, I seem to get a microphonic feedback on many notes. Not sure what causes this, but again, I haven't done any setup on this guitar yet.
Loading up a good Dual Rectifier rig into the Kemper and eq'ing it to my PRS, I must say that this is the nicest sounding crunch I have ever had. Songs like Green Day "Basket Case" and Three Doors Down "Love me when I'm Gone" sound fantastic with this setup. I am beginning to get a good JPM and JTM rig going to see if I can get some AC DC out of this guitar.
The clean stuff is a mixed bag. The guitar is certainly not a Strat, but then again, the cleans it gets, the Strat can't do. I guess there really isn't any single guitar that can get every tone Having said this, I was able to get some very compelling clean tones .... really classic humbucking cleans that shine beautifully.
I worked the blade switch and push/pull knob around. I found some cleans I liked on the middle position and neck position, but the only thing that sounded right for heavy rigs was the bridge. Could be just me though.
I haven't worked on getting a good coil split sound yet, but so far, I have not liked anything coil split. Perhaps with some work I can get some good sounds from that setup.
It is my intention to replace the nut (I already have a Tusq sitting here ready), add an extra spring, and put 10's on the guitar. After that I will do a proper setup and see how things sound again.
Playability
This is a very fast guitar. The neck is very playable all around the fretboard. The neck style is so good that after a few hours of playing, my Strat feels like a telephone pole in comparison I really love the way this guitar plays.
Overall Impressions
I would have paid up to $1500 for my new guitar to get what I wanted. After reading around, it seems that there really isn't anything out there that can touch the SE for value, tone and play-ability. I still have some way to go with this guitar to get it into that comfort range for me, but it feels so good when played, and has such nice visuals, I think it is a winner. It is silly inexpensive and sounds very good as well. I am not a big dive bomber, but I heard such great things about the SE CU 24 that I had to get one.
I have around 20 hours of jamming on the guitar at this time. I'll give this little gem a little TLC, and I believe it is going to be my go-to guitar for good crunch for quite some time. I may even find that more and more of my songs get done with the PRS and the Strats are left sitting instead. Time will tell.
First post, and my first PRS.
I normally play on a Fender Strat with Frailin pickups and have a Kemper guitar system.
I was looking for a decent guitar that had humbuckers and a little more depth and bite than one can achieve through single coils. In the sub $1500 catagory, PRS SE Custom 24 came up over and over again as the best value in the industry at this time.
Accessories
First, while the gig bag is of high quality for a gig bag, I will be getting a hard case for it. This for me is not optional as I like to keep my gear well protected when I gig.
The extra spring is a nice add (especially since I intend to put 10's on the guitar). Truss rod adjuster .... check.
Not sure why a guitar cable is included. Perhaps not everyone has a really good guitar plug already. I suppose this may be the case for some since the price of this guitar is quite low.
Fit and finish
Very nice. The new SE for 2017 is a very nice looking guitar (mine is whale blue). It is a bit darker than one might think from the picture on PRS, but is still quite beautiful.... especially for a $700.00 guitar.
Setup out of box
Intonation was pretty good (not perfect). The string height was a little high (I haven't done a proper setup yet), but was acceptable. The strings only buzz slightly if banged to heavily.... I believe that part of this is just how 9's are, and to some degree, this will happen on any guitar.
Tone
Ok, really, this is where the rubber hits the road. Again, mind you that I have yet to setup this guitar to my own taste, so the pickup heights, strings, and adjustments are all stock.
I certainly have more complex harmonic make-up than with the Strat! I spent a few hours working up a few Kemper rigs setup especially for the PRS. The pickups are both a little bright (b and high E), and unfortunately, a little flubby on the E string to my ears. For the most part, I am able to eq around this. Additionally, keep in mind that my ears may not be accustomed to a higher gain pickup having spent the last 30 years playing strats.
The high notes really sing high up on the neck. Some of the best sounding stuff I have ever heard up there. The sustain is a little weak IMO. It is better than any of my strats, but I was hoping for a bit more. Furthermore, I seem to get a microphonic feedback on many notes. Not sure what causes this, but again, I haven't done any setup on this guitar yet.
Loading up a good Dual Rectifier rig into the Kemper and eq'ing it to my PRS, I must say that this is the nicest sounding crunch I have ever had. Songs like Green Day "Basket Case" and Three Doors Down "Love me when I'm Gone" sound fantastic with this setup. I am beginning to get a good JPM and JTM rig going to see if I can get some AC DC out of this guitar.
The clean stuff is a mixed bag. The guitar is certainly not a Strat, but then again, the cleans it gets, the Strat can't do. I guess there really isn't any single guitar that can get every tone Having said this, I was able to get some very compelling clean tones .... really classic humbucking cleans that shine beautifully.
I worked the blade switch and push/pull knob around. I found some cleans I liked on the middle position and neck position, but the only thing that sounded right for heavy rigs was the bridge. Could be just me though.
I haven't worked on getting a good coil split sound yet, but so far, I have not liked anything coil split. Perhaps with some work I can get some good sounds from that setup.
It is my intention to replace the nut (I already have a Tusq sitting here ready), add an extra spring, and put 10's on the guitar. After that I will do a proper setup and see how things sound again.
Playability
This is a very fast guitar. The neck is very playable all around the fretboard. The neck style is so good that after a few hours of playing, my Strat feels like a telephone pole in comparison I really love the way this guitar plays.
Overall Impressions
I would have paid up to $1500 for my new guitar to get what I wanted. After reading around, it seems that there really isn't anything out there that can touch the SE for value, tone and play-ability. I still have some way to go with this guitar to get it into that comfort range for me, but it feels so good when played, and has such nice visuals, I think it is a winner. It is silly inexpensive and sounds very good as well. I am not a big dive bomber, but I heard such great things about the SE CU 24 that I had to get one.
I have around 20 hours of jamming on the guitar at this time. I'll give this little gem a little TLC, and I believe it is going to be my go-to guitar for good crunch for quite some time. I may even find that more and more of my songs get done with the PRS and the Strats are left sitting instead. Time will tell.