The Pinnacle Of My Guitar Journey Is...

[László]

The 408 with tremolo.

I know, my Artist V has been my #1 since I got it when they first came out. It's a phenomenal guitar. But the sounds of this 408 I recently got are blowing me away.

I had a Sig Limited stop tail, and it was phenomenal, but it didn't become my #1. This one has.

Maybe it's just this hunk o' wood, maybe it's the way the guitar sounds with a trem (they do tend to resonate a little differently). Maybe it's the BRW fingerboard (heck, it could be the knobs, for all I care, speculation is irrelevant). This is the most beautiful sounding electric guitar I have ever owned. That's all I need to know.

Crisp low end, airy high end, the most open and clear sound even in humbucker mode on the bridge pickup. Unless I crank it, in which case, it's searing hot. The neck pickup is gorgeous, but also very detailed and articulate. It can do nearly any of the tones I hear in my head.

The guitar sounds great with either the HXDA or the DG30 amps. It seems to be agnostic regarding pedals, it sounds good with all of them.

I can hardly stand to put it down!

The Artist V does some things the 408 doesn't do, and vice-versa. And I'm still a huge fan of the Singlecut - a guitar that would probably fit well as my main performing instrument if I stuck to certain styles. But the 408 is definitely the guitar I'd reach for first in a session, and go from there.

Huge thumbs up!

 

[CoreyT]

Glad you are digging it Les, my 408 is the best guitar I have ever owned.

 

[Raymond]

I found an ex-demo 408 with trem for a good price....I can't buy ANOTHER guitar, not this soon !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Pfloyd57]

Wow, if it trumps your Artist V it must be great! I needed to hear this like I need another hole in my head. I haven't even taken delivery of my P24 Trem yet. I don't need to start jonesing for 408 now! Damn this chronic GAS!!!!!!!

 

[sleary]

Pics or it didn't exist lol

 

[Tag]

I played one with a trem and really dug it too. LOVED the bridge pup. Neck pup just thins it to much for what I need however. (Big fat cleans) If they offered a semi hollow option and a WF, I would seriously consider one as another great PRS sound however, thats for sure. GREAT guitar.

 

[László]

Pics or it didn't exist lol

It's this guy, you've seen it, but one look deserves another (though it's not fancy/exciting looking)!

Wow, if it trumps your Artist V it must be great!

It's not that it trumps it...the Artist V has a wonderful set of tones! It's more that the 408's just unusually open and clear sounding, and that works for me in a lot of my projects. It's a question of the range of things it can do well.

The Artist V is warmer sounding. The neck pickup is a little fuller. I need that sound, too.

I played one with a trem and really dug it too. LOVED the bridge pup. Neck pup just thins it to much for what I need however. (Big fat cleans) If they offered a semi hollow option and a WF, I would seriously consider one as another great PRS sound however, thats for sure. GREAT guitar.

You and I usually do agree on this kind of thing!

In fact, the neck pickup is a little thinner than, say, the one on the Artist V or SC. However, that works extremely well for me in a lot of styles, especially when I need to clear out some low end to make the bass stand out. Less EQ to roll off the bottom end of a guitar track to make room for bass and kick drum means that the guitar sounds great in the mix.

The tradeoff for a little less bottom and warmth on the low end is unusual clarity. But heck, this is why I have more than one guitar, right? So I can employ different colors.

Also, you get a little more crispness with a neck pickup that's a touch less full on the bottom, and combined with with more high end, that pickup really works with different types of things. Americana/country styles would be one example. Another would be Brit-pop, something clients ask for a lot.

So it's a very useful and versatile pickup for me.

It's funny, many rock guitar players worry obsessively over their tone on the bottom end, and fuss over it, get it huge, and then go into the studio only to discover that the engineer has to scoop all that out with EQ to make room for bass and kick drum in the mix, or a track will sound like mud. One reason the SM57 is so popular with engineers on guitar is that mic does a lot of the bass de-emphasis by itself.

It's also a reason that the Royer 121 has become so popular; it emphasizes the bass, but it's soft-sounding, and because it's figure of eight patterned, a lot of room comes into the mix. Both of these tend to give the guitar a huge sound, but a less-defined sound, and you can more easily make room for the bass and kick using it.

Playing live is a different world from the studio; live, that huge low end works. But in a studio, everything has to get squeezed into a mix, and studio equipment still can't give a record the power of a live performance. Sure, you can record live, but I don't care how good your speakers and hi fi are, when you put on a recording no one thinks it's a live band in the room. Recording is simply not that highly evolved.

If you use any EQ on an instrument, you change its tone noticeably, so when I don't need that big fat low end, I'm better off with a thinner neck pickup.

In your case, Tag, I know that your jazzier style of music doesn't require as much scooping on the low end as it would with a pure rock track, so a bigger bass pickup works well for you.

 

[John Beef]

I have been suspicious as to the positive tonal effects of a trem. My 1st PRS has a trem. When I bought it I was firmly anti-trem because they go so badly out of tune when you break a string. I was also firmly anti-black guitars because they show every little thing. But I bought this crazy black trem equipped guitar because it sounded amazing to me, and played great. I spent twice as much on it as any other guitar in the previous 20 years. It was a big step for me.*

Since then I have owned something like 6 SEs and three other USA PRSi and every single one has been a stoptail. None have surpassed my black Custom 22, except maybe that Goldtop McCarty for a while, but that was in between bands, and that's another show.

So, it makes me want another USA trem equipped PRS. Namely a 408 with a pattern neck, and preferably no fancy options driving up the price. Probably a Standard. Maybe that blacktop maple top one I saw in the photos taken at the experience last year, which is probably gone.

*I would like to point out that I never would have bought this guitar online. NEVER. The purchase was only because it was available to me to play at a local dealer. The dealers here suck massive donkey balls and there is rarely anything worth going to try out. Makes me sad.

 

[vox801]

I do not own a 408, but i am really impressed and happy with the tone variations on the DGT i recently aquired.... never really liked, or used split coils (they always seemed weak and lifeless) until now...

 

[László]

I have been suspicious as to the positive tonal effects of a trem. My 1st PRS has a trem. When I bought it I was firmly anti-trem because they go so badly out of tune when you break a string. I was also firmly anti-black guitars because they show every little thing. But I bought this crazy black trem equipped guitar because it sounded amazing to me, and played great.

I think a Trem does do something with the tone -- after all, a big chunk of wood is removed from the middle of the guitar, and there's that big hunk of metal trem block attached to the strings to resonate, plus there are springs, and we all know about spring reverbs, and how metals resonate differently from woods.

At the same time, that isn't always the kind of thing one needs for a particular sound, so it's good to have both as far as I'm concerned.

There's one other thing I like about Trem-equipped guitars that isn't about tone or being able to wiggle the stick; because the Trem "gives" a little when you play (even if it's a very small amount), I think it feels really good to play. I love what the PRS trem does in terms of coming back into tune after a whammy excursion, but I also love the overall feel I get with it.

 

[Tag]

I think a Trem does do something with the tone -- after all, a big chunk of wood is removed from the middle of the guitar, and there's that big hunk of metal trem block attached to the strings to resonate, plus there are springs, and we all know about spring reverbs, and how metals resonate differently from woods.

At the same time, that isn't always the kind of thing one needs for a particular sound, so it's good to have both as far as I'm concerned.

There's one other thing I like about Trem-equipped guitars that isn't about tone or being able to wiggle the stick; because the Trem "gives" a little when you play (even if it's a very small amount), I think it feels really good to play. I love what the PRS trem does in terms of coming back into tune after a whammy excursion, but I also love the overall feel I get with it.

The routing "helps" for sure. Or at least it changes the midrange. Funny story with an early american standard strat I had. (My very first strat) I loved that guitar, and it had the coolest sounding midrange. I always thought it was from the trem and the trem routing . Several years later, I sold it, and bought a more recent one. They sounded similar, but i rememberd the first as just sounding more open. Eventually I was able to buy it back. Upon inspection, the early one had the dreaded "swimming pool rout" that allowed fender to put any pup combination in the same guitar. They must have changed it later, and each pick up was routed individually for just the size of each single coil, like they originally did it. Of course without even knowing it, I could hear the difference in the guitars, and that was the answer. I liked the swimming pool route tone more. It just sounded more hollow, because it was. Same thing with a trem vs non trem. They sound quite different, and its all what tone someone is looking for. I never use the trem, ever, and like the feel of a fixed bridge more. I will give that up for the added richness I hear with a PRS trem however.

 

[Milchschnitte]

Awesome, really nice guitar.
I have a PS Signature with a trem wich is kinda the same as your 408, so I understand completely what you are talking about.

 

[László]

Awesome, really nice guitar.
I have a PS Signature with a trem wich is kinda the same as your 408, so I understand completely what you are talking about.

Yes! And of course now we need pictures...

 

[sleary]

I love the grains and finish on your 408 . It flows so nicely.

 

[Boogie]

Doug Diamond (aka Capt. Shazam) highlights a natural smokeburst in this nice video. Looks a lot like your beauty.

 

[László]

I love the grains and finish on your 408 . It flows so nicely.

Thanks! The picture doesn't show how gradually and subtly the burst transitions from dark to light, which shows up more in person. Whoever sprayed it did an amazing job.

I think some of the newer colors are more exciting, but on a long-term basis (I hope to never sell another guitar), I tend to like these traditional kinds of looks.

I know - I'm boring! :laugh:

Doug Diamond (aka Capt. Shazam) highlights a natural smokeburst in this nice video. Looks a lot like your beauty.

That does look a lot like mine...might be a shade or two darker around the edges. Looks like that one has a satin finish!

Mine's all shiny.

That violet glow and leprechaun tooth are examples of what I'm talking about when I say that some of the finishes are just so striking!

Edit: Then again, if I stick with honey brown looks, She Who Needs Sedation On NGD doesn't really notice because they all look alike. Stealth has its advantages!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I have been suspicious as to the positive tonal effects of a trem.

I think a Trem does do something with the tone

Ooh... Think about the tonal properties of different trems!

 

[László]

Ooh... Think about the tonal properties of different trems!

Yes, I definitely see what you mean. One piece tones with letters vs shinier 2 piece tones without letters! I think you're on to something. Keep up the good work! :top:

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Yes, I definitely see what you mean. One piece tones with letters vs shinier 2 piece tones without letters! I think you're on to something. Keep up the good work! :top:

Cool... I guess I'll go kick rocks then pal.

 

[László]

Cool... I guess I'll go kick rocks then pal.

Hah! If it's about tone, a pic is worthless to Lesteban! Lesteban needs AUDIO.