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Recently acquired a '90 1/2 PRS (body is dated 12/26/90, neck serial is 91) custom 24 w/birds and a '9.5' top (marked as 10 top in pickup cavity, was downgraded when they sanded/finished it.) Has a Van Zandt humbucker in the neck (not sure what version, it's marked van zandt and is a zebra) and a HFS bridge. Also recently acquired a bad monkey overdrive pedal. Tried em both out at a gig on 12/23. My random impressions:
The PRS has a really nice tone, especially the neck pickup. because of the placement on the 24 fret neck body, the neck pickup is moved a little more towards the bridge. I can get pinch harmonics with it, and it has a deep tone with a nice bright top end. I set it up with 5 springs and no pullup on the bar, and didn't even have the bar installed. Used it like I would a stoptail. Strings felt a little loose like a Gibson, but not flabby. A nice compromise. The neck is pretty good, but my other gig guitars that night had lower actions. The PRS had a stellar neck tone and a passable bridge tone, and sustained well. Weight wasn't too bad, I really prefer this guitar over the Les Pauls I've owned. Better upper fret access, better looking (IMHO) and lighter.
I used the bad monkey to drive my amber channel on the JSX - crunch city! A little hissy, so I only used it for some solos, but it had plenty of gain without that washed out/way overcompressed vibe. The BM has seperate bass/treble controls, and works well as a clean boost *and* a distortion. I say if you use a boost pedal, one of these might be a good addition to your collection. FYI, Fritz Reiser is the man! He gave me the BM and an eq pedal - both mint in the box. Fritz ROCKS. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
JSX crushed as usual. The PRS sounded wonderful clean with the neck pickup, and the other channels were fine too. Plenty of smooth sustain, lots of compression for legato and two handed stuff also.
Other guitars I used that night were:
Peavey Wolfgang USA flametop - I use it for all our Eb stuff, because I can flip the D tuna and play unchained easily. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] We do some old Van Halen and Extreme tunes.
ESP MII Deluxe w/floating floyd - my main floating floyd guitar live. Holds a lower action than the PRS (sorry prs fans!) and the bridge pickup (duncan JB) sounds better to me than the HFS. However, the PRS sounded better clean, and I enjoyed playing it more. This is my 'stunt guitar' - we do Vai and Satriani covers.
Charvel San Dimas series USA strat ('95) - I didn't play this guitar much at all. It has a more convincing strat tone of course, but I really dig the neck pickup on the PRS for cleans even more than my strats. I even played cliffs of dover on the PRS, I usually use this or another one of my strats.
So far: I really like the PRS. The newer ones have a bit more heel, not a real big deal, but I would never buy one new. Just way too much money for me to deal with. Used I think they are a pretty good deal - I'd prefer a PRS over a Gibson 99% of the time. I need to find a bridge pickup that isn't so harsh (and zebra, I dig how zebras look) and I'll be set.
Pete
The PRS has a really nice tone, especially the neck pickup. because of the placement on the 24 fret neck body, the neck pickup is moved a little more towards the bridge. I can get pinch harmonics with it, and it has a deep tone with a nice bright top end. I set it up with 5 springs and no pullup on the bar, and didn't even have the bar installed. Used it like I would a stoptail. Strings felt a little loose like a Gibson, but not flabby. A nice compromise. The neck is pretty good, but my other gig guitars that night had lower actions. The PRS had a stellar neck tone and a passable bridge tone, and sustained well. Weight wasn't too bad, I really prefer this guitar over the Les Pauls I've owned. Better upper fret access, better looking (IMHO) and lighter.
I used the bad monkey to drive my amber channel on the JSX - crunch city! A little hissy, so I only used it for some solos, but it had plenty of gain without that washed out/way overcompressed vibe. The BM has seperate bass/treble controls, and works well as a clean boost *and* a distortion. I say if you use a boost pedal, one of these might be a good addition to your collection. FYI, Fritz Reiser is the man! He gave me the BM and an eq pedal - both mint in the box. Fritz ROCKS. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
JSX crushed as usual. The PRS sounded wonderful clean with the neck pickup, and the other channels were fine too. Plenty of smooth sustain, lots of compression for legato and two handed stuff also.
Other guitars I used that night were:
Peavey Wolfgang USA flametop - I use it for all our Eb stuff, because I can flip the D tuna and play unchained easily. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] We do some old Van Halen and Extreme tunes.
ESP MII Deluxe w/floating floyd - my main floating floyd guitar live. Holds a lower action than the PRS (sorry prs fans!) and the bridge pickup (duncan JB) sounds better to me than the HFS. However, the PRS sounded better clean, and I enjoyed playing it more. This is my 'stunt guitar' - we do Vai and Satriani covers.
Charvel San Dimas series USA strat ('95) - I didn't play this guitar much at all. It has a more convincing strat tone of course, but I really dig the neck pickup on the PRS for cleans even more than my strats. I even played cliffs of dover on the PRS, I usually use this or another one of my strats.
So far: I really like the PRS. The newer ones have a bit more heel, not a real big deal, but I would never buy one new. Just way too much money for me to deal with. Used I think they are a pretty good deal - I'd prefer a PRS over a Gibson 99% of the time. I need to find a bridge pickup that isn't so harsh (and zebra, I dig how zebras look) and I'll be set.
Pete
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