View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « Budget Santana signature »
Published on 09/01/11 at 08:56PRS is a super high end guitar maker known around the world. They are known for their high end instruments built for professionals. Lately they have started a Line of foreign made guitars called the SE line. These guitars are much cheaper but have most of the tone and playability of the much more expensive USA made models. This is the foreign made version of the Santana signature guitar. This guitar is pretty unique in the PRS line since it has more of a Gibson Double Cut shape to it and a short scale. The body on this guitar is mahogany with a mahogany set neck. The profile is PRS's wide fat neck that a lot of people like. It has a 22 fret rosewood fretboard with the PRS birds on it. The neck scale is 24.5 inches. You get PRS tuners up top and a PRS Fender style tremolo bridge. The pickups are two PRS pickups voiced specifically for this model. The controls are basic with a master volume and master tone with a 3 way switch.
UTILIZATION
PRS guitars are some of the best playing guitars out there. This one has a strange feel to it due to it being a Santana signature. The Wide Fat neck profile is something you find on many PRS guitars. It is a very popular profile. It is not as fat as the name implies. The shorter upper horn gives you a bit different feel when playing high on the neck. The short scale may trip some people up. It is shorter than that of a Gibson. It gives you a really loose feel on the strings so you can bend them like crazy but it also gets very crowded on the upper frets. With just about every PRS SE model I hate where they put the pickup selector. It is out by itself on the body away from the knobs. I wish they would put it closer to the knobs. This isnt a big problem but it takes some getting use to.
SOUNDS
The sound from this guitar is super smooth. The clean tones from this guitar are super mellow because of the short scale. With less tension on the strings you get less snap on each note. The pickups help make the notes super fat when you are playing with some drive. The neck pickup has a really vowelly PAF sound to it. Almost like you have a subtle wah on at all time. This gives you really smooth but clear leads in the neck position. The bridge position has a crunchy classic rock voicing. Soloing in the bridge position gives you great bite and attack on the notes. The pickups are like hot rodded PAF's. They give you a great combination of clarity and definition with your overdriven tones.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is good for the hardcore Santana fan but personally I would not select this guitar over a normal PRS. The things that make this guitar unique for Santana do not add to the overall great playability of a normal PRS. The unusually short scale may put people off as well as the modified shape. If you are a PRS fan looking for a more affordable way to have the same guitar as your hero here it is.
UTILIZATION
PRS guitars are some of the best playing guitars out there. This one has a strange feel to it due to it being a Santana signature. The Wide Fat neck profile is something you find on many PRS guitars. It is a very popular profile. It is not as fat as the name implies. The shorter upper horn gives you a bit different feel when playing high on the neck. The short scale may trip some people up. It is shorter than that of a Gibson. It gives you a really loose feel on the strings so you can bend them like crazy but it also gets very crowded on the upper frets. With just about every PRS SE model I hate where they put the pickup selector. It is out by itself on the body away from the knobs. I wish they would put it closer to the knobs. This isnt a big problem but it takes some getting use to.
SOUNDS
The sound from this guitar is super smooth. The clean tones from this guitar are super mellow because of the short scale. With less tension on the strings you get less snap on each note. The pickups help make the notes super fat when you are playing with some drive. The neck pickup has a really vowelly PAF sound to it. Almost like you have a subtle wah on at all time. This gives you really smooth but clear leads in the neck position. The bridge position has a crunchy classic rock voicing. Soloing in the bridge position gives you great bite and attack on the notes. The pickups are like hot rodded PAF's. They give you a great combination of clarity and definition with your overdriven tones.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is good for the hardcore Santana fan but personally I would not select this guitar over a normal PRS. The things that make this guitar unique for Santana do not add to the overall great playability of a normal PRS. The unusually short scale may put people off as well as the modified shape. If you are a PRS fan looking for a more affordable way to have the same guitar as your hero here it is.