All user reviews of 5/5 for the PRS CE 22

I had this guitar special ordered new by Guitarville in Seattle for $1,575. I'd seen new and used CE 22s and they were all beautiful. But I didn't come across a solid black one like I'd hoped. So I ordered one. 3 months later, it was in my hot little hands.

The first thing I noticed about the CE 22 was how wonderful it felt to play. Moving across the fretboard, bending strings, and playing bar chords all felt smooth and effortless. More than any electric I'd played. The wide-fat neck gives my frethand a sturdy grip and allows for quick movement. The Dragon II pickups are nothing short of stunning. Such full sound and versatility. The 5 way rotary pickup selector takes a little getting used to, but once familiar with it, switching tones is easy. I've been a strat man my whole life and am not really into the heaviness Gibsons. So it was nice to discover PRS's warm midrange sound that is a nice contrast to my strat's sharper sound. And my PRS is GORGEOUS!!! Black is Beautiful!

The only thing that threw me off a little about this guitar was the locking tuners on the headstock. Changing the strings for the first time was kind of a pain and I'm still not used to it. But I suppose a little more experience is all I need.

Solidly built! Before buying I was able to view the Paul Reed Smith DVD that gives you the factory tour. Nearly every step in constructing their guitars is done by hand. And they give the impression that their quality control standards are incredibly strict. I enjoyed viewing the step by step process of how my guitar was built. And now that I've been playing it, I'm very impressed with how sturdy it is and how terrific it sounds. Even after lots of string bending and whammy bar torquing, the thing stays in tune. Wow.

I'm very pleased with my gorgeous black beauty! At first the price tag seemed a little steep, but the more I play the more I feel my money was very well spent. I guess I would recommend looking for a used one if you wanted to spend a little less money. But if you've got your heart set on a specific color, good luck finding it used. Because everytime I saw a good deal on a used CE 22, it sold pretty quickly.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I got this guitar at Accent Music, they are not a regular PRS dealer and it was odd that they had one, but it was on consignment.



When I first played the guitar I was completely blown away by yhe sound. I love the 5 way rotary pickup selector and the pickups. The guitar is very well built and is worth every cent that I paid for it. The guitar has a great neck and fretboard. The guitar has the Wide Fat carve and it feels great and is very fast and smooth to play on. The fretboard is also great. It has a good radius that makes it east to bent the strings but also at the same time it doesn't give the bumpy ride that other similar guitars give when you try to slide. The tremolo bridge is great and never gets knocked out of tune when you use it.



The only thing that I don't like about the guitar is the way that the strings go on the guitar. The guitar has the locking tuners and I feel that they are a royal pain to get used to.



The construction of the guitar is great and I have never played a more solidly built guitar. The quality is great and is by far the best on the market and also like all PRS's this one is great to look at.



If you are looking for a new guitar and want something that is very versitile look no further than the PRS guitars because they are very very versatile feel great look great and most importantly they sound great. The downside to these guitars is that they are a bit expensive but you really get what you pay for with a PRS.


This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The PRS CE line was their line of bolt on guitars. They had these guitars before the SE line of imported guitars. These guitars were made in America like the other PRS guitars but they were cheaper due to the bolt on construction. These guitars also came with all the features of the USA made PRS guitars but were still a bit cheaper. Nowdays a used CE model is the cheapest way to get into a USA made PRS. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top. It has a bolt on rock maple neck with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. The neck on this example was the wide fat neck. Up top on the headstock you get PRS's great locking tuners, something you dont get on PRS SE models yet. The bridge is the PRS vintage style tremolo. The pickups are PRS Dragon pickups which are nice. The controls are the old PRS setup since this is an old PRS. You get a master volume and a master tone and a 5 way rotary pickup selector.

UTILIZATION

Even with the bolt on design this PRS retains its playability. PRS was clever in the design of this guitar. The bolts for the neck are pushed back way under the neck pickup so the heel of the neck is no bigger than it is on the set neck models. It feels just like a set neck model with a raw neck. The locking tuners are great and they hold tuning well. I love the PRS locking tuners because they are a very unique design. They didnt just copy some aftermarket locking tuners, they made their own. The tremolo is very stable and it didnt cause me any problems when playing normally. I do not normally use a tremolo so if the guitar can be as stable as a hardtail I think it is a good tremolo. One thing I hate about these older PRS guitars is the Rotary pickup selector. You never really know where you are. There are 5 positions and they all look the same essentially.

SOUNDS

While this guitar originally came with Dragon II pickups the owner found some original Dragon I pickups and swapped them in. These are both PRS pickups but they are totally different sound wise. The Dragon II's are more of a mid level output pickup with an overall bright sound. The old Dragon I pickups are very high output. They have a big dark sound which is great for heavy music. They werent really designed for heavy music but they work well. It is unfortunate that they are so expensive to find. Even with the big dark sound and the huge output the Dragon I pickups are very articulate. They are very sensitive to dynamics which is hard to find in a super high output pickup like these. They respond very well to the volume and tone controls. PRS is one of the few companies who I think could do very well selling their pickups aftermarket.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are looking to get a PRS you should see if you can find a CU model for cheap. Nowadays you can get these guitars for less than 1000 USD. That puts them close to the price of a new PRS SE and they are a lot more guitar than a PRS SE. I think finding a CU model used is the best way to get into a real American made PRS guitar. A guitar like this is a stepping stone into a PRS Custom model or something cool like that. Even as a bolt on the PRS bolt on design is so nice they feel just like the set neck guitars. If the choice was between a PRS SE model and a PRS CU model I think the CU model wins hands down.

United States bought nearly new
Guitar US; 22 frets, D handle (the normal), 1 tone, 1 volume, a 5 rotocontacteur positions, Dragon II pickups, bridge prs in 2 directions, very nice translucent blue, revealing the wood, rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body maple, maple neck.
Silver fittings very sensitive to moisture and corrosion, this price is ugly from them.
Point in less splash

UTILIZATION

The neck is excellent, and not too thin as the 24 cu, everything is obvious, it seems to have a watch movement, perfect finish, not too heavy, balanced, I have had many guitars but none had made such an impression, I bought another and a PRS Music Man, since then, but with the Gibson ES347 is the best race I had in my hands, (that of godin was not bad I admit). access to a shrill little below the Music Man, but that's normal working capital is the redesigned as,
but hey it's great anyway, everything is clear.
Three small flats,
1) The rotocontacteur of death, you get used to but it's very very hard to ever know visually what position you are, it takes a little practice, you turn it on and goes to fund the positions back as lol a sequential gearbox, but after a while nothing's ear we know where we are, in short, you get used to.
2) The amount that can affect playing the right hand and is very loose, so be careful (good for violoning on the other hand).
3) The locking system of the strings a bit tedious (the former on mine) but required to perfect match whatever the blows of vibrato.
3 points off for flats, plus 2 points for the handle exceptional

SOUNDS

Versatile guitar, a mix fender gibson PRS but with a personality what more she can do everything, jazz, rock, metal, country, bagpipes
5 sounds
A microphone into jazzy little serious, excellent in rock and super precise, stands whatever the level of saturation. Less aggressive than the cu24
February 1 the fender highly crystalline,
3 two doubles plus comes in, sustain excellent
4 sound through the fender (no breath) and 10 times better in full, accurate and balanced.
5 micro acute beautiful and angry like no other, a true personality, a magnificent sustain, stand out.
No significant drop in level between the sound, no breath;

I almost forgot the button tone, very gradual, from the stifled the lens.
And even if it turns a little easier and a little in the way of my right hand
is a model of its kind, it sets the amplifier to saturation switching from a clean to saturated with nothing but the volume without collapse of his short, we have everything at hand, we forget the amp, while is there.

nothing to throw everything is excellent at any level, saturation, sustain is there, the accuracy of the sound is astounding

10/10

OVERALL OPINION

used for 4 years, it's a wonderful guitar, I have had many guitars, Epiphone, Hagstrom (very nice its handle not terrible), Godin handle poor excellent microphones, etc ...

It is there in the pantheon, despite its small flaws with the gibson es347, EC 24, and the music man JP BFR.
It sounds, it is versatile, not a sound wave split sag, she's beautiful, excellent sustain a hair below the cu24, but it is already in the grandiose.
On the occasion is a matter, given its quality. The price in France is expensive but it's a good piece of craftsmanship.
All is clear on this guitar.
1000% yes I would do this choice.

* Which country was it made? (USA, Japan, Mexico, France ...)
Made in USA
* How many frets, what kinds of microorganisms and their configuration?
22 frets, 2 humbucker rotocontacteur governed by a 5-position
* What type of bridge (Floyd, Wilkinson ...)?
a sort of fender improved ... bridges are firmly wedged between them.
* What are the settings (volume, tone, micro switch ...)?
1 volume, 1 tone, rotocontacteur
* What type of neck?
Ah, the handle: D, a feast of pure happiness in your fingers, it is this that is fairly thick but it is a delight to play. Almost 20 years of guitar, having had the Fender USA, Gibson (good time), the ESP, the Lag (made in France) Vigier (Excalibur Indus), etc.. I must say that none of these guitars n 'arrives at the comfort of the PRS. In addition to force it to make round trip between prs and my other guitars (Ibanez, Squier, Washburn, and jim harley ...:-S) that I realized how much the handle is awesome .. . I had still nearly six months to realize it.
* Mine body is mahogany and dates from 1996, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, color Cherry (rouge.bordeaux transparent) the handle is covered and not glued. The tuners are locking: I struggled a bit before we understand these as p ***** mechanics worked but now it's good, I understood


UTILIZATION

* The handle is it nice?
Génialissime!
* Access to acute (last string) Is it easy?
pretty good, better than a Start or a Les Paul.
* Ergonomics is it good (in terms of shape, weight ...)?
Nothing to say everything comes to hand. the Faaite the body is curved adds some form of comfort.
* Gets it easy to sound good? ...
A kind of super Les Paul. The sounds are very beautiful and well-defined purposes (super important to me) that it is plain, crunch, distortion, it sounds very well.

The only problem is that Rotocontacteur not practical for a penny to move from one position to another on stage. A 3 position switch and a push pull is 2000 times more convenient ...

I intend to 11/10 but there is this problem of switch to change the microphone, I only takes 10!


SOUNDS

* Are they suitable for your style of music?
you can do everything with such a guitar.
* With what (s) amplifier (s) or effect (s) do you play?
Only the lamps: Fender Prosonic (when Fender is taken for Mesa) a Krank, and a Marshall TSL ... impossible to find an amp or cete shovel does not sound ... My PRS, my T-Rex Dr. Swamp, a good amp and I'm happy.
* What kind of sound you get and with what settings ("crystalline", "fat ",....)?
More Gibson spirit, we can still get the fender (the position 2 and 4 are typed Roto fender out of phase) is not a fan of this type of sound, I do not dwell on it too.
* What are the sounds you prefer, you hate?
The sounds that I like most positions 1 and 5 but, well, whatever I play guitar, these positions is always my favorite.



OVERALL OPINION

* For how long have you been using it?
Those six months I have more I play, the more I appreciate this instrument both in comfort and at the level tone. Plus I'm on a "small" PRS not very recent and have some experience: giving it an air vintage. Personally, I prefer the guitars in this spirit: I must confess that PRS table AAAAAAAA quality flamed with Birds, fittings and gold thread leaves me cold: My guitar is a tool and not an object allowing me to fart on the scene.
* What thing do you like most/least about it?
the HICS: The case weighs too heavy. and this rotocontacteur
Otherwise, this guitar is too well: there is addiction.
* Did you try many other models before getting this one?
See the list above: they are all guitars that I have kept at least 3 months ... PRS is above all previous
* What is your opinion about the value for the price?
Thank you once again to store cash who do not know what they have on display! the price I paid is too indecent to be mentioned here ...
* Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice? ...
Of course yes!