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nickname009
Published on 04/03/11 at 20:40
This is a review of an older 1998-ish PRS CE24, they're now unfortunately discontinued and no longer available in the PRS line. The SE korean series have taken over.
specs:
* bolt on hard maple neck
* rosewood fingerboard
* 25 inch scale
* 5 position rotary pu selector, volume and tone
* PRS trem system
* abalone dot inlays
* 14:1 low mass locking tuners
* wide-thin neck
* HFS and Vintage Bass pickups
* maple carved top with blue/greenish flame
Depending on the neck you get, the wide thin being the most popular, this can either make or break your decision on being happy with the guitar.
UTILIZATION
First of all I want to say I loved these CE guitars, I think they're the best in all of the PRS guitar line. They're dead simple, yet amazing in quality and the price range wasn't too shabby either!
The bolt on neck has a heel which has changed over the years in size. Though i can still get to the upper frets no problem. The guitar is comfortable to play and the 25" scale is not too foreign to me even though on paper it's definitely different from a fender or gibson. The wide thin neck is a gorgeous fit also.
Every detail has been thought of, down to even the strap buttons, which are HUGE on purpose so you don't have to go out and buy aftermarket strap locks! And the weight of PRS guitars is almost always consistently good!
The only REAL beef I have is the 5 way rotary switch, while it's a cool idea cause it's unique and looks neat, it's not very practical in a live situation. I like to switch pickups a lot during a phrase so it takes a quick flip movement, but the rotary switch design doesn't allow that.
The locking tuners are good, and so is the trem! I've never really had any troubles with USA guitars equipped with trems for some reason, they just know how to get it right!
SOUNDS
PRS pickups have a very distinct sound. It's not too PAF-like but not modern either, they seem to sit right in between. The pickups are, i'd say medium to high gain. The time I spent with this guitar, I played mostly through a VHT pitbull head and a zinky 2x12 cab.
Neck pickup (clean):
Very nice, smooth and clear. Not overly thick or muddy either. Almost PAF-like but a bit more compressed.
Neck pickup (dirty):
Smooth and never brittle. Can get a bit muddy on the low end depending on how you use it, but it is dynamic and definitely not sterile.
Neck pickup (split):
This would be the 2nd position on the switch assuming position 1 is the neck pickup by itself. This is supposed to emulate a sort of strat-like sound. It doesn't sound like a strat to me at all, it's still too thick and not bright and 'twangy' enough for it. It still sounds good, don't get me wrong, but it's not quite there if you're lookin for a strat-ish sound. It's just more of a nice clean spli/bucker sound. I'm talking clean here, it's not really favorable with distortion.
Neck+bridge: I never use this.
Bridge pickup split: Sort of the same idea as the neck pickup split but with less bass. Still not quite strat-like but still a decent clean overall.
Bridge pickup clean: Nice and jangly, plenty of headroom.
Bridge pickup dirty: Very smooth. Bluesy/jazzy and if you crank the gain you can get some really nice vintage crunch sounds, depending of course, on the amp you're using it with. It's not a tight pickup however, it's a little bit loose for tight rhythmic metal-like stuff, but for anything else it's thick and clear enough. Cleans up well with the volume rolled down, I always like that in a pickup!
Again the pickups sound good. I wouldn't change them, but then again I wouldn't go out of my way to install them on another guitar either. They have a very distinct sound that can be noticed instantly from all the modern rock bands playin them, it doesn't seem to matter what model pickup, they all seem to have the same signature sound. I remember going through PRS's website, I can't find it anymore but they used to have sound clips of all their pickups, and I swear to god, they were all exactly the same, no matter what model you chose! Maybe that's why that part of the site is gone now? I don't know..And my ears aren't bad! I can hear subtle nuances!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall it's a great guitar! It's basically an LP/strat-hybrid guitar, that's the whole point of a PRS, so that you'd be able to get the best of both worlds in one guitar! I don't mind bolt on necks vs neck through/set neck, they're all good for their own reasons. Sustain is in the player not the neck joint. I bought this for a REAL good used price a couple years back I wish I kept it...
I honestly think these are the best PRS guitars for the money. Everything else above the CE line is basically just a pimped up version of it aesthetically.
Too bad they don't make'em anymore. They were near perfect work-horse, yet high quality and long-lasting guitars...well..maybe that's exactly why they stopped makin'em?
specs:
* bolt on hard maple neck
* rosewood fingerboard
* 25 inch scale
* 5 position rotary pu selector, volume and tone
* PRS trem system
* abalone dot inlays
* 14:1 low mass locking tuners
* wide-thin neck
* HFS and Vintage Bass pickups
* maple carved top with blue/greenish flame
Depending on the neck you get, the wide thin being the most popular, this can either make or break your decision on being happy with the guitar.
UTILIZATION
First of all I want to say I loved these CE guitars, I think they're the best in all of the PRS guitar line. They're dead simple, yet amazing in quality and the price range wasn't too shabby either!
The bolt on neck has a heel which has changed over the years in size. Though i can still get to the upper frets no problem. The guitar is comfortable to play and the 25" scale is not too foreign to me even though on paper it's definitely different from a fender or gibson. The wide thin neck is a gorgeous fit also.
Every detail has been thought of, down to even the strap buttons, which are HUGE on purpose so you don't have to go out and buy aftermarket strap locks! And the weight of PRS guitars is almost always consistently good!
The only REAL beef I have is the 5 way rotary switch, while it's a cool idea cause it's unique and looks neat, it's not very practical in a live situation. I like to switch pickups a lot during a phrase so it takes a quick flip movement, but the rotary switch design doesn't allow that.
The locking tuners are good, and so is the trem! I've never really had any troubles with USA guitars equipped with trems for some reason, they just know how to get it right!
SOUNDS
PRS pickups have a very distinct sound. It's not too PAF-like but not modern either, they seem to sit right in between. The pickups are, i'd say medium to high gain. The time I spent with this guitar, I played mostly through a VHT pitbull head and a zinky 2x12 cab.
Neck pickup (clean):
Very nice, smooth and clear. Not overly thick or muddy either. Almost PAF-like but a bit more compressed.
Neck pickup (dirty):
Smooth and never brittle. Can get a bit muddy on the low end depending on how you use it, but it is dynamic and definitely not sterile.
Neck pickup (split):
This would be the 2nd position on the switch assuming position 1 is the neck pickup by itself. This is supposed to emulate a sort of strat-like sound. It doesn't sound like a strat to me at all, it's still too thick and not bright and 'twangy' enough for it. It still sounds good, don't get me wrong, but it's not quite there if you're lookin for a strat-ish sound. It's just more of a nice clean spli/bucker sound. I'm talking clean here, it's not really favorable with distortion.
Neck+bridge: I never use this.
Bridge pickup split: Sort of the same idea as the neck pickup split but with less bass. Still not quite strat-like but still a decent clean overall.
Bridge pickup clean: Nice and jangly, plenty of headroom.
Bridge pickup dirty: Very smooth. Bluesy/jazzy and if you crank the gain you can get some really nice vintage crunch sounds, depending of course, on the amp you're using it with. It's not a tight pickup however, it's a little bit loose for tight rhythmic metal-like stuff, but for anything else it's thick and clear enough. Cleans up well with the volume rolled down, I always like that in a pickup!
Again the pickups sound good. I wouldn't change them, but then again I wouldn't go out of my way to install them on another guitar either. They have a very distinct sound that can be noticed instantly from all the modern rock bands playin them, it doesn't seem to matter what model pickup, they all seem to have the same signature sound. I remember going through PRS's website, I can't find it anymore but they used to have sound clips of all their pickups, and I swear to god, they were all exactly the same, no matter what model you chose! Maybe that's why that part of the site is gone now? I don't know..And my ears aren't bad! I can hear subtle nuances!
OVERALL OPINION
Overall it's a great guitar! It's basically an LP/strat-hybrid guitar, that's the whole point of a PRS, so that you'd be able to get the best of both worlds in one guitar! I don't mind bolt on necks vs neck through/set neck, they're all good for their own reasons. Sustain is in the player not the neck joint. I bought this for a REAL good used price a couple years back I wish I kept it...
I honestly think these are the best PRS guitars for the money. Everything else above the CE line is basically just a pimped up version of it aesthetically.
Too bad they don't make'em anymore. They were near perfect work-horse, yet high quality and long-lasting guitars...well..maybe that's exactly why they stopped makin'em?