View other reviews for this product:
drkorey « One of the Best Guitars I've Owned »
Published on 04/15/11 at 15:54This is a 1996 USA made set neck guitar. Specs as follows:
•Body: Mahogany
•Neck: Mahogany
•Fretboard: Rosewood w/ moons 22 frets
•Neck Shape: Regular carve
•Radius: 12" Compound Radius
•Frets: Regular PRS
•Bridge: PRS wrap around
•Hardware: Chrome
•Gears: PRS wing-tip
•Electronics: Volume, Tone, 5-Way rotary
•Knobs: Plastic
•Neck /Bridge Pickups: PRS Dragon I
•Finish Colors: Dark red/cherry
UTILIZATION
Access to the upper frets is somewhat limited by the neck heel and shallow lower horn cutaway. You will need to alter hand position to get to the upper frets/notes.
There is a nice variety of sounds available from the two humbuckers and 5-way rotary pick up switch and it is easy to get a nice array of tones.
The guitar has perfect balance and a great medium thick neck. Very comfortable standing or sitting.
I've got the action set at 3/64" all the way across the neck - it is a great and easy player!
My particular guitar is very light but packs huge tone!
The PRS Dragon I pickups are just outstanding. Some of the best I've played.
SOUNDS
I use this guitar with custom built Peters amplifiers, which are kind of a cross between a Peavey 5150 and high gain Marshall/VHT with a little Boogie thrown in, a VHT Sig-X and an Egnater MOD 50. The amps were paired with an Avatar 4x12 that had Celestion G12h -30's and a Splawn 4x12 with Governor/ManOWar speaker combo, a Earcandy Buzzbomb 2x12 w/ Scholz speakers and a Mojotone 3x12 w/ Celestion CL-80's.
I usually go for a nice thick Jerry Cantrell AIC tone, to use with my modern rock/metal band. This guitar can get you any tone you want and good cleans. Suits my style of music perfectly.
I also use this guitar in a few cover bands that I've played in which includes songs from The Rolling Stones, Kings of Leon to RHCP, Poison and System of a Down. It does well with all styles.
This guitar has very nice fat lead tones and nice thick tight rhythm tones that cut through well.
Positions 2 and 4 on the rotary (single coil) do sound weaker than the other positions.
You will also have to watch the amount of bass you dial in on the amp because your tone may get bass heavy with this model.
OVERALL OPINION
If this guitar would have had stainless steel frets (which I use exclusively now) I would have kept it longer than the three years I did. I did think about having ss frets installed on it but I thought it might ruin the fabulous tone it had as it was. I also wanted to sell it without the Dragon I pickups (because I could have used them in other guitars) but no buyer wanted that option.
Overall this was a beast of a guitar (in a good way). Lightweight, sounded monstrous, the regular neck carve was a dream to play on.
Value for the used price was a great deal! Knowing what I know now I would have made the same choice every time with this guitar. It was my first PRS (of many) and it was the one I held onto the longest before getting spoiled by ss frets.
I have owned many guitars and had a number of years where I would buy, try and flip, which enabled me to have many guitars around to try out.
This PRS standard is ranked right up there with the best of them in overall satisfaction. This guitar has beat out Ibanez RG's, Charvel/Jackson's, Gibsons, TA's and PRS's that have been in my collection - and I was able to sell them off.
Only a lack of ss frets and shallow lower horn cutaway lower the overall score from 10 to 9.
•Body: Mahogany
•Neck: Mahogany
•Fretboard: Rosewood w/ moons 22 frets
•Neck Shape: Regular carve
•Radius: 12" Compound Radius
•Frets: Regular PRS
•Bridge: PRS wrap around
•Hardware: Chrome
•Gears: PRS wing-tip
•Electronics: Volume, Tone, 5-Way rotary
•Knobs: Plastic
•Neck /Bridge Pickups: PRS Dragon I
•Finish Colors: Dark red/cherry
UTILIZATION
Access to the upper frets is somewhat limited by the neck heel and shallow lower horn cutaway. You will need to alter hand position to get to the upper frets/notes.
There is a nice variety of sounds available from the two humbuckers and 5-way rotary pick up switch and it is easy to get a nice array of tones.
The guitar has perfect balance and a great medium thick neck. Very comfortable standing or sitting.
I've got the action set at 3/64" all the way across the neck - it is a great and easy player!
My particular guitar is very light but packs huge tone!
The PRS Dragon I pickups are just outstanding. Some of the best I've played.
SOUNDS
I use this guitar with custom built Peters amplifiers, which are kind of a cross between a Peavey 5150 and high gain Marshall/VHT with a little Boogie thrown in, a VHT Sig-X and an Egnater MOD 50. The amps were paired with an Avatar 4x12 that had Celestion G12h -30's and a Splawn 4x12 with Governor/ManOWar speaker combo, a Earcandy Buzzbomb 2x12 w/ Scholz speakers and a Mojotone 3x12 w/ Celestion CL-80's.
I usually go for a nice thick Jerry Cantrell AIC tone, to use with my modern rock/metal band. This guitar can get you any tone you want and good cleans. Suits my style of music perfectly.
I also use this guitar in a few cover bands that I've played in which includes songs from The Rolling Stones, Kings of Leon to RHCP, Poison and System of a Down. It does well with all styles.
This guitar has very nice fat lead tones and nice thick tight rhythm tones that cut through well.
Positions 2 and 4 on the rotary (single coil) do sound weaker than the other positions.
You will also have to watch the amount of bass you dial in on the amp because your tone may get bass heavy with this model.
OVERALL OPINION
If this guitar would have had stainless steel frets (which I use exclusively now) I would have kept it longer than the three years I did. I did think about having ss frets installed on it but I thought it might ruin the fabulous tone it had as it was. I also wanted to sell it without the Dragon I pickups (because I could have used them in other guitars) but no buyer wanted that option.
Overall this was a beast of a guitar (in a good way). Lightweight, sounded monstrous, the regular neck carve was a dream to play on.
Value for the used price was a great deal! Knowing what I know now I would have made the same choice every time with this guitar. It was my first PRS (of many) and it was the one I held onto the longest before getting spoiled by ss frets.
I have owned many guitars and had a number of years where I would buy, try and flip, which enabled me to have many guitars around to try out.
This PRS standard is ranked right up there with the best of them in overall satisfaction. This guitar has beat out Ibanez RG's, Charvel/Jackson's, Gibsons, TA's and PRS's that have been in my collection - and I was able to sell them off.
Only a lack of ss frets and shallow lower horn cutaway lower the overall score from 10 to 9.