Today a tried a prs for the 1st time...... oh my word !!! More prs info needed !

Jonathanthomas83

PhilKing said:

In the end I put Bare Knuckle pickups in them and they sound great. 

+1 Cold Sweats in mine. Yours?

crunchman

PhilKing said:

I bought my first one used in the 90's, a standard with brazilian rosewood and birds and the T&B pickups.  The 5 way is what put me off them though.   I spoke to Mr Smith at NAMM in 94 or 95 to ask about a custom with a blade switch and he told me that he would never put a blade switch on one of his guitars as the wood is too weak under it (seems he changed his mind over the years).  I then got a black early 90's EG4 and a bit later an Artist II.  They are all great guitars to play, but I was never happy with the pickup sound (I tried Dragons in them too).   In the end I put Bare Knuckle pickups in them and they sound great.  Since then, I picked up a 2001 Singlecut and a 25th anniversary ME II that was fettled in the PRS custom shop, to add signature switching and refinished in Eriza Verde.  Needless to say both of these have had pickup changes too. 

They are great guitars to play, but I find the original pickups very soulless. 

The old pickups weren't good to my ears.  The newer pickups have a much better reputation.  I played a 594 the other weeks and it was stunningly good.

amarok1971

i have a pair of crawlers in one of my cu24's, they transformed it compared to the HFS/VB that was in originally

rivercider

I have the S2 Vela in my avatar pic, paid 899 new for it (satin ltd) earlier this year and I love it. Early days, but it gets lots  more play time than my LP Studio or US Strat.
I think guitarguitar have a pale blue (Ice Blue Fire Mist??) S2 Standard 24 for 749 at the moment, might be worth a look.... 

crunchman

rivercider said:

I have the S2 Vela in my avatar pic, paid 899 new for it (satin ltd) earlier this year and I love it. Early days, but it gets lots  more play time than my LP Studio or US Strat.
I think guitarguitar have a pale blue (Ice Blue Fire Mist??) S2 Standard 24 for 749 at the moment, might be worth a look.... 

If you are not used to a 24 fret neck, definitely try before you buy.  The extra frets put me off.  Really don't like them.

The Satin Vela is a great guitar.  I got one earlier this year.

guitarfishbay

Jonathanthomas83 said:

TTBZ said:

Stock pickups is a non issue imo, there's so many good alternatives now that its not something I ever think about when buying a guitar! 

Point taken, but it's a big spend to not be 100% what you're after.

True.

Depends on how confident you are in picking replacement pickups as well.

I’ll be honest - with bass I’m less experienced so wanted to buy the whole package, as I had no idea if changing pickups would get me what I wanted. And actually I did try some aftermarket stuff which I then sold as it didn’t improve on what I had.

With guitar none of my guitars have stock pickups anymore. I’ve got a small stash of my favourites (Gibson and EMG, the internets least favourite brands lol) and rotate them in and out as necessary. 

Moltisanti

Ive had 8 PRS over the years, Tremonti was a great guitar but was very heavy, Custom 24 are great if you prefer a more modern ergonomic shape, but for me if I got another it would be a DGT.  The pickups are superb and i like the McCarty platform and nitro finish

Mooster

crunchman said:

PhilKing said:

I bought my first one used in the 90's, a standard with brazilian rosewood and birds and the T&B pickups.  The 5 way is what put me off them though.   I spoke to Mr Smith at NAMM in 94 or 95 to ask about a custom with a blade switch and he told me that he would never put a blade switch on one of his guitars as the wood is too weak under it (seems he changed his mind over the years).  I then got a black early 90's EG4 and a bit later an Artist II.  They are all great guitars to play, but I was never happy with the pickup sound (I tried Dragons in them too).   In the end I put Bare Knuckle pickups in them and they sound great.  Since then, I picked up a 2001 Singlecut and a 25th anniversary ME II that was fettled in the PRS custom shop, to add signature switching and refinished in Eriza Verde.  Needless to say both of these have had pickup changes too. 

They are great guitars to play, but I find the original pickups very soulless. 

The old pickups weren't good to my ears.  The newer pickups have a much better reputation.  I played a 594 the other weeks and it was stunningly good.

I concur, the old pickups ruined the guitar for me. The 58/15LT in the 594 is amazing, and the main reason I got a Wood Library CU22, because they had them in it. I would even say that they are better than the pups they are supposed to mimic; the neck pup is not dark or woofy, just very well balanced. The bridge is the best PAF style I've ever heard.

PhilKing

The BK's in mine are:
Standard - Rebel Yells
Artist II - Mules
EG4 - Crawler/Nantucket/Nantucket
Singlecut - Abraxas
ME II - VHII

I also have a Warmoth PRS style with a rosewood neck with a Miracle Man set, but it doesn't get used as much as the others now (though it has a built in Roland Synth pickup for other stuff).

I have an early 80's BC Rich Mockingbird with Cold Sweats.  It can pretty much nail any 80's sound.

guitarfishbay

I’ve got EMG 81/60 in one guitar and Duncan Blackouts in the other. They sound nothing like the stock sets but the ergonomics suit me very well. I do want to try Fishman Fluences at some point too

thomasross20

guitars4you said:

thomasross20 said:

That green one is stunning.

and what is wrong with the other 3

Nowt!  

I'd dearly love to love a Gibson as I think they also look great but PRS ergonomics suit me so much better. 

thomasross20

Actually I love all four. Damn!