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  #1  
Old 10-17-2020, 10:19 PM
jayhawk jayhawk is offline
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Default PRS sound

I’ve been looking (thinking) about a PRS Hollobody. I like the way the look, I like the way they play. I think they are a great guitar, except...

I hate the way they sound. Every time I’ve played one I find the sound very cold and very high pitched. I much prefer the sound of Gibson’s with PAFs in them, it’s just the the build quality of the Gibson won’t match the PRS. The Gibson is so much more warm and round.

Is it me or is that just the PRS sound and you’ll never get it to match The kind of sound produced by a Gibson?

Jack
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  #2  
Old 10-18-2020, 04:31 AM
pieterh pieterh is offline
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My son bought a PRS SE in July and we played a few different models before settling on the 35th Anniversary model. We tried the SE Hollowbody as well. We liked it a lot but the build quality, sound and above all neck were more to our taste on the 35th. We did try some US-built models while we were there just because we could!

At the end of the day pickups are an easy upgrade. We prefer the feel and build quality of PRS over Gibson as well so if a Hollowbody is what you want then go for it and change the pups.
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  #3  
Old 10-18-2020, 07:19 AM
rmp rmp is offline
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this is my biggest stopping point with PRS Guitars.

They just sound... uhmm,,, Unidentifiable?? if that makes sense...???

Great quality, very nice guitars really, but they don't have any soul (my opinion, you're mileage may vary).
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Old 10-18-2020, 07:41 AM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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To my ears PRS's sound very much like SG's. Humbuckers with a more bitey treble and midrange than almost every other HB equipped guitar I've ever heard.

And yeah, a bit "white bread" or "plain vanilla" tonal color. Great for some applications like AC/DC or Santana and not so good at others.

Personally, I would have a hard time buying a high-end guitar that I felt needed a pickup upgrade straight out of the gate, but that's just me.
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Old 10-18-2020, 08:33 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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What PRS Hollowbody? The SE II has the import pickups and is smaller than a Gibson 335 type guitar. Even the core II models are smaller in size than the 335 which also contributes to a tonal difference (in addition to the PRS / Gibson tonal differences).
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  #6  
Old 10-18-2020, 08:44 AM
al_az al_az is offline
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I have 6 PRS guitars. 2 Santanas, 1 hollowbody 2, 1 McCarty singlecut, 1 custom 22, 1 angelus acoustic ( I also had a very early custom 24).
The scale lengths have a lot to do with overall tone balance. The 25" scale length on the customs and regular HB's does give a 'tighter' sound and feel. The shorter 24.5" scale on the McCarty's give a warmer sound. Ted McCarty worked for Gibson and when Paul 'collaborated with Ted the features on the McCarty models give them a more 'gibson' tone. The Santanas always had a shorter scale length.
Initially, I was not a fan of PRS pickups and have replaced the pickups in all my guitars. That being said Paul has put in allot of effort in upgrading his pickups and I cannot comment on the current pickups.
So my suggestion, try a McCarty 594 Hollowbody 2.
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Old 10-18-2020, 09:34 AM
blue blue is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roylor4 View Post
Personally, I would have a hard time buying a high-end guitar that I felt needed a pickup upgrade straight out of the gate, but that's just me.
I haven't changed pickups in any of the guitars I've owned since 1981 when I put an X2N into an SG

That being said, if the build quality was head and shoulders over the competition, I would most certainly buy a guitar I didn't love the pickups in. But it would have to be a situation where there was no question which guitar was the beast.
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Old 10-18-2020, 12:52 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue View Post
I haven't changed pickups in any of the guitars I've owned since 1981 when I put an X2N into an SG

That being said, if the build quality was head and shoulders over the competition, I would most certainly buy a guitar I didn't love the pickups in. But it would have to be a situation where there was no question which guitar was the beast.
I got a beautiful guitar in a trade recently (1994 PRS CU22) recently, and I can attest that the build quality is beautiful, but I really don't like the pickups, or the 5 way rotary switch. I would change them, but it's the kind of guitar with routes for only 1 volume, 1 tone, and 1 pickup selector switch. And I typically like individual volume controls for each pickup, so most likely I will not keep this guitar just for that reason. Yes I know I could use a concentric dual volume pot, but I don't like those either.

Here's the guitar...

Last edited by rockabilly69; 10-19-2020 at 03:52 AM.
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  #9  
Old 10-18-2020, 02:00 PM
Texsunburst59 Texsunburst59 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rmp View Post
this is my biggest stopping point with PRS Guitars.

They just sound... uhmm,,, Unidentifiable?? if that makes sense...???

Great quality, very nice guitars really, but they don't have any soul (my opinion, you're mileage may vary).
I agree with you that some guitars just don't live up to the hype and their high price isn't justified.

Martin comes to mind.

Just like you describe PRS, Martin is like this to me.

Most all high end Martin's I've tried, all sound like they have a VERY dense pillow stuffed in them.

Sometimes some guitars just don't meet certain people's expectations, and you just look elsewhere for a different guitar.
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Old 10-18-2020, 03:33 PM
jayhawk jayhawk is offline
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Thanks guys. I agree this is about expectations and not actual quality. I had a good friend tell me that he loves that PRS sound. To him it cuts through the mix better. One person’s cold sound is another person’s cutting sound. I will admit I have played a CE22 special edition that I really liked. I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $3500.

I also find that the American pickups are far better sounding than the Asian pickups. To me the Asian pickups have a much thinner sound.

I will probably keep looking and playing. Might find one I really like in my price range.

Jack
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  #11  
Old 10-18-2020, 03:39 PM
rmp rmp is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texsunburst59 View Post
I agree with you that some guitars just don't live up to the hype and their high price isn't justified.

Martin comes to mind.

Just like you describe PRS, Martin is like this to me.

Most all high end Martin's I've tried, all sound like they have a VERY dense pillow stuffed in them.

Sometimes some guitars just don't meet certain people's expectations, and you just look elsewhere for a different guitar.
yea, I think so.. Then again, Martin is another brand I haven't warmed up to. They all seem hard to play, the ones I tried, to be fair they've not been setup, but my hands don't feel the same when I play them as the do with a Gibson or a Taylor, that has also NOT been setup. (just to name 2)...

We all like what we like, the beauty of it is there's plenty to choose from these days.

Back when I was just coming up to speed, (early 70s) there wasn't much of a selection like there is today.

The fact is, PRS guitars visually are beautiful instruments. There is no doubting the attention to deal and the inspiration to be perfect.

Kind of like Taylors I guess, Lots of people feel the same way about them as I do about PRS (But I like Taylors!! So there is that..)
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  #12  
Old 10-18-2020, 04:17 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jayhawk View Post
Thanks guys. I agree this is about expectations and not actual quality. I had a good friend tell me that he loves that PRS sound. To him it cuts through the mix better. One person’s cold sound is another person’s cutting sound. I will admit I have played a CE22 special edition that I really liked. I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $3500.

I also find that the American pickups are far better sounding than the Asian pickups. To me the Asian pickups have a much thinner sound.

I will probably keep looking and playing. Might find one I really like in my price range.

Jack
Hey Jack, I can't speak on any of the PRS hollowbody models but the pickups in their Core models over the past few years have gotten great accolades from people. Prior to that, you're correct, many people thought the pickups were PRS' weak point.
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  #13  
Old 10-18-2020, 06:06 PM
guitararmy guitararmy is offline
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The original hollow body models had relatively weaker pickups than their solid body models. I have owned 2 of them and speak from experience, and a review in Guitar Player magazine said the same.
I have not tried their newer pickups but I like their older models like the Dragon II.
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  #14  
Old 10-19-2020, 07:31 AM
Guildman Guildman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rmp View Post
yea, I think so.. Then again, Martin is another brand I haven't warmed up to. They all seem hard to play, the ones I tried, to be fair they've not been setup, but my hands don't feel the same when I play them as the do with a Gibson or a Taylor, that has also NOT been setup. (just to name 2)...

We all like what we like, the beauty of it is there's plenty to choose from these days.

Back when I was just coming up to speed, (early 70s) there wasn't much of a selection like there is today.

The fact is, PRS guitars visually are beautiful instruments. There is no doubting the attention to deal and the inspiration to be perfect.

Kind of like Taylors I guess, Lots of people feel the same way about them as I do about PRS (But I like Taylors!! So there is that..)
Not sure why Martin got in total mix on a PRS thread but any of ya'll ever play a 000-18? I think some of these determinations get made based on less than 5 experiences at GC.
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  #15  
Old 10-20-2020, 02:29 PM
Marley Marley is offline
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The PRS Hollowbody II are absolutely beautiful guitars. And IF I ever buy another PRS in my life, it would be the one I want, unless the box itself doesn't sound good. But I'm one who thinks that 99.5446% of the electric guitar tone comes from the pups and amp, so I'd have no problem swapping pups. I have a 97 CU22 with Dragon II pups that I never liked and switched. I still don't prefer the guitar over others that I have, but the pups sound much better.

If I had the money, and if you have the money, I'd get one of these for my hollowbody needs:http://languedocguitars.com/
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