PRS SE CE 24 Satin - How Good Can a $499 Guitar Be?
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- Just got my hands on a new PRS SE CS 24 Satin. At $499, this is now the cheapest guitar you can buy from PRS. How does it stack up?
0:00 - Intro and Guitar Overview
3:00 - Clean Tones
6:06 - Crunchy Tones
09:22 - Lead Tones
10:52 - Final Thoughts
#prsse
#prs
#prsguitars
#guitardemo
Big PRS enthusiast here, I own about a half dozen PRS guitars. Today's SE Custom 24 (With the signature headstock logo and shallow violin carve) IMO is the best $849 you can spend on a new electric guitar. I presently own 2, my Black Gold Sunburst being my "go to" gig guitar. When the SE CE24 was introduced I went to Guitar Center to check them out. MY GC had them in stock but had not yet put one on display. They brought one out for me. It needed some tweaking but it definitely felt magical (Very light weight and airy unplugged tone.) so I took it. After spending several nights tweaking it (I go for a Strat tone so extra tweaking tends to be required to really bring that out but it's there. The reviewer in this video states that it's not exactly a Strat tone which is correct because of the placement of the HB pickups but I have found that with extremely careful tweaking that quacky, smooth Strat-ish tone can be coaxed. Ya gotta be willing to work for it, it IS there.), I gotta say this is a very sweet guitar, well worth the $499 price.
P.S. The complaint about harshness of the stock pickups: Yes, IMO PRS SE's tend to exhibit that. One solution is to install replacement pickups (Try a set of DiMarzio Super Distortion Bridge and Super 2 Neck (The split tones will be worth the effort.), or 2 DiMarzio (I'm a DiMarzio guy for replacement PU's) Bluesbuckers with the screw coils to the inside - you'll find some great Strat style tones there.). The other solution, more readily doable, is to tweak the stock pickups' heights. Start with the published PRS spec's then tweak to taste.
To minimize brightness, lower the pickups a little at a time. Start with the bridge and get it just right both in HB and split modes (HINT: get the split tone just right; the HB tone will largely take care of itself, tweak the pole piece heights at this point so as not to upset the optimal split tone you just set up.), then balance the neck pickup to bridge, following the same procedure. Warning, this may take some time depending on how you work your guitar. Work it one night, go to bed, come back tomorrow night with fresh ears and see if you're satisfied or more tweaking is required - do this several nights if necessary until you arrive at your magic tone and feel - you'll know when you've found it. Trust me, it will be worth the effort when you hit it!
Finally, tweaking the pole piece heights to voice the pickups just right is a must do no matter what pickups the guitar has. There are online tutorials to help you figure out how to set the pole pieces optimally.
I love mine ! It's the identical guitar to the SE CE 24 has a mahogany body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard with the same hardware and electronics...the ONLY difference is the mahogany body does not have the glossy maple veneer top. Also keep in mind it's $200 less !!! I have the vintage cherry red. It's incredibly resonant...
I grabbed one of these as soon as they were released and love it. Your demonstration of the tones, along with rolling off the volume a bit is the best review out there!
Cort International Indonesia is one of the largest builders on the planet.
Samick had the first PRS SE contract now Cort builds the PRS SE line. Bound to be a great guitar.
I read an article that said Cort makes a million guitars every year.
@@brianhester8918 I bought most of em🤔....I need an intervention.
I played with one last week and was amazed how good the fretwork was. Felt like a guitar that was 2-3 times as much money. Really impressive.
Agreed. Feels so well put together. Just wish it had different pickups.
@@davlavmusic7070... como assim ??? O que você não gostou nos captadores ???
that's where they save the money ... i mean they are not bad .. just a bit average n lacklustre....i had an s2 with identical pick ups ... i own a ce 24 with american made 85/15 boy what a sound ... i usually change tuners but the pick ups must be right from the word go ...
these budget entry level se's are ok but not great ... the dgt is the best se bar none ... but u need to go around 800 uk pounds plus ...
@@davlavmusic7070 I own an SE CE24 Satin Red and have successfully set up the stock pickups to produce a warm, smooth sound that splits to a warm tone and nice Strat quack in the mix/split position. Takes time and patience to do it yourself but well worth the effort when you hit the spot. Start with the stock PRS height settings then adjust in small increments to get the tone you want. Pole piece setup is critical; do some online diligence in this area to learn how to correctly set the pole piece heights.
For aftermarket pickups, a Suggestion:
Try the following sets:
1. DiMarzio Super Distortion F Space Bridge/Super 2 Regular Space Neck
2. A pair of DiMarzio Bluesbuckers (DiMarzio only make one model Bluesbucker, so get 2 to make a set; F Space for the bridge, regular space for the neck.). For this set, try turning the screw coils inward. Set that up carefully you'll be surprised how close to a Strat sound you can get. SECRET: Set the pole pieces to a stagger similar to a vintage Strat pickup - it's the secret to Strat pickup voicing, along with pickup placement. As a matter of fact the former Sup D/Super 2 setup, thanks to dual adjustable pole pieces, can also be Strat staggered to get really close to Strat quackiness.
I have two SE Custom 24's, each with the above DiMarzio setups, and both give me very Strat-ish mixed pickup tones. Yes, it is IMO an improvement on the stock PRS pickups, but again I say I achieved good results recently with my newly acquired SE CE24 Satin Red. It DOES take some work to tweak the pickup heights and pole piece stagger, but a little/lot of patience will pay off big, and you can proudly say you did it yourself!
I bought one and it's amazing. Sngle coil pickup are ❤.
I kinda like the stock pick ups a lot especially the split coils 😊
What a great, thoughtful overview - muchos gracias! Makes such a difference hearing the clean options - so many YT people just jump straight into OD 'shredding' which does nothing for conveying what the instrument actually sounds like! I have the SE Custom 24-08 and over the last couple of years it has grown from 'gotta at least try one of these PRS things' to a terrific all-rounder in the studio, was thinking I'd need to mod it when I bought it but now, probably not. I like everything about this ghis guitar . . . satin, rosewood, split coils - what a great deal, very tempting!
Thanks! I appreciate that. This guitar has definitely become one of my favorites. I keep thinking about maybe upgrading the pickups but then I play it and think I'd miss the way these sound.
I like the sounds. I get one as soon as possible
Lovely thanks
Ok I have the Swamp Ash Special HHS with same humbucker’s and a single in the middle maple board. Anyway I love the satin CE SE 24 .Beginner guitar players have it so good now,just amazing what you get for $500 . You get this and a Boss Katana mk2 and your set for a while just awesome how you can spend under $800 and get a great setup for several years. PRS and Cort are making a lot of guitar brands take notice or they better take notice. Great review by the way.
100% agree. I look at the new S2 guitars and list after those USA pickups, but then I think "are they really 2x or 3x better than the SE guitars? "
I have a Satin solid body s2 Vela which is a 2017 and it’s a great guitar no USA pickups or electronics but I got a SE price on it back then. The new S2’s are nice with USA PUPs and electronics.I especially love the custom 24 08 but it’s $2000 plus a SE standard 24 08 is $749. I would get an SE satin CE 24 and or any SE model put Seymour Duncan hot rodded set JB bridge & Jazz neck with the coil splits very useful tones or Pearly Gates. Oh and locking PRS SE tuners are like $85 -90 but that would be all you need. These SE models are made by Cort and PRS quality control is top notch. Don’t get me wrong I would love a PRS modern Eagle faded whale blue just stunning, but I’m not even worthy of such a magnificent piece and I would be scared I would drop or something. I mean it’s only close $6000. I would rather have a SE with mods that I could thrash around with not that I do that with any guitar I own and put big money into a great Marshall,Orange, Fender,Vox, a great amp. Anyway I appreciate the response and reading my rambling.
It's got a good tone!
Great guitar. Pick ups sound pretty good. Prs just gets better every year.
Throw a a felt ring under that tone knob to help tighten it up
Great review! Your playing is great along with your tone what amp are you using? I really want to pick one of these up!
Thanks! It's not an amp. It's a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
That guitar seems like a very good value, it also comes give a gigbag.
I do own an HX Stomp because I use it for Bass (Im a hobby bassist and would like to pickup guitar for fun)
Do you think you can use EQ's to add some warmth to the pickups and smooth out the high mids?
I would primarily use it for eock and metal, the single coils for straty funk and Gilmourish tones.
Would be very cool if you'd share your thoughts and opinions about that, cheers!
First, thanks for the reminder about the gig bag. Forgot to mention that.
Yes, you can smooth out the tone with an EQ. Just pull back the 2k & 4k frequencies and it warms up.
It’s a very open sounding guitar. Very clear
It rings out well unplugged.
@@davlavmusic7070 X3
This seems like a really incredible find for a beginner/intermediate guitarist. Super flexible with that pickup configuration, but at a price that's reasonable for so much functionality.
That said, it's a bit harsh and brittle in general. It's missing some warmth and depth, especially in the "single coils" (but, to be fair, I'm comparing that to my PRS Silver Sky, which is a terribly unfair comparison to make given the price difference). It's definitely got a bit more life in the pickups than my Sterling Cutlass HSS, so I guess I'd ultimately consider it an upper-end entry-level guitar.
Still love those sweet QC tones 👌
Yeah, I agree on the pickups. They just needed more warmth. I think this guitar would be much better with either the TCI pickups from the SE Paul's Guitar, or the 5815s pickups from the SE Macarthy's. I have a Duesenberg Grand Vintage humbucker in a drawer that I might put in the bridge of this guitar...
Yeah you can roll back the tone a bit, roll back the volume a bit , or adjust your amp settings a bit. If you're using something like a helix then it's even easier.
Adjusting amp settings and/or rolling back the tone are absolutely quick and available solutions. However, spending some time dialing in the pickup heights and pole piece staggering can yield wonderful results. You can try it yourself or pay your local guitar guru to do it for you. I prefer the Do-It-Yourself approach because even the best guitar guru ain't you, and only you know what tone you're looking for. So, do some online research on the art of setting up your pickups and have some fun. When you hit your magic setting, you're gonna be really proud!
Nice review. What's the green guitar in the back?
The green one on the end? Is a guitar I built a while back. Kind Tele shaped. The finish scraggly came out horrible, but it plays OK
Great review! How about the sustain? More like LP or Strato?
I think it's more strat like with the tremolo and bolt-on neck.
@@davlavmusic7070 Agreed, a bit more like a Strat but this thing can crank a la Gibson easily.
how is the feel of the neck as far as thickness? is it on the thinner side like an ibanez, or rounder like some fender ones, good video!
It's pretty much a medium C. Same neck as on the Swamp Ash Special. And, if my memory serves, not much different than the SE Silver Sky.
@davlavmusic7070 silver sky (SE)is narrower and fatter. The CE is closer to the wide thin neck, or the pattern thin (core line) neck, but the edges aren't rolled quite as nicely.
Man I was afraid the neck on these would be to thin but was pleasantly surprised. The neck has a nice, full but not too thick feel to it. And after doing some setup work on it when I got it home, POW! Factors large into why I pulled the trigger on mine. Also, mine is nice and light and has a nice unplugged airy resonance to it - when that happens, it's almost guaranteed to sound/feel good plugged in.
I have the TCI S pickups in an SE Standard 24-08 and they have the same extra brightness that you wish wasn't there but like you say, it can be be dialed back. I'd rather have too much bite than to have pickups on the dull side. Not much you can do about that. Also I think the extra brightness might be why they sound so good as single coils.
Interesting. I think those are the same pickups that are in my SE Paul's Guitar and I don't hear that same top end.
@@davlavmusic7070 To my ears the TCI's sound a little too bright. I guess the 8515's are brighter still. I'm thinking of getting a Satin. That might be the one that I put some Dimarzio pickups in that I have laying around. All in all these are great guitars for the money.
Yeah, I'll likely be doing the same with some humbuckers I have around. It does seem like a great project guitar considering the price sms overall quality.
I never liked the body shape and especially the headstock on PRS. I can stomach the headstock with that black veneer. I might try one.
Try it, you're gonna love it!
Cort g300 pro ou prs se ce ? Abraço!
Personally, I'd go for the PRS SE.
Both are of course built in the same Cort factory but average intelligence folks will be far more impressed by the PRS logo and that will greatly affect it's resale value and how impressed your not so informed friends will be.
I joke but this stuff is important. I used to do a lot of sub gigs. Those are gigs where you are hired to fill in for a guitarist's unexpected illness, arrest, etc and I have found that walking in to a gig where no one knows you, that a familiar logo on your headstock calms the air. Sure that is dumb but ....well.. intelligence is pretty rare and most folks are like sheep. Don't scare the sheep, show up with a Gibson, Fender or PRS.
Are you in Seattle?
Nope. Philly.
@@davlavmusic7070 this PRS or the aerodyne Strat?
Which one? I’m in the market for both
Oooo that's a tough one. I prefer the strat but it's also $400 more. But I typically lean towards strats, so I'd likely pony up the extra $. I'm just not a huge fan of the 8515s pickups.
Especially since I think there are deals around in the aerodyne. My friend who's guitar I reviewed got his for around $700 I think. I spent more than a month with that guitar and was sad to give it back.
What is the weight of the guitar
About 7.5lbs
@davlavmusic7070 thank you.
Throw thornbuckers in it hahaha
I am considering swapping out the bridge pickup. I have a Duesenberg Grand Vintage humbucker sitting in a drawer...
@@davlavmusic7070 I'm a DiMarzio guy so I recommend either of these sets:
1. Super Distortion F Spaced Bridge, Super 2 Regular Spaced Neck
2. Set of two DiMarzio Bluesbuckers (They only make one model so get 2 to make a set, F Space Bridge and Regular Space Neck. Turn the screw coils to the inside for some near Strat tones, fully humbucking.
In all cases, no matter which make/model pickups, SETUP factors large! Don't just throw some expensive aftermarket pickup in there and adjust it to some random height setting; do your homework and set those suckers up right. If you still have the stock pickups in there, try spending some time with them - you might be pleasantly surprised. :)
I hope with the CE24, the silver sky, and the swamp ash, they’ll finally bring the Fiore to the SE lineup. They’ve technically got all the parts.
I’d be on a fiore se fucking fast