PRS SE Paul Allender - Guitar Review

[echoist]

PRS SE Paul Allender - Guitar Review

This is a review of the made in Korea PRS SE Paul Allender model guitar. Be warned that this review is not sharp and sweet like the others presented here. Its long, winding, boring, and a slow read. And it beat around the bush so much! I've recorded some stuff to give a clearer "picture" of its tones. You can check them out here: http://www.purevolume.com/mrecho. More about the sounds below.

If its too wordy, just skip and go to the appropriate headings. Keep in mind, the views here are entirely my own... Enjoy!

INTRO:

History:
I've never been so excited about a new guitar model since the day i saw the Ibanez Jem at Swee Lee in the 80's or the 1st time i got my hands on a 2nd (3rd/4th?) hand black US Fender Strat Plus in the mid 90's. I've always been a "Fender person", having bought, sold, borrowed, stole (from my brother), a number of Strats and Teles. I've only started taking notice of PRS when i saw Santana with one (before the creation of "his model") in an ad ages ago, and read, Ted Nugent played one in his "If You can't Lick 'Em... Lick Em" album. I bought a cassette (yes, it was a LONG time ago!) of that album. Then i got more interested the moment i noticed a few of my fav guitarists (or guitarists in bands i love) playing one: Larry LaLonde - Primus (incidentally he used to play a Fender Strat), Mike Einziger - Incubus (ironically he switched to Fender recently!), Chris Haskett - Rollins Band, Dave Navarro - Jane's Addiction and Tim Mahoney - 311, to name a few... I always thought it was unattainable to get a PRS with the 24 frets and the "birds-in-flight" fretboard inlays. It was too pricey, and buying it won't justify owning one as i don't "play music" as a means of income/career. So i was just content at looking and admiring the beauty of PRS guitars from afar... until...

PRS introduced the SE series! Well the prices were "more justifiable" for a weekend-jam-warrior/bedroom-guitarist like me. But what they had were the early Santana SE (pre pickguard series) and the fretboard inlays were "not for me". They then proceed to introduce the SE Billy Martin (the green bat inlay is cute, but the flat black finish is not!) and the SE Soapbar II, which i nearly bought (the sunburst one!) but it was fast "out-of-stock". After a few times not being able to get my eager hands on one, i decided to "forget it" and stick to my well-worn Strat. Problems started arising when i tried recording guitar tracks into my Mac. I soon realized the single-coils sounds like a "pack of bees in a bottle" once i clicked the record button. The frequency emitted from the monitor and cpu were interfering too much. I'm not going to switch the pickups to stacked-ones from Dimarzio or Seymour just for casual recording, and start messing with the tone/sound of the Strat, so i made a mental note to look-out for a nice humbucker equipped guitar.

That's when i read an interview with Paul Allender about his SE model. It showed a SEXY guitar with gold hardware, bats inlays, 24 frets, and its a PRS! Another thing i'm drawn to: its not "overly-decorated" with lots of mother-of-pearl inlays everywhere. Its just simple, pure and nice! Even the fretboard is not bound, just what i like. Also i don't have to bother with allen keys when restringing. A review in Guitar Player later, and i'm more than convinced its the right "humbucker equipped guitar" for me. But alas, it was fast "out-of-stock" too! After more than 3 months doing cat-and-mouse and calls, e-mails, a month of overseas trip and back, a few more calls, a 3 weeks wait... i finally got this baby!

THE REVIEW:



CONSTRUCTION:

Ok, the 1st time i hold this guitar at the shop (to check the neck, and overall inspection) i realize its extremely light when compared to my Strat! I'm mildly surprised, especially when the specs indicated its a mahogany & maple combination build.

Body:
Mahogany back with maple top and quilt maple veneer. The maple (not the quilted maple veneer) is just a thin piece slab over the mahogany back. It can be seen when looking at the guitar from the side. About 5mm thick. Initially, i assumed it was just a maple bind for aesthetic purposes, but soon realize its an actual maple top/cap. I'm not sure if this will contribute to the tone since its a bit thin, but who knows... The quilted maple veneer is definitely for looks, and yes, it does make the guitar look more expensive/beautiful!

Neck:
25" scale length 24 frets maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. This is one of a few models from the PRS and SE guitar line with a maple neck (the rest are mahogany). The others being the CE and Swamp Ash (those are bolt-on neck series). This should theoretically make this guitar "brighter" (sound/toned) than the other series. The shape is wide and thin. Though not as wide or as thin as an RG550, but its definitely thinner than a Strat. I even felt "slightly, mildly, uncomfortable" with the neck, due to the fact of not "feeling any wood on my palm" when i grab the neck for bends. And the fretboard is quite flat (again, not as flat as an RG but flatter than a Strat/Tele), good for neo-shredders. It takes me a while to get used to the neck because i've been so accustomed to Strat/Tele's. I need to push a bit more for bends, and chordings (funk/reggae types) are a bit more challenging. But after about half hour "playing/noodling" i quickly got comfortable with it...



Inlays/Frets:
OK, there is the infamous "bats-in-flight" (a nice spin on the "birds-in-flight" original) inlays. Its plastic-fake-mother-of-pearl, and its perfectly and cleanly inlaid (no pun intended) with no trace of shoddy stray glue whatsoever. The frets too, are beatifully done: nicely polished, perfectly crowned, and even through-out the whole range of the neck. The fret ends are nicely rounded with no signs of sharp edges. The frets are medium-jumbo. Funny that its somewhat a tad smaller and lower than a Strat's. But it don't create much of a problem for me tho...

Hardware:
It comes with Gold hardware (fake-gold finish). It definitely looks stunning. But i feel with time, and constant playing, cleaning and wiping, the gold-finish will definitely fade away. But that will make it the more "beautifully used". The tremolo comes set-up with 4 springs. The arm is the push-in type, unlike the screw-in type like Strats. It can be tightened via an allen-key access at the back, is located beside the intonation screws. What i don't particularly fancy is how the tremolo/bride "float". Its well 2.5mm over the top of the guitar. I find there's no way to lower it flat on the surface to block the tremolo movement (for those who prefer push only, not pull), without the strings buzzing! The only option is to block the trem via the spring cavity at the back with a block of wood (like Clapton). At the moment, i will live with the float...



Electronics:
Comes equipped with 2 humbuckers (PRS designed Paul Allender treble & bass pickups) with gold-finish pole pieces. They are controlled by a 3-way toggle switch (like a Les Paul's), and master volume and tone knobs. I did not actually peek into the control cavity to check the pots' value, but they can be accessed from the back via a V-shaped plastic cover.

[echoist]

AT PLAY:

Feel:
I've got no problem accessing the higher frets, even though there's a "slab of wood" at the point where the neck joins the body. Maybe i'm so used to the bolt-on joints on Strats/Teles that this seems "nothing". And a "carve" at the lower horn gives easier access to the top frets for those 24 frets speedster-warriors! Another minor quibble i have (besides the tremolo set-up), is the flat-top of the body. Yes, there is no forearm-relief cut whatsoever. It feels like playing a Tele actually, the way the top feels "blocky/squarish", but eventually, after playing with it for a while, i feel at home easily. One more thing i have to note here: the guitar is perfectly set-up! I can't say whether its the shop i bought it from, or its from the factory. Its just set-up beautifully. The neck is set near-straight, string height is great, and the intonation is near-perfect. (I'll set the intonation properly once i've decided on the right tuning, string gauge and brand.) And it plays great straight from the shop to home! I just need to tune it up a minnie-itsy-bit, and i'm set to go! It came strung with 009-42 set.

Sound/Tone:
Ok, this is the most important expect of a guitar besides playability, and price. Unplugged, its loud enough i can definitely practice without plugging. It resonates well, though more on the neck, than the body. I feel its because of the way the trem is set-up (floating instead of flat on the body). I've played a few guitars that resonates/vibrates throughout. As i don't own an amp (most of my stuff have long-gone!), i plugged it in direct to my Mac, and fire up Garageband.

What i find interesting, even through the limited range of Computer Recording/Playing, the pickups are really responsive. It responded well with volume and tone pots "playing". When i played through an overdriven amp (virtual) setting, i can back-off the volume a bit and the sound will clean-up nicely, without getting muddy, or too bright, or thinny and stringy (like some others). And when i want to get a really jazzy tone i can back-up the volume more, and back-up the tone to 3 and it can approximate a jazzy tone. All while still in the virtual overdriven amp set-up! I stated "approximate", not dead-on, by which i mean "nearly-close" in a "fake-neo-jazzy" kind-of-way.

The pickups sounds distinctively different from one another. And all 3 positions are "usable". Even when i'm in a very high gain metal set-up, the 3 positions are still distinctive from one another. I tried different amp settings (jazz, surf, nashville, country, rock, classic rock, ultra clean) and most worked. Though at times i have to play with the tone and volume knobs a bit. Generally, this guitar is very versatile. Throw any amp settings, and it still worked wonders with their sound. (Or its the software that's good. But lots of people commented the built-in amp sounds in Garageband are really bad!) I'm curious how it sounds like with a "real" amplifier too.

The "overall tone" of the guitar: high output, heavy, fat, but with a distinctive clarity/brightness. Hmmmmmm... So much for describing the sound/tone. I've recorded some stuff to give a clearer "picture" of its tones. Check below...

SOUNDS:

Hopefully this will "explain" the sound more. Don't worry, they are not those diddly, widdly, doodly, shredfest stuff (tho i can't solo even if i wanted to!). They are mostly rhythm stuff to clearly "show" the different tones of the guitar/pickups in use. I've noted the positions of the volume/tone controls and the pickup positions of the guitar. And also the amplifier type and settings. They are listed below.

Recording/Demos:
I've recorded 3 demos: metal, funk and reggae styles. They're recorded like this: The song/demo starts with a few bars of guitar track with back-up drums. Then it will stop for a bar and start with a few more bars of another track with a different setting. It will stop again for another bar before starting with a few more bars with both guitar tracks playing together. This way it is easier to A/B the tones. I've recording each song short, so as not to bore listeners with my playing (its that bad!). They are about 2 mins long, and each section lasts 40 secs.
You can check them out here: http://www.purevolume.com/mrecho

demo metal:
chugging rhythm - volume 10, tone 10, bridge
echo passages - volume 5, tone 10, neck
British Hi-Gain: low: 10, mid: 1, hi: 7, drive: 10, presence: 7 (same setting for both)

demo funk:
scratching rhythm - volume 10, tone 10, bridge
American Clean: low: 6, mid: 2, hi: 8, drive: 3, presence: 9
echo/chorus rhythm - volume 10, tone 10, middle
British Clean: low: 6, mid: 7, hi: 7, drive: 3, presence: 9

demo reggae:
muted rattle riffs - volume 5, tone 10, middle
skanking rhythm - volume 5, tone 4, bridge
British Clean: low: 3, mid: 10, hi: 2, drive: 9, presence: 8 (same setting for both)

Equipment:
I believe some will want to know what i've used for the recording. Basically, its all done in Garageband 3. I used a cheap stereo cable with 1/8" plugged direct into my very old Mac, and the other end with a 1/4" adaptor into the guitar. I used either a green Dunlop Tortex jazz or the red Jazz III pick. I also used a pair of old iPod earphones for monitoring the recordings and mixing. That's all... Oh, and i have Uma Thurman for companion!



Conclusion:
Is this guitar any good? Well personally, i feel its more than good. Its near perfect, except for the 2 minor quibbles i noted earlier. It looks good, plays good, priced good (for me!), and more importantly, sounds good! It even comes with a plush, nice looking softbag! And when i tried recording plugged into my Mac, the bees were gone! I highly recommend this guitar... So start saving up, or start whining and bug your parents for one!

Summary:
Price: S$950
Origin: Korea
My ratings: 95%, believe it!

Taken from PRS website:
Body:
- Mahogany back with maple top & quilt maple veneer
Neck:
- 25" scale length 24-fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard and bat inlays
- Neck carve - wide thin
Hardware:
- PRS designed tremolo
- PRS designed tuners
- Gold hardware
Electronics:
- PRS designed Paul Allender treble & bass humbucking pickups
- Volume and tone control with 3-way toggle pickup selector

[adrianli]

beautiful guitar. Of the 3 new SE models released, guitar player gave editors picks awards to the SE One and The Paul Allender models. The SE Custom Semi Hollow missed out on making it a clean sweep.

let me know anytime u want to sell it :P

[DjThugs]

now thats a detailed review....nice 1 bro!

[subversion]

IMO the heel block/ bulk isn't a hindrance at all. the fact that it's always mentioned in write-ups makes it an issue.

[Ihavebecomea]

this review actually makes me want to get this guitar more!

[ericbass]

wow nice les paul man...

[echoist]

@adrianli:
It's beautiful isn't it? Yes, i read the review too in Guitar Player. Its in the Oct 2007 issue. That's what made me decide on this baby...
Btw: I'll let you know... :wink:

@DjThugs:
Glad you liked it! I was "free" for a day. So i took the time to really sit down with the guitar... It was not meant to be a review. But since i recorded some "stuff" and noted the "likes n dislikes", i decided to share with the rest. So here it is! Thanks for the comment...

@subversion:
Its definitely true... I did not initially notice the heel's construction/block (during play) until i've turned to look at the back of the neck. Infact, i've noticed the higher-end PRS guitars have the same heel construction (a little shorter though) too...

@Ihavebecomea:
So, what are you waiting for???

@ericbass:
Errrrrr... both are Pauls, but... :mrgreen:

[echoist]

I've added another track. Its called "demo xtra" and can be heard here: http://www.purevolume.com/mrecho.
Took me all of 30 mins +/- to record and "mix" it.
Enjoy!

demo xtra:
left rhythm - volume 10, tone 10, bridge
right rhythm - volume 5, tone 10, neck
American Hi-Gain: low: 10, mid: 1, hi: 7, drive: 9, presence: 7 (same setting for both)

[subversion]

what made you choose this guitar over other SE models?