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PRS basses

#61
If it's light, it's ash, meaning you're definitely going to want nickel-wounds. Try XLs. Nothing too light, because the tone is going to be VERY scooped and you'll need a beefy string to come anywhere near a beefy sound. Steels will be even more scooped.

Awaiting your reaction.
 
#62
OK, didn't get to really pound on it through my rig, but I did fire it through my roland KB500 keyboard amp (which is pretty good sounding actually)

Anyway, as far as it sounding thin, no.
Lifeless, nope.
It does have a character of it's own. I would say almost PJ like.

The pre-amp.....well.....yeah.....leave it turned off....it's fun alone, but I could tell right away that it's gonna be tricky in a live situation.

As such, it sounds pretty nice I think.

I have rehearsal tomorrow night so I'll get to play it through my rig.

I'll try and get something recorded if I can A/B'd with my Jazz if I can.

Oh, the neck. It's wider than my Jazz at the nut, But not a lot.
At the bridge it's P-Bass/MM spacing.
 
#63
MikeBass said:
OK, didn't get to really pound on it through my rig, but I did fire it through my roland KB500 keyboard amp (which is pretty good sounding actually)

Anyway, as far as it sounding thin, no.
Lifeless, nope.
It does have a character of it's own. I would say almost PJ like.

The pre-amp.....well.....yeah.....leave it turned off....it's fun alone, but I could tell right away that it's gonna be tricky in a live situation.

As such, it sounds pretty nice I think.

I have rehearsal tomorrow night so I'll get to play it through my rig.

I'll try and get something recorded if I can A/B'd with my Jazz if I can.

Oh, the neck. It's wider than my Jazz at the nut, But not a lot.
At the bridge it's P-Bass/MM spacing.
Click to expand...

Your short review pretty much aligns with what I've been saying. I'll be interested to see what you think once you get some more time and with your regular playing setup.
 
#64
OK, used it at rehearsal last night.

Man, I gotta say, who ever says these are thin and lifeless must have played through an AM radio. Or I have a "good" one.
I just don't hear where someone could come to that conclusion. Especially if they kicked in the pre-amp...thin??? hells no!!!

This thing sounds real good.
Sounds like a real nice higher end Jazz bass. Maybe a touch towards a PJ like I mentioned, but not thin and lifeless one bit.

Very very nice slap tone out of it. And finger style tone was real supportive and sat nice. Has a nice Jazz like grind to it but a bit warmer.

It really is sensitive in a subtle way to right hand position and how much you dig in.
When I say subtle, the differences in dynamics from agressive digging in to laying back and playing light is real smoth transition. Unlike some Jazz Basses for example where it's not real smooth- either pronounced digging in or not.
The pick-ups seem to respond through a smoother range between light and hard playing.

The pre-amp.....still useless IMO. Lots of "boom" which is kinda fun, but in the real world, I'm not hearing it working well in .
And it adds a TON of gain when kicked in. The tone control taper on the pot sucks. Not smooth roll off at all. Could be a bad pot, but to be honest, doesn't seem that way to me. (all original pots in my 70's Jazz and that bass has seen 1000's of gigs- no issues with that)

The bass with the pre-amp off sounds real clean. A little blurry on the E string above the 12 fret, but I haven't set it up too well yet. So that could be solved by a pick-up adjustment.
Also, the truss rod...takes a little wrench- not an allen head.
Going to look into if it's something easy to maybe have switched.

The pick-ups being rounded on the ends and having kind of "sharp" edges make it a bit uncomfortable to just rest your thumb on them. What the hell were they thinking with that?????:spit:
18v pre-amp and from what it appears at first look, the pots are attached to a rather big PC board in the control cavity. So if you have to change a pot, there might be a bit of work involved.
Didn't really dismantle the thing, jut popped off the back cover to check the batteries and noticed that. The pots could be separate, the board covers them completely.
Kinda surprised by the size of that board given how close the knobs are and that it kinda doesn't do a whole lot. Heck a Sadowsky pre or Aguilar pre are about the size of a 9v battery, this thing is kinda big.

Neck felt real good over the course of the night. Didn't feel uncomfortable. (again, this bass is used, so the neck feels nice and "played")
One thing that is kinda cool though....the bass hangs where the headstock is closer to your shoulder. Doesn't feel like you are reaching as far out as you really are.
Lakland does this as well to make their 35" scale "appear/feel" like your are not extending your arm way out to play the first fret.
This PRS feels the same, but it's 34" scale.
My guitar player mentioned a few times that it looked "smaller or shorter" by the way it hung. Major points for that. I could easily see that this would be ultra comfy on a long gig.
Rehearsal went for about 2 1/2 hours and I never put the bass down and I never felt tired or anything.

It feels like a Jazz bass with no pick-guard with regard to the space from the body to the strings when slapping. Not a big deal, but for me, I like less room.
Didn't take long to get used to it, just something worth noting.
As is the wider spacing at the bridge. I didn't measure, but as I mentioned before, it's P Bass or MM like on the right hand.
That took the longest adjustment for me anyway. But after 10 min, I was doing fine.

So, over all this is a winner really. Don't know if it's a long term keeper for me, but I'm gonna keep it around a while.
I have gigs both Friday and Saturday night. I'm gonna take it both nights and see how it does.

We did have a little digital recorder running last night, and it usually is pretty decent sounding. So if I can grab clip or two, I'll try and get something posted up if I can.
 
#65
+1 the opposite of thin with that horrible preamp kicked in. Passive tone, to me, just OK, but surely not bad (as most of us have stated). Again, for $750 bucks, not a bad J type instrument. For $3,000 or whatever they were asking new, almost criminal. Still a big 'meh' to me... I'd rather have an MIA Fender any day if I was going for a passive J tone. IMo there.

However, if you dig it, that is good news... since now you own it:p Again, in passive mode, pretty nice. If you end up digging it, that Redeemer circuit might be the way to go to liven it up a bit when needed. I think that pre is only about $50.
 
#67
I dunno Ken, it sounds as good as any other higher end Jazz out there.
It's subjective as hell, but I'd put it in the ballpark of $2K basses all day.
Which is MIA Fenders/Metros etc.
Maybe this one is a "nice" one. But it's a high quality nice sounding Jazz bass. Is it "me"???
Dunno.
I dig it enough to play it for a while though.

IMO once you break that $1500/1600-ish mark, difference become less and less and much more subtle.
A good $2K Metro will hang with any $3K+ NYC anyday.

To say the bass is "meh".....I would see where new that now at second shot it could go for $2K (with street in the mid teens).
But that pre-amp.......:rollno:
 
#68
MikeBass said:
OK, used it at rehearsal last night.

Man, I gotta say, who ever says these are thin and lifeless must have played through an AM radio. Or I have a "good" one.
I just don't hear where someone could come to that conclusion. Especially if they kicked in the pre-amp...thin??? hells no!!!

This thing sounds real good.
Sounds like a real nice higher end Jazz bass. Maybe a touch towards a PJ like I mentioned, but not thin and lifeless one bit.

Very very nice slap tone out of it. And finger style tone was real supportive and sat nice. Has a nice Jazz like grind to it but a bit warmer.

It really is sensitive in a subtle way to right hand position and how much you dig in.
When I say subtle, the differences in dynamics from agressive digging in to laying back and playing light is real smoth transition. Unlike some Jazz Basses for example where it's not real smooth- either pronounced digging in or not.
The pick-ups seem to respond through a smoother range between light and hard playing.

The pre-amp.....still useless IMO. Lots of "boom" which is kinda fun, but in the real world, I'm not hearing it working well in .
And it adds a TON of gain when kicked in. The tone control taper on the pot sucks. Not smooth roll off at all. Could be a bad pot, but to be honest, doesn't seem that way to me. (all original pots in my 70's Jazz and that bass has seen 1000's of gigs- no issues with that)

The bass with the pre-amp off sounds real clean. A little blurry on the E string above the 12 fret, but I haven't set it up too well yet. So that could be solved by a pick-up adjustment.
Also, the truss rod...takes a little wrench- not an allen head.
Going to look into if it's something easy to maybe have switched.

The pick-ups being rounded on the ends and having kind of "sharp" edges make it a bit uncomfortable to just rest your thumb on them. What the hell were they thinking with that?????:spit:
18v pre-amp and from what it appears at first look, the pots are attached to a rather big PC board in the control cavity. So if you have to change a pot, there might be a bit of work involved.
Didn't really dismantle the thing, jut popped off the back cover to check the batteries and noticed that. The pots could be separate, the board covers them completely.
Kinda surprised by the size of that board given how close the knobs are and that it kinda doesn't do a whole lot. Heck a Sadowsky pre or Aguilar pre are about the size of a 9v battery, this thing is kinda big.

Neck felt real good over the course of the night. Didn't feel uncomfortable. (again, this bass is used, so the neck feels nice and "played")
One thing that is kinda cool though....the bass hangs where the headstock is closer to your shoulder. Doesn't feel like you are reaching as far out as you really are.
Lakland does this as well to make their 35" scale "appear/feel" like your are not extending your arm way out to play the first fret.
This PRS feels the same, but it's 34" scale.
My guitar player mentioned a few times that it looked "smaller or shorter" by the way it hung. Major points for that. I could easily see that this would be ultra comfy on a long gig.
Rehearsal went for about 2 1/2 hours and I never put the bass down and I never felt tired or anything.

It feels like a Jazz bass with no pick-guard with regard to the space from the body to the strings when slapping. Not a big deal, but for me, I like less room.
Didn't take long to get used to it, just something worth noting.
As is the wider spacing at the bridge. I didn't measure, but as I mentioned before, it's P Bass or MM like on the right hand.
That took the longest adjustment for me anyway. But after 10 min, I was doing fine.

So, over all this is a winner really. Don't know if it's a long term keeper for me, but I'm gonna keep it around a while.
I have gigs both Friday and Saturday night. I'm gonna take it both nights and see how it does.

We did have a little digital recorder running last night, and it usually is pretty decent sounding. So if I can grab clip or two, I'll try and get something posted up if I can.
Click to expand...

I always wrote off the people who said it was uncomfortable to play as cranks. ;)

The preamp is frustrating. I agree on all points.
 
#69
BurningSkies said:
I always wrote off the people who said it was uncomfortable to play as cranks. ;)

The preamp is frustrating. I agree on all points.
Click to expand...

I could easily see where people would get turned off of the whole thing because of the pre-amp.
I may go the Redeemer route as Ken said.

If someone played it and it sounded like poo, then it's bad all over.
Who would after dumping $2K on a bass wants to immediately rip out the pre and install a new one??
Nobody. Me included.

I think if this bass had a different pre-amp in it (IMO naturally) it would have survived longer.

I don't get the ads they ran saying that the pre-amp was what the best bass sounded like or something like that.

Some good pots, an Orange cap and the Redeemer will be in it if it stays around.
 
#70
MikeBass said:
I don't get the ads they ran saying that the pre-amp was what the best bass sounded like or something like that.
Click to expand...

Yeah... something along the lines of, "this preamp was designed to enhance the bass in the same way that an engineer at a high-end recording studio would".

I would like to support Paul Reed Smith. We grew up a mile away from each other, I knew him pretty well back before he hit it huge, and he's kept his U.S. manufacturing here in Maryland. His basses are well made but sadly they don't appeal to me. :hmm:
 
#72
MikeBass said:
Bump for video clip added.
Click to expand...


Hmm, not sure if this vid and your above reviews will do as much to save these basses from their reputation as you'd like.

The one I played felt fine and sounded okay, but in comparison to what's out there these days I don't see or hear any compelling logic choose one over a bunch of other J style basses out there. Too many quirks, useless preamp and not enough of an either unique or extremely useful passive voice to convince.

But the only important thing is that it works for you; why worry what anyone else thinks, unless you just want to get the used values up for when you eventually flip yours (I kid, I kid).
 
#73
One Drop said:
Hmm, not sure if this vid and your above reviews will do as much to save these basses from their reputation as you'd like.

The one I played felt fine and sounded okay, but in comparison to what's out there these days I don't see or hear any compelling logic choose one over a bunch of other J style basses out there. Too many quirks, useless preamp and not enough of an either unique or extremely useful passive voice to convince.

But the only important thing is that it works for you; why worry what anyone else thinks, unless you just want to get the used values up for when you eventually flip yours (I kid, I kid).
Click to expand...

I disagree.
They don't sound- as evident from the video IMO "lifeless and dull" as many have said (paraphrasing) and that was pretty much the point of my clip.
On the used market, a hand made, very high quality bass with very nice hardware for under a grand.....passive or not, IMO, thats a pretty darn good deal.
Has the Jazz Bass sound for the most part, a break from the traditional look, but not crazy radical.

Only real quirk is the pre-amp. The HipShot was added by me, has nothing to do with the bass itself.

As for sound, it sounds like a Jazz Bass. The soloed pick-ups (especially the rear) have more of a unique voice IMO, than a typical Jazz. Subjective though.
As for extreamly useful passive voice, not sure what you would really expect from a Jazz styled bass.
Now that I think of it, it actually sounds more PJ-ish. KJung made a comment to me that it sounds a bit neck pick-up heavy sound wise. I may agree there.
IMO/IME it sounds as good as any other passive Jazz bass out there for the money- sub $1K.

Like I said in my clip, is it a keeper?? Dunno yet. But I do really like it.
 
#75
Gotta say I love what I heard from that video clip, but would love to hear it in a band setting. Has a nice 'punchy' sound but couldn't hear a ton of low-end from the E, but I kinda wish you would slow down a bit so we could hear the notes sustain, but as someone who has a similar playing style (noodling! :D) I dig what you did there! :) .
 
#77
That's the earlier version, or "Series 1" as I call them.
And "Q" and crazy_bassist, yeah, it was kinda late. I just noodled.
One of these days I'll throw a better clip up. That was just my MacBook sitting on my keyboard amp.
And play something sensible too! :D
 
#80
I just bought a used PRS bass from the Guitar Center Store in Nashville. I have to say I love the darn thing! It's like the best maple board Jazz Bass I've ever owned. It's clear, full, it sings, the pickups blend well in all proportions, and both pickups sound good soloed. The bridge pickup is strong and the neck pickup is not boomy. The pickups also retain their high end when you turn them down. The neck is a pleasure, very even, and very little in the way of dead spots. It's lightweight and balanced. I recorded some stuff tonight at home and it sounds awesome!

I had tried the bass and had a very favorable impression, but I read through this post and others and the PRS basses got very mixed reviews. I agree that the active circuit has limited use. It's good for slap, but not much else. Also, it adds too much gain (I wonder if there's a way to attenuate the output?) so you've got to turn down before engaging it. I guess I'll think of it as a "slap switch" rather than usable active EQ :) But I have to totally disagree with whoever said that it sounds "lifeless" or "sterile". I think the tone is beautiful, it almost has a slightly active sheen to the tone while still being passive. Maybe some people are disappointed because they're expecting a more modern active bass, but as a high-end Jazz-style bass, I'd say it rocks! I'm glad I trusted my impressions and didn't let the talking heads sway me. :rollno:
 

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