• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

PRS basses

#101
What you have in the earlier run of PRS basses is completely different to what showed up in the later basses... A pre that's basically unusable. First off it boosts output tremendously. It has a baked in tone curve that boosts the low lows and the upper reaches... And scoops the mid. No clarity there. On top of this...it's a 'no band' eq. All you have to work with is the passive tone roll off. What you end up with is the loudest bass you'll never hear... But a bass that loves to tear speakers on stage. The bass is only usable in passive mode, in which case you've just got another Jazz variant.
 
#102
BurningSkies said:
What you have in the earlier run of PRS basses is completely different to what showed up in the later basses... A pre that's basically unusable. First off it boosts output tremendously. It has a baked in tone curve that boosts the low lows and the upper reaches... And scoops the mid. No clarity there. On top of this...it's a 'no band' eq. All you have to work with is the passive tone roll off. What you end up with is the loudest bass you'll never hear... But a bass that loves to tear speakers on stage. The bass is only usable in passive mode, in which case you've just got another Jazz variant.
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with everything here.....
but flat out love the bass!
 
#103
MikeBass said:
Pretty much agree with everything here.....
but flat out love the bass!
Click to expand...

Mine feels great, has an awesome neck profile & plays so fast and low that it's a real burner. The flat nitro neck finish turned into a smooth super shiny gloss that's also very fast from the short period it was my main bass.
 
#104
BurningSkies said:
What you have in the earlier run of PRS basses is completely different to what showed up in the later basses... A pre that's basically unusable. First off it boosts output tremendously. It has a baked in tone curve that boosts the low lows and the upper reaches... And scoops the mid. No clarity there. On top of this...it's a 'no band' eq. All you have to work with is the passive tone roll off. What you end up with is the loudest bass you'll never hear... But a bass that loves to tear speakers on stage. The bass is only usable in passive mode, in which case you've just got another Jazz variant.
Click to expand...

Oh that's a shame, didn't realize the 2nd generation PRS's had such a bad preamp.
You know I never ever tried one of those but when they first came out, I was eager to learn more about and when I called my local PRS dealer, he said to me.... "no mate, don't even bother! these are not in the same ballpark as the one you have."

And that was what the review on Bass Player also pretty much summed up.
 
#105
They are great basses, but yeah, the pre-amp......:hmm:......
I remember the ads we something like "we went into the best mastering studios and built their settings of the best bass sounds into this bass" (or something like that).
All I could think is, well, just make sure I never use those mastering studios!
 
#108
MikeBass said:
They are great basses, but yeah, the pre-amp......:hmm:......
I remember the ads we something like "we went into the best mastering studios and built their settings of the best bass sounds into this bass" (or something like that).
All I could think is, well, just make sure I never use those mastering studios!
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct. I read those ads too.
...Then I saw your review on YT :scowl:
 
#111
Well I've never had any such issues with my PRS and the preamp.

But I put it down to one factor! :D

The secret it's in the knobs... look closely haha

daaaa548.jpg


caeb83c6.jpg


ab56cfb8.jpg


These go to 11, that's one louder! :D
 
#113
HillBillyWannaB said:
Haha, that's awesome! I had an '89 and I loved it. Huge sound and played great, best neck I've ever played on. I played it to death. It was really versatile, I could get any sound out of that thing that I wanted. Best bass I ever had.
Click to expand...

Oh my word! What have you done to that bass haha.

Nice though... my next obvious question is... since you are talking in the past tense, what happened to it, have you sold it, broken it, retired it?

I have always had a lot of basses and used them all in rotation. I never put so much wear and tear on a single one of them as I like to preserve them for posterity in the best conditions possible.
 
#114
Grand Wazoo said:
Oh my word! What have you done to that bass haha.

Nice though... my next obvious question is... since you are talking in the past tense, what happened to it, have you sold it, broken it, retired it?

I have always had a lot of basses and used them all in rotation. I never put so much wear and tear on a single one of them as I like to preserve them for posterity in the best conditions possible.
Click to expand...
Sold it (unfortunately). It was my main player for about 8 years almost every weekend, she was a warrior. Wish I had it back that's for sure.
 
#115
MikeBass said:
huh????
Something wrong with my review???
Click to expand...

I rewatched it after that comment to see if there was something I didn't catch the first time, and nope...it was as I remembered, and representative of the sound of the bass. You can tell that its a 'ripper' of a bass from the way you play it. I used mine for reggae, but found that when given the opportunity to step on the gas and really start churning and burning, this bass allowed me to play cleaner and faster than any other I had owned up to that point.
 
#118
Another good thing about the PRS is that the pickups are far apart - one of them is dummy coil right? To me, a pickup close to the neck blended with one closer to the bridge is a good idea. It gives both sounds. But you have to dial in the definition on your amp if you use a neck pickup that is as close to the neck as the one on a PRS.
 
#119
DrumsAndBass said:
Another good thing about the PRS is that the pickups are far apart - one of them is dummy coil right? To me, a pickup close to the neck blended with one closer to the bridge is a good idea. It gives both sounds. But you have to dial in the definition on your amp if you use a neck pickup that is as close to the neck as the one on a PRS.
Click to expand...

The two pickup models don't have a dummy coil. They're just two single coil pickups with an inconvenient shape (if you ever want to use after market pickups).

The older 3-pickup models that you see posted in this thread have a dummy coil. Its not any of the three you see on the front of the bass, but if you look at one of the rear shots, you can see the cover for it, where it meets the control cavity cover.
 
#120
BurningSkies said:
The two pickup models don't have a dummy coil. They're just two single coil pickups with an inconvenient shape (if you ever want to use after market pickups).

The older 3-pickup models that you see posted in this thread have a dummy coil. Its not any of the three you see on the front of the bass, but if you look at one of the rear shots, you can see the cover for it, where it meets the control cavity cover.
Click to expand...

That there is the dummy coil, next to Paul Reed Smith signature.

bcfc11ae.jpg
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back