When A Cheap Guitar Levels Up. PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-hollow Piezo review

[@BeastMadeReviews]

*BUY HERE* (affiliates): 1. *PRS* - tinyurl.com/2kzev6zz (Amazon) - amzn.to/3W0xEZk 2. *Line 6 Helix* - bit.ly/3yWcrqQ (Amazon) - amzn.to/404GCWI

[@jean-paulschelkens6930]

I am currently using a PRS SE HB II Piezo in a coverband where I need acoustic sounds quite a lot, because there is never time to switch over from electric to acoustic guitar. Using the piezo with my helix and a very good IR, I get a lot of compliments for my acoustic sound. I am now looking for a backup guitar that also allows for some single coil pickup sounds. So I think this PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-hollow Piezo will be prefect for that. Saving up for it !!!

[@BeastMadeReviews]

That’s cool! I haven’t played the HB II to have a good comparison, but this Semi-hollow is incredible! The piezo sounds really good on it too. I’m sure you will like it!

[@IvorThomas]

I rigged up a HX Stomp patch that takes the piezo/mix cord into the effects return, and the mag into the normal input. Now I can switch between acoustic, edgy clean, and solo just from one foot tap. All sound pretty good from my Fender FR cabinet, although I’ve yet to gig it.

[@cartsp]

That intro chord progression is so good 👏

[@BeastMadeReviews]

It's perfection! It's from Miss You When You're Gone by Myles Kennedy, if you weren't aware!

[@IvorThomas]

I recently sold an amp and freed up about $1500 and definitely decided on the 👆🏻 or the SE Hollowbody piezo. If the Custom 24 piezo didn’t have such a scrawny neck, it would have been my choice easily. I’m very happy with the Hollowbody. It’s loud enough to be a useful couch guitar and scratches any occasional 335 itch I might get. I really love putting acoustic tracks into Logic. Sounds fantastic. This approach to piezo that PRS has taken is way better than Fender’s Acoustasonic thing. Those are only fair acoustics and lousy electrics, while the PRS piezo does both extremely well.

[@im58woody]

Great enthusiastic review of this fine instrument.

[@Tiger1016.]

Piezo blend does something cool for funky types of riffs. A useful alternative to position 2 and 4 on a Strat.

[@BurntRelic]

Blue PRS hollowbody II w piezo is one of two dream guitars. Top two anyway.

[@Tiger1016.]

@@BurntRelic Dreaming for a HB III to eventually be released? J/k. Absolutely love my Wood Library HB II with maple neck. Your comment had me looking to see if a new release had just been made.

[@BurntRelic]

@@Tiger1016. II I meant, the extra I that fckn got added thanks to phone? It will "correct" real words to into incoherent non relevant crap. Man if there was a PRS HB it would be bittersweet. One we'd hope the HB II would drop in price. But then we'd be stuck lusting after the HB III. I'd be fine with the SE version. But sheesh we know it's coming.

[@xyzman001]

I have the orange tiger sunburst. I have one con. When the 9v battery dies and you are plugged into the mag/piezo it sounds like the humbucker pickups died or shorted out. The piezo will still work but you no longer have the option to do mag/piezo blend with the single jack. if you plug into the mag only jack the tone does not sound the same with a good 9v battery. So basically you need a good 9v battery ready or else you’ll have to readjust the parameters on your pedals to compensate

[@BeastMadeReviews]

Thank you for adding this! That's one thing I didn't get to test.

[@matekerek1039]

Kudos for the Big Wreck riff❤

[@BeastMadeReviews]

thank you! I always try to add one to each demo.

[@ZacStokes-g2t]

Awesome video, Dave!

[@BeastMadeReviews]

thank you, sir!

[@BdotRASS]

Ah man, I picked up the hollowbody ii piezo only like 8 months ago, but coil tap and tremolo... the want is real.

[@johnnydswing]

Great review I have the same guitar and I love it now I have a question. What kind of effect did you use for the clean sounds is that like a shimmering kind of effect it sounded amazing. What is that exactly?

[@BeastMadeReviews]

Thank you! For the effects, it's just a delay going into a reverb. I use a Line 6 Helix for these demos, and the delay was their Transistor Tape delay based on the Echoplex.

[@KenzoGuillard]

Playng Myles Kennnedy's song in the intro of the video!!!! . Soooooo cool!!!!

[@BeastMadeReviews]

yeah! Love that album!

[@CarlMurawski]

Goodness that’s a beautiful guitar. Play some Hum!!!

[@JTB--]

My PRS guitars have Pattern Thin and Pattern Regular necks and I didn't't like this Wide Thin Neck at all. It got too fatiguing

[@lifeofthetheatre]

For that price it’s too bad it doesn’t have stainless steel frets and locking tuners

[@martinohara5003]

I have a blue HB 2 Piezo, that has binding on the f-holes and comes with a hard case for about $300 less? Doesn't have the tremolo, which is why I was looking at this, but its a lot more money for a lower finish and soft case?

[@BeastMadeReviews]

Looking at current prices on Zzounds, they are about the same price. Are you comparing the price you paid originally? The HBII still comes with a hard shell case, though. I don't really see much of a value difference between the two. They seem like slightly different guitars for different players.

[@martinohara5003]

@@BeastMadeReviews the HBII Piezo is about £1300 in UK, half-hollow Piezo about £1500. The inlays are also better on the HB. I have a standard SE Custom too, without Piezo. Half-Hollow should sit between the two, but is priced above both?

[@BeastMadeReviews]

interesting. I'm not a great resource for their pricing, but I would guess that the cost isn't as linear as being in between full hollow and fully solid. But it is definitely a great point of comparison. I think having a hard case for the HBII is a great addition. It was probably a necessity, since it's potentially more fragile.

[@martinohara5003]

​​@@BeastMadeReviewsannoyingly I needed/wanted the piezo for one of my bands that doesn't normally use trem and now we're doing a cover that needs it, I've only had the HB for a year too and now I want the Half-HB with trem!

[@vancerose1511]

I may have to sell my SE hollowbody ii piezo in peacock blue.

[@scottwhitlow8468]

Myles Kennedy! Can’t go wrong with that song! 👍🏻

[@BeastMadeReviews]

such a great album! Love that song

[@MountainLionessMusic]

Go my goodness that guitar is stunning. Here I thought I had settled on charcoal.

[@BeastMadeReviews]

The charcoal is a great color too. But yeah this blue is special

[@FredG-2012]

What are you running this through to get that cool throaty sound? Thx

[@BeastMadeReviews]

I'm going through my LIne 6 Helix with two IRs from Ownhammer. The clean and pushed sounds were with the Grammatico GSG model, and the high gain sounds were with the Placater Dirty amp based on a Friedman BE100

[@brettdavis7922]

Tax time baby ive wanted one for 6 months now so im gonna take back the money sam stole from me, and put it back into my guitar collection and I'm buying the beautiful brown one. It caught my eye just from the shape/style and then i watched a video on the pickup system and saw how dynamic this guitar could be for me and i was sold right away. Then i played one.....( cue heavenly sounds and a picture of me cheesing harder than i have since i got my first BJ 😂) YES......these guitars are AWESOME!!!! Thank you PRS

[@BeastMadeReviews]

love it! Great choice!

[@zacharydesjardins3701]

If they made this in their pearl white with gold hardware then I'd buy one in a heartbeat!!!

[@BeastMadeReviews]

ooh yeah that would be incredible

[@luiseg277]

Myles Kennedy- Miss you when your’re gone.

[@BeastMadeReviews]

😁😁😁

[@Allguitarinfo]

When you get Free guitars or if your paid for INFLUENCE YOULL say nothing bad about their product ...

[@BeastMadeReviews]

Well I was neither paid nor given a free guitar for this video. Maybe you should watch the video instead of jumping to conclusions.

[@Djole_NS246]

Nice, but this guitar lives in "Nowhere Land", too expensive for a cheap/affordable guitar, and too cheap for a high-end one. And while I can't really hear what the guitar actually sounds like from all those added effects, I have to say, to me PRSs in general are and always have been kind of generic guitars, with no real sonic distinction. You can't hear it playing and immediately say "Oh, this is a PRS" unless you know it's a PRS. And that pointy headstock... I know PRSs are very high-quality products, but they are just that: a product.

[@BeastMadeReviews]

I don't think the fact that it sounds indistinct to be a bad thing. I have several guitars that are like that. I actually like that fact. Having a guitar that is too specific is a limitation in my opinion.

[@Djole_NS246]

​@@BeastMadeReviews It's nice to exchange opinions with someone. I don't think I wrote anywhere that this characteristic of PRS guitars is a bad thing, I simply expressed an observation about them. And I don't want to sound like someone who judges or evaluates someone, but... when we listen to someone, for example a singer, we get attached to him because of his specifics, because of the uniqueness of his/hers voice and interpretation of a song. It's the same with guitarists. To be Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Van Halen, Ritchie Blackmore, David Gilmour, Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix, Gary Moore, Johnny Marr, Kurt Cobain... a musician must have his own voice, his own sound. And they can't have that playing any instrument. It has to be exactly that particular guitar, which when you hear it you immediately know: "That's Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Stratocaster", regardless of whether he's playing some of his own material or a song on David Bowie's album. That's what I meant. I know this is just one KZbin channel that is a type of media which has its own purpose, rules and requirements, but I wished to share my thoughts on PRS guitars in general. Maybe it helps someone in some thinking. Hello and wish you all the best.

[@BeastMadeReviews]

oh of course! I appreciate your thoughts and opinion. I just wanted to add my thoughts. I think we just have different ways of approaching "tone". I think any guitar, regardless of the type or brand, can sound either unique or generic in the hands of any person. And some people take an ordinary guitar and turn it into their own sound. For me, I value both options. I have a strat and a telecaster because those guitars have their own specific voice. But at the same time, I find a guitar like a strat to be too specific, and therefore limiting for what I want to do. Whereas I have other guitars like that will do anything I want them to do and would be harder to identify--but that's what I need from them. Different strokes for different folks. :) Going back to PRS, I actually do find that their guitars have a certain voice to them that can identify them, though it's more subtle than something like a Strat. I find PRS guitars to have a "fat but focused" sound that works well in a lot of settings. Thanks for commenting!

[@BkBk-gy6vr]

@@Djole_NS246 Even though I own a PRS it was a gift. I have to agree it just doesn’t have character like my Fenders or Gibson. I don’t think it’s a bad thing either as my Charvel and Schecter don’t have anything distinct about her their sound. My problem with this PRS is the Piezo does not sound good with gain. The only exception would be using the 2 cables to go to 2 different amps but just using the one cable and mixing in the Piezo with the magnetic pickups only sounds good with clean sounds. So it’s limited, too limited for the price.

[@Djole_NS246]

@@saltycremepuff Thank you for your extensive and detailed comment. Reading it carefully, I realized that, despite your great effort, you missed the point... And that this is so, is proven by the work of numerous top musicians. If you were right, they would all play any instrument and have their own distinctive tone and sound. And the truth is different. Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rory Gallagher, The Byrds guitarist Roger McGuinn, Richie Blackmore, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Thin Lizzy guitarists, Mark Knopfler, the Young brothers, B.B. King... and not to mention more, they all used a very specific model of guitar, precisely because it was the best basis of their characteristic, recognizable sound. And that sound is primarily a consequence of instrument, the way of playing, the individual style, the touch of the man and the guitar, and all the technical devices that come in the chain after the touch and plucking of the guitar string are only there to amplify what the musician has created in contact with the instrument. Your effort in writing is appreciated, but unfortunately: "When you get on the wrong train - every stop is wrong." I greet you and wish you the best.

[@abelinolopez1957]

Freaky expensive

[@juandelacruz5247]

Not cheap at all.. hahaha 🤣

[@kennyallums7984]

$1600 cheap guitar lol

[@BeastMadeReviews]

LOL it's part of their "cheaper" line. It's definitely not that cheap, admittedly.

[@brianmoran1968]

Sorry. It that is not an acoustic sound

[@BeastMadeReviews]

I know what you mean. I would agree in part that it is not an *ideal* acoustic sound. I don't love piezo tone as compared to a miked acoustic. But it is the standard plugin sound for acoustics, and compared to other piezo systems, it's very good.

[@brettdavis7922]

@@brianmoran1968 it just adds more depth to the notes giving it really awesome low & mid range tones. Maybe a little misleading in the name, but I think the idea is solid!! As an acoustic player that only uses my electric for recording I can say this is the best "acoustic" sounding pickup system I've ever heard. It's so warm and vibrant yet has super clean top end too. In other words, I wouldn't knock it til you try it as they say. PRS makes some of the best sounding AND playing guitars especiallywhen it comes to blues/rock.