PRS and Amp Simluation

So my adventure with my new PRS Custom 24 S2 is quite interesting. Never have I had an experience like this with a guitar.

So far it's all good and I'm finding I like the guitar a lot. There's been some adjustment since it is very different from what I've played before.

I've made some observations that I don't quite understand and I'm hoping others here can help.

1) This guitar is AMAZING through my Zoom G5. Both my strat and lp loose some of their character when run through the Zoom and the sound becomes either too muddy or too harsh. The PRS however shines!! I find I can play with the amp characteristics and get a HUGE variety of tones.

Any idea why the PRS would work so much better with the Zoom than the LP or Strat?

2) I've read that this guitar is not suited for metal or hard rock. My experience has been this guitar REALLY shines with distortion. I was ripping some VH and Rush last night that sounded really good! On the flip side, I found it difficult to find an amp simulation that would give me a super clean tone. Even US Blues and Vox AC30 amps were giving me some breakup with the gain turned entirely down. The only amp sim I could get a nice clean tone was Fender Twin Reverb. In demos I've seen, they would sometimes roll back the volume for a clean tone. I've never had to do that with a guitar. In my solid state (Crate) and tube amp (Peavey ValveKing), with the gain down and volume at max on the guitar, I get a clean tone.

Any idea on why it can be difficult to get a clean tone with this guitar? Are there other guitars where you have to roll back the volume to get a really clean tone?


The PRS has a very "pure" tone. I suspect that's why guitarists complain that is has no "mojo" or "soul". I wonder if that is why I'm seeing the behavior I'm seeing.

Hi maggior - I know what you mean - I have a G3 and some of my guitars "like it" more than others. I can't imagine how/why that might be? Might be an interesting query for Stephen in the tech section? The optimum set-up (from my own experience) from ZOOM is with an active pick-up guitar. Really good tones/sims that way.

As far as the volume control as a gain regulator - I personally consider that as a very significant factor in my judgement/critique/valuation of a guitar. I have some guitars that if you drop volume from 10 to 4 - the gain drops but the volume goes waaaay down. On others I can do 10 to 4 and have the gain drop proportionally but the actual volume drop only slightly. Those are my favorite guitars. I guess it's probably something to do with the pot? Maybe another Tech question? Could be your new PRS is engineered that way? I think once you get used to it and get a feel for what can be achieved this way your going to really like it. My ideal set-up would be a low wattage tube amp and a guitar with a responsive volume control (like yours) with no pedals/processors at all. You can play all sorts of stuff, all night, and never have to touch your amp.

You got a good rig Rich, I think your going to be really happy with it real soon. You might find your Fender and Gibson gathering a little dust :) ((altho I admit I have Fenders and a Gibson that do the knob thing quite well ))

T-Care, Ken

Originally Posted by: maggiorSo my adventure with my new PRS Custom 24 S2 is quite interesting. Never have I had an experience like this with a guitar.

So far it's all good and I'm finding I like the guitar a lot. There's been some adjustment since it is very different from what I've played before.

I've made some observations that I don't quite understand and I'm hoping others here can help.

1) This guitar is AMAZING through my Zoom G5. Both my strat and lp loose some of their character when run through the Zoom and the sound becomes either too muddy or too harsh. The PRS however shines!! I find I can play with the amp characteristics and get a HUGE variety of tones.

Any idea why the PRS would work so much better with the Zoom than the LP or Strat?

What are you comparing the G5 sound to?

2) I've read that this guitar is not suited for metal or hard rock. My experience has been this guitar REALLY shines with distortion. I was ripping some VH and Rush last night that sounded really good! On the flip side, I found it difficult to find an amp simulation that would give me a super clean tone. Even US Blues and Vox AC30 amps were giving me some breakup with the gain turned entirely down. The only amp sim I could get a nice clean tone was Fender Twin Reverb. In demos I've seen, they would sometimes roll back the volume for a clean tone. I've never had to do that with a guitar. In my solid state (Crate) and tube amp (Peavey ValveKing), with the gain down and volume at max on the guitar, I get a clean tone.

Any idea on why it can be difficult to get a clean tone with this guitar? Are there other guitars where you have to roll back the volume to get a really clean tone?


The PRS has a very "pure" tone. I suspect that's why guitarists complain that is has no "mojo" or "soul". I wonder if that is why I'm seeing the behavior I'm seeing.

Pickups all differ in tone and output level. Your description of the PRS compared to your LP and Strat sounds like maybe the PRS has more mid-range. This would also account for the claims that they aren't good for metal as metal is frequently done with scooped mids.

Rolling back the volume for clean tone sounds like the PRS pickups have a higher output compared to your Strat and LP.

Just guessing, of course ...

Originally Posted by: bob99What are you comparing the G5 sound to?



Pickups all differ in tone and output level. Your description of the PRS compared to your LP and Strat sounds like maybe the PRS has more mid-range. This would also account for the claims that they aren't good for metal as metal is frequently done with scooped mids.

Rolling back the volume for clean tone sounds like the PRS pickups have a higher output compared to your Strat and LP.

Just guessing, of course ...

I'm comparing it to the sound out of my Peavey amp. When I play my strat directly plugged into my amp, there's a characteristic tone I hear when I really dig in with the pick and bend...especially on the G string. It make me thing of David Gilmour and Eric Johnson's tone. Plugged into my Zoom G5, that character is lost. It's also less lively, kind of flat and the dynamics overall seem to have been flattened. Hard to describe.

Your explanation of the PRS pickups being higher gain is all I can think of. Certainly they are higher gain than my Strat which has standard single coils. My LP has hb's, they could be lower output. I'll have to experiment and figure that out.

I've seen where others have asked Stephen questions involving amp sims and stuff and I think he was at a loss. For guitars and amp, the guy is a genius!!

Aaaah, OK, I've read that about the scooped mids. I think I read somewhere that the PRS pickups don't scoop the mids.

Thanks for the input Bob99!!

Originally Posted by: fretsmithHi maggior - I know what you mean - I have a G3 and some of my guitars "like it" more than others. I can't imagine how/why that might be? Might be an interesting query for Stephen in the tech section? The optimum set-up (from my own experience) from ZOOM is with an active pick-up guitar. Really good tones/sims that way.

As far as the volume control as a gain regulator - I personally consider that as a very significant factor in my judgement/critique/valuation of a guitar. I have some guitars that if you drop volume from 10 to 4 - the gain drops but the volume goes waaaay down. On others I can do 10 to 4 and have the gain drop proportionally but the actual volume drop only slightly. Those are my favorite guitars. I guess it's probably something to do with the pot? Maybe another Tech question? Could be your new PRS is engineered that way? I think once you get used to it and get a feel for what can be achieved this way your going to really like it. My ideal set-up would be a low wattage tube amp and a guitar with a responsive volume control (like yours) with no pedals/processors at all. You can play all sorts of stuff, all night, and never have to touch your amp.

You got a good rig Rich, I think your going to be really happy with it real soon. You might find your Fender and Gibson gathering a little dust :) ((altho I admit I have Fenders and a Gibson that do the knob thing quite well ))

T-Care, Ken

Hmmm, it must be that the Zoom like a higher level signal coming into it.

I know what you mean about the volume control not being very linear. I've never owned a guitar that behaved like this...it's nice actually because you can easily control the amount of crunch with a simple knob asjustment rather than having to configure 2 channels on your amp and using a foot pedal.

I love the idea of a simple setup - amp, guitar and that's it. That's the way I played our open mic gigs recently. There's something pure about that. We plan on doing a lot of covers and being able to mimic the original tones easily is very appealing to me. It's another aspect of the creative process. For instance, last night I got a patch set up on my Zoom for "PRS Clean" that works really well for Doobie Brothers and stuff like that. Next I'll be setting up a "hard rock crunch" patch for things like Black Crowes (think Hard to Handle). Then, since we are doing "Brown Sugar", I'll set up another patch with some slapback echo and some dirt.

For a blues jam or something...it would be straight guitar and amp though! I'm happy with my setup now and it's really growing on me, especially that I am getting comfortable with the tonal options I have available. Now I have no excuses...if my tone sucks I've got nobody to blame by myself :-).

Ya' might try the PRS web site. They have a Support section and, perhaps more helpful for this subject, a forum with guitars and amps sub-forums.

Thanks John. I've come across their forum and searched this topic with no success. I'll poke around there some more.

Hi - I think Bob is on the right track? At least it sounds logical to me.

The G3 (and I suppose the G5?) have a button on the back to select "active" or "passive" pu's ... so I don't think it's an output issue with why the EMG's sound so good thru the zoom. They just do. ( I'm not normally a huge proponent of active pu's - they got there pluses but also their minus' )

Here's my experience with processors (in general) and I'm wondering if you agree (?): I get a sound I'm real happy with at a comfortable "practice" level ...but when I crank it up for some real fun it sounds thumpy and harsh and needs to be re-tweaked ( mostly on amp eq ). Is that ur experience also - or is it just me? I realize my tube amps naturally break up more at higher volume but it's not a gain issue - it's more about bass/mid/treb at the amp end.

Does ur Peavey have a built-in attenuator or variable watts control?

Alas, I ramble. I will quit now before this turns into a novella. Have a nice weekend- Ken