Here's a review of the SE Soapbar II and the SE Singlecut I posted on the "other" forum -- there's a P90 thread there. See page 2 of the thread at:
http://www.yupangco.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3856&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15Hope you find this helpful -- sorry lang tha masyadong mahaba:
vegetablejoe wrote:
Has anyone tried the Korean-made PRS SE II Soapbar guitar? (tama ba yung modelo?)
Or can you point to any good reviews on it?
Personally, I think it is overpriced for "just" a Korean guitar at ~P28K; but I'm still curious to hear what it sounds and feels like...
Thanks.
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Ok, will string some things together here to attempt a coherent review of these PRS SE Soapbar II’s. First off, it might be helpful to read this shootout which I posted last year on a thread in another forum. It’ll be a good reference point re: the various P90 relatives in light of the previous porn:
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98411Now on to the SE Soapy II’s. Unless noted, the same holds true for the SE Singlecut. Apologies in advance for my propensity to yakk on – that’s why I thought this was a dangerous thread.
• Action, fit, finish & construction - There’s nothing to fault in these new SE’s. Superb right out of the box. The Koreans have the Gibson guys whipped in terms of fretwork and workmanship. Frets perfectly crowned and highly polished – no file chatter marks in sight, perfectly cut and spaced delrin nut (if anything, slots can be lowered just a tad), long neck tenon all the way to the bridge side of the neck pick up cavity, control cavity fully covered with shielding paint, no raised seams in 3-piece body, flawless poly finish which is not so thick.
• Hardware and electronics – Good tuning gears that do not de-tune, strong oversized strap buttons, excellent pickups (more on that later), great sounding lightweight plated aluminum wrapover bridge/tailpiece (!!! – a +$100 replacement item for production gibbys), generally solid and sturdy hardware with excellent coupling. It’s in the area of the pots which are the potential weakness of these guitars – they use the standard 500k Korean made mini-pots, easily replaced with better quality CTS units. Tone bleed cap on the volume pot and a .22mf mylar cap on the tone pot. Input jack seems solid and trouble free.
• Design features, ergonomics, and physical characteristics – Excellent medium beefiness to the neck –- in hand, it feels closest to the ’57 special and the ’72 goldtop. Not quite as large as the ’59 special but slightly meatier than the ’99 standards. Perfect balance – no neck heaviness. Both Soapies are super lightweight at 5.7 lbs. The Singlecut is very lightweight for a maple-topped singlecut at 7.5 lbs. This is not necessarily true for the others out there as I ended picking up the lightest ones I could find for my aging back! The point is that you have to try them. Scoop at the cutaway allows for very easy upper fret access – certainly better than the single cut LPs. Knobs and selector switch are perfectly placed within easy reach. Bodies have sculpted contours in all the right places. Almost straightline string pull, and the in-between scale length makes 11’s a snap to handle and bend.
• Sounds – The big kicker. Tried the Soapies with and without the tone bleed cap on the PRS's master volume pot. Without the cap, the response was very much in the vein of the oldies: turning down the knob simply turns down the volume with all harmonic content intact on a relatively fast taper -- ie: the knob is useable from 10 to about 6, but below that, its basic tone loses body/highs/volume and therefore its utility.
Leaving the cap on produced, to me, rather unexpected results. At 10 on all 3 positions, the tone is all that is great about P90s and more (with the extended highs). The moment the knob is turned down, the character of the tone changes in a big way on all three selector positions, but not necessarily in a bad way! The major difference is some attenuation of the mids. In fact, if one just uses a volume pedal in the rig to adjust apparent volume and fiddles with the tone knob on the guitar, pretty darn convincing take of almost anything is possible -- P90s of course, HB's, a strat, a tele, and yes -- even a cleanly electrified acoustic when that darn volume knob is on 3 or 4!!! The range of useable tones is almost crazy and the full taper on the volume pot becomes useable. Clearly the tone bleed cap at work here. This set up is an extremely versatile one.
They are definitely doing something interesting in Korea. The stock Korean made P90s are squarely in P90 tone territory, but with extended, more brilliant highs AND big, tight piano string-like lows. There are some similar qualities to the HD Z90s and SD Phat Cats in the LPF shootout. They have a somewhat "wetter" quality tonally, as if a teeny amount of 'verb was added to the usually drier fundamental sound of a good P90. Personally, I find the level of hum completely negligible.
One peculiar thing: they seem not to be paying closer attention to balance -- neck and bridge read 9.30 and 9.15 respectively (wrong way around and both in the 9's!), but there is real mojo in what is going on in these pickups, even with "cheaper" materials and construction.
The singlecut is very good too, but not as great as the soapy II’s. It’s a brighter guitar because of that maple top, but it does not have the kind of deep resonance that the soapy II’s have achieved. The HB’s on this guitar are not in the same league as the P90’s of the soapies.
• Overall impressions – A whole lot of guitar for not a whole lot of money. It’s almost embarrassing how good a guitar this is and I think it’s a function of PRS having kept it cosmetically simple while focusing on getting the few really important fundamental details just right – incredible resonance of the lightweight mahogany, a beefy neck, excellent neck joint, lightweight tailpiece, and terrifically versatile pickups and electronics. It will hold its own against its related vintage brethren – not in being exactly the same, but by putting a spin on the oldies. Quality of tone, playability, versatility, and price make it an outstanding gigging monster. It won’t do death metal very well, but it will do just about everything else. Once one learns to control the very dynamic character of these pickups, the guitar is really hard to put down. Even harder to go back to muddy humbuckers or too thin regular single coils (tele bridge pickups being the exception). Going out on a limb here: if the guitar world were a true meritocracy and huge advertising budgets/media influence did not rule the day, the big US makers should be quaking in their boots.
