Prs SE owners who play rock, blues rock and hard rock thread

Hi guys

Some of the most sensible advice I have got on this forum has been from bordinbert who made an excellent point saying - unless you are into a similar style of music and playing similar guitars there is often very little point seeking advice from people who are playing death metal using ESP guitars !

So let's get a thread going for prs SE owners who are into rock, blues rock & hard rock! Let's trade ideas on setups, pickups, overdrive pedals, speaker cabs, eq, settings etc

Let's get the ideas and suggestions flowing !!

I've got an SE Bernie Marsden with Pearly Gates, plus I've swapped out the pots for CTS 250k audio taper to give more control cleaning up plus darkening tone a bit.

Having said that, I also use a Les Paul standard, Les Paul Junior, Tele and HSS modded strat!

I tend to play classic rock, or blues rock.

The GM is going into a Marshall 1912, single 12.

Regardless of guitars, I start with the soak on 18 watts, put everything on 12 o'clock, except reverb, and for all channels. Then I tweak from that as a starting point. It doesn't drift much from that tonaly. Presence may drop back a bit and resonance up a bit, but that's pretty much the rig.

Tubes? Power section is quad matched JJ's. Preamp, V1 and V2 JJ 12ax7, V3 Mullard 12at7

Great Start - thks Stapletongas!

GUITAR
PRS SE bernie Marsden (also mexican strat & an ESP Ltd) but bernie is my main guitar
stock neck pick-up
suhr doug aldrich in the bridge (being fitted whilst i type actually)

CAB
Orange PPC 2x12 Open backed cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's.

VALVES
Stock valves in the GM36 - considering changing them and the cab but ive spent WAY to much this month already!

PEDALS UP FRONT
Pedals: Bad Monkey overdrive, OCD Overdrive (used separately for different voicing), , Line 6 wireless unit (smal one the G50 i think) and a TC poly tune noir - all powered by a DC Power brick.

PEDALS (IN THE LOOP)
Boss FV50H Volume pedal and a fish and chips 6 band eq in the loop

SETTINGS:
5 watts for rehearsal.
Master at 12 o oclock
Slight touch of reverb and delay on most patches to fatten things up
"chanell volume" at 12 0 clock,
bass and treble dropped way back (circa 9 o clock)
Mids: pronounced - circa 3 o clock

EQ Pedal settings - reduced treble, everything else neutral.

I think I can contribute here as well. My #1 is a PRS CE24 w/ 5909 pups (ok so it's not a SE but it's in the same ballpark). My #2 is a Tremonti SE Custom w/ stock SE245 pups. I'm in an original band that plays ambient progressive rock. I tend to like a guitar sound that is rich yet well defined, and a little on the bright side (perhaps why I like H&K so much?) The GM is going into a H&K CC212 cab w/ stock G12M (greenback) spkrs. There seems to be a consensus that the greenbacks are less 'shrill' than V30's.

My GM spent it's first year of life in my music room (my band was on hiatus). I thought I had it dialed in perfectly until its first actual band rehearsal... and then it was back to the drawingboard! The full rehearsal revealed that my settings were not ideal for a live band setting. Despite being more than loud enough, I was lost in the mix. My settings, if I remember correctly, were something like:

Res: 1:00
Pres: 2:00
Bass: 1:00
Mid: 11:00
Treb: 1:00
Channel volumes: 9:00-ish
Master volume: 9:00-ish
Wattage: 36w

Thanks to some invaluable advice on this forum, I made the following changes:

Res: 12:00
Pres: 12:00
Bass: 12:00
Mid: 12:00
Treb: 12:00
Channel volumes: 9:00-ish
Master volume: 12:00-ish
Wattage: 18w

I know it may seem boring to have most of the knobs at noon, but for me this is sort of a perfect 'ground zero' starting point. IMO it's like the 'vanilla' H&K sound, and it sounds great in the context of a full band. I'm sure I will tweak from this point forward, but I can heartily recommend trying those settings if you feel like you're struggling to find a good base. I also want to emphasize (as has been done countless times in many threads here, and rightly so) the importance of using the powersoak to fit your situation. Personally I can't imagine using the 36w setting, it's simply too loud which prevents me from putting the master past about 9 o'clock. Your Master target should be at least noon. At 18w, I can put the master at 12:00/1:00 and maintain a sane stage volume (I'm in the camp that prefers a moderate stage volume, letting the PA do the muscle work).

edited to add: GM's tubes are all JJ - ECC83S (12AX7) preamp and EL84 poweramp

Great posts guys! I don't have a PRS yet but maybe one day I will. If I can ever get my injured left hand pinky to heal up. It sucks to get old!

HwyStar wrote:Great posts guys!  I don't have a PRS yet but maybe one day I will. If I can ever get my injured left hand pinky to heal up.  It sucks to get old!

Get well soon bro!!! I too am fighting the infirmities of old age - I've had tendinitis, rickets, trigger finger, and recently strained the A2 pulley on my left hand ring finger - that one caused me to miss a gig. My wife complains because I can no longer give her a good foot rub, but I can always manage to play guitar...

Hahaha! We need to start an "old farts" club. I completely understand what you guys are going through, it's exactly the same for me but, as a LP Trad player, add backache after playing.

But hey, we keep going don't we? Now you youngsters should realise, when your varicose veins show through the spandex, THAT's Rock and Roll!

Where's the sign-up sheet LOL

Maybe this is why we like our GM36's?  Small and light?  Fingers hurt, backs blown out, necks and shoulders sagging...  But old dudes still rock!

bordonbert wrote:We need to start an "old farts" club.    

Priceless!  OFC!  I need to post this acronym up to Urban Dictionary...

Some new toys to report on guys

Just fitted a suhr Doug Aldrich pickup to my Bernie marsden prs and it's a beautiful addition. Beautiful high output humbucker which is greAt for leads but also does cleans nicely

I have added a 6 band eq pedal in the loop and this has tamed the shrill / over trebly nature of the gm36

Been using the fulltone OCD overdrive (to add another voicing )to the amp and after 2 weeks this is a keeper

Lastly been using the tone knob on my guitar (rolled back to 6-7 and I can finally say (after 20+years of playing) that this set up is producing the tones I have heard in my head !!

It's a beautifull thing to finally reach this point ! Ive never said this in 20 + years of playing the guitar - I'll change out the valves (once a change is required) and I do plan on trying a new speaker cab in the future - to see if I can even further improve my sound however these changes will be made out of preference - not necessity

Hope you guys are all well and rocking out !



I'm finally getting