PRS is a company that is well-known for their signature carved top body style, such as this insanely gorgeous Custom 24. It’s a style that is so well-loved that it has been copied by many other guitar manufacturers. Today, I thought we’d step away from the traditional PRS style and take a look at a different style of guitar from their line-up, the PRS SE Mark Tremonti Signature.

Let’s see if it’s as good as the other PRS guitars!

Features:

– Mahogany Body

– Rosewood Fretboard

– Flamed Maple Top

– Maple Neck

– 25″ Scale

– 22 Frets

– PRS Bird Inlays

– Wide Thin Neck Profile

– PRS Tremolo Bridge

– PRS Tuners

– Nickel Hardware

– PRS Tremonti “S” Pickups

– 2xVol/2x Tone/3-Way Toggle

The Korean-built, SE Tremonti has a beautiful Flamed Maple Veneer with a Vintage Sunburst Finish. It’s also available in black, but the Vintage looks really nice. Now, like I said, it’s not a big massive chunk of top like you’d find on a Custom 24 model, but it is a really gorgeous veneer. The Vintage Sunburst is complimented well by Cream binding and Cream/Black Pickups.

Thanks to the subtle body contour and PRS bridge, the guitar is really comfortable to play. The bridge feels really great and the tremolo is nice and solid. You won’t have any tuning stability issues with a PRS Tremolo. Some people are intimidated, or just hate tremolo bridges. If there was ever an easy one to use, it’s the PRS designed tremolo.

The Wide Thin neck profile, to me, feels like a slightly thinner Fender Strat neck. It’s really comfortable for most styles of playing whether it’s power-chord-city or soloing styles.

Tone:

The Mahogany body of the SE Tremonti treats it well. It has a ton of low end growl and sustain. The Maple neck offsets some of the warmth with a bit of extra shimmer in the high end.

The Tremonti “S” pickups are basically a less great version of the ones found in the Core Series Tremonti. However, considering there is a $2500 price difference between the SE model and the Core model, this guitar sounds surprisingly amazing.

These high output humbuckers have a  low end that is really fat and punchy. It handles power chords extremely well. The highs are quite smooth and subtle. Both the bridge and the neck pickup handle high gain well and manage to stay tight. The only issue I had was a tad lack of clarity for bigger chords. Some notes felt like they’d get lost when introduced to gain. The clarity was definitely there for clean sounds though!

The cleans are extremely versatile. The bridge brings a clean amp just to the verge of breakup, which makes for a great vintage-y sound. The middle position offers up some really nice, thick tele sounds. The neck pickup is really nice for lead playing as it’s smooth and round, but manages to retain some nice highs that cut through the mix. Let’s not forget the 2 volume and 2 tone knobs, bringing you even more versatility to an already versatile guitar.

Overall, these pickups are really great for rock and blues styles. I’d say metal would be easily executed with the right amp, but the pickups lack a bit of clarity for anything too extreme that uses big chords.

Build Quality:

This is a PRS we’re talking about people. Even on the cheaper side (about $700) these guitars hold up against guitars I’ve played in the mid $1000s.

The guitar itself was put together really well, the neck is excellent and stable, and the body is super comfortable. It came right from the factory with excellently low action. The hardware was installed perfectly with no issues, although I’d probably upgrade the tuners. The SE non-locking tuners just aren’t anything to write home about.

(Check out our guide on upgrading tuners if you want to learn how!)

The top is in fact a veneer, so it’s not the super amazing thick top you get on the more expensive PRS instruments, but it still looks really great.

I really had zero legitimate complaints about the build quality of this instrument.

Final Verdict:

Loaded with extremely versatile pickups and tons of tonal options, the PRS SE Tremonti certainly delivers above expectations. It’s super attractive, affordable, and plays really great.

This guitar is definitely for the guitarist whose looking for a reasonably affordable guitar for rock and blues styles. It’s certainly one of my favorite SE models available! (Next to the PRS SE Holcomb of course!)

8-9-8

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This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.

 

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