Vintage Personality. Pick up a copy of the August issue of G&B and complete our Reader Survey. Though appearances and the production line differ from the company’s Core instruments, the Vela’s feel has USA PRS running through it like a stick of Maryland rock. The comfortable, rounded C profile of the Pattern Regular neck is based on the carve of regular PRS necks of the late 1980s, while its 10-inch ’board radius, familiar fretwire and 25-inch scale length all add up to deliver the kind of highly-evolved, player-friendly experience on which Smith has built his empire to date. From upstart beginnings in the early 60s, Eric Clapton soon established himself as one of the decades’ most lauded players. But the recently released S2 Vela and its curvaceous offset body might be the battering ram that breaks down such notions. However, all We’ve already established that the S2 series by PRS … Stylistic departures aside, many Vela specs are classically Paul Reed Smith. Terms Of Use. In Use • Left-handers No • Price £1,404 (as reviewed) £1,289 with dot inlays. While I found the Vela best suited for roots and alternative rock, it’s versatile enough to cover nearly any style. • Build One-piece mahogany body, three-piece mahogany set neck with Pattern Regular profile, 10-inch (254mm) radius rosewood fingerboard with ivoroid bird inlays and 22 medium jumbo frets Key Features The Dynasonic influence is there, but with more balance; it’s less of a junkyard dog straining at the leash and instead provides a more neutral canvas for expression. */, Copyright ©2020. • Scale length 25 inches (635mm) Why? The offset design gives the Vela a compact feel, whether standing or seated, and it balances superbly when strapped on, with a light weight that ought to make lengthy performances a breeze in comparison to many other mahogany-bodied electrics. Guitar.com is the world’s leading authority and resource for all things guitar. The October 2020 issue of Guitar Magazine is out now! Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing. Beautifully dynamic and sensitive. But the recently released S2 Vela and its curvaceous offset body might be the battering ram that breaks down such notions. Its inherent snappiness makes double-stops and Chili Peppers-style funky riffs sound sharp and complex with clean or dirty tones. First Look: Hughes & Kettner Spirit Nano Series. Joe Charupakorn. $1,399. Best of all, it’s an incredibly responsive instrument. Intonation was spot-on, and the medium/low action felt comfortable and fast. Playing fingerpicked blues leads with this much expressive range was a revelation. PRS’s Jim Cullen describes the Type-D as a cross between a ’54 Strat and a DeArmond, commenting that “a lot of neck pickups can be muddy. Another first: it’s also PRS’s offset body debut, featuring a silhouette created by cutting a Custom outline in half, shifting the bass side forwards and redrawing the lines. Country music superstar Brad Paisley has a new signature Fender guitar - an Esquire with a secret weapon. While Paul Reed Smith used a similar bridge on some of his early, “pre-factory” guitars (he holds a 1976 patent on the design), the Vela is the first production PRS guitar to feature this bridge. If you’ve previously balked at trying a PRS because you’d didn’t dig the styling, this beautiful machine—and its beautiful tones—might flip that notion on its head. The November 2020 issue of Guitar Magazine is out now! Even with the Rat pedal and higher gain, the humbucker rang clearly. Sexy Vela Incredible bang for the buck. Show More Deals. Continuing our journey through the guitar styles of the legendary Three Kings, this time it’s the turn of Flying V-toting blue icon Albert. The relative levels of the coil-tapped bridge and neck single-coil are also fairly balanced, enhancing the expressive range of the pickup set. The strings pass over two brass barrel saddles. Even when I rolled the tone control back to a point that would sound like mud on other guitars, the Type-D remained nuanced, clear, and fantastically touch-sensitive. Modern Reliability. PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo: The PG Review, 3. The Vela’s sleek contours are player-friendly. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} PRS S2 Standard 24 Satin. 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The Vela arrives with similar styling cues to the latter pair, but has the distinction of being the first S2 design not to have appeared previously elsewhere in the company’s catalogue. We provide insight and opinion about gear, artists, technique and the guitar industry for all genres and skill levels. While the bridge humbucker mode covers several decades of rock ’n’ roll raunch, from. S2 locking machineheads If the birds are too flash for you, save yourself the cost of a decent stompbox and go for the dot neck version; it might just become a cult classic. Clean chords are sumptuous, too: chimey and present, inflicting nowhere near as much of the ear fatigue that a traditional bridge humbucker can induce in this context. Five years on from the King Of The Blues’ death in 2015, aged 89, a new movie featuring Wendell Pierce as BB is in the works. The Vela was my first S2 PRS. We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices . The most dangerous time of year for your wallets is here. It's a collaboration with keyboard player David Garfield. Impeccably built. The Vela – also the Latin word for a ship’s sails, the Spanish word for wakefulness and the name of a constellation in the southern sky – is the latest addition to the S2 family. A new design for a new demographic it may be, but of course the Vela still owes plenty to the company’s richly innovative history.