PRS SE Mark Tremonti - Charcoal Burst Review

Black Beauty

I received the SE Tremonti Charcoal Burst last weekend. Awesome fast delivery with outstanding support from John Tonello's team. They always aim for the best in customer service. Sweetwater does it right. I have three SE models, silver sky, custom 24, and now the Tremonti. They all have their own unique tones and all are a joy to play. The thin veneer maple top has nothing on… read more the core models of course. I thought it may have been printed which would have been a bummer. After watching the SE Factory tour on you tube and perusing the PRS forums, It was confirmed. Not printed! Don't waste your OCD energy like I did comparing the later model Tremonti SE Standard and the Tremonti SE charcoal burst. They are the same guitar except for the veneer top. No matter. The guitar was set up perfect for my playability. Flawless fret work, fit & finish. it plays and sounds great. Peace!

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Great guitar!

What can I say it's a PRS. I've always been a huge fan of PRS and the Tremonti signature series and this one performs with the best of them! Comfortable to play, pick ups are great and just a great guitar overall.

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Greatest Whammy Bridge for the Money!

I play experimental rock and blues on my computer at home, and if I'm playing through an amp, it's a Marshall Valvestate on clean with various pedals. I don't get into Creed much, but I respect their success, and I always wanted a PRS Single-Cut. I learned about this guitar watching Agufish on YouTube, and I had to have it afterwards. The playability: Tuners are solid and give… read more no nonsense. It stays in tune very well, considering it's a trem bridge. The whammy bar is simply the best feature. You can dive bomb notes and whip them right up like it's a Floyd Rose. I love putting a reverb/delay on my sound and going to outer-space with this guitar. The Sound: the dual humbuckers are what I expected from a lower level PRS. Not super hot or responsive, but still full of character. The neck pickup is my sweet spot, usually. If you want to play Slayer/Metallica/Djent, you'll have to swap out the bridge Humbucker, but these do the job for me. Construction: impeccable. This guitar is gorgeous. Very stable neck and smooth feel. Great upper access to the high frets. It's an eye-catcher for sure. I own several guitars, and this one is my top pick for recording rock/indie/soul/blues. This is just a great, versatile instrument. I recommend it if you're in the market for a whammy. I swapped out my pickups for PRS S-2 humbuckers and installed Mad Hatter wiring system. There was nothing wrong with the electronics before. I'm just a nerd.

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Basically almost perfect,

So I'm slightly biased in that I"m a fan of PRS (my SE baritone helped decide this purchase) and I'm a fan of Mark Tremonti and everything he does, I'm also a fan of single cut guitars in general and this only adds to a large collection, I'm also a huge fan of dark monochromatic colors and dyes, like this charcoal burst on this so this should be everything i want in a guitar, and… read more spoiler, it basically, this guitar sets it self apart from most Single cuts in that it uses a 25 in scale instead of a 24.75 on most or the 24.5 on the other PRS SE 245) this is actually a bigger deal than one might think especially if you tune lower than a half step, A typical 24.75 scale has the classic G string intonation issues at the lower frets and is usually solved by tuning the string slightly flat to compensate for the overly sharp notes on the first few frets, there's other ways around this like compensated nuts but back to the PRS Tremonti, The 25 in scale on this particular guitar (and the straight black Tremonti model) solve that tuning issue and there's no need for weird tuning tricks for chords to sound good in specific areas of the neck,Speaking of chords, This guitar plays like butter, I have mine set up for Drop C tuning, with a set of 10-54 skinny top beefy bottoms from Ernie Ball and its perfect, It includes a truss rod wrench (don't lose it cause the truss rod is not your standard Allen/hex wrench affair, it's more like a drum key in it's approach, and it comes with a small allen/hex wrench for adjusting the saddle height for the bridge, which is great cause if you put this into a different tuning other than standard or drop D you will need to have it set up, (that applies to any guitar really, but more so with floating trems)the trem bar slides into place and can be tightened down (with the small Hex wrench) to not move at all or anywhere in between and it won't fall out, it actually sits in the hole via friction and won't fall out even if you leave it loose. The tuners are smooth and keep the guitar in tune in most situations aside from extreme trem movements,The pickups sound great and are punchy and suited for high gain metal stuff and cleans up pretty well for sparkly cleans,the controls are smooth and do what they should, and have just enough resistance to not be accidentally moved if that's not your intent, the fit and finish is also top notch the flame top on mine is absolutely stunning in my eyes for the price and the natural reveal binding is a classy touch. there are no imperfection in the clear coat and feels like a top end guitar, the gig bag that it comes with is also great and is nice and thick to protect the guitar and plenty of pouch room for your usual stuff, So I said almost perfect, I gave it 5 stars cause it's perfect for all the important reasons, but a couple things i would change would be, the cavity covers sit on top of the body instead of recessed into it like most guitars, which i think... should be recessed, I would also would have liked to see locking tuners for a metal centric guitar with a trem, but again the tuners aren't bad by any means. and locking tuners don't tend to be common in this price range anyway. I also don't understand why PRS uses the different truss rod than the usual HEX key style, it's not a real issue, but something i would change if i could just so i can have one tool instead of the provided key. So who is this for, If you are aware of the limitations of a floating trem are then there is no reason not to get this guitar it's almost perfect, and again is perfect in all the ways that really matter, you will not be disappointed in the slightest in its looks playability/feel or sound. However,If you are a beginner and haven't figured out what tunings you like and or into the learning a variety of songs with different tunings and this would be your only guitar, i would avoid this one due to the floating trem, it's not hard to set it up, but it would be tedious adjusting for different tunings and making sure the bridge is sitting where it should to play properly all the time while changing tunings, find a fixed bridge guitar that is more accommodating to quick fast changes in tunings. and doesn't have the inherent quirks of a guitar with a floating trem, All in all, this is easily becoming on of my favorite guitars, and is definitely not going to be my last PRS. James Lorann is an absolute boss and is super quick to get back to me and was somehow able to give me a great deal on this monster of a guitar. and as usual I'm more than happy with my purchase from Sweetwater and will be back sooner than my wallet would probably like.

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Awesome guitars

I have this same guitar in gray and black. Looks very similar to the charcoal burst. This is an absolute beauty! Prs. Has done an amazing job with the fit and finish on this guitar! Absolutely flawless and plays better than it looks! I read a ton of reviews, as well watched dozens on the internet about this guitar before deciding to pull the trigger. No regrets on this one.

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