Updated PRS S2 lineup

guitargeek62

PRS have done their annual updates to the S2 line, but two changes jumped out at me in particular:

• PRS Custom 24-08 model now ships with the US TCI pickups from the Paul's Guitar, these are bloody marvellous!!!! 
• PRS Vela now ships with a neck Narrowfield pickup

All models now have US-made pickups and electronics too, which is positive I guess? Personally I had nothing against the MIK ones, but this'll probably help sales a bit perhaps.

Boromedic

Dentists Rejoice!!! The NHS range now with US pickups, amazeballssssss!

TTBZ

Hmm.. for me the neck D-type pickup was kind of a selling point! It sounded like a really fat strat neck pickup to me. Still maybe this might help to push used prices for the old style models down!

Whitecat

TTBZ said:

Hmm.. for me the neck D-type pickup was kind of a selling point! It sounded like a really fat strat neck pickup to me. Still maybe this might help to push used prices for the old style models down!

This. To me the Vela is ruined. The NF3 clean tones are awful. 

Will be interesting to see how much this has jacked up the pricing too. 

Philly_Q

Boromedic said:

Dentists Rejoice!!! The NHS range now with US pickups, amazeballssssss!

Fuck off, he said with a friendly smile. 

StefB

Whitecat said:

Will be interesting to see how much this has jacked up the pricing too. 

That Custom 24-08 will be £2,499 if it's a penny :-(

dazzajl

Boromedic said:

Dentists Rejoice!!! The NHS range now with US pickups, amazeballssssss!

The S2 range is more like NHS filling with the paid upgrade to white. 

Funkfingers

What are these teeth of which you speak? 

More importantly, will the NF cut-out in the pickguard take a Firebird pickup?

Philly_Q

I'd looked at the 2024 S2 page but I must admit I didn't even notice the updates, just that there were no new models.

The upgraded pickups and electronics can't be a bad thing, although the existing ones were decent enough anyway.

One thing you didn't mention - all models now have bird inlays.  That'll piss a few people off...

guitarfishbay

Philly_Q said:

One thing you didn't mention - all models now have bird inlays.  That'll piss a few people off...

Not a deal breaker but I do like the look of dots with the standards 

KrisGee

Personally I'd rather see them drop that awful bevel which is the only thing I dislike about the S2 range. 

Philly_Q

Whitecat said:

TTBZ said:

Hmm.. for me the neck D-type pickup was kind of a selling point! It sounded like a really fat strat neck pickup to me. Still maybe this might help to push used prices for the old style models down!

This. To me the Vela is ruined. The NF3 clean tones are awful. 

Hadn't there been a previous pickup change anyway?  I don't know what the tonal differences were.

guitarfishbay

KrisGee said:

Personally I'd rather see them drop that awful bevel which is the only thing I dislike about the S2 range. 

Aesthetically I can understand that, but functionally it’s IMO nicer than the core bevel which I do find digs into your forearm a bit

pt22

So has PRS moved to a less contoured body (or may be better described and less figured and with harder angles?)  across the ranges, or are these models unchanged? 

Edit: I see it’s the S2 range that has this.

Philly_Q

KrisGee said:

Personally I'd rather see them drop that awful bevel which is the only thing I dislike about the S2 range. 

I very much disagree, but all opinions are valid.  It's much more comfortable than the core model top carve(s).

stonevibe

Yup, third pickup change for the Vela

RaymondLin

About time!

Also, goodbye getting these for under £1500 now.

Whitecat

RaymondLin said:

About time!

Also, goodbye getting these for under £1500 now.

2023 Velas were released at £1799 iirc. Doubt anyone actually paid that - discounting was pretty rife this past year. 

guitargeek62

TTBZ said:

Hmm.. for me the neck D-type pickup was kind of a selling point! It sounded like a really fat strat neck pickup to me. Still maybe this might help to push used prices for the old style models down!

Aye, though they'd already changed the D-type once before too - there's two versions out there already   *edit* @Philly_Q beat me to it


@Whitecat - YMMV, but that hasn't been my experience of the NF pickups at all - I found them to be very musical in the SAS and McCarty58 models, each to their own though!

Whitecat

guitargeek62 said:

TTBZ said:

Hmm.. for me the neck D-type pickup was kind of a selling point! It sounded like a really fat strat neck pickup to me. Still maybe this might help to push used prices for the old style models down!

Aye, though they'd already changed the D-type once before too - there's two versions out there already


@Whitecat - YMMV, but that hasn't been my experience of the NF pickups at all - I found them to be very musical in the SAS and McCarty58 models, each to their own though!

I owned an actual NF3 for a while. I thought it sounded great with drive but totally struggled to get a useable clean tone out of it in any position! 

Philly_Q

I've just noticed they've changed the wiring on the S2 Standard 22 and Standard 24.  It's now a 5-way switch instead of a 3-way plus push-pull, so the same as a Custom 24.