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PRS Soapbar SE II
Summary: Made in Korea? Who the hell cares! Workmanship is incredible, the paint job is impeccable, and with the two P-90’s, this dog’s got bite! But roll off the volume, and it becomes a sweet, cuddly puppy. Pros: Real simple controls: Two knobs and a 3-position pickup toggle. Very versatile tones from nice, almost chimey cleans to bright, crunchy breakup. Cons: Not a whole lot of sustain, but that’s to be expected Price: $250-$500 Street depending on condition |
What better way to chill at the end of a busy work week than to come home, strap on a guitar and let your fingers do the walking. Even better to have a great guitar to play with, as I certainly just did with the PRS SE Soapbar II! My good buddy, Phil, from a local cover band, Phil ‘N The Blanks lent me his SE Soapbar II today to try and perhaps buy. He told me I wouldn’t be disappointed. Aw shucks! Looks like I’m soon gonna be adding to my collection! Ne’er to worry, the sound this guitar produces will more than make up for the money I’ll be shelling out. Let’s get into the details, shall we?
Fit and Finish
First of all, this is one gorgeous guitar! The one I played has a translucent teal finish that beautifully fades into a glossy black lacquer trim; and as a dedicated San Jose Sharks fan, what better than to have a guitar that’s the color of my favorite hockey team!!! The neck is also finished in glossy black lacquer. Very nice. Phil has taken great care of this guitar. There were no scratches on it whatsoever!
As far as the build quality is concerned, I couldn’t see any obvious joints or imperfections on the body. This is one well-made guitar!
The body is solid mahogany with a flame maple top, whose grain is visible through the translucent finish. It’s stunningly gorgeous. The neck is a solid mahogany set neck with a rosewood fretboard. That alone attracts me to the guitar, as I just love a rosewood fretboard and the warmth it adds to your tone.
Playability
When I read other reviews of the SE, I was a little dubious, as most people talked about the wide, C-shaped neck. I have relatively short fingers, so neck diameter is a real important to me. All I can say is that the neck on this guitar is just how I like it. It’s wider than my Strat’s neck, but despite that, it’s just a dream in my hands. The semi-flush heel also allows someone like me with short fingers to comfortably reach notes above the 18th fret with ease.
Phil had the action set on this SE a bit higher than how I usually like it, but despite that minor nit that can be easily remedied, the neck is fast, and the frets are perfectly finished – not too deep and not too shallow, so you can bend and easily articulate nice vibrato without going out of key.
One thing I really like about this guitar was the simple controls: Two knobs and a 3-way toggle. The volume knob is perfectly positioned for rolling up or down volume with your pinky – very convenient. From a playability standpoint, PRS truly made this guitar with a gigging guitarist in mind. Everything it about how you play this guitar speaks of convenience and playability with minimal fuss.
The SE also sports a bit shorter scale length than the Strat – 25″ vs 25 1/2″ – it doesn’t seem like much, but the shorter scale length does help in getting around the neck.
How It Sounds
To test how the SE sounds, I plugged it into my trusty 5 Watt Champ, which I’ve found is a great way to test out guitars as all it has is a volume knob. Tone and sustain all have to come from the guitar when plugged into this amp, and from that perspective, the SE simply shines. It’s truly the first guitar I’ve played in a long time that is SUPER-responsive to volume rolls. With any pickup you can go from clean to dirty simply by rolling the volume knob. The neck pickup produces a nice, hollow clean tone, reminiscent of using the bridge and center pickups on a Strat; but unlike the Strat there’s no ringing. The tone is deep and smooth. Rolling up the volume produces just a tiny bit of grit, that you can increase significantly by attacking the strings more. In fact, in all three settings the guitar responds incredibly well to pick attack. You gotta love it.
My favorite pickup setting was with both pickups engaged. In this position, the tonal quality became a lot more complex, with a noticeable midrange boost (something I prefer), and just as with the neck pickup,
the responsiveness to pick attack was still present – probably even more so in this position.
With the bridge pickup selected, you get that classic P-90 tight, bright honk. I’ve traditionally not been a bridge pickup kind of guy as the highs on most guitars are just too over the top for me. But with the SE, I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case. Yes, the treble boost was there, but it was quite pleasing to me!
Summing It Up
I saw a video on YouTube with PRS himself with Mike Ault demonstrating the SE, and PRS said the mission of the SE was to be the best value guitar on the market. Frankly, I don’t know how true this is in reality, but I’m willing to bet that that’s not a very far-fetched statement. For the money, you get what amounts to a tone chameleon! You want blues? You got it? Wanna do some classic rock? No prob. High gain? Got it covered. I will warn that this guitar may not appeal to thrash metal guys, but hey! You never know.
So the verdict? I’m going to have to explain to my wife why I need another guitar… 🙂
ROCK ON!!!
Guitar Gear 
Hey! I just got one of these for $350 with the tobacco sunburst finish. It’s great! The frets feel nice and the soapbar pickups are impressive. I used to own one of the similarly priced mexican Fender Fat Strats and was really disappointed with it. I ended up selling it to Guitar Center and getting this thing. Pretty sweet deal!
I just lowered the action on my SE and it plays like a friggin’ dream in addition to sounding incredible. I also have a MIM Strat that I just love – I got real lucky with that one. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
I just bought a PRS semi hollowbody with a natural finish and the soapbar pickups. The tone and playability are incredible and the quality of the guitar is fantastic. One thing I did change was the tuners, went with Spertzel locking tuners and it solved the problem of slipping. Other than that, all I have gotten are compliments about this guitar!
That sounds like an incredible guitar, Dave! Congrats!
I have no problem with the tuners at all set it up and I can play for days without losing tone or key. Best tuners I ever had on a sob $500 guitar
I just bought an SE soapbox II and not knowing anything about electric guitars, because I play classical and just do the old chord thing on a steel string, I went for sound and prettiness (typical girl I guess). But I’m very happy with it and love the versatility- I’ve got a long way to go with regard to learning how to play and handle it but I am looking forward to the challenge and what a nice instrument to muse over.
Good for you Claire! The SE Soapbar II is a great instrument. It’s so very light and playable. Congrats!
hello Claire,
do y speak french ? I am –
I have also interest for buying this guitar ; how are you today with playing ? Thanks for your answer РHave a nice day ! Fran̤oise
(Metz France)
i am really dreaming of this guitar i hope one of this days i can buy one. i used to have epiphone guitar but i sold it already but when i checked the soapbar 11 it is almost the same guitar that i had before… amazing guitar!
I just picked up one of these on Ebay for $300.00. After reading these reviews I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Bluesy rock country twang heaven here I come.
Can some one please tell me what kind of p90 does the guitar has?
I bought this stunning looking guitar for $350.00 on ebay about 9 months ago, “Tiger”, because of the maple overlay, is tobacco sunburst with cream colored soapbars. If you are not familiar with P-90 pickups, they are single coil, so you will get some minor humming in the bridge and neck positions. The middle position is hum canceling, quiet as a mouse. The trade off is the P-90s put out a growling, aggressive tone that cuts through the rest of the band when you need it to. They really snarl, and have a piercing clarity that doublecoils/humbuckers don’t. P-90s also have a meatier tone, with more bottom end, than Strat single coils, and higher output signal, yet they have more high end than humbuckers, allowing you to cut through when you want to play lead.. Really cool vintage sound! The neck even has moon inlays! This solid body guitar is one of the lightest guitars I have ever played. It will not weigh you down like a Les Paul does, yet retains more sustain than any strat single coil.
I confirm, it’s a great guitar.
Nowadays PRS doesn’t produce it anymore, so if you find one, pick it up quickly!
I bought my soapbar about 4 years ago, and still love it. I have the vintage cherry model. The compliments on the sound and apperance never stop. I use a Fender Blues Jr amp. I play in a christian rock band, and get asked by other guitar players for permission to play mine. All want to keep it. I did not know PRS discontinued the SE.
I’ve just got one of these (used of course) in three tone flame maple sunburst. Absolutely one of the best playing and sounding guitars I’ve ever had. I’d previously had a try out on one of the top of range PRS’s whilst checking out a Blackstar HT-1R (another great amp BTW) and hated the feel of it, but this is a totally different beast altogether. Id you see one, at a reasonable price, do yourself a favour and buy it. It really is that good!
I took mine out the other day after it sat in it’s case for several months. I forgot how great those P90s sound!!! It really is a nice guitar.
These are getting harder to find on ebay for $300…ihave seen the cost go up every month..I see some for $400 now and don’t expect to find a really good one for under $350..and they keep going up as there are less and less available…beware the broken neck fixed ones!
I HAVE THE CHERRY RED SOAPBAR AND IT’S 3 YEARS OLD NOW,
BUT STILL PLAYS GREAT….NEW SET OF STRINGS ONCE IN A WHILE…
AND THAT’S IT….OH, AND WHOMEVER SAID THE SUSTAIN IS A LITTLE WEAK, FORGET ABOUT, YOU FIND THE RIGHT SETTINGS ON YOUR AMP, AND THE SUSTAIN IS AS GOOS AS IT GETS…..GREAT, GREAT VALUE….
OH I FORGOT, I’M LOOKING FOR A PRS SE ABRAXIS GUITAR….THE WHITE ONE WITH THE ABRAXIS ARTWORK ON IT….I CAN’T FIND ANY FOR SALE….
PLEASE HELP ME….
(Electronics) Worked flawlessly with Calibre with all file types and has wokerd flawlessly as a reader. The E Ink Pearl screen is excellent.So far I am very happy with this purchase.
Yikes. There’s some bad dancing in that video!