PRS DGT SE - Is this a PRO Guitar? My Verdict After Gigging It

Great playing! I’m a Helix user and a recent PRS user as well.

I've had a PRS SE custom 24 (my first ever guitar) and a core custom 22 before, and I liked them, but not enough to keep them. They somehow still draw me in, but the next one would have to be a hard tail bridge.

I wish the DGT had a hard tail, since I like its other spec choices. I prefer jumbo size frets, at least tall enough to not feel the fretboard on my fingertips.

What distortion and amp are you playing through….so f’ing good. I’ve ordered this guitar and I’m awaiting its arrival.

Are you considering rewiring the volume's so one volume controls both?

I have a 2011DGT bought new, and am intrigued by this new rendition. probably won't get one but seems like it's not for you because ergonomics? Good review though, sort of.....

Is there a TrueFire (or any other course) that can teach me how to play stylistically as you do in this video intro.

Yes!! I have the gold top DGT SE and absolutely love this guitar. It is now my main gigging guitar.

Nice playing, great review. I would have to move those controls around, maybe try to wire it different for a master volume and two tone pots and move the switch to a more usable position. Master volume on top switch in the lower pot below it and the two tones in the back two spots. I love the tone pallet and will have to get one in my hands.

Have you tried the PRS S2 McCarty Thin line? I would love to know your thoughts on that one!

The controls are the same as the ESP Eclipse models

I couldn't decide whether to get this guitar or the se McCarty..so I picked one of the new color se silver sky's, lol. Funny how the mind works. I might come back to these but I was missing a strat style and find that I'm very happy with my choice!! The new maple board feels great in hand.

If its too easy to play put heavier gauge strings on it. Its not the guitar its you.

🦋

I just wish they had made the neck a fraction wider, like their other models. I can't do smaller neck widths. Just imo.

That neck pickup has always been dark on the core model as well I think. Had a DGT Standard and now a maple capped version, rolling back volume helps, but I will probably put in something like Lollar Imperial Low Wind as I had on my Standard.

Can not decide between gold mit moons or Tobacco with birds 🤔

David Grissom says he stays with the bridge pickup 95% of the time when playing live. I'm not surprised to hear that the neck pickup is a little muddy.

Do you find that volume control swells are as easy as say with a strat?

The bridge volume control being first is strange for me too, I looked inside the control cavity, the leads are plenty long so it should be very easy to just swap the neck and bridge volume pots so that neck volume is first.
I use a Line6 HXFX, when I do the split coil mode I just turn on a boost and it levels the volume out nicely, a compressor could work too.
I like that the DGT SE feels different than a Strat or Tele, and you're right it's SO easy to play. But I like it, you could always go up in string gauge or adjust the action if you think it's too easy to play.
I've gotten a lot of compliments on the tone with the DGT SE. I think it's a keeper. I intend to change the knobs and maybe add some locking tuners, and swap the volume pot positions, other than that I don't think it needs anything.

You should be composing your own music with those dreamy leads and playing Royal Albert Hall. My eyes are closed and I'm smiling. Thanks for that.

Its only a non-pro guitar to snobs with one thumb up their nose and the other one up somewhere else

I'm a weirdo. That control layout would be my preference (apart from the fact I'd never own any guitar with disgusting bird inlays, hooray for one of the DGT SE's just having dots). Having the volume knob of bridge closer makes sense for volume swells. Some teles are modded to be set up like this so switch is at back, then tone, then volume closest to you. Switch placement is good but I reverse it on my DIY builds so that forward is bridge, neck is back.

I have fralin unbuckers in my prs semi se, lovely split tones without the drop in volume. Also a bit brighter in the neck.

It's easy to play only because of its tall frets and good setup right? How is that different from a good setup and tall frets on any other guitar?

Dear John, love your playing and have been following and learning from your channel a LOT, I wonder if you know the band Tatran and his guitarist Tamuz Dekel, he uses the L6 Helix among other pedals in a VERY unique and creative way, he has a feature video in the Line6 Movies channel here in YT, I would love to know your opinion on his sound and style, and maybe even do some presets like those😅

I have a core DGT. I had to swap the volumes. I couldn't get used to it. And it was causing problems on gigs.

I would love to gig one and share my opinion of it, but i probably will never get my hands on one. I ordered one in January, it's still on backorder. Originally they indicated it would be here by June, now they're saying December.

I feel this is a generalized SE problem. I feel the same with temp changes, most my guitars stay the same, the SE. falls out of whack a bit.

I find the neck pickup feels like it gets a bit brighter with volume rolled back slightly thanks to to treble bleed.. might just be my ears though. I love mine!

Great axes. Your tone and playing are fantastic as always. The trem was the dealbreaker for me. Enjoy your guitar!

You can take the plastic off of the pickups now. It's like leaving the plastic wrap on a lamp shade.

Yeah… the PRS is the perfect guitar for gigging….if it’s trashed or stolen….no big loss….

I have had it for a week of teaching and one gig so far...love it! I find keeping the pickup selector in the middle and using the two volume knobs to control which pickup i want to shine through to be the easiest way. Back off on the bridge a bit if I want a neck sound and vise versa if i want more bridge. It also kept the neck from being too dark.

When I was playing in college, I frequently moved the selector switch on my PRS with one of the tone knobs. Just a matter of soldering a longer wire.

If you refuse to take off the protection foil off the pickups (and your other stuff), I'm sorry but I have to unsubscribe from this channel! Dude! ... just kidding, but it triggers me every time :D

I really want to put my hands on one of these. I have an S2 Custom 24 that’s great, one of my keepers, & I’ve always wanted a DGT but 3k is my limit when it comes to guitars. My experience with SE’s has been mixed. By all accounts the DGT SE’s seem to be universally loved though, so I’m hopeful. Just can’t find anyone locally that has one in stock.

Can confirm- totally a gigging guitar. I’ve gigged mine a handful of times and it’s solid. Covers a lot of territory.

Not sure why... but I can't get your code to show me a $99 price. It takes 100 off of the full price of $250.

If you want to fight the guitar put some 11’s on it . That’s a Josh smith th8ng he chooses to do

The split coil sound doesn't appear all that convincing. I heard a significant volume drop when you split/unsplit the coils. Can this guitar produce a good single coil tone?

I don't like if the action is too low on my guitars, as a certain amount of string resistance is necessary to deliver a wide variety of tones. I've recently gone to a single bridge humbucker pickup configuration on my Strat, as I got tired of mousing around the controls instead of focusing on playing. So far, I'm finding it easier to just simply have my preferred sounds set up in my HX Stomp, and press one button to get them. Then I do small tweaks with the single volume and tone knobs.

I put a deposit down for a dgt in B'ham ... i tested it and i got me 10% back ... now the pick ups are awesome and the gold finish was outstanding ... sadly the rosewood fretboard didn't agree with me ...
I'm an ebony fretboard person or maple/ roasted ... the profile was cool ... i think for a grand i can see when corners had been cut ...
That rosewood is porous and my fingers never glided well ...
Prs are cheeky to expect a grand for it ...
I'm sorry i was disappointed as i waited 5 months to try one ...Sire blow all these se's brutally pound for pound ... i got an s7 b stock from andertons for 370 pounds instead of 560 ish ... weell what can i say ... prs are clever ... maybe i tried a dodgy one but that rosewood was dry and i cannot justify the pricing point ...
I'm glad some people get away fine with rosewood ...

Are you not using your Revstar any longer? How do the two compare? Which would you grab if you could use only one?

I ordered one last week - based largely off of your videos. It'll be here Wednesday. I ended up with the Goldtop. I love the tobacco burst, but I hate bookmatched tops. The seam running through the guitar is like nails-on-a-chalkboard to my eyes. Imagine Michelangelo's David - or DaVinci's Mona Lisa with a vertical line running through them. Given that it's an industry standard, I'm probably the only lunatic that's bothered by this. Lol. The more I hear you talk about this guitar, the more excited I am to get my hands on it. Excellent playing as always, sir.

I bought my core DGT used, and the previous owner flipped the volume pots. However I really like the bridge PU and would prefer the stock setup. Can’t win, can ya?

How well does the guitar sound when the humbuckers are split? Is there a large volume drop like on those guitars that split their pickups? The Core model when splitting the pickups sound so darn good and not really a volume drop.

Got mine this week and I am stunned at how good this is. I have other SE guitars, some S2 guitars and a couple of core guitars. This SE stands up to the other SE guitars and the S2 guitars extremely well and while it’s not on par with the cores, it’s close enough to completely impress!

aku selalu kagum dengan permainanmu dan pemilihan nada. aku juga belajar banyak tentang legato darimu . Terimakasih banyak. dan aku rasa PRS ini akan menjadi list target ku.. hahaha

Hey man, I’ve been playing one of these and if you haven’t tried playing it with 11s yet, do it right away. I had the same exact feeling that you did when I was playing gigs like it was too easy. I put 11s on it, set up to match the gauge, and wow. Give it a shot if you haven’t already!