PRS SE Swamp Ash Special Electric Guitar - Vintage Sunburst Reviews
The PRS SE Swamp Ash Special represents an exquisite collision between value and versatility! PRS builds a small run of Swamp Ash Special electric guitars every few years, which makes them a fun find for collectors as well as a chance for players to explore sounds that won’t apologize for being adventurous. The SE Swamp Ash Special combines the hearty, soulful character of a swamp ash body with the tonal range of three pickups (two 85/15 “S” humbuckers and one single-coil AS-01) and the heightened expressive power of a PRS Patented tremolo. An unembellished maple neck makes playing the Swamp Ash Special a visceral thrill. The “Wide Thin” neck carve keeps your fretwork silky-smooth, and, on top of being comfortable, the maple fingerboard gives your initial note attack an extra dash of bright, peppery zing. Between classic tonewoods and ample pickup options, guitarists at Sweetwater find the Swamp Ash Special is ready for countless genres — jazz, blues, hard rock, heavy metal, pop, and more. How does PRS do it? Find out with a SE Swamp Ash Special electric guitar of your own while supplies last!
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Highest Rated Reviews
Swamp Ash Special SE
Great guitar. Very playable. Came out of the box with a near perfect setup. Action was actually a little low for me but I made the adjustment in 5 minutes and played it out of the box for 2 hours. sounds great thru my Roland JC40 and it also looks fantastic. Very happy with this guitar and I recommend it to all.
Swamp Ash Special SE
Great guitar. Very playable. Came out of the box with a near perfect setup. Action was actually a little low for me but I made the adjustment in 5 minutes and played it out of the box for 2 hours. sounds great thru my Roland JC40 and it also looks fantastic. Very happy with this guitar and I recommend it to all.
Swamp Ash Special SE
Great guitar. Very playable. Came out of the box with a near perfect setup. Action was actually a little low for me but I made the adjustment in 5 minutes and played it out of the box for 2 hours. sounds great thru my Roland JC40 and it also looks fantastic. Very happy with this guitar and I recommend it to all.
PRS Swamp Ash Special
I ordered this back in Noverber. I knew it was back ordered at the time. I've been a little impatient, but it finally arrived in early March. Well worth the wait. Not only is it stunning, but plays like a dream. Love the tones I get with this. I'm sure I'll have many years of joy playing this bad boy. If you're on the fence...just buy it!
Having bought several guitars through Sweetwater, I've never been disappointed. There are much closer music stores to me ( I live in Oregon USA ), so it takes a little longer to get here, but I'm pretty dedicated to Sweetwater. As usual my sales engineer Nich Magnani was top notch, keeping updated and in the loop.
My New Love
What a Beauty.
I have 21 other high-quality guitars, and this has become my favorite in the first 24 hours in my stable.
Best sustain I have ever heard.
PRS thought of everything with this moderately priced guitar.
Great versatile tones and very playable neck.
Beautiful finish (Swamp Ash Sunburst)
So well packaged for delivery (Best I have eve3r seen)
Zero Drawbacks!!!!
Thanks, PRS and Sweetwater. Fantastic Duo
My First PRS Guitar
As usual Sweetwater did it again!!!
Excellent package and excellent setup!!!
That's why I get all my guitars from Sweetwater!
Thanks again Nate helping me get this deal…
I received it in 3 days and excellent packaging and delivery time… Nate the Man for your orders from
Sweetwater
Thanks to Sweetwater and have wonderful holidays.
Thanks!
Tommy Standridge
Simply Beautiful!
Spoiler alert: I'm a PRS fan... I own core and artist series PRS guitars, but nothing in swamp ash... until now of course.
With that said, one might assume I would be biased in my review. But having played, recorded, gigged, and taught guitar for 40+ years, I've had the honor of owning/strumming some of the most amazing (and no so amazing) instruments--from Harmony to custom-shop. If you're still curious, onward to my review:
Appearance: As stated, simply beautiful guitar! Far better than the price point might indicate.
Construction: Ash body is very sturdy and takes well to stain. Body/neck joint is solid. Bridge through neck/headstock are lined up perfectly. Knobs and switch are tight and tremelo system works very well -- holds tune! Tuners are awesome as well. I might switch out to locking tuners, but that's just a personal preference. No issues there.
Pickups: I've played 85/15 core and now 85/15-S pickups. There is a difference, but not bad or cheap, just different. I enjoyed the sound, which offers a good amount of punch, combined with crispness. I'm pleasantly surprised! The switching configuration offers awesome tonal possibilities.
Playability: Ok, I'm used to a thin/tapered neck. Though this neck is a bit chunkier, I had no issues whatsoever with how it played. It performed like a higher-quality maple neck, and the satin finish is something I've come to appreciate. Personally, I wish PRS would do more of them on their core line.
Frets: All I can say is that PRS does fret work right! No issues at all.
Overall: I didn't get much into specs because they're all available for you on Sweetwater's website. This guitar is a winner in my opinion, and worth more than the asking price. Great looking and sounding guitar, with the quality one would expect from the PRS brand.
Purchase advice: Go ahead and spend a little extra for a case. This guitar's appearance is worth preserving, and you'll feel better about it too. Don't fear your purchase.... Between Sweetwater's customer service and PRS quality, you'll be very happy!
Love it!
First I wanted to thank my Sweetwater sales engineer Roger Arroyo for helping me with all the details. It's not my first guitar, but it's the one I now play all the time. The neck is surprisingly fast due to an almost sanded quality to it that makes even my sweaty hands not stick. It's surprisingly came with the action set quite well, and not requiring any major adjustments. I know they charge for a setup of $, but that would be half the price of the guitars I got it on sale.
It has a really good weight, lighter than my Les Pauls, and that makes a huge difference on my shoulders with a 3-in strap. It just seems to want to be played. Can't say that about just any guitar.
While the photography in the light booth that Sweetwater uses is quite good at bringing out the colors, no camera can match what you see in real life.
Wow. Seriously. Wow.
I've been a full time pro for the last 30 years. By fat this is the best bang for the buck solidbody I've ever played. Among my other guitars I've got a 93 CU 24 and a 2018 408. Som I'm a bit of a PRS fanboi. This is my first SE. I've never been interested in em cuz the early SE's were good but not great. But these are stellar. PRS neck and bridge tones are there….clear clean neck pup and fat thick bridge…and then there's the spank. Lift the push/pull and there are 3 flavors of glorious in between Strat spank. Dang. In HB mode, the middle position is very similar to a middle position on a tele. After me tweaking set up to my likes, this plays like the best guitars in my arsenal. Frets were finished perfectly. Attention to detail and the fit and finish are dead on. At $ before the end of the year, I'm considering getting a DGT! These new SE's are seriously golden age guitars. Phenominal!
Love this Guitar
I received this guitar yesterday, Something about the pickup combinations and the Swamp Ash combined with the Maple fingerboard that just makes me love this guitar. The is guitar has a lot of tones and to me, very organic tones which is something I enjoy. The Swamp Ash body and grain in just beautiful and glossy, the neck has a great feel and has a satin feel for smooth movement. It was on sale and I have zero regrets pulling the trigger on this guitar.
Unreal value
Wanted a prs swamp ash for years. Thrilled that this is even a possibility. Plays great out of the box with no setup. Tones are Snappy! Have owned about a dozen SE's starting with a Santana SE around '05, and the quality just gets better all the time. The notes just jump off the neck with a clean tone and a bit of compression.
New SD swampash
What a great buy at a unreal price.can't find any issues,came set up ready to play.thinking about buying a iris blue one before the price goes back up!
Exceeded my expectations!
Just took delivery on a PRS SE Swamp as special and I am very impressed. Build quality is excellent. I went over this thing and could not find one manufacturing flaw. Easily on par with PRS S2 quality. Setup was perfect right out of the box. Play's great.
Very versatile tone wise with all the pickup combinations.
Gigged with it last night and was able to cover all the tunes we do with this one guitar. I normally switch between a telecaster and a PRS McCarty. The Swamp ash special was all I needed. It has great snap to the tone and I could chicken pick, play slide and rock out with this one guitar. I actually prefer this over the DGT. But I realize that is a personal preference.
Highly recommended!
Astoundingly well crafted
When these SE models were announced I was interested right away because I wanted a US Swamp Ash Special way back when they were originally introduced but being a young player at the time they were out of my price range. Having another SE I knew the quality would be good. When PRS dropped the price on these by 20% right after launch as a promo, I jumped on it. I am blown away by the workmanship. It is easily on par with guitars I own that cost 3 to 4 times as much. Not one flaw can be found regarding fit and finish. The feel is solid and the neck feels great with its satin finish and maple fret board. The guitar has a good heft to it. It is not a feather weight. I will upgrade some hardware (locking tuners and strap locks) but it was good to go right out of the box; just tuned it up and played for a few hours. I can't stress enough what a great guitar this is at this price point, especially with the 20% promo. Even without the promotional sale it is well worth the standard msrp/ street price.
Love this Guitar
Shipping was great and the package was excelent protection. Thank Again "Sweetwater"
Minor QC Issues - But Overall Just Fine
OK, so I'm mostly a Les Paul Guy, but I also have a PRS King Crimson and absolutely love it. What I did not have was an HSH or anything in glorious swamp ash, so I took the plunge here. Overall - it's very beautiful, albeit heavy like a non-weight-relieved Les Paul, and there's a very wide range of tones available. With the tone knob up, I think that positions two and three sound very acoustic-like, an unexpected surprise. The neck is on the thicker side, which I also have come to appreciate. I think the King Crimson has a better rock tone, but this one is much more versatile.
On the down side, the output jack was loose upon delivery. And there was an electrical noise, kind of static-y, when I moved the guitar while playing. As I'm very well-versed in guitar electronics, I removed the control cavity cover and moved a couple of wires around - not very scientific, I know, but that did the trick. I certainly wouldn't call this the best out-of-the-box wiring job I've ever seen, but it's all good now.
Quality control, it seems, remains an issue for many, many new guitars out there. The vendors need to do a better job and some, like Epiphone in particular, have indeed stepped up in recent years; the last couple I bought have been absolutely perfect. Returns are expensive for all involved, so, sure, while a setup or at least minor adjustments should always be expected, potentially major issues like the ones I note here must - absolutely must - be corrected before shipment.
Anyway - I love it now. And many ultimately long-lasting relationships, after all, are far from perfect at the start.
Not For Me
I purchased this as soon as they were released, my wife said it would be a Christmas present. It sat in the guest room for about 6 weeks before I could play it. The guitar plays wonderfully but the electronics left me cold. I found the bridge Humbucker ok but position 2/3 lacked clarity and in spit mode all 3 positions were of no use. Thankfully my guy TJ took care of me and returned it and I ordered a different guitar to replace it. I wish it would have worked becayit really is a great instrument.
Can’t believe it’s only 4 star
I'm going to begin by saying I really love the guitar overall. Sonically the choices are not only interesting I think they are a bit unique. As always, the build of the guitar is far above what is expected from an instrument in this price range and the intro sale price made it even better. The weight and balance are perfect for me as I sit and that's a necessity as I can no longer put weight on my neck. Besides, who minds looking like Skunk Baxter when they play. I see only one drawback and this is the reason I gave 4 stars rather than 5: the neck could be smoother and this is my first Wide Thin from PRS. My others are all Wide Fat. Though I prefer the wide fat for my poor old damaged wrist ( I'm 65 and wrist pain is an issue ) I imagine for a younger bodied play, the thinner neck would be wonderful. I just don't love the feel of this unfinished chunk of wood. If it was a satin finish or even a full finish in the rear of the neck, at least, I could use Finger Ease. But it slows me a tad because of the way it's made. I do suggest a hard case because this baby is a true work of art and you'll want to protect her. All in all I highly recommend the Swap Ash Special. I'd suggest you grab one before they are gone.
