The offset PRS S2 Vela is one of the company’s most intriguing recent electric guitar designs – indeed, that’s why Guitar World bestowed it with our Platinum Award.
So we were thrilled to have guitarist and instructor Steve Stine sit down with a Vela in Antique White and run through the versatile and extremely playable model's range of clean and dirty tones.
Stine begins by introducing us to the many tonal possibilities of the S2 Vela via a supremely funky original instrumental. As for the guitar itself, he points out that the Vela, as part of PRS’ S2 line, features a one-piece mahogany body, which is paired with a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard.
Other features include PRS locking tuners and a special PRS plate style top-loading bridge with two brass saddles which, Stine says, “is specifically designed to produce better sustain and perfect intonation.”
Tone-wise, the S2 Vela sports a PRS designed DS-01 humbucker at the bridge, with a coil tap built into the tone control that splits it into a single coil. There’s also a Type-D single-coil at the neck which, Stine says, “has a vintage-style kind of punchy tone." The guitar, he continues, "sounds great when you plug it in – it doesn’t matter whether it’s into a pedalboard or directly into the amp itself.”
Stine then takes us through the myriad tones offered by the two pickups, the three-way selector switch and the coil tap. He explores various combinations using clean, crunch and heavily-overdriven sounds.
“So there’s lots of different varieties of tones that you can get out of this guitar, which is really a lot of fun,” Stine says of the S2 Vela. “And it looks great, sounds great, feels great. It’s worth checking out.”
For more information on the S2 Vela, head to PRS Guitars (opens in new tab).
