Can These "Humbuckers" Really Sound Like Single Coils? | 2024 PRS SE NF3 Review + Demo
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
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📚Description: PRS has launched a new SE model featuring 3 Narrowfield Humbuckers that are supposed to sound like single coils. I was skeptical, but gave it a shot. They are definitely a bit fatter sounding, but that is what they were going for - and no hum! Many times noiseless singlecoils lose that charming glassy and spanky tones, but I was quite impressed with these.
PRS send me this guitar in exchange for a video review.
0:00 - Unboxing PRS SE NF3
1:00 - First Impressions
2:03 - What Comes With It
2:25 - Inside Look / Specs
7:06 - Clean Tones
8:42 - Dirty Tones
10:02 - Final Thoughts
11:01 - Watch Next
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Indeed YES, SILKY. 👍
I’m always curious - what model is your tape measure? I’ve never seen one that lists scale length on the bottom.
All respect to Gibson but I really enjoy seeing you detail other guitars
Same it's boring when he reviews Gibson Les Paul's the same model just with a different color
Interesting to see how Trogly remarks about the two small tooling marks on an $800 PRS import. But when it's the whole bass side neck binding on a $5000 Gibson custom shop?
Yeah but by now everyone expects low quality control from Gibson and not from PRS. Unfortunately no one seems to want to be vocal enough to Gibson...
Cuzz he’s shillin
@@tinystar3010it’s “soul” 😂
These are some excellent mini-humbuckers. It’s a great category of pickup that people seem to overlook all the time, and treat as some kind of revolutionary sound every time they get rediscovered over the decades. The cleans sound like single-coil perfection, but when cranked up into distortion the trebles suddenly get tamed enough so they don’t slice your ears off.
i got a thing that can totally tame the trebles of those screechy single coils.
it's called a tone knob. put it at 4 and a half. sorted.
@@fistovuzi Okay, but these are also noiseless! (And yes, there are stacked pickups, but those aren’t true single-coils, either. Mini-humbuckers are one more option.)
@@erickleefeld4883 yeah i know. i was just busting your balls.
i am *very* intrigued by these pups, they are not quite mini humbuckers, there seems to be a little 'Tron mixed in. all packaged in what looks like p90 dimensions, they appear "longer".
visually, i am reminded somewhat, of a "Full'Tron".
it's profile seems to range from meaty mini-bucker to "holy crap, that sounds just like a single-coil".
but in the mix? it should be sitting in the sonic space that you'll find a p90.
an interesting pick-up.
Love my LP Deluxe! Always loved hearing them live, especially since the first time I saw Pete Townshend using them and peeling the paint off the walls with them running through 3 Hi-Watts turned to 11. The beginning of my permanent hearing loss. 😆
@@fistovuzi TBH, a passive tone knob doesn't just remove the hash, it also digs into the peak and reduces the bands that makes a SC snappy and punchy, IMHO.
I would buy it in just that configuration, looks like a good beater guitar to have on the couch
That Buried Alive clean riff 👀
I'm a PRS guy bout like trog here is a Gibson guy..I just love the feel and quality of them, I can go a year without playing one of mine and it'd still be in tune, in the case of course...I think in 20 years these will be as collectable as a Gibson but with a G string still in tune lol..pretty cool dude...
I wouldn't bet on it. The ones made by Mr PRS are already worth something. Random ones mass-produced made by random people aren't worth but the materials, labour and the price you put on the brand name. They might hold their value a little better in the future with prestige, but the modern day Gibson's will only hold their value at best, very few will become expensive cause there's 100,000's of them. The Les Pauls from 59 made "by hand" where they sold less than 650 and then famous musicians made them sought after and due to their rarity and desirability are worth $400,000+ the one from the 60s are like $7-30K, cause there's more of them. ones from the 70's are worth $2-7K obviously all ballpark random figures I pulled out of nowhere but you see what I mean.
Maybe in 2134 all the Les Pauls will have been smashed when music gets banned in 2058 and the lone surviving 2002 Les Paul Standard comes up, it might be worth $400,000 but being as people are taking real good care of this shit nowadays, humidity controlled rooms/ cases n that. People buying guitars as an investment for the future is a silly thing, unless it's a limited edition signature one where they actually do only make 125 or something.
The only way to actually make money is to have bought a while ago and sit on it til something like the pandemic happens and everyone in the world wants to play guitar again. They're not investments they're tools. Use them! (Obviously you do with the comment, this was more broadly for anyone reading)
@@ReprobateMind lol..a book...I'm not a collector I'm a player, and to me PRS is superior...but that's me...
Sounds basically like something between a Firebird and a Strat.
It's honestly super cool :)
Man this is a different guitar for prs, and I really like this pickups, here in Brasil there is a pickup brand that made mini hambuckers with ceramic magnets, but not like that, it is more used for the middle position in hsh guitars. The brand is called Sergio Rosar
I see you with that Sevenfold clean sound!
BTW - PRS did release a guitar with the NF3 pickups a few years ago (2011 through 2015)...it was in their Core line. It was just called the NF3 and it was more pricey. Of course, they also had the recent Myles Kennedy signature that had the Narrow Field MK pickups.
Thanks for the demo of the pickups, I took the time just to listen.
I absolutely need that orange one 😍
I dont think the neck plate is plastic, just coated
I believe you're right - just touched it and it is cold. Sure felt like plastic at that moment though haha
Love the colors, especially with the maple board.
I'm not a prs guy but these look good!
me neither--the inlays drive me nuts, too. If they did straight dots I might check it out.
@@pierreblenderbuss9807 Yep. I absolutely F HATE the bird dropping inlays. And I gotta say, if the guitar had laces I'd be interested, tonally. Something "single coil like" without the snap is for me just pointless no-man's land.
You would think the moon inlays would be an option in more models, especially SE models.
I was just lookin at old Yamaha Pasifica PAC 112 XJ that has a similar finish with this one. Orange plus Black pickguard and hardware, can't believe I found it here 😁
I own three PRS guitars, American made and offshore and they are the new standard for excellent guitars. Both the Core and SE models are head and shoulders above anything else on the market. Yes, I also have a '79 The Paul (which I LOVE) but it cannot match the PRS in quality and tone.
I own a few USA a DGTSE and just ordered one of these NF3. In this price range I would say that they are the best at this price range. I like PRS but I am not a PRS only, but they are just doing a better job then everyone else in this price range. Quality for value is there. The formula is working.
I played the Zach Meyers model and loved it! At the time they were $849.99, I would have picked it up but I was moving at the time.
Not sure how I haven’t come across your channel b4. Awesome guitar review! New subscriber.
As for the guitar, I find my self always left “wanting” with PRS guitars but this one really has my interest. I’d have to go rosewood neck though😎🎸
I went with Gunmetal Grey, mostly because its the only color offered with a white pickgaurd. A rosewood fretboard over that satin maple neck, makes the whole package pop. 7lbs.6ozs. is a decent weight for an S type. I'm gonna get a P.R.S. ATA hardcase now that they're available.
I refuse to pay more than $949 for the guitar in the case.
What was that black thing wedged under the trem during the play through section?
Here's something I would like to know. Is PRS marketing those pickups on their own? Swimming I could fit them into the openings in the pickguard, there could come a moment when I would like to swap out the ones currently in my Burns Brian May replica - even though I frankly enjoy the way the stock pickups sound
I doubt it. PRS only sells some older discontinued pickups from their Core line. Your best bet is to find someone selling theirs on eBay after swapping them out with something else.
I have to say that those are fantastic sounding pickups. It's pushing into Red Special territory with the sonic profile, and I dig it.
Is the bridge pickup louder than the other two pickups?
Which single coils, Strat, Tele, P90s???
That metallic orange is ultra cool.
I would make just one small/easy modification to one of these: Add an extra mini-toggle to that pickguard, in order to get a combination of the neck and bridge pickups. Would probably sound great, getting the best of the Telecaster and Les Paul middle positions together.
did you measure the pickups output?
OK so now I'm finding an issue with my NF3 that I got today. I noticed that as soon as I turned the volume down to around 7 or 8, the volume dropped off dramatically and the treble dropped off as well. It stays about the same volume all the way down to 1.
A coil tap (not split) would be nice, let them get even chimier while still being humbucking...?
On most guitars these days, PRS does split, though they only send some of the single coil signal to ground, using a resistor. I suspect that if it worked well with these pickups, they probably would have done it here as well, particularly for positions 2 and 4.
I've always liked these pickups since they were offered in the Swamp Ash Special years ago. I would choose the NF3 over the SAS SE. (love my DGT SE).
I think these are a little different to the 57/08 Narrowfield pickups that featured on the SAS NF, NF3, McCarty NF, Studio and ME3, BUT still in the same sonic ballpark.
Sounds fabulous 9:39
others said the maple neck had sharp frets. What is your take on it?
How do these compare to the Fender Noiseless SC??
Thanks Trogly for reviewing this s-i-l-k-y orange/maple SE NF3 and tearing the pup down for us!
I can never get past the fretboard inlays on PRS guitars.. and go figure I like the old Epiphone headstocks that everyone else seems to dislike!
I like them too, they weren’t trying to look like Gibson. Gave them character imo
I dont like the PRS headstocks either.
Some of the S2 guitars have dot inlays and the SE DGT has moons
Hot take - I like the old Epiphone headstock shape over even the Gibson open book, the shape is very similar to guitars from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and I am very much a fan of music made for those instruments and the Lute, Theorbo (the original extended range guitar) and Vihuela de Mano also!
@@koreyarmstrong456actually other than some DGTs, I think all new S2s use birds now, even the Vela and Standards. Kind of a bummer, really, as I liked the less flashy look of those.
It's strange no one says nothing about the SSC2 system on Suhr Guitars: it's a dummy coil away from the strings and it captures only the noise without affecting the tone ad all. It's great! If you want single coil sounds with no noise, it's the best option. I think NF3 pickups are great but different. They can achieve P90ish tone at full volume, more single coily tones rolled down a bit, but they change something (not in a bad way, if you like it).
Curious as whether the second coil in the pickup actually contributes to the sound, or is just there for it's hum canceling function.
Doesn't his resistance measurement tell us that the humbucker coils are in series, so full on humbucker tone. The in between lower impedance look like split coils in parallel.
Good question. Depends if the second coil has a magnet or is a dummy.
They are hb so the wiring must somehow disengage one side on the selector switch.
I have a Reverend JetStream 390 that uses P90's but with all the strat settings and sounds - just thicker tone just like this one. I'd like to hear how this sounds compared to the Jetstream (whose tone I really love more than a strat because it's warmer). And like the Reverend, these have the higher quality tremolo than a screw-in strat style. So overall this measures up as a potentially great guitar.
I have got seven Strats so a Silver Sky made not much sense for me to buy. But this one does! I will consider that seriously. Thanks for this video.
Its got a unique sound like in between single and humbucker
Reminds me of the eg series.
Just got it as my first endeavor into electric guitars. Always hated the hum that amps made & this one doesn’t have any! Love the orange color & the feel of the neck. I have an old cheap amp but wanna get a nicer one, any ideas? Nothing too big, I have neighbors
NICE! That's a good price for a PRS too!!
Looks like a Dave Murray or Janick Gers Strato, which they both added a Humbucker that looks like a single coil on the bridge and on the neck. Also, I love how knit-picky Trogly gets when it's not a Gibson guitar
I think you are one of the most honest guitar channels.
Silky Love
Thanks for sharing
Dam it, I brought a Strat last year, if I knew this was coming, then I would have waited and got one of these😢
Do they make a hardtail?
Or you can just grab an SE and use coil split, seems to get the point across.
Unless you just can't go on in this mortal coil without a middle pickup.
Either way, awesome video, very interesting pickups, curious as to how the extra metal bits beside the pole pieces effect the magnetic field lines, and how that in turn effects the tone
You should do a comparison of the single coil sound and the humbucker sound. Just for comparison.
He’d probably need to get another Silver Sky, but those are designed to sound like John Mayer’s ‘63 strat… I believe these NF pickups are more of a modern strat tone…
Not the kind of orange I dig, but the gunmental grey looks amazing, rosewood or maple, cant decide.
Im glad you reviewed this one.
I haven’t tried their wide thin neck profile. Will have to check em out in the local shop.
I prefer pattern thin which is very close to my 5 Solar guitars that i have. Got my PRS Tremonti SE single cut in my lap now actually and that’s pattern thin.
I think the the reason there’s hammer marks on the tremolo block is coz of the crappy springs that they use. My Tremonti broke my tremelo spring removal tool !! They are wedged in there. Took me 30 minutes using a lot of tools to remove the springs.
I was hoping you’d use the tremelo to test tuning stability.
Good review though
Cheers from NZ 😎🎸🤘
The pattern thin and wide-thin profiles are basically indistinguishable. The Tremonti SE has the same wide thin profile btw. Only the S2 and Cores get the Pattern neck profiles names.
@@mikeomatic9905 thx no my Tremonti SE single cut gloss black is shown on the the PRS website as being pattern thin.
Edit: and i emailed PRS about what profile it was with my serial number in case i wanted something similar and they came back to me and confirmed that it was pattern thin.
Will take your word on wide thin although I’ll have to try one in a shop.
The beauty of Solar guitars is that they only have one neck profile for all of their guitars so you have confidence of what you’re ordering.
I bought 5 Solars during covid 19 lockdowns.
Awesome guitars, perfect neck for me. Been searching for that neck.
The Tremonti SE was very similar.
Tremelo tuning stability was the issue.
Took me nearly 2 years to sort it out.
Put fu-tone springs in it, had to file the nut lots of emails with PRS support.
Didn’t want to sell it coz when it was in tune ? Great guitar.
Blocked the trem for a while but yeah it’s stable now. Will replace the nut with a graftech when i can afford it
Got cancer biopsy coming up so that guitar can wait.
Should have bought another Solar tbh but glad i stuck with it
Why do you have 5 solar guitars
@@Lomoholga2 i bought the first one after seeing a music video got home drunk took a chance.
Never heard of Ola Englund or Solar guitars, im not a metal head. I do like heavy rock though.
Umm i suppose i bought the second one coz i'd never had a single cut guitar, it was the GC 1.6 T-FAB - the guitar Ola gave his dad as it turned out.
A guitar - hard tail gibson esque - stays in tune - second best guitar i've ever played, and coz we were locked down due to covid and all the Solar necks are the same ? yeah i bought the A1.6FRC which was a pre-order, and then during the second NZ lockdowns i bought the E1.6FBB pre-order arrived June 2020 i think. Man what a nice guitar.
Why ?
Coz my mum had died, i got some $$$ just before lockdowns. So glad i spent it on guitars coz i spent a lot on strippers before the lockdowns 🙂
Sold one to pay for medical bills - regret that sale.
Bought another in Nov 2022 - one of the best guitars i own. Single cut with FR. Any Solar with FR in the model name means Floyd Rose. The E1.6 FBB is Evertune equipped and man, that aggressive thing plays cleans nicely and never goes out of tune.
Would i buy more Solar guitars ?
Yes, same as why Trogly buys Gibsons. Difference is that all Solar necks are the same. Obviously 7 string necks are different to six string necks, but you know what i mean.
So i you have 1 ? You can just go to the website and go "yep i like that new X shaped guitar, pick the colour, order it and you'll know it has the same neck as your other Solars.
Let me know if you have any other Qs
I currently cant work due to pending cancer treatment so i couldn't buy more Solars even if i wanted to, but i'll beat it and buy more, coz why not ?
Should i set up a go fund me page in case i don;t beat prostate cancer ?
@@Lomoholga2 ask Trogly why he has 250 Gibsons ?
Ptr
If you REALLY wanna get in their face.... points out 2 specific tooling marks. On a Gibson, the entire board is marked up, and we get "it's part for the course." $800-2 marks, each pointed out. Many $1000s-par for the course.... 🤔
Just giving a hard time, love ya.
Trogly demos new PRS: OK, I'll watch. Trogly plays A7X: BONUS! Trogs is the man!!!
rockin that Buried Alive by Avenged haha nice touch
I really want a blue one with a maple fingerboard. But i don't like thin necks, but i think I could live with it?
probably - it isn't blade thin by any means.
Nice Buried Alive by A7X riffing
Are those inlays really badly routed, or are those supposed to be outlines around the bird?
they are supposed to be like that.
Great review but please test the tuning stability of the whammy bar. Just because you "have no use for it" doesn't mean no-one does 😅
Very nice!
Speaking of the Fender Lead series though, I really like the originals but thought the recent re-release was a joke, and very insulting to classic Fender Lead enthusiasts. I definitely would have bought one if Fender would have made them the same as the originals from the 80s.
It reminds me of the silver sky I hope we get a limited edition orange silver sky
Looks like you will have a Kaname Tono prs soon to add to the Band Maid guitars to review.
Just got another Guitar for Fathers day it is not a Gibson but I love these Michael Kelly guitars and play the daylights out of em. This one has a flame top it is great! Vibin that PRS! I Like the Orange!
Cool pickups , o.k. guitar , aint fur moi , Thanks Trogly !
It sounds a lot like the EMG pickups I installed on my old Washburn Strat copy.
How do you access to the electronics?
Very Cool guitar!
Killer pose/pic on that Axe 🎸 Trog’
Wide and thin necks…PERFECT!
Never ending a Trogly video early again 😂😂
Can’t make up my mind weather to buy a fender Stratocaster or this PRS ,what do you think ?
I think the middle and bridge get 80% of the way there, in between and neck sounds don't really sound like it tbh. There's a lot of natural compression, Dimarzio cruisers suit are a little closer imo. But still a cool sound.
I’ll have to watch Reverb for a set of these pickups when someone does a swap. Can’t say I love the neck profile, plus being a lefty means this model in general will likely be off limits to me.
I hear ya, Lefties Revolt here!😁 I hope Paul reads comments here!
I don't usually like PRS guitars, but it sounds great. Never thought I'd say that. The paint is great too.
HAHAHA! You were having a bit too much fun with that "silky" talk, Mr. Trogly!
Man this video felt too short but it made me stay lol
Oh god thank you for mellowing out the way you talked about the guitars!! Waaaay easier to watch! Always wanted to watch your videos but it was too much!
Nice guitar Trog.
Actually like a lot of what they are doing with these.
Are you going to sell this one on your site? Or is this a keeper for you?
Not a PRS guy, but I seem to like that and yeah, the tones really sound single coil like I might have to check one of those up thanks Trogly. I love that color by the way something different.
P bass pickup is a humbicking single coil
Trogly needs to learn how to set up a trem guitar, need to test the stability of the trem in a review imo.
I used to have a 1970 Dodge Charger in that same color orange. Dang I miss that car
I would have preferred you not to block off the vibrato, it would have been interesting to know how well this vibrato bridge worrks
with a good set up, a tremolo will work fine. I don't use them so I'm not the guy to demo it
I want a hardtail!!
DEARGOD FINALLY THE DC3 OR I MEAN NF3 IS BACK
Poplar body. Great aldernative if you ash me
To my ears it sounds almost P90ish? You seemed like you liked it you played really well.
1:45 you always see the craziest things in guitars! If you have a 24 fret PRS the 24th fret inlay looks like a turtle
It's an OWL!
@@8KilgoreTrout4what the hell is on the 21st fret?
@@ManOrWomanIDK imagine the bird from the side, in flight with its wings completely extended upwards, a split second before full thrust
Yeah the owl on the SE24s is hard to make out. On the US 24s they are much more defined. For that matter several of the inlays are more detailed on the US version. But hey for 6x's the price I suppose they should. Anyway back on topic... I really like this guitar. The want is strong 😂
Humbuckers can sound like single coils when you brightened em with a 1-Meg volume pot; is that volume pot a standard 500K? Those pickups chime exactly like a Strat so much that my ears made my eyes bulge like a cartoon character like WHOA JACK! This'll get it just like the series wired stacked humbuckers I loaded in my MIM Strat Special 5yrs ago brightened with that 1-Meg volume pot; I'd love that PRS in that metallic ice blue myself!
Don't be scared of trem bars dude. A nice occasional flourish is expressive. Your playing is progressing nicely at your own speed, so do as you like. 😉
Zzzzzzzzz he doesn't use them thank God.
I was thinking about scooping up the Orange Metallic, but that orange calls for a confederate flag and a "01" decal somewhere. So I got the gun metal gray with rosewood, and one of the pearl white with maple ones instead.
The fret marker design gives the question away. prs = pickup secret sauce.
Is,that part of an avenjenjd,sevenfold song?
I kinda dig it
Poplar the great tone wood 😎
It looks like an ‘80s G&L to me.
PRS has a cool headstock
but PRS headstocks on a strat just dont do it for me. I know thats shallow and superficial but it is what it is.
I thought their tele was an interesting instrument but too expensive for me. Their SE line is good though, I wonder if they did an SE tele.
I hear ya. Least they are a straight string pull 3+3 headstock.