Comparing the PRS SE Bolt-On Guitars: CE 24 vs Swamp Ash Special 

Thanks for this specific comparison, I've been looking at both, and I feel you demoed each with a minimal amount of amp gain to better represent the true voices of each. I'm leaning more towards the satin 24, though the swampash is more visually beautiful, and better high range tones, and I've never played a 24 fret. I wish the coil configs had more single quack strat tones on the 24 fret. I would probably buy the swampash if it had a HSS set-up. Leaning toward the slightly cheaper HH Satin after this, the tones just feel deeper and more rounded, if a bit limiting. But I'm not and never will be a lead guy, which leads to my dilemma that I like the 24 fret unfinished model better, which is odd, that one should have the extra sc pickup as a lead guitar and 22 frets.😅

Great comparison! Thanks for posting. I have the Satin CE SE and I’m very happy with it. It resonates so well!

This is the comparison I haven't seen yet SE SAS vs SE CE. I have the SE Swamp Ash and I love it, it's 9lbs. On your demo I heard the SE CE24 has a darker bridge humbucker tone, mahogany vs ash I guess. The SE Swamp Ash stock switching has some good tones, but it's limited so lots of folks are modding to get more versatility. My old 1992 PRS EG-2 HSH had 8 switching tones, it added the humbucker (HFS/Vintage Bass) splits like your CE and middle (Fralin) single on it's own. I think that would be better switching for the SAS.

I enjoyed your video ! Thank you for sharing !

I recently got a SAS so I have no reason to get a CE now. $500 is a good price but if I want that single coil neck sound then I personally would just spend the extra money for a Silver Sky SE. However if I didn't own the SAS and just wanted one affordable versatile guitar then I think the CE is a great option. There's just something unique about the tones on the SAS that I love, especially that middle position with the tone knob pulled up.

I have the SAS charcoal and I love it you can go from tele twang to strat quack and to les Paul hard rock. Very versatile guitar and I got blessed on the weight some have complained about the ash weight but mine is about 7.5 pounds. My only complaint is I would love a rosewood board instead of maple on the SAS mainly because PRS rosewood fretboards are some of the best in the business Core,S2, or SE they are just well made guitars in general. Thanks for the comparison of the two,great review. I got the SAS around the holidays when PRS was offering the 20% off price and I got a little more off because of the local shop I deal with. Anyway if I had waited and not got the SAS I would have bought the CE . I mean $500 for that much guitar and I love satin guitars anyway. Well I think I have rambled enough so thanks nice chops as well.

I have one of each. They are REMARKABLE guitars for their price points. I still can’t quite wrap my head around the Satin being a $500 guitar.

Also, I would assume these two having the same scale length of 25” and the CE having 24 frets, the neck pickup position is closer to the bridge and that would change the tone from the SAS the most.

I'm very surprised that you said these sound similar. They aren't as different as an LP and a Strat, but I think they sound quite different. The 24 has so much more midrange to me. The SAS has a lot more high end. I agree, with your descriptions other than sounding similar. To me, they sound very different. Having said all that, this demo was perfect. I really want to like the SAS because it's so unique, but honestly I prefer the sound of the 24 here. It has so much more growl and feels much thicker. If I was to pick one purely off of sound samples, it would be an easy choice. However, the 24 just visually doesn't do it for me, so I think these just might not be for me.

I forgot to ask you what amp you are using in this demo?