Vintage Style Meets Modern Reliability in the New PRS S2 Vela

Press Release

The PRS Vela with PRS amp – photo credit: PRS Guitars

PRS Guitars is pleased to announce the newest addition to the S2 Series: the S2 Vela. The Vela model follows in the tradition of the company’s Mira and Starla models, providing vintage-inspired personality and tons of tonal textures.  “The S2 Series has been a project of passion here. Many of us know players who praise PRS neck shapes, build quality, and reliability, but are looking for a different aesthetic.

The Vela breaks the traditional PRS platform, giving those players a guitar they can trust night after night, and it looks badass,” Jim Cullen, National Sales Manager, PRS Guitars.

The Vela boasts a new offset body shape that is both elegant and edgy. Its pickguard loaded electronics include a PRS-Designed Starla humbucker in the bridge, providing a bright, punky tone, and the new PRS-Designed Type-D singlecoil in the neck, which gives the Vela some noteworthy bite. The coil-tap on the tone control allows the bridge pickup to split into singelcoils, expanding the guitar’s tonal range.

Anchoring this guitar is the new PRS plate-style bridge with two brass saddles that were designed to compensate for intonation and an aluminum plate, both of which help provide maximum tonal sustain. This bridge harkens back to Paul’s early designs and traditional bass plate-style bridges, but is top-loading for easy restringing.

The Vela is already making waves with artists, including Philadelphia-based psychedelic rock band Bardo Pond and the indie pop band Royal Teeth, thanks to its elegant, edgy aesthetic and trusted PRS reliability. Here is what they have to say:

“If the Vela had been made in the 1950’s, it would be considered as classic as the Stratocaster. It’s a natural guitar with a wonderful personality,” Walker Teret, Lower Dens.
“PRS guitars are made with love and you can feel it when you play them. They are also made with an incredible understanding or what makes a great guitar. The Vela is a great rock guitar. It can do scuzz, fuzz, psych, punk, whatever you want, and it also can scream some insane leads I can’t get enough of this axe!,” Michael Gibbons, Bardo Pond.
“This is SWEET. The feel and sound transcend what a guitar can be. The Vela has soul, it’s alive, and part of something greater than you can imagine. It sounds so nice and is so beautiful. The Paul Reed Smith Vela, it’s a dream,” John Gibbons, Bardo Pond.
“The Vela nails all of the vintage tones I’ve become accustomed to in the studio and has become my go to live because of its stable intonation, tuning, and playability,” Thomas Onebane, Royal Teeth.

PRS Vela

For full specifications, more artist feedback, and to hear the Vela in action, please visit HERE.

About PRS Guitars:

Paul Reed Smith Guitars is a leading manufacturer of high quality instruments in Stevensville, Maryland and has provided some of the world’s most renowned musicians with instruments since 1985. The PRS team of highly skilled craftspeople design and build a wide variety of musical instruments and gear for worldwide distribution, including electric, acoustic, and bass guitars as well as boutique-style guitar amplifiers. The PRS SE line of products complements the Maryland-made PRS line by offering highly approachable and more affordable electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, John McLaughlin, Linkin Park, Orianthi, Opeth, Zach Myers of Shinedown, Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge, Ricky Skaggs, Cody Kilby, Martin Simpson, Tony McManus, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks are among the artists currently playing PRS instruments and/or amplifiers.

PRS Guitars Info: www.prsguitars.com