Anyone using a Baritone guitar with their KPA?

Hi,

I have one of the PRS 277SE Baritones. These come in a couple of varieties..... there is one semi hollow model with a pair of P90s and another solid with two coil tapped humbuckers. Also worth noting is that they had a refresh a year or two back which changed the pickups in the solid. Can’t remember if the p90 model changed though (worth mentioning as some places carry older stock which can be had cheaper as that’s how I got my solid body).

Very nice guitars with great build quality so if you’re looking for a baritone they are worth a look unless a trem is a must have for you - they are stop tail only.

Fender did a model a few years back but no longer make it but might be worth checking second hand?

As far as profiles, I’ve had decent results with the usual ones I like - I tend to prefer more vintage sounding things so Mbritt and Selahsounds but there are plenty on the exchange worth a go.

- A baritone is basically anything that's too long to be a guitar (25.5" being the longest you usually see) and too short to be a bass (a short-scale bass is normally 30"). Nowadays, of course, "extended range guitars" have kinda blurred that line. My Schecter baritone is 26.75", just to add another number to the list.

- Longer scale length = more tension for a given tuning and string gauge, so you can tune down to B (or A, or F for modern metal bands) without a) needing massive strings or b) having the strings flop around like spaghetti.

I can't say I've noticed a difference in how baritones behave with a given profile versus normal guitars though.

Hi JSB,

I’m a happy user as opposed to a Baritone expert so take this with a pinch of salt rather than complete fact

Baritones do allow lower tuning than on a ‘regular scale’ electric but you’re looking at tuning down so as your lowest string is a B or, in some cases, an A. So you’re a 4th or 5th down from your usual 6 string tuning.

My ears aren’t good enough to detect what’s being done in your clip but, if they have just gone to D-D then you could simply do that on a regular guitar without too many issues. It’s when you’re dropping to C Sharpe or C that a standard guitar is going to get a bit too floppy to be comfortable.

If they’re tuning down to the next D, that’s one below a bass guitar.... the four strings on a bass are tuned same as the thickest strings on a regular guitar except an octave down (-12). One idea for finding where their tuning is? Put some headphones on and play the track then find the root note with the transpose feature on the Kemper. You may find, if it’s not going too far, you could just use transpose and be happy without the new guitar

Regarding the scale lengths, another thing to consider is comfort for the fingers. The longer the scale is, the longer the stretches for your fingers. As the lower parts of the neck are where this is worst, and also this is the territory you’ll be spending time in because it’s only a 4th or a 5th away from a regular guitar, you might wish to consider one of the shorter scale length guitars as opposed to the 29 inch monster :). Yes, you could tune that even lower but there will be a trade off on that, the longer you go, the more it feels like you’re playing a bass

One more thing..... if you click on my signature for the Bandcamp link and go to the song on the ‘Dozen Reasons Why’ album called ‘Stop the World’ you’ll hear my PRS Baritone through the Kemper as the first notes on there. Not surf style but it’s the best I can do

I've got a semi hollow PRS SE 277, the p90s are outstanding. I can't say that I use specific profiles for the guitar, just whatever suits the song.

Despite having played bass for years, I still struggle with the 27.7" scale length. It's the little things that add up such as playing an open D chord. The additional length just makes it seem a little more fatiguing and tricky to hit quickly. I can't say that I'd be interested in trying anything longer but we all have different hands and technique.

I use a Dano Dead on 67 Baritone and a Squier Bass Vi the Vi is tuned G- G the Dano B-B I tend to use Fender style amp profile like a Bassman or a twin and a bit if slap tape delay in the last stomp slot ...I love the Bari twang tones used by the likes of Jimmie Vaughan/JD Mcpherson and Brian Setzer

Here's a Jerry Jones model

I found a 5 string Schecter Cello Blaster. Tuned BEADG.

With a Friedman it means never having to say your sorry.
It plays sweet thru a Morgan or a Twin.

Hi JSB,

Congratulations on the Danelectro - it looks awesome (I love the offset Mosrite kind of thing it's got going there - very cool). I'm sure you'll cope with the scale and be just fine.

I've just loaded up the 'Stop the World' song in my DAW as I couldn't remember for the life of me what I actually used! It was actually an MBritt Colonial from this pack

https://mbritt.com/product/her…olonial-pack-35-profiles/ which is one of his cheaper ones and it's a pack I keep coming back to It's profile 1 8 which has a gain of 4 according to Rig Manager. Effects wise, used Tremolator which is one of the Soundtoys plugins (which are excellent). Reverb was out of the Slate Versuite Classics (I subscribed to their bundle and got this as a 'free' plugin to keep forever so despite me no longer subscribing, this plugin is still my go to reverb).

But, profile wise, I've noodles with it on pretty much anything - I just went with the Colonial as it sounded right for the track and frankly that is my approach with any profile. Me and my guitars seem to like almost anything MBritt does and I'm also really liking the Selah Sounds stuff. But neither would make a metal fan 100% happy. It's all good though

I really like the Soundtoys stuff and am fortunate enough to have the bundle. I wouldn’t recommend just buying right now unless desperate though; they often have sales. Normally summer and Black Friday.

You can get a 30 day demo of all their plugins to see which work for you. Worth doing as, at first, they did not like Studio One on my system but updates mean I’m now ok. As well as the sales, pretty much every year they give away one of their plugins entirely foc - it’s usually a mini version but free is free.

Even if it’s not one that is of interest, it’s worth grabbing the free one. When you come to buy other plugins they have decent loyalty discounts that mean other plugins in their range get cheaper - even if the only ones you own are their free ones!! Combine this with sales and also buy from Audiodeluxe who reduce them even more and you’re away... the entire bundle is full price is $500 or so and there are people out there who have paid under $100 for the whole lot due to having multiple free plugins. Think I paid around $150 with the two freebies I had. Echoboy, panman, electric mistress and tremolater are all very cool and the others will all get used at some point..... Sure I used filter freak on one track too. These days I’m just using the Slate reverb, Soundtoys for anything creative and Neutron / Ozone for making the mix play nice. Oh, and virtual tape / console within Studio One mix engine.

Quote from JSB

This video tipped me over to the Danelectro side:

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Thanks for the reply Chu.

You might love it, I don't have big hands and in no way do I dislike the 27.7" length, it just changes how and what I play. It's not something that leapt out at me, just what I noticed after a while. But an instrument that pushes you to play in a different way can be a wonderful thing and get you right out of that rut!

Actually I also use a Hohner (sorry just remembered as I haven’t used it recently !!) that is 25.5” scale and uses Newtone Baritone strings ...(.020-.074) tuned to G as well and it’s slinky as hell will try and put up a video when I get a minute !!

Quote from JSB

Just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly:a PRS 277se has a scale length of 27.7"
The Danelectro 66bt is 29.75"

The 29.75" scale would allow me to tune lower, and give a wider option of string gauge choices?

Technically you can tune as low as you want on any guitar with any strings. If you want the tension to stay the same as you're used to, you need to either increase the string gauge or the scale length. Or both, if you're going really low.

So, not so much a "wider" range of string gauges as "you can use lighter strings than that tuning on a normal guitar". I actually keep the baritone I mentioned tuned to D (one step down), usually with something like .60s, because I'm a weirdo.