PRS Custom 24 Settings Guide
Paul Reed Smith's flagship model and the guitar that established PRS as a serious alternative to Gibson and Fender — the Custom 24 features a figured maple top on a mahogany body, 24-fret wide-thin neck, and PRS 85/15 humbuckers with a coil-split option. Mark Tremonti, Carlos Santana (Santana model), Alex Lifeson, and John McLaughlin have used PRS as primary instruments. The Custom 24's design bridges the tonal character of a Les Paul (mahogany body, humbuckers) with practical playing advantages (24 frets, thinner neck, reliable tuning system) in a guitar with its own distinctive character.
Used by: Mark Tremonti
The best PRS Custom 24 settings start with: Volume at 10/10, Tone at 7/10, Pickup at 5/10. Adjust from there based on your amp, guitar, and room volume. For Rock Lead: Volume 10/10, Tone 7/10, Pickup 5/10.
⚡ Start Here — Recommended Settings
| Control | Starting Position | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | 10/10 | Silent → Full |
| Tone | 7/10 | Warm → Bright |
| Pickup | 5/10 | Neck → Bridge |
These are universal starting points. Adjust based on your amp, guitar, and room. Scroll down for genre-specific settings and artist-documented positions.
What Each Control Does
Recommended Starting Settings
Safe starting positions for any style. Adjust from here based on your amp and room.
All values on a 0–10 scale. These are starting points — fine-tune by ear.
Settings by Genre
Bridge humbucker, Tone 7 — the PRS Custom 24's primary rock lead voice. The PRS 85/15 bridge humbucker has a balanced, clear output that sits between a PAF-style Gibson and a high-output active pickup; it provides enough output for high-gain amplifiers while retaining the note definition that fast lead playing requires. Tone at 7 adds brightness without harshness.
Neck humbucker, guitar volume at 8, Tone 6 — the PRS neck humbucker's warm, full-bodied character for blues and clean playing. Reducing guitar volume to 8 rolls off some of the output and adds a slightly rounded, vintage quality to the clean character. The PRS neck position is notably warmer than many Stratocaster or Telecaster alternatives.
Coil-split mode, Tone 8 — pulling the tone control splits both humbuckers to single-coil mode, producing a thinner, brighter, Stratocaster-adjacent character. The split coil on a PRS 85/15 is significantly cleaner and more articulate than a full humbucker; useful for clean funk, country, and indie styles that suit single-coil clarity.
Bridge humbucker at full output — the PRS Custom 24 into a high-gain amp produces a tight, balanced distortion character. The mahogany body's warmth combined with the maple top's note definition creates a tone that is neither as dark as a Les Paul nor as bright as a Stratocaster: a useful middle ground for hard rock and progressive metal.
Artist Settings
Documented settings used by professional guitarists on this unit.
Tremonti's use of PRS as his primary live and studio guitar established the Custom 24 as a serious metal instrument. He uses a signature variant with higher-output Tremonti treble and bass pickups, but the standard 85/15 configuration approximates the tonal architecture.
Also in Our Rig Database
Guitarists who feature this gear in their documented rig — explore their full setup.
Tips & Common Mistakes
- The PRS Custom 24's coil-split (pull the tone knob) produces genuinely usable single-coil tones — this is not a compromise feature but a deliberate design. Use the neck/bridge split positions (middle two settings on the 5-way blade) for Stratocaster-style in-between quack without changing guitars.
- The PRS wide-thin neck profile is one of the fastest and most comfortable playing necks available from a major manufacturer — narrower at the nut than a Gibson Les Paul, with a flatter radius (10") that suits fast technical playing. If you find Les Paul necks slow or uncomfortable, the PRS Custom 24 is the natural comparison.
FAQ
PRS Custom 24 — Common Questions
Best starting settings for PRS Custom 24: Volume at 10/10, Tone at 7/10, Pickup at 5/10. Adjust from there based on your guitar, room, and playing style.
For Rock Lead: Volume 10/10, Tone 7/10, Pickup 5/10. Bridge humbucker, Tone 7 — the PRS Custom 24's primary rock lead voice. The PRS 85/15 bridge humbucker has a balanced, clear output that sits between a PAF-style Gibson and a high-output active pickup; it provides enough output for high-gain amplifiers while retaining the note definition that fast lead playing requires. Tone at 7 adds brightness without harshness.
For Blues / Clean: Volume 8/10, Tone 6/10, Pickup 1/10. Neck humbucker, guitar volume at 8, Tone 6 — the PRS neck humbucker's warm, full-bodied character for blues and clean playing. Reducing guitar volume to 8 rolls off some of the output and adds a slightly rounded, vintage quality to the clean character. The PRS neck position is notably warmer than many Stratocaster or Telecaster alternatives.
Volume: Master volume — single volume control. (Silent to Full). Tone: Passive tone control — rolls off treble when turned anticlockwise. (Warm to Bright). Pickup: 5-way rotary or blade selector: Neck / Neck-split / Neck+Bridge / Bridge-split / Bridge. (Neck to Bridge). Coil Split: Pull the tone knob to split both humbuckers to single-coil mode — thinner, brighter, less output. (Humbucker to Single Coil)
The PRS Custom 24's coil-split (pull the tone knob) produces genuinely usable single-coil tones — this is not a compromise feature but a deliberate design. Use the neck/bridge split positions (middle two settings on the 5-way blade) for Stratocaster-style in-between quack without changing guitars. The PRS wide-thin neck profile is one of the fastest and most comfortable playing necks available from a major manufacturer — narrower at the nut than a Gibson Les Paul, with a flatter radius (10") that suits fast technical playing. If you find Les Paul necks slow or uncomfortable, the PRS Custom 24 is the natural comparison.
Mark Tremonti settings: Volume 10/10, Tone 7/10, Pickup 5/10. Tremonti's use of PRS as his primary live and studio guitar established the Custom 24 as a serious metal instrument. He uses a signature variant with higher-output Tremonti treble and bass pickups, but the standard 85/15 configuration approximates the tonal architecture.
Got the PRS Custom 24? Build the rest of your rig.
Use the Rig Builder to find matching guitars, pedals and cables for your genre and budget.