PRS Wind Through the Trees Review (bought and tested)

Paul Reed Smith has long been known for building high quality guitars. The company - better known as the abbreviated title, PRS - has since added amplifiers and pedals into their production line, with solid results. 

The Wind Through the Trees flanger is the first PRS pedal I've been able to test and there was absolutely nothing negative about my experience.

It's an analog flanger with dual modes that includes tweaking options for each mode individually, a mix control between the two, and some versatile global tweaks that create some really unique sounds.

On more subtle settings, it definitely has a chorus-sounding quality, almost like a broad modulation layer.

But I really couldn't find a bad setting.

Other than having a really long name, there isn't much fault to be found. Maybe they could just call it the PRS Wind?

Compare to Other Flanger Pedals

This comparison table lets you look at how the PRS Flanger stacks up against other popular flanger pedals, some of which we've also reviewed. You can add more pedals to compare via our search tool and the compare bar below.

PRS Wind Through the Trees Price Guide

This price guide lists multiple vendors and allows you to sign up for price alerts. There's also a price history chart that follows the lowest price among the retailers listed, though excludes Amazon since they don't let us track price history.

Pricing accurate as of Tue, March 28th, 2023.

Pricing from Multiple Vendors (updates automatically)

Amazon Pricing (if applicable)

Price Alert Tool (lowest price among listed retailers)

Price History (lowest price among listed retailers)

IDEAL FOR: Just about anything. Recording, clean layering, modulation fans, analog fans, church, rock, pop. The list goes on.

Tone Overview

Slowing the flanger sweep rate (peaks and troughs) gives you a smooth and subtle modulation, kind of like a chorus effect. It's most at home with warmer cleans, with the pickup selector at the middle or neck position. I used my PRS CE 24 with two Seymour Duncan Invader humbuckers, so my guitar's tone is a little more heavy and percussive.

But on the bridge pickup it also sounded great, so I wouldn't say either frequency was more usable than the other.

The Wind Through the Trees handled both tones pretty well.

With two mix controls (one between the two modes and the wet/dry mix), you get more flexibility than you'll even know what to do with.

But even the more intense settings sounded great.

Faster sweeps had a bit of a detune sound (or maybe that was just my guitar) and were very musical.

Here's my demo video that covers most of the settings:

Sorry about the lights on this video. They're really bright.

I thought about covering them up with a piece of tape, but then I didn't want to completely obscure the look of the pedal.

As you might be able to tell, I had some trouble keeping my guitar in tune during this demo, so I apologize for some of the weird sounds. But it illustrates most of the tones you can get.

Also:

The amp I was using - the Boss Katana 50 - is not a particularly expensive amp. It's nice, but it's not like the amp was doing a bunch of the work. I just set a simple, clean EQ and let the pedal do the talking. The PRS Wind Through the Trees did a great job of delivering quality on its own.

At no point was I unhappy with what I was hearing.

Controls and Tweaking Ability

We've already covered a lot of the control scheme, so I won't say a lot about that here. Real quick - here's an overview of what you can tweak:

• Mix selection between LFO 1 and LFO 2 (the two flangers)
• Manual, depth, and rate for LFO 1
• Manual, depth, and rate for LFO 2
• Global regen
• Global added highs
• Global wet/dry mix

A lot of this is what I'd consider commonplace modulation control, but giving you two flangers and letting you mix between the two significantly increases the flexibility of that modulation.

It's actually a really simple (and brilliant) tweak by PRS.

They manage to give you a lot of movement with a simple control scheme. I've always said we should have a mix control on as many pedals as possible. It's an underrated tool, in my opinion.

Price and Value

We always rate gear based on what you pay and what you get. Value goes up two ways:

• Price decreases
• Quality increases

For example, if a pedal gives you a lot of quality and the price increases as a result, we aren't going to dock many points simply because it's expensive. So in the case of the PRS Wind, it's priced high but has the quality to match.

In fact, this is one of the best pedals we've ever tested, which means the high price tag is largely justified.

While there's some subjectivity involved (because we don't know how much it costs PRS to manufacture this pedal), it helps us see if we're getting a good deal or not.

Because of the high quality mark, the price of the PRS Wind - though high by other pedal standards - is completely fair.

Where is the Wind Through the Trees the best fit?

Any time you need modulation over a clean tone, the PRS Wind is gonna do great work for you. The price makes it a bit prohibitive, and we wouldn't recommend it unless you're really set on investing in your pedalboard. Beginners and early intermediates probably shouldn't pay this much for any single pedal.

But if the flange effect fits with your playing style and musical genre, it'll fit in nicely. 

I'd recommend it being your main source of modulation, perhaps in conjunction with a dedicated phaser or chorus pedal.

Review Conclusion

To be clear, any pedal of this price is a leap of faith.

But do your research, listen to our demo, and make sure it'll work for you before pulling the trigger.

I'll admit, whenever I see guitar-focused brands building pedals, I get a little cynical. But PRS really blew the doors off my expectations on this. It didn't feel like they were just trying to get their hands in the pedal market, but actually wanted to bring something unique and useful to the table.

And that's exactly what they did.

Good job, PRS. You've never disappointed us.

The John Mayer stuff was weird, but whatever.

If you have questions about our PRS Wind Through the Trees review, hit me up in the comments section below and I'll help out as much as possible.

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