Guitar World Verdict
Stripped down to its bare essentials this new all-mahogany lightweight USA-made Mira channels the feel of classic early sixties solidbodies with a contemporary playing feel and hugely wide-ranging sounds. A bargain at this price.
Pros
- +
Light weight and detailed build.
- +
USA 58/15 LT humbuckers.
- +
Modern satin-nitro colours, gloss are optional.
Cons
- -
If you like fancy PRS’s you won’t like this.
- -
The satin finish will mark and age quickly.
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What is it?
Most of us think of PRS guitars and see the beautifully opulent looking flamed maple-topped masterpieces that the Maryland company has built its 40-year-old reputation on. We also don’t need to tell you plenty of those cost a pretty penny too. There have been plenty of attempts to produce more stripped-down and affordable options, while still being USA-made electric guitars, and the original Mira, which joined the now-called Core line-up in 2008, is a prime example.
The all-mahogany 24-fret guitar featured a thinner body with SG-like chamfering, the outline re-drawn from the PRS Santana guitar which itself isn’t a million miles away from Gibson’s double-cutaway Les Paul Junior, Special and TV models from the late fifties. It also formed the basis of the USA S2 line back in 2013 then dropped into the SE ranks before being discontinued by 2023.
Now it's returned…
Specs
- Launch price: $1,899/£1,699/€2,039
- Made: USA
- Type: Solidbody electric
- Body: One-piece mahogany
- Neck: Mahogany (scarf construction), Pattern Thin profile, glued-in
- Fingerboard: Bound rosewood/12”
- Scale length: 24.594” (625mm)
- Nut/width: Friction reducing/43.5mm
- Frets: 22, medium jumbo
- Hardware: PRS Stoptail bridge w/ brass inserts, PRS Phase III non-locking tuners w/ wing buttons
- Electrics: 2x PRS USA 58/15 LT humbuckers, 3-way toggle pickup selector switch, 2x mini-toggle coil split switches, master volume and tone controls
- Weight: 6.32lb (2.86kg)
- Left-handed options: No
- Finishes: Matcha Green (as reviewed), Metallic Midnight, Red Apple Metallic, Mavis Mint Metallic, Pearl White, Cloud Burst – satin nitro
- Cases: Premium gigbag
- Contact: prsguitars.com
Build quality
Build quality rating: ★★★★★
While you can’t see any wood under the opaque satin open-pore – or ‘sinky’ as PRS call it – finish, like the Core models the Mira uses a one-piece mahogany body but with a thinner depth of around 43mm.
The top face is chamfered most obviously under your forearm in playing position, plus we get a subtle rib-cage cutaway on the back. While the Core models use a one-piece neck too, S2 use thinner stock but with a spliced-on headstock and a heel stack although the neck slots into the body in the same fashion: the full-width continues under the neck pickup and, like all S2s, it’s glued-in, not screwed.
It might not be a £4k plus Core model but the craft is dangerously close
As its name suggests, this model uses the shorter 24.594-inch scale length, measured PRS says from old Gibsons, and unlike the original Mira this version is 22-fret. The dark rosewood fingerboard is bound, with solid vintage acrylic bird inlays, while the medium jumbo frets are perfectly installed on the 10-inch radiused face.
The new Mira uses the popular Pattern Thin (previously known as the Wide Thin) neck profile with a pretty classic 43mm nut width – and slightly thinner back-to-front depth than the Pattern (Wide Fat) profile – and a perfectly carved shallow ‘C’ back. It might not be a £4k plus Core model but the craft is dangerously close.
This stripped-down but high-quality style is reflected in the hardware and electrics. The open-back Phase III tuners are non-locking but use the new cream-coloured ‘wing’ buttons and unlike other 594 models, which use the PRS two-piece bridge set-up, here we get the machined aluminium PRS Stoptail bridge with its brass inserts, just like certain pukka Core models.
Since 2024, S2’s now feature USA-made pickups with pretty much the same pots and switches as the Core models. The well-respected 58/15 LT (as in ‘low turns’) pickups are based on classic Patent Applied For ‘buckers, tweaked, of course, by Paul Reed Smith, and controlled by master volume and tone and that three-way toggle pickup selector while two mini-toggle switches allow you to coil-split each one individually.
Playability
Playability rating: ★★★★★
Don’t blame us if you fall for its charms before you’ve even plugged in
With its slightly lower bass-side horn compared to a standard PRS outline the Mira hangs slightly differently; the neck seems to extend out a little more from the body but not as extremely as an SG.
It’s lightweight, it hangs perfectly on a strap but also makes for an ideal throwabout at-home noodler. Like the neck shape, it’s extremely comfortable, nothing gets in the way and the standard PRS set-up with its marginally slinkier playability thanks to that shorter scale is superb. Don’t blame us if you fall for its charms before you’ve even plugged in.
Sounds
Sounds rating: ★★★★★
A quick unplugged strum reveals a typically lively response with a subtle midrange push, and starting with a clean amp there’s jazz warmth at neck, a little more clean blues honk at bridge while the more complex mix adds typical bounce and funk.
The balance in all positions is very noticeable and very musical. You’ll see the neck pickup is flipped so that when you split the pickup the voiced slug coil is closest to the neck while the bridge’s coil split is far from spikey.
Typically these splits employ a small resistor in the circuit, so not all of the screw coil is dumped to ground resulting in a very useable, slightly fatter voice that is far from just an add-on. That balance we mentioned continues with some Americana crunch and even with some pretty high-gain alt.rock the Mira doesn’t disappoint with a real classic mahogany grind. It’s very in-tune and typically very stable too.
Verdict
While many of us have admired the superb craft of PRS’s USA-made guitars over the past four decades, not everyone has enjoyed the inevitable cost, not to mention the often opulent presentation. Well, if that’s you then this new S2 Mira 594 might have your name on it. It’s a stripped-down down bare-bones guitar but doesn’t cut any corners that matter and has a wide range of pretty classic humbucker and single coil voices that ooze quality.
Significantly more affordable than the current S2 Satin Standard
In its satin finish it’s significantly more affordable than the current S2 Satin Standard, and if you want a gloss nitro finish, (which adds about 20% to the price) it still comes in well below the current McCarty 594 Thinline. Our advice is to check one out before someone realizes they’ve mis-calculated the price!
Guitar World verdict: Stripped down to its bare essentials, this new all-mahogany lightweight USA-made Mira channels the feel of classic early sixties solidbodies with a contemporary playing feel and hugely wide-ranging sounds. A bargain at this price.
Test | Results | Score |
|---|---|---|
Build quality | Not a hair out of place. With four decades of guitar-making craft behind them PRS is still setting standards that others can only try to follow. | ★★★★★ |
Playability | Faultless set-up, classic old-school slinky feel on a lightweight chassis with finely shaped neck profile. | ★★★★★ |
Sounds | The 58/15 LT humbuckers provide well-tuned and very balanced tones that handle a huge range of styles. The partial coil splits offer viable ‘single coil’ sounds that don’t sound over-thin. | ★★★★★ |
Overall | Superb craft and great sounds at a fiercely competitive price. | ★★★★★ |
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