PRS SE A60E

22
Guitarist February 2019
first play
PRS SE T50E & SE A60E
PRS SE T50E
PRICE: £749 (inc case)
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Tonare Grand electro-acoustic
TOP: Solid Sitka spruce with X/
Classical bracing and abalone purfling
BACK/SIDES: Figured maple
(laminate)
MAX RIM DEPTH: 110mm
MAX BODY WIDTH: 394mm
NECK: Mahogany
SCALE LENGTH: 643mm (25.3”)
TUNERS: Chrome PRS-Designed
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm
FINGERBOARD: Ebony with bird
inlays, 300mm (11.8”) radius
FRETS: 20, medium
BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony with bone
saddle/56mm
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 2.2/4.9
PICKUP/PREAMP: Fishman GT-1
with under-saddle pickup
RANGE OPTIONS: All electro-
acoustic: TXE20ENA Natural (£549);
TE40ENA Natural and TE40ETS
Tobacco Sunburst (£649); TE55EBG
Natural top and Black Gold Burst
back & sides and TE55EBH Abaco
Green (£829); and TE60ENA Natural
(£879)
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISH: Vintage Sunburst (as
reviewed), Natural (top) with
Black Gold Burst (back & sides)
PRS Europe
01223 874301
www.prsguitars.com
PRS SE A60E
PRICE: £879 (inc case)
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Angelus Cutaway electro-
acoustic
TOP: Solid Sitka spruce with X/
Classical bracing and abalone purfling
BACK/SIDES: Ziricote (laminate)
with curly maple binding
MAX RIM DEPTH: 110mm
MAX BODY WIDTH: 394mm
NECK: Mahogany
SCALE LENGTH: 643mm (25.3”)
TUNERS: Chrome PRS-Designed
NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43mm
FINGERBOARD: Ebony with abalone
bird inlays and curly maple binding,
300mm (11.8”) radius
FRETS: 20, medium
BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony with bone
saddle/56mm
WEIGHT(kg/lb): 2.2/4.9
PICKUP/PREAMP: Fishman GT-1 with
under-saddle pickup
RANGE OPTIONS: All electro-
acoustic: AE20ENA Natural (£599);
AE40ENA and AE40ETS Tobacco
Sunburst (£689); AE50EVS Vintage
Sunburst and AE50EBG Natural top
with Black Gold Burst back & sides
(£799); AE55EBG Natural top with
Black Gold Burst back & sides and
AE55EBH Abaco Green (£829)
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISH: Natural (as reviewed)
PROS Playability, tone, build quality,
pickup performance – this thing just
keeps on ticking boxes; then there’s
all that sweet ziricote
CONS Again, it’s tough to be mean
when you’re presented with a
package that’s put together so well
PROS We’re sold on the great
playability and pleasing good
looks, but it’s the tone that really
knocks us bandy; this guitar feels
alive in our hands
CONS Like a vegan barbecue...
there’s not a sausage
9
9
7. The new models feature
the PRS Wide Fat neck
profi le. In practice, this
doesn’t feel as wide
as the name suggests,
but there is a satisfying
amount of palm-fi lling
meat on offer here
7
Verdict
The obvious target of the PRS marketing
for the T50E and A60E is the existing SE
punter. You’ve gotta love that you can get
the same neck profile on your solidbody
and electro-acoustic guitars. That goes
for lovers of US-made PRS gear, too. Both
these new models offer a high-enough spec
and build quality to make them attractive
to you well-heeled customers.
The big success story here concerns
that X/Classical hybrid top bracing. It
can take a solid-spruce top some months
of player-induced vibration to reveal its
full vocal range. But here, by allowing its
tops to vibrate as freely as possible, PRS
has released some of that long-awaited
maturity ahead of schedule. We still reckon
these guys have got some growing up to do,
but they sound tonally precocious straight
from the factory.
It’s tough to grumble about these things.
Both guitars play and sound as good as
you could ever expect for less than a
grand. Way better, in fact. They look the
absolute business as well, especially the
A50E’s breathtaking ziricote bits. If you’re
about to embark on a quest to find a sorted
electro-acoustic, the epic new SE models
are a great place to start. Indeed, they could
save you a lot of time.
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT442.rev_prs.indd 22 16/12/2018 21:21