PRS SE P20E

review
PRS SE P20E & TAYLOR GTE URBAN ASH
100
GUITARIST JANUARY 2021
CONTACT PRS Guitars PHONE [phone] WEB www.prsguitars.com CONTACT Taylor Guitars PHONE [phone] WEB www.taylorguitars.com
We’ve selected two models to take a look at,
but we’d like to point out first and foremost
that this is no slugging match between
grossly mismatched opponents. On the
contrary, we’ve been careful to pick this pair
as being representative of what’s available
on the market at very different price points.
Both PRS and Taylor are well known for
their high-quality instruments that come
with hefty price tags to match. But we’re
focusing in on the somewhat specialist area
of smaller-bodied instruments in order
to find out how both these heavyweights
have addressed the quandary of achieving
PRS SE P20E & TAYLOR GTE URBAN ASH
£499 & £1,835
The PRS SE P20E is
available in three different
fi nishes: the Black Top
reviewed here, Charcoal
and Vintage Mahogany
Y
ou have to admit that in recent
months the world has gone a
little mad. And one of the more
surprising offshoots of lockdown,
isolation, working from home and no
live gigs is the increased sales of acoustic
guitars across the land. Not only that,
we hear that it’s the smaller, boudoir-
friendly instruments that are receiving
a disproportionate amount of interest. It
seems that everyone is after a sofa-buddy
six-string to soundtrack their solitary
social hours these days, and, of course, the
industry has responded accordingly.
What You Need To Know
The price differential here means
that this isn’t a fair fight, surely?
Absolutely correct, and that’s why
we’re not pitting this pair against
one another, we’re merely taking two
smaller-bodied acoustics at two very
different price points to illustrate that
there’s something to suit everyone’s
pocket in the compact acoustic range.
So, parlour is the new dreadnought?
It would appear that smaller acoustics
are enjoying something of a heyday,
yes. But while a more diminutive guitar
might pack quite a surprisingly hefty
punch, if you’re after the majesty of
the sound of a dreadnought then you
know where you can start looking.
Home-use only or are these guitars
crowd-pleasingly performance fit?
We’re going to stick our necks out
and generalise a bit. If you put a good
pickup on any well-built acoustic,
irrespective of body size, and feed it
into a good acoustic amp or capable
PA, you’re entering a whole new sonic
dimension. In our experience, even the
tiniest mite can be made to roar, given
the right setup – and a good pair of
ears behind the mixing desk.
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GIT467.rev_taylor_prs.indd 100 26/11/2020 20:43