prs s2 mira or les paul studio for hardrock?

[BenDJ89]

Hey,


i'm new at this forum and come for advice, so be gentle lol.



a lil background info: i currently play a modded Fender HSS strat through a fender twin reverb amp (love the clean tone, it's loud and perfect for any kind of pedal).



I'm currently in the market for a new/second guitar that can deliver punchy hardrock riffs, along with a great lead tone while doing fast arpeggios and sweeps (that's why i love my strat now, cuz the fast C shaped slim neck allows me to move fast). But the clean is also important for me: warm, full, rich chords,....Think Guns N' Roses lead tone, but "easy" neck to play the faster stuff, Stone Sour-ish riffs with A perfect circle mixed in (one of my favorite bands).



Considering my budget (around 1300 euros) i finally settles on two choices which i will play/test for the very first time in a few weeks when i go the music store:


PRS S2 Mira vs Les Paul Studio.


Wondering which would better suit my needs. I already know the prs has more value for it's money, and gibson has a rockier rep the past few years. but soundwise, i heard good set up gibsons that sound amazing. I know, you cant beat the standard, but until the spermbank agrees my product is worth 3 grand a pop, i have to make choices. while i've heard the other guitars of the S2 line on YouTube, i have only seen/heard the mira do blues, jazz, pop. I'm not sure it it can do what i want, it probably does ! But i wanna get as much info as possible before i go the store. Can it deliver the sound i need? Hard Rock type o thing?


Any help, well-argumented advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you !

 

[Huggy Love]

Hi welcome aboard Ben. This isn't a forum to bash other manufacturers or even compare (because to the members of this board there is no comparison) so you're only gonna hear PRS related info for the most part around here.
That said, I think there are other PRS models that would produce the tones you're looking for a little better, I'm thinking singlecut or Mccarty models but going to a legit guitar shop that stocks a few different PRS models and plugging in will say it all. Trust your ears and get some first hand experience with PRS, it will tell you more than anything on this thread.

Good luck and if you do join the fold, make sure to come back and post your S2 or whatever prs model you bring home.

 

[AP515]

The Mira is a rock machine. It will do everything, but, I've heard good Studios too. The Studio I checked out to buy wasn't one of them. It was thin sounding and the build quality was rough. IMO you are safer trying out the Mira first.

 

[gball]

The Mira is a rock machine. It will do everything, but, I've heard good Studios too. The Studio I checked out to buy wasn't one of them. It was thin sounding and the build quality was rough. IMO you are safer trying out the Mira first.

So much this^^

I have both, and the Mira is my number one, go-to rock machine. For that GnR neck lead tone it does a great job (mine currently has a set of Slash pickups in it, which really complement the tone of the guitar) but it is articulate enough in all positions to play the more modern high gain/processed sounds. I will admit it doesn't do everything well, like I don't think I would try to do jass with it, but it makes up for it with in-your-face rock fury.

It's better made, better playing and better sounding (IMO) than the LP for rock tones. I know the LP is a classic and we've heard a million recordings with them so it makes them kind of a tone reference point, but I feel the LP is a little more subdued and I find myself just wanting to use it for blues/classic rock jams these days. When I need to record a super thick LP-esque tone for more modern rock sounds I use my SE245 instead of the LP because it just plain sounds better, but it still doesn't match the dynamic presence of the Mira, which always wins at band volume.

 

[Ol'Lefty]

Years of LP's here. First PRS this past December- S2 Singlecut- It is the most amazing guitar for workingman money and is kind of the LP of PRS. Workmanship is spectacular- attention to detail same as the core line. Good electrics, but a pick up change could be in the future- no different than$4000 USD Les Paul owners. And there is a coil split that really works. It doesn't become a Strat, but it has real single coil presence. The HB's are good,but everyone has his own ear for those. Your band- mates won't complain about your tone quality. A unique top may require some searching.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Prs all the way

 

[markm]

I've had a few Gibsons in my days.
For the money can't beat the Mira S2.
Its going to rock like and SG , and be a lot easier to play than an LP.

 

[shinksma]

Yeah, the Mira is (to me, at least) the PRS equivalent of what a Gibson SG offers. And last I looked, Angus Young, among others, has rocked a little bit!

The single-cut PRSi (like the SC245 or S2 Singlecut) are probably closer to a Les Paul in overall sound, but a Les Paul sounds different from an SG, so your co-ordinate systems of comparison aren't co-located anyway.

Try the S2 Mira, see if there is an S2 Singlecut (or other single-cut style) also available to try, and then try the Les Paul. I suspect you'll end up with one of the PRSi, but I understand that sometimes when you want that "Les Paul Sound" the only solution is a Les Paul.

 

[BenDJ89]

Thank you all for your responses, it means a lot !



I know this isnt the ideal place for les paul vs prs. But prs in my country (Belgium) isnt widely known. Stores have it, but only a select few. I have to travel to the other side lol, just to try out the s2 mira. The only other guitar they have is the s2 custom 22. But it's too expensive, that and the single cut some of you mentioned are 300 euros (so do the math in dollars) more expensive than the mira and the starla (not in stock) ! some might say only 300, but my budget ends at a certain point, you know?



Thank you all for your advice, i did learn a lot, if you have more pointers or remarks, please let me know. just one more thing, for some of you s2 players. Is the neck good, in terms of fast playing/runs?



Thank you !

 

[shinksma]

I don't have an S2, but my P24 has the same neck profile as the S2 Mira: Pattern Regular.

It is a nice profile, and I seem to be able to play fast runs on it well - as fast as I can play - I am not Yngwie Malmsteen, more a David Gilmour guy, but occasionally I get the urge to play some fast stuff, and the neck does not hinder me the way other necks might.

The neck is a bit thinner than your average Les Paul: the Pattern regular is 1 21/32" (42mm), while the Les Paul is traditionally 1 11/16" (or 43mm or so), IIRC. the Wide Fat/Wide Thin/Pattern/Pattern Thin necks of PRS are also 1 11/16" wide.

 

[alantig]

until the spermbank agrees my product is worth 3 grand a pop

Let's see, 3 grand a pop, married 28 years...

I COULD BE MAKING ALMOST $6K A YEAR!!!! :wave: (Notice that's a left-handed wave - even my emojis are saving the money arm!)



The S2s are really good guitars. The pattern regular neck carve is very comfortable, so I wouldn't think it would cause you grief, but neck carve is a very personal thing. The only way to tell is to wrap your hand around that baby and find out.

But let your ears be your guide. As has been pointed out, though, if you HAVE to have that Les Paul sound, there's only one way to get it.

 

[HANGAR18]

Mira.

 

[CVS]

Get the Mira and don't look back. Hopefully it is only the 1st of many more PRS guitars in your future. If you decide to buy the LP Studio, make sure you play the guitar you play on buying 1st IMHO.

 

[jay]

If you decide to buy the LP Studio, make sure you play the guitar you play on buying 1st IMHO.

Agree. And as far as I have tested, don't expect it to be just a less fancy-looking LP Standard. Infact, I think you could find some 2008/2012 LP Standard for not too much additional money.

 

[drdoom8793]

Both are going to be good choices for rock. With the Mira, I would have no problem buying one brand new, sight unseen. It will definitely give you some nice hard rock sound, similar to an SG, as others have said. The Studio will, of course, give you that LP sound. The biggest difference being that I would definitely want to play one of these before I bought it. In my experience, it can be hard to find a Studio (or any LP these days) that really feels and sounds great. In my opinion, the Mira is going to give you a better guitar for your money.

 

[NomadMike]

Like others have said, if you really need a Les Paul sound then get a Les Paul. I own a Mira and it's a great all around guitar and handles hard rock easily. The only thing, and this isn't a negative, is that the neck pickup won't sound totally Les Paul-ish, even in HB mode it comes across with a bit of the neck pickup sound of a Strat which may have to do with the guitars scale length. It's really it's own voice, and a really nice one. At least to my ears.

 

[BenDJ89]

PRS S2 Mira all the way !

Hey there !

It’s been a few weeks, but like i said, i had to wait for the store to give me the okay to come and test the mira. Last week I got a message sayin I could come on the 11[SUP]th[/SUP] of july. So Saturday I packed up my pedalboard and my ball n chains (the GF lol) and drove 90 minutes to arrive in guitar heaven. My regular guy at the store came with a cardboard box, the thing hadn’t been opened yet since it arrived at the store. And yes, for those of you wondering, there is something like “new guitar smell” lol. Although I kind of had an “eeem” reaction when they said they didn’t even open the box to check the guitar. So I came there to test the PRS S2 mira (vintage cherry) and the les paul studio.


I plugged in my pedalboard and the guitar into my twin reverb amp. Didn’t even play it yet, held it in my lap to feel the neck. It felt so comfortable and familiar to my strat. Fretwize it’s a lil wider (just a nudge) but I played a few chords before my amp was plugged in and didn’t even feel like I had to adjust or get used to it, I just played like I always played. Then turned on my amp, tried a few clean sounds. It was warm, rich, deep,….the guy at the store was even more excited cuz he was like: okay turn on your overdrive man ! And then yeah, immediately went through some The Who riffs, GnR,….and just noodled around for about 10 minutes. It rang, it purred like some said. I get now why others on this forum said: if you want real heavy metal tones, look somewhere else. But for hardrock yeah, this thing does it. These are probably the most clearest (most definition) humbucking pickups I ever heard. It was perfect. I said, okay lets try the les paul studio. God knows why, cuz in my mind, I was sold when I first hit that C major chord.

Tried the les paul. I didn’t look at the body or for any quality control issues, cuz I feel all the online horror stories on Gibson would cloud my judgement. I just wanted to know how it sounds, and then check if there’s something wrong. The neck also felt comfortable, which was a surprise, cuz most of the other gibsons in the past, I just put em away after 10 seconds. Did some clean sounds, some distortion sounds,….it sounded good. But the mira sounded more bright, clearer. I wouldn’t say the studio sounded muddy, just darker. And then it comes down to preference, I liked the sound and feel of the mira better. I didn’t care much for the pickups in the studio, I was like meh, nothing special. Not a bad guitar though. But considering the PRS was only 130 euros more expensive…
I went back to the PRS to play over some backing track I brough with me, to try out the lead stuff, but I already knew enough after like 2 minutes. This was it. This was a perfect guitar. Looks, sound, quality, the way it feels,….the only negative is that it “only” comes with a gigbag and not a case. That’s all. Pictures will follow soon !

 

[CantankerousCarl]

Glad you got to compare both and make a decision (the right one of course ). Sounds like it was well worth the wait, and the trip. Congratulations on your new baby, looking forward to the pics!

 

[Mixstar]

I've had several LP studios, an LP special and now I have a very nice tobacco burst LP standard. My PRS is a Tremonti SE at about 1/4 of the cost of an LP and I don't think I've touched the LP more than three times since I've had the PRS. Apart from anything else the PRS is much lighter than any of the LP's I've had and that, to me, makes play-ability better. I've changed the pups on the Tremonti, it's a wild machine if you allow it to be.

 

[0defects13]

Here's my 2 cents and it's worth less than 2 cents.

I would not hesitate to buy a PRS sight unseen. I would certainly hesitate to buy a LP sight unseen.