The recent PRS SE model releases make up what any guitar company would call an enviable winning streak. The very popular SE Silver Sky model, released in 2018, remains a huge seller, and this year’s SE DGT model is among the most talked-about electric guitars in recent memory. Both are killer axes that reliably deliver incredible bang for the buck. And at their best, they will get you close to a much more expensive premium core model for just under $1,000.
Released at the same time as the SE DGT, the SE McCarty 594, which is offered as a double-cutaway and a less expensive single-cutaway model, is another phenomenal value. It costs just $950. For comparison’s sake, a USA-built S2 version of the McCarty 594 will set you back around $1,999, while a premium, USA-made, Core McCarty 594 will cost, well, serious bucks.
That McCarty Magic
In the mid 1990s, Paul Reed Smith worked with guitar industry icon Ted McCarty, who was Gibson’s president from 1950–1966. During that time, he had a hand in the design and development of the PAF humbucker pickup, Tune-o-matic bridge, and guitars including the ES-335, Explorer, Firebird, Flying V, and SG. In 1994, PRS introduced several models that were products of the McCarty collaboration, including the McCarty 594. The quality and performance of those guitars suggested the meeting of the minds was much more than simple marketing.
The SE McCarty 594 captures the essence of a premium McCarty with its drop-dead gorgeous flame-maple veneer top over mahogany body, with a gloss polyurethane finish. The 22-fret set neck is mahogany, and the 10"-radius rosewood fretboard looks sharp and upscale adorned with trademark PRS bird inlays. The closed-back tuners look attractively vintage and hold tuning exceptionally well. At the other end of the strings, a zinc and brass adjustable, two-piece bridge is both stable and another hint to the guitar’s Gibson influence.
Workmanship on the SE McCarty 594 is very clean, both cosmetically and functionally. Volume-knob swells revealed not one trace of static, and the knobs and push-pull pots are all dead quiet when switched. In terms of playability, the SE McCarty 594’s neck feels a little chunky, at least for my tastes. But even though I prefer thinner necks, there is no questioning how natural and comfortable it feels in hand. The 24.594" scale length (reflected in the guitar’s 594 name) is slightly shorter than conventional PRS and Gibson scale lengths. But that tiny difference also helps make string bending feel extra easy. Our particular guitar came with a great setup at medium-low action. It also came in a very nice gig bag with additional foam padding inserts. If our guitar is any indication, you’ll be able to take one out of a shipping box and go straight to a gig or recording studio with total confidence.
Sublime Sounds
To put the SE 594 through its paces, I hooked it up with Fender Super-Sonic and Mesa/Boogie Mark IV amps and dirt pedals including a Hermida Distortion and Wampler Pinnacle. The two low-output 58/15 LT “S” humbucking pickups, unsurprisingly, have an old-school PAF-vibe and are rich with clarity and vintage soul. The two tone knobs feature push-pull functionality and switch between humbucker and single-coil sounds. The volume difference between humbucker and single-coils is subtle. You’ll hear it, but it won’t be nearly as jarring as it is on many other guitars with the same feature. In both pickup configurations, the dynamic range is incredibly wide. Played clean and set up bright, I could play spaghetti Western ideas when I picked close to the bridge. But depending on my attack, I could also generate anything from whisper-quiet notes to all-out aggression. Add reverb, delay, and a few double-stop 10ths, and the PRS sounded positively angelic.
If our guitar is any indication, you’ll be able to take one out of a shipping box and go straight to a gig or recording studio with total confidence.
With added dirt, the neck pickup was incredibly warm and creamy without sounding woofy, even with the tone rolled back quite a bit. The bridge pickup, meanwhile, flirted with near-infinite sustain when I paired it with the Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, generating killer fusion sounds that made shredding feel effortless. Rolling the tone knob back up on the bridge pickup yields an exemplary lead sound. And with less dirt, it makes beautiful, jangly rhythm sounds.
The Verdict
The SE 594 proves, as so many PRS SE guitars have before, that affordable doesn’t require sacrifice of quality or sound. For anyone who’s lusted after a McCarty 594 but hasn't had the money, or who fears nicking up a guitar that precious, the SE McCarty 594 is an accessible gem. It can sound mellow, fat, clear, or beastly. And the sub-$1K price tag makes it a steal for a guitar that looks more expensive and has the tonal range, stability, and quality to make it a gigging workhorse. There’s just not much out there in the electric guitar universe that can beat the value of this extraordinary instrument.
PRS SE McCarty 594 Demo | First Look
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Hotone Wong Press
Cory Wong Signature Volume/Wah/Expression Pedal
Renowned international funk guitar maestro and 63rd Grammy nominee Cory Wong is celebrated for his unique playing style and unmistakable crisp tone. Known for his expressive technique, he’s been acclaimed across the globe by all audiences for his unique blend of energy and soul. In 2022, Cory discovered the multi-functional Soul Press II pedal from Hotone and instantly fell in love. Since then, it has become his go-to pedal for live performances.
Now, two years later, the Hotone team has meticulously crafted the Wong Press, a pedal tailored specifically for Cory Wong. Building on the multi-functional design philosophy of the Soul Press series, this new pedal includes Cory’s custom requests: a signature blue and white color scheme, a customized volume pedal curve, an adjustable wah Q value range, and travel lights that indicate both pedal position and working mode.
Cory’s near-perfect pursuit of tone and pedal feel presented a significant challenge for our development team. After countless adjustments to the Q value range, Hotone engineers achieved the precise WAH tone Cory desired while minimizing the risk of accidental Q value changes affecting the sound. Additionally, based on Cory’s feedback, the volume control was fine-tuned for a smoother, more musical transition, enhancing the overall feel of volume swells. The team also upgraded the iconic travel lights of the Soul Press II to dual-color travel lights—blue for Wah mode and green for Volume mode—making live performances more intuitive and visually striking!
In line with the Hotone Design Inspiration philosophy, the Wong Press represents the perfect blend of design and inspiration. Now, musicians can channel their inner Cory Wong and enjoy the freedom and joy of playing with the Wong Press!
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
EarthQuaker Devices Silos Multi-generational Time Reflection Delay Pedal
