I've never played an Emerald but I have played quite a few Rainsongs. Yesterday I was at the local RS dealer and I played every one they had. I played the new ch series guitars and as people have said they sound very warm, but I preferred the tone of the APSE model. I think pandaroo said it perfectly "glassier tone and more bite" on the CO models. IMO I would compare the CH series to a wood guitar with laminate b/s and the CO series to a solid wood b/s (again imo). I played a couple different WS models, I thought the ch-WS sounded too muddy for me. The WS model that stood out was the CO-WS1005NS. This model has the offset sound hole, the shorter scale 12 fret (which I prefer), and just sounded more clear to me. I think the APSE model is a great deal for what you get , if you like the Burst but not as loud as the WS models.
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