My Local Music Store Received the First Baggs Synapse

[Vancebo]

I went in last night and gave it a try. I plugged in one of their Taylor 814ce Deluxes and my own Dazzo equipped Goodall. Both guitars sounded fantastic. I had the EQ on both the guitar and speaker set flat to begin with. I had to eventually reduce the bass a small amount on both guitars to get the best results. As a previous owner of the Bose systems, AER amps, Schertler Amps, and various PA speakers in the past, here's what I can say about it:

The Synapse..

...has the dispersion of the Bose.
...sounds much bigger than it's size.
...sounds very natural.
...is not as warm as the AER and Scherlters.
...handles the high end trebles very well compared to other things I plug into.
...has a very hefty price tag.

I believe Bags has come up with something different. It sounds different for sure.

More to come later. I will get to bring it home for a more in depth audition that I will be glad to pass onto fellow forum members.

[Cuki79]

Thanks Vancebo,

I can't wait to have more details!!!

Cuki

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

I went in last night and gave it a try. I plugged in one of their Taylor 814ce Deluxes and my own Dazzo equipped Goodall. Both guitars sounded fantastic. I had the EQ on both the guitar and speaker set flat to begin with. I had to eventually reduce the bass a small amount on both guitars to get the best results. As a previous owner of the Bose systems, AER amps, Schertler Amps, and various PA speakers in the past, here's what I can say about it:

The Synapse..

...has the dispersion of the Bose.
...sounds much bigger than it's size.
...sounds very natural.
...is not as warm as the AER and Scherlters.
...handles the high end trebles very well compared to other things I plug into.
...has a very hefty price tag.

I believe Bags has come up with something different. It sounds different for sure.

More to come later. I will get to bring it home for a more in depth audition that I will be glad to pass onto fellow forum members.

Thanks, too, Vancebo! It's always nice to have AGF'ers out there garnering their takes on the latest gear!

[El Conquistador]

Boy, no anti-feedback other than a phase switch. I am thinking that would be a deal killer for me.

Steve

[open-road-matt]

Glad to see these are finally hitting the market!

Matt

[Doug Young]

I got to play thru one of these when I taught a workshop at the Santa Barbara festival this past fall, and also heard Sean McGowen play thru it during his workshop. It wasn't the ideal trial scenario, and we weren't playing very loud, but I thought it sounded really good and it seemed to have lots of power.

[Cochese]

I've always been a fan of Baggs gear and will look forward to trying this. Off the bat with an SPL rating of 117/115 dB and a weight of 38 lbs it seems underpowered and heavy compared to the QSC K10's (129 dB 32 lbs) and FBT 8A ( 120/124 dB 18 lbs) I already use. Kind of seems like more a coffee house kind of thing. Not to discount it on specs alone as they all have to be taken with a grain of salt although the weight is the weight.

They also seem quite expensive for what I assume are an off shore made product. Doug, any idea where these are made?

[necrome]

Looking forward to the audition as well! It's probably something I can never afford and will never have a practical use for, but it looked very interesting the last it appeared on media!

[Vancebo]

I will have time in a week to bring one home for a day and really try putting it through it’s paces. I can say Lloyd has brought something different to the table. That’s what he did with his previous speaker too but we all know how that turned out. I can tell this is excellent for the solo artist. It will cover what a traditional two channel amp won’t cover. I think this speaker will be less susceptible to feedback due to its design. It will give the artist the ability to put it behind him and turn it up. I thought there should be a notch filter on each channel but no. The big thing is the cost. It seems very well built. It passes the bar of a quality build like Baggs usually does.
More later.

[jennconducts]

I heard it used last weekend by a state-of-the-art player (not his choice of gear), using a great guitar, pickup, and preamp. I'm sorry to say that in this case, I didn't like the sound at all. This performer always gets great sound. But, it could have been the room, and it was the smallest of sample sizes, etc.