Quote:
Originally Posted by GuitarLuva
Ray, it's hard to describe so I'll try it like this. The X20 to me sounds like a dreadnought. It's smaller in size than my Gibson dread but almost as loud. The X30 has a totally different sound than the X20. I can't really compare it to anything that I've ever played. To my ears, and at least for the Emeralds I have/had, the X20 sounds more like a wooden guitar than the X30. I would have to put the X30 in a league of its own. It has huge bottom end that goes through the players body to make an awesome playing experience. The top strings don't thump like the X20, but the overall guitar does, if that makes any sense. I miss the X30  . There's features on each that I like over the other but I will give a slight edge to the X30 if I could only have one, just for that player experience. |
Interesting. I always felt like the X20 felt like a 000 but sounded like a dreadnaught, my point of reference being a D28 I had for many years. But I was coming from an 000-15M and didn't really need the volume of the X20. And after trying an old and new model of the X7, settled on the new X7 as the perfect single acoustic for me. And to me, it plays like a parlor guitar but sounds a lot like a 000. I like the short scale and I like the sound of it even a bit more than the X20, although I'm sure I'm in the minority on that. But I have to admit, these impressions are getting kind of fuzzy as I haven't played a dread any significant amount since I sold that D28 around 15 years ago and now that 000-15M is getting to be many months in the rearview as well.
Given the way others have talked about the X30, I kind of figured if I ever wanted a bigger sounding guitar, I'd probably like the depth and warmth of the X30 more than the X20 as a companion to the X7. The X20 had a kind of ring-y tip end I was always trying to tame. I don't really have any desire for anything as larger or as loud as the X30. But if I ever developed the desire for another louder guitar... I wouldn't mind having a guitar with a longer scale length, but I'm not minding the short scale, so that's not a real issue.