Ed Sheeran playing Wee Lowden

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by stevecuss

All the same, I'm glad to see him playing the Lowden. I think George built it with him in mind when he saw that little Martin a few years ago.

I found this article on the story of the Wee Lowden:

http://www.acousticmagazine.com/revi...he-wee-lowden/

Matt

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by fazool

I'm hyper over sensitive to quack and thought this sounded great

I have to agree with this. I think a Lowden is a much better guitar for Ed than the Martins he was playing - and I'm a Martin guy! (Although my lottery-win guitar would be a Lowden S50!!).

[AeroUSA]

Even his fancy Custom Shop Martin?

[Andy Howell]

Go to an open mic in the U.K. and all the young guys are playing baby Martins or Taylors. This is not a generation being raised in high end guitars.

The wee Lowden is a ridiculous price for what it is!

[kcnbys]

Originally Posted by open-road-matt

He might be too busy making hit records and selling out stadiums as a solo act to worry about finding a preamp with the right input impedance to match his K&K.

Just joking around of course but given what he does and where he does it one could argue that this is an appropriate pickup.

An under saddle transducer can give a player a very usable tone that is pretty trouble-proof regardless of the venue and the volume especially in the smaller guitars that he plays.

If you watch some of his looping videos he's using the guitar to produce all kinds of different percussion sounds as well as various guitar parts all while running the signal through a crazy mega-looper/control pedal. My guess (just a guess) is that a UST probably gives him the most response from all of the different parts of the guitar with the least amount of trouble with feedback, weird frequencies, etc.

I think often that we (for sure I do) here on the AGF forget just how small the percentage is of people who know or care a lick about plugged in guitar tone. It's so easy to let "perfect" become the enemy of good. I've spent way too much time, energy and money screwing around with guitar tone forgetting that it has little to nothing to do with making music and getting that music to people.

And while it may sound less than perfect to us guitar nerds some people enjoy the attack and response of an under saddle transducer. I know I do. I've tried just about every pickup on the market and I feel like a UST is best suited for what I do. I recently pulled a Trance Audio Amulet M out of a guitar and installed a DTar Multisource and I'm so much happier with the way that guitar responds to my playing. (And I'm using almost no mic) So his choice could just be personal preference.

Sorry if that's too much! Just trying to spread some UST love! And that is a beautiful little guitar!

Matt

Couldn't agree more. In fact, there are a fair amount of live sound engineers that have grown so accustomed to the distinctive UST amplified sound (because that is practically all they've heard), that they actually prefer it to say - a more natural sounding SBT. The vast majority of acoustics I hear played at concerts, etc. are all using a UST of some sort.

[Kalani]

Thanks for the interesting article (and wise words) Matt! The link led me to an interesting article on Hiscox Cases too!

[Silly Moustache]

Well I'm an old "guitar snob" but I can't help but like and appreciate Ed Sheeran's work. He's a likeable chap no pretensions and studied music with the son of my best friend in Guildford.

I noticed the change of guitars because I'm nerdy - but best of luck to him whatever.

[Amar911]

I'm also a Martin fan, although I have never owned one and probably never will, because I like my numerous Collings guitars better than the Martins (of course, Bill Collings based his acoustic guitars primarily on Martins). The little Martins that Ed Sheeran played sound okay for his brand of music, but the Wee Lowden sounds vastly better. I'm glad Ed decided to up the quality of his guitar. I hear the UST quack too, but I've never found it offensive for casual music, including the pop scene that Ed is part of. I'm impressed with Ed and his music. It's definitely not my favorite music, but it's pleasing, imaginative, and well performed, unlike the "music" of many of Ed's peer group in the pop world.

[tochiro]

Piezzo can sound great. I've had a Seymour Duncan Wavelength Duo pickup for a few months and it sounds great. In fact it's the best I've ever had and I've had quite a few (K&K, Fishman, Baggs, etc.).