Audio clip comparison of Rainsong WS Black Ice and Emerald X20z

[gerardo1000]

I just got these two brand new guitars, an Emerald X20, and a Rainsong WS Black Ice, both stringed with Elexir Nanoweb 80/20 bronze light, and just for fun I recorded with my cellphone an 8 minutes comparison of the two guitars, as a LISTENER not the player, hear them. Only acoustic. I play mainly fingerstyle with my bare fingers, no nails, no fingerpicks, no flat pick apart from a couple of examples. Better if you use a headset. Please forgive my errors while playing I am quite a beginner and I am 70 yrs old! Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1erM...ew?usp=sharing

[David Eastwood]

Nice job, Gerardo!

I just listened on my computer speakers, and was hard-pressed to tell a difference. The Rainsong seemed a tad louder, but that could just be mic positioning. The Emerald was maybe just a hair brighter in tone, but, honestly, I think they both sounded like pretty darn good guitars.

I think I’d prefer a somewhat mellower string than 80/20s on either of them, though - how do you like the sound?

[gerardo1000]

The sound of both guitars is less bright when you hear it in person. The difference is subtle and I do not know if my cellphone recorder was able to capture it. When I play the X20 I find it a tiny bit darker than the Rainsong, but from the point of view of the listener I think that the opposite happens.

[JackDaniel]

Wish you could have compared the sable you had for sale too. That would have been a great clip!

How come you didn't like it anyway?

[gerardo1000]

"How come you didn't like it anyway?"
Jack Daniel, the Sable had definitely a darker sound compared to the X20 and the Rainsong Black Ice, with subdued trebles and powerful low end. A fantastic guitar if you strum of use a flat pick. It is not that I didn't like it, it has to do with how I play. I only fingerpick, with bare fingers, no finger picks, no nails. So I produce a sort of "soft" tone. Because of that, I prefer a guitar that is brighter sounding in order to compensate for my playing technique.

[SpruceTop]

I dig both your RainSong and Emerald guitar tones. I've often posted that a RainSong WS1000 (Classic/Black Ice) is the sound of carbon fiber!

[Methos1979]

Great comparison recording and demo. You can hear the cell phone auto compression algorithm coloring things a bit but you still get the differences. I totally recognise the differences between the Emerald and Black Ice Rainsong. I definitely prefer the brightness of the RainSong Black Ice for the fingerstyle numbers and over the Emerald. I found both to be way too bright strummed and I think both would be well served with a PB string over the 80/20's for those that primarily strum. The fingerstyle and flatpicking work with either but I'd still go PB on the BI.

By the way, your playing for a 'new guy' is pretty gosh darn good!