Emerald Virtuo Plugged in Acoustic Sound

[DavidE]

For those who own one or have heard one in person, how good or bad is the plugged in acoustic sound of the Virtuo? In the videos the electric side sounds really good but I’m not sure about the acoustic side. Obviously the actual acoustic sound unplugged isn’t very good, but ok for practice.

[Markcarl]

Originally Posted by DavidE

For those who own one or have heard one in person, how good or bad is the plugged in acoustic sound of the Virtuo? In the videos the electric side sounds really good but I’m not sure about the acoustic side. Obviously the actual acoustic sound unplugged isn’t very good, but ok for practice.

I’ve got a Virtuo guitar that has quickly become one of my favorite guitars to play. To me the plugged in acoustic sound is typical of the piezo sound I get from other bridge piezo transducers. I will admit to not being a fan of piezo pickups in general. I have acoustic guitars with LR Baggs Anthem, Element, and Dual Source Pickups. I also have a Godin Multiac with RMC saddle transducers. IMO, when compared to these pickups, the Virtuo’s Graphtech Ghost Piezo doesn’t stand out as being better or worse than these.

With the Virtuo you can blend in the sound from the piezo and magnetic pickups. I’ve been experimenting with this and I like the blended sound better than the pure piezo sound. IMO, the magnetic pickups do a better job of capturing the bass frequencies than a piezo does.

I mostly play the Virtuo as an electric guitar using the Fishman Fluence pickups or acoustically (not plugged in at all).

My favorite things about the virtuo are:

It’s light weight so I pick it up and play it more. Sometimes I walk around the house with it. Sometimes I play it acoustically to practice a riff or song.

The Fishman Fluence pickups sound amazing! I use both the humbucker and split coil sounds.

The guitar is easy to play. It has low action with no string buzzing.

The intonation on the guitar is spot on.

I mentioned earlier not being a fan of the sound of piezo pickups by themselves for acoustic guitars. One thing I’m starting to experiment with is using impulse responses to transform the signal from a piezo transducer to sound more like a mic’d acoustic guitar. I have a Fractal Axe-Fx III and FM9 modeler that supports this and have been experimenting with Impulse Response files from 3 Sigma Labs. I mix the impulse response sound with a bit of the signal from the piezo. So far, the sound is an improvement over the piezo only sound. I’ve mostly tried this on my Rainsong and Emerald X20 acoustics but may start experimenting with this on the Virtuo.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by Markcarl

I’ve got a Virtuo guitar that has quickly become one of my favorite guitars to play. To me the plugged in acoustic sound is typical of the piezo sound I get from other bridge piezo transducers. I will admit to not being a fan of piezo pickups in general. I have acoustic guitars with LR Baggs Anthem, Element, and Dual Source Pickups. I also have a Godin Multiac with RMC saddle transducers. IMO, when compared to these pickups, the Virtuo’s Graphtech Ghost Piezo doesn’t stand out as being better or worse than these.

With the Virtuo you can blend in the sound from the piezo and magnetic pickups. I’ve been experimenting with this and I like the blended sound better than the pure piezo sound. IMO, the magnetic pickups do a better job of capturing the bass frequencies than a piezo does.

I mostly play the Virtuo as an electric guitar using the Fishman Fluence pickups or acoustically (not plugged in at all).

My favorite things about the virtuo are:

It’s light weight so I pick it up and play it more. Sometimes I walk around the house with it. Sometimes I play it acoustically to practice a riff or song.

The Fishman Fluence pickups sound amazing! I use both the humbucker and split coil sounds.

The intonation on the guitar is spot on.

I mentioned earlier not being a fan of the sound of piezo pickups by themselves for acoustic guitars. One thing I’m starting to experiment with is using impulse responses to transform the signal from a piezo transducer to sound more like a mic’d acoustic guitar. I have a Fractal Axe-Fx III and FM9 modeler that supports this and have been experimenting with Impulse Response files from 3 Sigma Labs. I mix the impulse response sound with a bit of the signal from the piezo. So far, the sound is an improvement over the piezo only sound. I’ve mostly tried this on my Rainsong and Emerald acoustics but may start experimenting with this on the Virtuo.

I can work with a good sounding piezo. You might try a TC Electronic BodyRez. I have Parker Flys so I have dual source patches set up in my Quad Cortex and Helix.

[dgaemc2]

I echo Markcarl's response. When plugged in going for "Acoustic" sounds I find best results by blending Piezo with Fishman.

Unplugged acoustically, it sounds better than I thought it would. Plugged in electrically it's fantastic and I also love the split coil offerings.

[Markcarl]

Originally Posted by DavidE

I can work with a good sounding piezo. You might try a TC Electronic BodyRez. I have Parker Flys so I have dual source patches set up in my Quad Cortex and Helix.

I think the Virtuo would work well for you David.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by dgaemc2

I echo Markcarl's response. When plugged in going for "Acoustic" sounds I find best results by blending Piezo with Fishman.

Unplugged acoustically, it sounds better than I thought it would. Plugged in electrically it's fantastic and I also love the split coil offerings.

I’m wondering how the acoustic side would sound with acoustic strings. Sometimes that sound g makes all the difference. I have Martins, Taylors, a McPherson (a wood and Sable) and some other cheap stuff but my main gigging guitars are still Rick Turner RS6 and Deuce models unless I’m playing a lower volume gig where a true acoustic will work.

[dgaemc2]

Originally Posted by DavidE

I’m wondering how the acoustic side would sound with acoustic strings. Sometimes that sound g makes all the difference. I have Martins, Taylors, a McPherson (a wood and Sable) and some other cheap stuff but my main gigging guitars are still Rick Turner RS6 and Deuce models unless I’m playing a lower volume gig where a true acoustic will work.

If you are more interested in the "acoustic guitar sound" you might consider a X10 Slimline that ships with acoustic strings? However, the X10 Slimline doesn't compare to Virtuo for versatile electric sounds even if it's equipped with the Krivo neck pickup. Don't get me wrong, the Krivo PU sounds great through electric amps, but it's more for warmer jazzy tones IMO.

[dgaemc2]

DavidE,

I've never seen a comparison demo between X10 Slimline and Virtuo, but here's one that compares X10 Slimline with X10. Both of these guitars have Midi option but that's not required on X10 series and he's not using Midi in this comparison.

https://youtu.be/Yk2Qg7K5Ujs

And here's a great demo of the X10 equipped with Ghost Piezo + Krivo.

This caused me to jump on the 25% off sale for a so equipped X10. No Regrets!!

https://youtu.be/-zWLfc6_mrM

Not sure if this helps or hinders your decision.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by dgaemc2

DavidE,



Not sure if this helps or hinders your decision.

Oh, the decision was already made. As someone who plays Parker and other dual source guitars Ive been watching from a distance. My used one will be here Tuesday.

[dgaemc2]

Originally Posted by DavidE

Oh, the decision was already made. As someone who plays Parker and other dual source guitars Ive been watching from a distance. My used one will be here Tuesday.

Cool!! I didn't realize you already bought a Virtuo.

It's a great guitar!