Best Acoustic Tone Plugged In?

[hotroad]

I am seeing a lot of hybrid electrics with the ability to play acoustic tones via a piezo or other systems. I want to know which guitar produces an acoustic tone that most resembles an acoustic guitar amplified. I have listened to several but they fall way short of producing good acoustic guitar tones plugged in. Help please. The closest I have heard so far is the Godin LGX-SA.

[Methos1979]

Cole Clark, Maton and Takamine are the best guitars for producing excellent amplified tone right out of the box. These are guitars with factory built, multi-source pickup systems that are purposefully built to be just that - guitars that amplify incredibly well. Especially the Cole Clark guitars which have a proprietary 3-way pickup system designed from the ground up to produce the best amplified acoustic sound. After those three, look for guitars with multi-source pickup systems.

[Chriscom]

I wonder if the OP is thinking more along the lines of hybrids like the Fender Acoustasonic line, as opposed to getting the best natural tone out of an acoustic guitar like the excellent ones Scott mentions.

I've not heard tons of guitars in this category, but one local guy makes very good use of the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, with a fairly credible acoustic tone and very good electric ones.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...guitar-natural

That's pricey at $2000, like the Tele and Strat versions. There are less expensive ones by Fender but I don't know my way around them.

Another option rarely mentioned around here are the PRS Hollowbody II piezos, which are bona fide electric guitars + the piezo. One musician around here got a really good acoustic tone out of his, but I think with some additional pedal trickery.

Then there's the Cole Clarks, which Scott touched on. But apart from having probably the best acoustic amplification, they've added proprietary humbuckers to a bunch of guitars, with tech that allows them to amplify all the acoustic strings. Their True Hybrid is probably the pinnacle of that effort, which is a bit frustrating here in the U.S. since distribution is limited so it's hard to try before buy.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Chriscom

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...guitar-natural

That's pricey at $2000, like the Tele and Strat versions. There are less expensive ones by Fender but I don't know my way around them.

I had one of the Player Acoustasonics (got it for under a grand). It was ok but at the end of the day neither fish nor fowl for me so I sold it.

Of the guitars I've owned, a Martin Modern Deluxe with built-in Fishman Aura probably had the most "acoustic" voice. If you really have to have "as close to a mic'd acoustic as possible" sound, you pretty much need to run an IR in the chain. Personally I find my NC-2 to be close enough for gigs but I'm not really a purist. Last night I was running a dirt pedal with my 000-28

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by hotroad

I am seeing a lot of hybrid electrics with the ability to play acoustic tones via a piezo or other systems. I want to know which guitar produces an acoustic tone that most resembles an acoustic guitar amplified. I have listened to several but they fall way short of producing good acoustic guitar tones plugged in. Help please. The closest I have heard so far is the Godin LGX-SA.

Hi hotroad
I've tried hybrids, and they've always come up short on the acoustic end (which is my main instrument). Doesn't matter if they were $200 options or $4000 guitars.

The acoustic part is lame, and unrealistic. Also the necks on most are too narrow for me - I prefer a thin or med C neck profile with at least 1¾" nut. These are invariably electric guitars, setup and tensioned like an electric guitar with an add on for the guy who needs an acoustic for one song a night in the band.

Just my opinion…but one based on playing a lot of hybrids.

[Petty1818]

Probably the best I have heard is the newer Cole Clark models, but personally, I see those guitars as a niche product. This is one area where I feel as though acoustic and electrics need to be separate. It can be a pain bringing two instruments to a gig, but you will get the best results that way.

[hotroad]

OP here....i am after a hybrid, not purely acoustic, guitar. As mentioned in the responses here, the acoustic tone in hybrids lacks so much. I have nice acoustics already including a Cole Clark. Don't need another one right now. I would like a hybrid that sounds good via the piezo as well as the electric sounds via a humbucker or single coil. Thanks for ideas so far.

[mr. beaumont]

Never heard anything better than Godin's "Duet Ambiance"-- but that's a nylon string...I haven't had a chance to try one of their steel string hybrids, but my guess would be they have a model with a pickup system equally as good...

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by hotroad

OP here....i am after a hybrid, not purely acoustic, guitar. As mentioned in the responses here, the acoustic tone in hybrids lacks so much. I have nice acoustics already including a Cole Clark. Don't need another one right now. I would like a hybrid that sounds good via the piezo as well as the electric sounds via a humbucker or single coil. Thanks for ideas so far.

It's interesting, since some companies build electrics that they try to add acoustic tones to, while others build acoustics with electric added on.

I expect as a Cole Clark owner you're aware of the True Hybrid, and that Cole Clark is installing a variety of electric pickups on a bunch of their acoustic line, in all kinds of configurations. That includes humbucker style and single coil. Anyway I can't resist posting this Aaron Short demo of the True Hybrid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2theQ7jlG0

The Godin A6 hybrid has its fans, has a humbucker, plenty of videos out there. Been out for awhile and they have others.

[Chriscom]

Here's another one, new to me, the Anderson Crowdster Plus 2, latest in a line. Looks like mainly an electric guitar company--

https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/crowdster-plus-2

Only learned of it because it has a new fan here on the forum

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=681476

Interestingly from the promo copy, The same wonderfully lush and uncompromised live music acoustic abilities as the Crowdster Acoustic, expanded to utter magnificence by 2 electric guitar pickups that are specifically tuned to listen to the voice of bronze strings.

I'm sure it's utterly magnificent, but it caught my eye since Cole Clark has been promoting its own patent-pending system:

A large part of the amplified sound of an acoustic guitar is the use of phosphor bronze strings. This raised an issue. Electric magnetic pickups will only hear the nickel core of an acoustic guitar string, meaning the bottom four strings produce a lower volume than the top two strings.... To combat this, Cole Clark’s resident electronics genius Paul Gale set about inventing a machine capable of altering the strength of each pole piece in a magnetic pickup to perfectly balance the sound for phosphor bronze strings....

[lkingston]

My Godin Multiac steel sounds very good as either an electric or an acoustic. it is the only hybrid I know of that has a microphone blend on the acoustic side. it also has two output jacks so that you can separate and process the two sounds independently

[AeroUSA]

Cole Clark or Maton for me depending on your flavor. Other systems can be great too depending on your needs. There really isn’t a ‘best’.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Chriscom

Here's another one, new to me, the Anderson Crowdster Plus 2, latest in a line. Looks like mainly an electric guitar company--

https://www.andersonguitarworks.com/crowdster-plus-2

Anderson has been around for decades - they make fantastic electrics. I haven't played a Crowdster but my Raven pretty much ruins me for anything Fender builds.

[8ftsq]

I have a Taylor 2005 310CE that had an ES1. I took that out and have an Anthem system in which works well. I also have a Yamaha A3R which sounds very good plugged in. Both require some EQ tweaking and compression though.

My struggle is after recording my guitars with nice mics, I expect that for live sound plugged in to a PA. Never gonna happen

[Charlie Bernstein]

Cole Clarks are specifically and exclusively designed for amplification and are made entirely with sustainable woods.

See: Cole Clark at 2024 NAMM

Cool, yes?