OM Shootout: Vintage Sound (Merrill OM-18) vs Modern Sound (Collings OM1MC)

[Matts67]

Both sound great, but I'm really missing that Collings right now!

[Kh1967]

Both sound great, Brendan. But, my ear does bend toward the Collings in this comparison.

Good to see you with an OM, and a Collings at that.

Enjoy your time with those stellar boxes....

[brencat]

Originally Posted by hairpuller

I'm sure they are lovely guitars, Brendan. Gettin' back into the OM's I see!

scott

Hey Scott. Yeah these kinda just fell into my lap. Two is as far as I go though

Originally Posted by Matts67

Both sound great, but I'm really missing that Collings right now!

LOL. Hey, you had a month to sell it. I was the only one who wanted it apparently!

Originally Posted by Kh1967

Both sound great, Brendan. But, my ear does bend toward the Collings in this comparison.

Good to see you with an OM, and a Collings at that.

Enjoy your time with those stellar boxes....

Hi Kori and thanks. Took a long time to find the right Collings. And I can't believe the difference in feel between this one which is dialed in versus what I used to own.

[usb_chord]

Much prefer the Merrill. I dont like the edginess in the Collings top end as much. The Merrill is more round there. It's not as clear as the Collings, but I'm OK w/ that

[mcduffnw]

For me the Merrill sounds really wonderful...warm, smooth, but firm in all registers, an elegant lyrical/musical vintage voice.

The Collings is bright and scratchy sounding, and a wee bit boxy sounding in the bass register, plus a lot of pick and string noise in the way of the actual tone of the guitar.

The Merrill for me, and I really liked the music you chose to play...very very nice!


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[AcousticDreams]

Great comparison. Very revealing.
What mics did you use?

From your comparison...I believe the Merrill seems to have more overtones and the Collins is more fundamental.

I tend to like fundamental a little bit more. It cuts through better especially in recordings. Thus in this demo I liked the Collins.

It is one of those things...where we want all the harmonics and tone we can get...but sometimes individual notes get lost when there is too much going on.

[Wrighty]

I tend to agree with Knives and Guitars in that I lean toward a more fundamental, articulate tone. I have a similar situation as you with my two OM’s as my Webber (Sitka/Sapele) has a drier and more articulate tone vs my Furch (Sitka/RW) that has a more modern and overtone heavy tone. I prefer my Webber for most things I play.

In this case however I prefer the Collings by a fair way - it seems balanced and articulate yet at the same time has some warmth and natural reverb. The Merrill sounds a little flat in comparison.

You also seem to be more comfortable playing the Collings and that may be having an impact.

Lovely guitars!

[JayBee1404]

I voted for the Collings because it had a rounder, warmer, more balanced sound to my ears. However, I would have preferred to hear them finger-picked - for which I believe OMs excel - as well as strummed and flat-picked. That might have changed my opinion.

[MickZ]

Well, it's a tie. I much prefer the Merrill strummed, but like the Collings for the flat-pick runs.

[guitarman68]

Great comparison - thanks for posting ! I voted Merrill.

Surprised how good the Collings sounds in the lower register. But still has this Collings signature thing going on in the upper mids that to my ears is a bit edgy.
Merrill has more warmth overall and sounds rounder, less edge.
That big, lush voice makes the Merrill a bit harder to record, especially when some cutting edge in a dense mix is needed. That's where the Collings stands out.

personal background:
Looking for an alternative to the signature Martin tone I played Collings guitars almost exclusively from 2002 to 2014: OM1A, OM2H, OM2HA deep body, OM3A, 0002HA 12 fret, D1A , D2H, D2HA. Only Martin I played during that time was a vintage D18 from 1948. I loved it (and still do) for its balanced sound, perfect recording guitar.
Found me a used Merrill OM18 in 2014 and still recall the impression when unpacking the box and plucking the first note: Wow, I could not believe how full and resonant this OM sounded. Bigger than its size would suggest, reacts to the lightest touch. Visited my local dealer and he was blown away. It's still the most impressive guitar in my collection (see below), but definitely not the easiest when it comes to recording.

Here is a recording I did with the Merrill OM18 back in 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU4vrg02w-I

[Treenewt]

Brendan

Both are world class...dang you’ve had some fine ones come your way! The Collings got my vote just because of the added clarity I heard, but I think a man could be happy with either! Very nice!

[CASD57]

Collings does have a bit more bass but for me, the rest of the tone lays on top..In your face...type tone
The Merrill is more ..mmmmm seasoned sounding? more depth to the tone..

Nothing wrong with either I would be proud to own either one but I vote for the Merrill

[TBman]

I like the Collings in this comparison.

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by brencat

Thanks for listening. This is my first Merrill and I really wanted to try one, and they seem to be rare. I don't have any basis to agree or disagree with you on whether or not it is "ordinary." But I do know that it is good enough to make me sell my 2008 D-18 Authentic 1937, and is better than ANY modern Martin I've owned to date, and I've had plenty of good ones believe me. If it gets better than this... whoa, then I hope I find more Merrills to try!

....”ordinary”...was a poor choice of words....what I meant when I wrote it was it sounded like what I expect a good Martin based OM guitar to sound like. Its a sound very familiar to me...and to hear just how really good a guitar is one has to hear it in person...so I don’t doubt it’s a really great sounding guitar...

...the Collings surprised me...on your recording it has both warmth and crisp clarity...it sounds more “hi-fi” to me....not your typical sounding OM which is why I described it as a particularly fine sounding example....

...in any case...nice job posting your sound clips and taking the time to respond to the various comments...play on boss!!...

[Goodallboy]

The Collings sounds best to me but small bodied guitars just sound small to my ear and I can’t warm up to them.