Soloette vs. Yamaha SLG200NW - contrasts?

[DDW]

Continuing my quest for an environmentally resistant classical. I have owned a Soloette for many years, the tone of it is a little "electric" compared to a normal bodied guitar. Question for anyone who has experienced both: does the Yamaha achieve a more natural classical tone? This is for classical repertoire only. Any other notable differences? Obviously the electronics are substantially different, thinking about other playability factors.

I've owned both and think that there is no comparison. The I've tried a number of the bodiless guitars and the Yamaha is about as good as it gets. It plays and sounds likes a classical and the electronics are stellar.

[DDW]

Thanks Evan. The NW is hard to find but I think I've found one in a shop only 90 minutes drive so I can try it. Just wondered if it was worth investing half a day - sounds like I should.

One of the things that had put me off the Soloette (and stick guitars) is the cord and headphones. It seems like a small thing but the cord bothered me - getting tangled all the time, set it down for a minute and you have to untangle and then re-engage. I tried a Bluetooth transmitter but there was a hopeless delay. Just recently I discovered the new Bluetooth devices with the AptX LL encoders, received them a few days ago and tried again on the Soloette. Huge difference - paying close attention I might notice a very slight delay but it is effectively delay free. That got me thinking about stick guitars again, and the tonal drawbacks of the Soloette.

I found mine in Seattle while visiting my daughter. I thought it was an amazing guitar. I ultimately passed it along because I found I really like having a body to hold.

[btbliatout]

@DDW:

I wrote a brief review about the SLG200NW on this forum somewhere not that long ago. Here's a link: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=600934

The TLDR version is that it's not very comfortable, and it takes a lot of EQ'ing to get rid of an obnoxious 100Hz boominess + high frequency hiss. Though if you can find a way to get comfortable, and EQ out the nonsense, it's pretty darn ok.

I can't speak to the Soloette.

Best of luck finding a good fit for you.

[DDW]

I had found and read your review - thanks for that. One thing I didn't get quite clear from it, was the unbalance that you had coming though the earphone jack, line out, or both? One of the replies to your review was someone who didn't notice it through earphones, perhaps because the earphones response did the necessary filtering.

This would not be used for performing and almost always through earphones of some kind, so not a lot of opportunity to EQ.

One issue I have with many of the Youtube posted reviews of this and other guitars is in the process of recording it they have messed so much with the sound that it is effectively synthesized. Usually with an explanation "just a little reverb for the dead room, some eq to compensate, a little shaping for depth, but otherwise nothing....." so really, I have no idea what the guitar sounds like. Until I hold one in my hand. Maybe just a weakness of the recording process. Anyway I am convinced enough to go try one, in a setting that I can hand it back.

Good for you. Any time a drive can save you a sight-unseen purchase is a good time. Given what you are looking for, I think you will like the Yamaha.

[Doons]

I had one, they are very well made, a good set of head phones are a must and picking up a 12v charger is handy too. Nice natural sound can be dialed in. I moved on from the classical thing, not dedicated enough but the Yamaha was great for practicing on when the wife went to bed. Took a little to get used to the no body thing but it feels good in a classical position. Play wise, it feels like a classical. Worth the drive I think…. GL…

[DDW]

I'll have to see on the body feel thing, but I'm not put off by the Soloette which has a similar body idea. Mine is the original Wright version, apparently he built a few thousand and then licensed it to some other entity that built 25,000, from what I understand they made the "body" pieces flat, not angled like the original which might make a difference. The Yamaha seems to have a little depth to the upper piece - of course it would be easy to make something else to replace that if the guitar was otherwise ideal. Another complaint in the reviews is the edge of the upper piece is a sharp corner on your right arm - just like a traditional classical! - but again easily changed.

[btbliatout]

@DDW:

The unbalanced tone came out of both the 3.5mm headphone jack and the 1/4" jack. Both jacks are rather uniform, so kudos to Yamaha on that.

About specific headphones seeming to have a clear sound, it is our speculation that the headphone speakers are of poor enough quality that they simply aren't capable of producing sounds at the lower or upper end of the audible spectrum, thus they magically cannot reproduce the frequencies that are annoying. In other words, it's due to the headphone's lack of performance that made it pair well with the instrument.

I do think it's good enough for silent practice while traveling. It just needs some mindful EQ'ing if you wanted to perform with it.

And about it's integral mic modeling, most folks seem to like the 12 o'clock position. I actually like the 2 o'clock position.

If you manage to get one, I'm very interested to see what your thoughts on it are! I'm definitely not...happy with mine...but I haven't had the opportunity to test out an alternate, so...it stays with me. I hope someday a local store will have a Godin Multiac I can try.

[jmat]

Looking at the website it is unclear if the Soloette is made anymore.

[Aspiring]

DDW if you haven't seen it already I recommend taking a look at the EO folding classical in this style as well.

He has newer electronics than what I had in mine before I replaced them.

It travels way better than the other options has a full scale / size classical neck and the body braces are round and angled to simulate body depth so for me it is way more comfortable to play in addition to no neck dive as the tuners are at the bottom and the guitar is headless.

As to sound, I created a thread showing where I went with it. I put a Fishman Aura pro in instead of the stock electronics and for headphones I have several options

1) play through my Tonedexter (using it's images or bypass) and the headphone jack. This is the nicest sound combo but is less portable.

2) play through a fender micro champ amp into headphones using the micro champ on "pre ". This is a great travel setup and what I use now for my primary travel and silent practice

3) play through my Yamaha thr30ii and either go direct or headphones. This is another setup I use a lot in the living room.

I'm also considering the waza headphones as an option for wireless and headphones but I'm concerned about noise floor

I also created this thread that has a few sound samples of the aura setup direct to the computer. Note I was travelling and didn't have a good di or a good way to monitor this.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=621795

This is another thread where I sold my slg200n (not nw). It includes a link where I recorded the mic modelling through a good pre amp interface directly same song as the other thread.

Fwiw I believe the sound I am getting from the aura setup and even better from the Tonedexter is superior tot he slg200n although I was able to record the 200n through a better recording chain with monitoring.

It also shows the customizing I did to the upper arm rest to improve the ergos on the Yamaha

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=598819

Aspiring;

The EO is a new one for me and it looks like it would be hard to beat as a traveler. It's a cool looking beast and the reviews on Amazon are mostly positive. If it's a returnable item then the EO would be a riskless try. Thanks for the point.

[DDW]

The Soloette is not longer being made.

I hadn't run across the EO even after extensive searches, thanks for pointing that out. The ability to fold that small isn't important to me, but it does look clever. I would not want to have to spend the time doing the extensive mods that you did - how would you characterize the as-bought sound to that of the Yamaha? Listening to the recordings in your referenced threads the Yamaha actually sounded a little more balanced to me, less bass heavy. But I am learned from this whole experience that listening to recordings vs the live instrument can be very different. The EO website is circumspect on cost - any idea what the ballpark cost is? Does it have a 52mm nut?

Something that I have noticed long ago and continue to hear is the sustain in these stick guitars is unnaturally long, like an electric guitar (which after all is what they are). Is this because the dampening effect of feeding energy into the bridge and wood top is gone? Playing the Soloette is not as satisfying to me (as my wood guitar) in part because some of the dynamics seem to be missing/different.

[Aspiring]

Yeah my point on the lack of monitoring is largely related to the balance. When I recorded the aura I was using a NUX travel amp primarily which has a tiny speaker so I had a bass emphasis on the tone to help the small speaker. I have since adjusted the balance again and the nice thing with the aura and the setups I have is that there is a moderate amount of eq available to play with.

But I noticed on playing the recording back that it had too much bass emphasis through headphone.

As to the current sound of the electronics in the EO I'm not sure. Ken the one behind the EO mentioned to me when I shared what I had done for the sound that he has improved the sound remarkably since mine. Mine the tone was ok but piezo like initially and too much noise floor for my taste. Both of those areas are things that Ken mentioned he targeted as improvements in the latest version. He also mentioned he had others work with him on ordering to work on an improved sound from stock.

However, I believe either with an outboard pre amp and a simple pickup or his new electronics you could get something that is sounding on par or better than the Yamaha.

For sure the dynamics are somewhat different. I also play the silent guitar more with a softer touch you would use for finger style pickup playback / electric playback rather than the stronger string action I would play a full acoustic classical although it actually has a pretty large dynamic range and can handle a moderately heavy touch.

I am going to be bringing my modified EO setup to B.I.G. if any happen to be there or I am open to people giving mine a try if they PM me.

No affiliation with the company other than being a happy customer. Also Ken seemed a very solid guy and good to work with.

As for pricing at the time I purchased mine it was about $200 more delivered than the slg Yamaha.