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  #1  
Old 03-02-2016, 01:51 AM
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dogdog49 dogdog49 is offline
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Default Carbon fiber travel guitar plugged-in comparisons?

I'm looking for folks that have had a chance to compare any of the current crop of CF travel guitars plugged in as I'm looking for one for exclusively amplified performing. I'm interested in either the CA Cargo, Emerald X7-OS or Journey OF-660. I do play quite a bit in dropped tunings, including open C, so I'd be interested in any comments about how the various models fare in that regard as well. I have no chance to demo any of them myself locally so any input will be much appreciated.
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Old 03-02-2016, 08:23 AM
dberlind dberlind is offline
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Default CA vs Emerald

I have owned both the CA-Cargo and the Emerald X7-OS. I sold the Emerald and regretted selling it and eventually found a used Cargo at a decent price. If it came down to one or the other, it's close, but I think I'd lean towards the Emerald. The Journey seems overpriced.
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Old 03-02-2016, 10:01 AM
penny penny is offline
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I think the Emerald will be better for exclusive plugged in use. The stock electronics and the built in tuner and lighter weight would make a better stage guitar I think. Also the Cargo has so much bass, and not much onboard control, it can be a handful to amplify whereas the Emerald is very balanced.

Last edited by penny; 03-02-2016 at 11:47 AM.
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Old 03-02-2016, 10:17 AM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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It is going to depend so much on which pickup is in the guitar, so any answer we can give will depend on that first. I have not played all of the guitars you mentioned, and don't perform or plug in anymore.

With an under-saddle piezo transducer (UST) the acoustic sound does not matter much, if at all. Example: Years ago I was looking to get an original Fishman Matrix put in my Martin J-40 at Gryphon. When I expressed concern about tone, the salesman had me play a D-28 with that pickup. Then he had me play a Martin Backpacker with the same pickup in it. Very little difference in the amplified sound, huge difference in the acoustic sound.

We have a Cargo with whatever pickup it came with, but have not plugged it in except to test for function in the store. My Rainsong WS-1000 has the Fishman Blender system, from before they switched to the LR Baggs system. And it sounds awesome. You have to dial in the right balance of microphone and UST, but I was shocked at the wonderful sound the first time I heard it through a real system and good monitors on a big stage.

You mentioned lowered tunings. I play a lot of slack-key in several lowered tunings. As a general rule, short scale and lowered tunings don't mix all that well - the strings get floppy. We tune the Cargo down to Open G about 90% of the time, and it does OK there. But taking it lower still has not worked out that great. It is my wife's guitar and she prefers light gauge strings. Lowered tunings likely work better with medium gauge strings. Hope these comments help you.

(Whoo hoo! Post #1500)
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Old 03-02-2016, 11:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dberlind View Post
I have owned both the CA-Cargo and the Emerald X7-OS. I sold the Emerald and regretted selling it and eventually found a used Cargo at a decent price. If it came down to one or the other, it's close, but I think I'd lean towards the Emerald. The Journey seems overpriced.
Unless I'm mistaken the Journey is only $1099.00 while the Cargo is $1599.00. (The Emerald X7-OS Opus is $999.00.) So the Journey definitely doesn't seem overpriced in this catagory.
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Old 03-02-2016, 11:32 AM
Fixedgear60 Fixedgear60 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penny View Post
I think the Emerald will be better for exclusive plugged in use. The stock electronics and the built in runner and lighter weight would make a better stage guitar I think. Also the Cargo has so much bass, and not much onboard control, it can be a handful to amplify whereas the Emerald is very balanced.
Agree with penny... the emerald b-band is a superior option for plugged in playing!!!
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Old 03-02-2016, 12:22 PM
Ted @ LA Guitar Sales Ted @ LA Guitar Sales is offline
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Originally Posted by dberlind View Post
...If it came down to one or the other, it's close, but I think I'd lean towards the Emerald. The Journey seems overpriced.
Considering the Journey is a $100 less than an Emerald X7 with a K&K, I would like to know what you mean by this.
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Old 03-02-2016, 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Ted @ LA Guitar Sales View Post
Considering the Journey is a $100 less than an Emerald X7 with a K&K, I would like to know what you mean by this.
Hi Ted. I didn't know you could get an X7 with a K&K. That seems like a good, warm pickup choice for the X7 which sounds a little bright acoustically compared to the Cargo and the Journey on the videos I've seen. Have you compared the K&K in the X7 to the B-Band option that Emerald offers and do you have any other insight you could share on the amplified sound of these three guitars?

One more question to complicate this further. It looks like most airlines have new carry-on regulations that have eliminated the old 46" total linear dimensions regardless of shape and gone to a total of 46" with 24" as the maximum length of any single dimension. I'm not sure if even the Journey qualifies any more. Do you know what its bag dimensions are and if folks are having trouble getting any or all of these onto planes without checking them?
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Old 03-02-2016, 01:57 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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My Emerald X5 Life sounds unsatisfying acoustically, but plug in the factory pickup and it sounds like a full size piezoelectric acoustic. Very good actually. Plus on board controls that I like.

I bought the Journey for the acoustic sound which is very satisfying . It comes with a factory pickup that sounds more natural, but I'd need to use a pre-amp with eq to get it where I'd like. But the end result is more natural sounding to me. They each have their place.
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Old 03-02-2016, 04:04 PM
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My Emerald X5 Life sounds unsatisfying acoustically, but plug in the factory pickup and it sounds like a full size piezoelectric acoustic. Very good actually. Plus on board controls that I like.

I bought the Journey for the acoustic sound which is very satisfying . It comes with a factory pickup that sounds more natural, but I'd need to use a pre-amp with eq to get it where I'd like. But the end result is more natural sounding to me. They each have their place.
Thanks David. So I think you're saying that as long as your willing to deal with external EQ you ultimately end up with a more satisfying amplified sound from the Journey than you can achieve with your X5 - is that correct? Of course the X7 might be a different story, especially with a K&K.
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Old 03-02-2016, 04:08 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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....So I think you're saying that as long as your willing to deal with external EQ you ultimately end up with a more satisfying amplified sound....
That's almost a universal statement for any pickup. Almost all will benefit from an outboard preamp and some tone tweaking.
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Old 03-02-2016, 04:10 PM
Ted @ LA Guitar Sales Ted @ LA Guitar Sales is offline
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Originally Posted by dogdog49 View Post
Hi Ted. I didn't know you could get an X7 with a K&K. That seems like a good, warm pickup choice for the X7 which sounds a little bright acoustically compared to the Cargo and the Journey on the videos I've seen. Have you compared the K&K in the X7 to the B-Band option that Emerald offers and do you have any other insight you could share on the amplified sound of these three guitars?
I read here that you can special order an Emerald with a K&K, if I recall it costs a bit more the B-band, but I don't recall the price. As to warming up the tone of the X7, you wont do it with a transparent pickup like the K&K, all it does is amplify the natural tone.

Quote:
...One more question to complicate this further. It looks like most airlines have new carry-on regulations that have eliminated the old 46" total linear dimensions regardless of shape and gone to a total of 46" with 24" as the maximum length of any single dimension. I'm not sure if even the Journey qualifies any more. Do you know what its bag dimensions are and if folks are having trouble getting any or all of these onto planes without checking them?
There was some talk of requiring even smaller carry on cases, but the luggage manufacturers went ballistic, so I thought the idea was nixed. As far as I know, no one has ever had a problem carrying their Journey on board an airplane.
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Old 03-02-2016, 05:12 PM
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dogdog49 dogdog49 is offline
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[QUOTE=Ted @ LA Guitar Sales;4850103]I read here that you can special order an Emerald with a K&K, if I recall it costs a bit more the B-band, but I don't recall the price. As to warming up the tone of the X7, you wont do it with a transparent pickup like the K&K, all it does is amplify the natural tone.

Thanks, Ted. I've had wooden guitars with B-Band (and other) undersaddle pickups that I've swapped out for K&K's and they sounded what I would describe as warmer to me, but maybe I'm using the wrong word for what I'm hearing. It just seemed like there was some sort of harshness or hardness to the tone that I could never EQ out which disappeared when I installed the K&K's. And that was even at low, "pre-quack" volumes. Maybe the K&K just emphasizes the low-mids and that's what I'm hearing. I don't see a K&K option on the Emerald site anymore and I heard elsewhere in this site that some bridge modification is required for a proper install, but I wrote asking if it's still available.
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Old 03-02-2016, 07:02 PM
DavidE DavidE is offline
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Originally Posted by dogdog49 View Post
Thanks David. So I think you're saying that as long as your willing to deal with external EQ you ultimately end up with a more satisfying amplified sound from the Journey than you can achieve with your X5 - is that correct? Of course the X7 might be a different story, especially with a K&K.
Depends on the gig. For my acoustic duo gigs, I prefer to take a cheap Crafter SA because of the huge bottom end I can get out of the factory piezoelectric with no feedback. I want the guitar to sound bigger than natural.

Last edited by DavidE; 03-03-2016 at 12:36 AM.
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Old 03-02-2016, 07:13 PM
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I have replaced the B-Band on several guitars, in favor of the K&K--Obviously, I like the K&K.

As far as to which small guitar would be the best for plugged in, performance-level, I would have to run with the Emeralds. The nice long scales of the small Emeralds make them, in my estimation, a performance instrument. Even though they are small, when powered up they are stellar.
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