#1
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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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#2
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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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#3
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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. |
#4
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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) |
#5
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#6
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#7
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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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#8
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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? |
#9
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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. |
#10
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#11
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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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#12
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#13
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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. |
#14
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Last edited by DavidE; 03-03-2016 at 12:36 AM. |
#15
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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. |