NGD: Cole Clark Little Lady 2 - Updated! Video shootout with Angel & X7!!

[Methos1979]

Update with embedded video below!

It's been barely a month since I acquired my 2016 Cole Clark Angel 2 guitar but one thing became very clear in that month - I needed a second one as a backup. Why? I was in the Navy. We had a backup for everything. Seriously though, once I got that first Cole Clark and found out just how great their pickup system is, I knew I'd need another one as a backup. Enter the Little Lady 2.

The Cole Clark Little Lady is CC's entry into the small, travel guitar market. Like the Fat Lady (dread) and the Angel (GA) it's built from the ground up around sustainable, local (Australian) sourced woods and the same killer three-way pickup systems that their two flagship models have. They went further in that they wanted (and did) come up with a body design that departs from the norm of many other guitar makers in the travel market by coming up with a body design that while smaller, is larger than many travel guitars and therefore has a decent unplugged sound and volume.

At first glance I found the body of the Little Lady a little on the ugly side. Not so much a 'Little Lady' and more like a 'Little Fat Girl' which would have been an apt name given they call their dread the 'Fat Lady'. But I digress. Anyway, I kept my initial opinion at bay and proceeded to scour the internet for reviews and videos of the Little Lady. There wasn't a lot and that's because it's a somewhat new model. They are hard to find. After making the decision to buy one I could only find two on Reverb, one in Australia and one here in the states. I broke my long held rule of only buying used and bought the one in the states.

My reasoning for going with the Little Lady was two-fold: I'd have a small-body guitar that would be perfect for taking out to open mics or on vacation and whatnot PLUS (and it's a big plus) I would have a backup guitar for live use that has the exact same great pickup system which admittedly is the biggest reason. This was based on the assumption that the amplified sound would be very similar despite the relative difference in body size and scale. From what little I found online it seemed to indicate that would be the case and I'm happy to report that it indeed is.

The Little Lady 2 arrived in a matter of days and was in perfect shape. The gig bag it comes in is pretty cool, using the same basic Cole Clark tan/grey color scheme and logo as they do with their hard cases. The gig bag is well made and has back pack straps and a nice over-sized front pocket for storage. The size is very similar to a Taylor GS mini or an Emerald X7. In fact the guitar came packed and shipped in a Taylor GS mini box. I took a bunch of photos along side my Emerald X7 custom as well of course as with the Cole Clark Angel 2 for direct size comparisons.

Build quality and materials is on par with the Angel with a few exceptions. Like the Angel, my Little Lady is built with solid Australian Blackwood top back and sides with a Queensland Maple neck. The head stock while the same shape is a little shorter and sports Mini Grover tuners vs the full sized ones on the Angel. The bridge and fret board are Blackbean/Blackwood vs the She Oak on the Angel. It's lighter in color. The inlays are a more plain white material vs the nicer abalone on the Angel. The Angel also sports a nice beveled V shape at the base of the fret board where the LL is just cut flat. Like the Angel, the LL came with the ridiculously large strap buttons that were removed and replaced with D'Addario PW brass buttons which work with my strap locks.

Obviously the scale is much shorter. I love the short scale though as I'm used to and prefer short scales. The neck width (nut) and string spacing are the same as the Angel though. The neck carve is very similar but not exact. The LL is a little more round and full whereas the Angle is every so slightly thinner and a little more comfortable. The LL neck uses the same classical guitar through to body construction as the larger guitars. The nut, saddle and pins are white Tusq vs the black Tusq on the Angel. That's about it for physical differences.

Sound-wise the guitars are similar in general overall tone with the larger guitar have a bit more depth and fullness as you would expect with a larger GA body. That said I found the LL unamplified sound to be quite good strummed with a pick. Amplified the two guitars sound VERY much alike in general over all tone again with the larger Angel to have a slight edge in overall volume and fuller tone. But as hoped the LL sounded excellent amplified through the exact same settings on EAE X6 into the Bose S1 with the onboard preamp/EQ settings also the same on each guitar. So, similar to the Angel, the LL can easily go from strummed with a pick to fingerstyle with the same EQ changes on the guitar. Easy-peasy.

One other difference is with the onboard controls. On the Angel the controls are located on the lower bout just before the waist. On the LL the controls are located on the upper bout just after the waist. Also, there is a foam gasket under the control panel on the LL. I contacted CC on their FB PM (the only way to get to them, it would appear) and they replied that this is because the pickup face plate was designed for the Fat Lady and the Angel and the Little Lady with it's smaller body and the need for different location on the upper bout they needed to use the gasket since it would not sit flush. They did say that a new face plate is being designed but still a year out but they also took my email address and said they would contact me when they are ready and give me one for free if I wanted. So I'm assuming it will be the same size and have the same controls/spacing.

In summary, I'm quite pleased with the Cole Clark Little Lady 2. The 3-way pickup system is the exact same system found on the larger body CC's and performs just as well. The build quality and overall appearance and tone is very good. The LL2's retail for up around $1,800 with a street price (if you can find them!) of around $1,500 new. This compares to the Angel 2 with retail/street prices of around $2,700/$2,300 new. I did briefly consider going with a Maton Mini EM6 as my backup but decided in the end to stay with the 'known quantity' of the CC pickup system.

Photos to follow.

Performance update:

We were asked to play my 40th high school class reunion which was an outdoor bonfire back in September. I opted to take the Little Lady instead of the Angel just for ease of transportation. The guitar sounded excellent. Plugged in the tone defies it's small size although the Angel definitely does sound better. But I'm loving that small body and short scale. Extremely comfortable to play and easy to transport in its well-made and good looking little gig bag.

Update: So, I made a video comparison that I'm actually pretty happy with. I tried my very best to keep the talking to a minimum (difficult for me!) and let the guitars do the talking. The video is just over 10 minutes long and is in two basic parts. First, I do a three-way comparison acoustically only (no pickup in the X7) playing each guitar strummed with a pick and then fingerstyle. I play the exact same simple chord progression each time.

The second part is the Little Lady and the Angel played unplugged strummed, amplified strummed, amplified fingerstyle with EQ flat (same as strummed) and then amplified fingerstyle with EQ tweaked. I'm going through the EAE StompMix X6 with same settings dialed in for the Angel and into the Bose S1.

The usual disclaimers apply - this is recorded on a mobile phone and then uploaded to YouTube so only so much audio quality to be expected since the phone does it's auto-volume thing and YouTube it's compression thing. It's best listened to on a nice set of headphones or at least some decent speakers.

One last thing, if you click the word YouTube in the lower right corner to actually watch it on YouTube, down in my description comments section (hit SHOW MORE) I took the time to put direct timestamp links to the various types of playing which allows you to jump directly between playing for the best comparison.

Enjoy!

[Methos1979]

Photos

[Methos1979]

More photos

[Methos1979]

Last but not least...

[pandaroo]

Great post and great comparison.

How does the little lady compared to the emerald x7 unplugged?

[BluesKing777]

Congratulations!

The little fat girl....love it - coffee spiller, thanks.

It is also a bit of a Mini-Me.

I have never played one but the shop I to to has a wall of CC.....


BluesKing777.

[SoCalSurf]

Congratulations! When you do something, you sure go all in!

I've never played the Little Lady (although I've always wanted to utter that line) but would love to try one some day.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by pandaroo

Great post and great comparison.

How does the little lady compared to the emerald x7 unplugged?

Night and day, unplugged. The X7 is deeper, richer and louder - although that is at least in part due to the X7 soundhole pushing the sounding up at the player. Plugged in though, game, set and match to the LFG. In fact, I pulled the pickup out of the X7, tried a second one and pulled that one. Maybe someday someone will make a CC-like pickup system that I can put into the X7.

I might try to get a short comparison video of the two CC's so people can hear them unamplified and amplified. If I do I'll throw in a brief unplugged comparison with the X7. Check back often. I'll put it right up in the top post.

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

Congratulations!

The little fat girl....love it - coffee spiller, thanks.

It is also a bit of a Mini-Me.

I have never played one but the shop I to to has a wall of CC.....


BluesKing777.

CC's are nothing to write home about unplugged, especially the LFG (LL) but they're not gawd-awful either. If you do ever play one, make sure you try it plugged in. Since you're a Maton guitar fan you already understand the value of a great plugged in guitar sound.

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

Congratulations! When you do something, you sure go all in!

I've never played the Little Lady (although I've always wanted to utter that line) but would love to try one some day.

Guilty as charged. There's a couple things at play here though. While I'm often prone to embracing a single brand of guitars, the biggest thing at play here was the need to have something as a close backup. And while my Emerald X10 nylon certainly fit the bill since it amplifies well, I really wanted to have something very similar in general amplified tone but also nut width and string spacing.

Jumping between the wide nylon and narrow steel string nuts/string spacings was not optimum. And then when my wife decided to learn to play it just made sense to grab something small that she theoretically can use someday if she sticks with it. The final factor is that due to the prices of the CC's I'm able to buy two for what I normally pay for a single guitar.

As you well know as a CC owner, they just sound so great plugged in. I've spent nearly 8 years playing some 30 different guitars with different pickup systems and this is the first one that blew me away and didn't leave me wanting for something.

Sure, there were a few that were pretty good and even one that was really good (Martin 000-28EC with a DTAR Wavelength Multisource) but the CC 3-way systems are just the bomb.

[Methos1979]

Updated with comparison video.

[BluesKing777]

Thanks for doing the video - well done! Preaching to the converted with the pickups though, so I will talk about the woods.

It may make no difference to you but the tops are hardwood and will take a while to open out...like if you bought a mahogany or koa top guitar. But you will wake one morning and go: "Oh, I see!" They just 'bloom'. Could be a week, could be 7 years...guitar mystery. But to hasten it along, rip into them with fingerpicks and pick - hard. Then leave it.

There is Tasmanian Blackwood and there is Tasmanian Blackwood. (I have doubts about the 'sustainability' claim - there are no planted blackwood forests that I know of - they get supplies out of a huge old growth forest on the southern coasts, mainly storm 'fall'. If you keep making these videos and the US starts buying......)

You may be interested in my 'Tasmanian Blackwoods'. I had never seen or heard of it before, can you believe? First one was my 1993 Lowden S32 Tasmanian Blackwood/Cedar that I saw in a thread on this forum because it has the Emmanuel Brothers signatures on the top. I was at the shop it was advertised at before they were open and....it is truly a superb guitar. (pickup from 1993 was horrid and it now has a K&K.)

So then after playing that for a few months - I got interested in the timber more and saw a new mid level budget Maton 808 (00 size deep body) at a music shop and it has Australian Blackwood/Cedar as well!!!!! I played it at the shop and took it home...and only played it acoustically for quite a few weeks. I thought the stuff about the Maton pickup was probably fooey like all the other pickup pooop I have read and bought over the years, so I just didn't want to be worried about it. And then I PLUGGED. What more can I say. I now have 3 Matons of different woods.

Lowden S32 left - Maton SRS808 right:



Maton left- Lowden right with the 'figured' Tas Blackwood:



Maton:



Lowden:





BluesKing777.

[Methos1979]

Great looking guitars - love the colors on that Lowden!

You're right - I don't much care about the various tonewoods and them opening up. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the differences and I even have my favorites and I also understand the concept of 'opening up' and can appreciate that as well. It's like my BMW R1200RT's boxer engine. Sure, it's pretty smooth right out of the gate. But somewhere at around 50k miles it really breaks in and it just smooths out even more and runs like silk.

I do know that the TB is a hardwood and I wanted that over the Redwood tops the CC's are frequently made out of because while I'm no Candyrat player, I have been known to tap and rap on my guitar top from time to time! No doubt from a lifetime of being a drummer before taking up the guitar at the tender young age of 50. In my research I did read that blackwood is somewhat like Koa in that is takes time to open up.

Regardless, it sound great right now amplified and I don't imagine any amount of opening up is going to be reflected all that much when plugged. I could be wrong about that, though. My CC Angel 2 is already a couple years old so I don't know if it's opened up or not or if it will more. In all honesty I just don't pay attention or care about unamplified tone nearly as much as amplified. Like you said - "And then I PLUGGED." I couldn't agree more!

[Methos1979]

I recently changed the gold buttons out on my Cole Clark for snakewood. Also got some ebony but after comparing the two in hand went with the snakewood.

[SoCalSurf]

Those look great and I enjoyed the comparison video. Very glad it's worked out for you. Should provide inspiration for your gigs.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

Those look great and I enjoyed the comparison video. Very glad it's worked out for you. Should provide inspiration for your gigs.

Thanks! It got its first test run on Saturday night at an open mic that was dead so we got to play for a whole hour. As was the case with the Angel, the LL performed perfectly! The tone I'm able to get out of the fantastic CC 3-way pickup system is wonderful straight into the PA regardless of whether I'm playing with a pick or fingerstyle. The ability to dial in needed changes in EQ and volume at my fingertips on the guitar is just so awesome.

[Tannin]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

There is Tasmanian Blackwood and there is Tasmanian Blackwood. (I have doubts about the 'sustainability' claim - there are no planted blackwood forests that I know of - they get supplies out of a huge old growth forest on the southern coasts, mainly storm 'fall'. If you keep making these videos and the US starts buying......)

No need to worry at all about the sustainability of Blackwood. It is a very common species which grows over a huge area - very roughly, half of Tasmania plus the whole length of the Great Divide on the mainland, from near Adelaide right up past Cairns in Far Northern Queensland. (For a sense of scale, that's around about the same distance as Seattle to Mexico City, or Brussels to Moscow.)

Blackwood is most common in the southern half of its range, particularly from around about Sydney on south to Bass Strait and west to the South Australian border. It also occurs over much of Tasmania.

It is a fast growing species when suited to the soil type and rainfall. When mature, it can be anything from a large shrub to a very large tree - it grows small and stunted on the edge of its range, tends to be a medium tree where it is wetter or more fertile, and gets really big in the wettest parts of Tasmania, and also some parts of Victoria.

Note that there is no difference between "Tasmanian Blackwood" and any other sort of "Australian Blackwood". It is all the same species, and it makes no difference whether it comes from Victoria or Tasmania. (Or indeed from NSW, Qld, or South Australia, though I don't think it is commercially harvested in those places.)

Blackwood is primarily used for fine furniture, and small, decorative objects. I have never seen figures, but I'd guess that those uses account for maybe 95% or even 99% of the harvest. It is not useful as a structural timber, nor is it harvested for that worst and most rapacious of all uses, woodchipping.

It is fast growing and easy to propagate but mostly only planted as an ornamental, for shade and shelter on farms, and as part of a mix of species in revegatation projects. It is, however, grown as a plantation timber in some countries overseas, presumably for furniture.

TLDR: Blackwood is not in the slightest threatened.