buying a semi-acoustic

[cartman]

i wanna upgrade my acoustic toa a very good semi acoustic pref one with a little mic inside it so i can pre-record voice to play while strumming if you know what i mean, im intending this guitar until i get like damo so im gonna be spending between 500-700 eurons,


could some point me to the right guitar,


thanks,


cartman

[Scon]

Just as a tip - if you search for 'semi-acoustics', you may not get the guitar you want. An 'Electro-acoustic' is what you're after and they're actually two different types of guitar, but commonly are thought of as the same thing.

I feel like a patronising prat now [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img] But seriously, hope that's helpful.

As for selecting one. There's no better advice than to try them yourself in different shops and try ALL the manufacturer's. Ask someone there to set you up an amp so you can listen to whether you're happy with how it sounds plugged in. Look at the amp to see if any effects are turned on, as this could cover up a bad sounding guitar.

[natekeegan]

yamaha CPX series

[davidgow77]

Good advice from Scon there. I'm not sure what kind of sound you're after, but if you like Damien's natural guitar sound, then avoid guitars with high gloss/laquer finishes. The guitar I use (you can hear it on my website MP3's) is a Seagull SP6+ Folk guitar. It is right on the money at 500euros, and I think the electric version is around the 650 700 mark (check out their website at www.seagullguitars.com). If you're looking for a bigger body guitar, and a richer sound, then Simon & Patrick (www.simonandpatrick.ca) are excellent. Failing that, Takamine (www.takamine.com)do the G-Series with great sounding pick-ups for around the same price. Stay away from Fender and Epiphone acoustics unless you find one that you are REALLY impressed with. They are all built in Korea, and while the quality is fairly good, you will be paying about 200euros just for the name on the headstock. And Tanglewood are always well made, good sounding guitars that peak at the 500 euros mark, so if you do need to save a bit of cash, try them.

[davidgow77]

Yamaha CPX are very good, but they are designed for acoustic playing in a live band environment (nofeedback at high volumes etc etc).


Try everything though. I'm a big fan of the Yamaha LL series, but I'm not too keen onAPX's, CPX's for recording and anything along those lines that Yamaha do..... it's all down to personal taste though.


...buy a Seagull! [img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]

[cartman]

thanks for the feedback im looking at the LOWDEN D12 C at the moment any1 think thats anygood?? takamine g series aswell





thanks,


cartman

[coreybyrnes]

Originally Posted by cartman

im looking at the LOWDEN D12 C at the moment any1 think thats anygood??

ummm, are you serious? if you are, then yes i would go with a lowden... did you just win the lottery or get a nice inheritance or something? hell if you're in that price range i'd start looking at mcilroy, avalon, maton, northwood, santa cruz, breedlove, etc, etcEdited by: coreybyrnes

[Juzzza]

I just bought a tanglewood and put a shadow pick-up in it, a shadow is a flexible mic arm that sits inside the body of the guitar and the unit allows you to mix the mic input with that of the guitar's electro-acoustic pick-up so you can find a beautiful natural tone whether you are playing through an acoustic amp, or straight into the p.a.


My marshall acoustic amp has an output jack that gies straight into a P.a. too and that seems to sound great.

[Andrew]

Don't buy a takamine. If you are trying to sound like damien then you need something with easy action and almost a soft sound. And if you want to do the little pre-recorded voice thing then you need to learn how to loop sounds. Damien can scream a few things into the mic and it will record it and he keeps on recording verse after verse so it sounds like 5 or 6 damiens singing at once. he does the same thing when he plays guitar. he will tap one of his pedals and it will record the chord progression he plays. its not overdubbing its looping. you need to purchase some nifty pedals and an amp than can handle the sounds to be able to loop. listen to some music by a guy named keller williams, i saw him live and he has a stage full of every instrument and will loop a drum beat, then walk over to bass and do that, then to guitar, and so on...the guy is a genius.

[coreybyrnes]

damien uses the line6 dl4 and keller uses a much more sophisticated (expensive) looper from gibson called the echoplex... if only i had the money for that...