ES2 observations.

[Craig]

As much as I love my Taylors I've never been too happy with the plugged in sound, I've done all the usual adjustments but still can't get rid of that certain honkyness that occurs on some notes.

Anyway, for my electric rig I have a Line6 Helix which has just been updated with some new reverbs so I decided to plug my 816 into the Aux input and see what they sounded like.

Straight in to the Aux input and listening on headphones it sounded like I expected, then I tried the guitar in and it sounded great.
Now the thing about the Helix guitar input is that it is of a controllable variable impedance. Dialling through them, the usual 1M sounded bad but dial it down to 90K and it sounded great, lower than that sounded not so good again.

So the first pedal on my acoustic board is a TC Bodyrez which as in input impedance of 1M so I'm going to try terminating that with 100K and see how it sounds.

I'll let you know
Craig

[nhbiker1961]

The Body Rez definitely helps. I have been fighting the battle for years with the Es1 all the way to the new ES2 even with the ESt pre-amp and I am still not happy. My Taylor becomes my 2nd guitar at gigs now not my primary. About six months ago I went to a hybrid that actually on stage sounds better than my Taylor plugged in.

[Craig]

OK so I recorded this, guitar straight into a Scarlett interface (1M impedance) into Reaper.
The three takes were recorded identically (just a bit of low cut and reverb) but for the 2nd take I had a 100K resister across the input.

To me the 2nd take sounds more natural.

Please excuse the playing, I'm in a scientific not artistic mood :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qgjrlwkophc24g3/Taylor%20Test.wav?dl=0

Craig

[nhbiker1961]

I agree on the 2nd. Still lacking something. Compression? I feel your pain, this was my frustration playing live and the louder the venue the more dissatisfied I was.

[Craig]

You're probably right about needing a bit of compression but  it was just an experiment. You wouldn't normally record acoustic direct. If you also think that it sounds better with the lower impedance load then it will try it on my live rig and maybe record the di from my amp.

[Sprintbob]

What I hear in your recording is the piezo quack that you’ll have with any undersaddle pickup. The only remedies I believe to be effective are a Tonedexter preamp if you want to play live or record using just the guitar pickup or you use a mic(s).

www.audiosprockets.com

I got a Tonedexter in January. It’s easy to use and the results are impressive.

[Craig]

I have heard of them and they sound impressive, I'm not sure if they've made it over to the UK yet though..