Taylor had a petting zoo event in my area last night. No talking, no guests, no freebies, just a chance to play the new 2016 guitars and ask the rep questions.
I went because I was interested in this 562 12 fret and the new 322 12 fret, both of which were there (along with some other new models).
The 562 played really, really nicely because of the smaller grand concert body size and the shorter scale length. It is by far the easiest to play 12 string I've ever played, and I own two Taylor 12s.
It sounded about like you'd expect: like a 12 string built on the grand concert body style. By this I mean it's about a loud as a six string grand concert, and the tone is very much like an all mahogany grand concert six string, except there are the octave strings added. Bass and treble are very balanced and neither is overpowering.
In my opinion, this guitar lost a little of the magic that all mahogany guitars can have, probably because of the extra octave strings and double treble strings. Not saying hog is a bad choice on this guitar, but it didn't differentiate itself as much as I thought it would.
I'd like to try out the cedar topped version, which they didn't have on hand. My playing style (primarily fingerstyle) lends itself more to the cedar top, while the hog top is more for strummers and players who do a bit of both strumming and finger picking. (This according to the Taylor rep, and I agree.) The rep said the cedar top would be less loud than the hog top, but more articulate.
I didn't get a chance to play the 562 plugged in. For performers who gig, this is the 12 string to get because it plays so nicely and is lightweight, and lower volume (compared to the larger bodied Taylor 12s) isn't an issue.
I went in there thinking I might want to trade in my spruce/rosewood 16 sized 12 for the 562, and I still might. But I didn't fall in love with the 562 as much as I thought I might, so I'm gonna wait and see if I can play the cedar topped version first.
