517e and ES2

[Huw1952]

I have had my 517e returned by Taylor after having the neck reset and the frets dressed. I have now hooked it up to my PA. As an acoustic guitar the 517 is outstanding. A beautiful sound and a playability that's superb. However, when you plug in the ES2 pickup, this lets it down badly. It doesn't do the guitar justice at all. So much so, that I'm reluctant to use it at gigs. The guitar is so resonant that every harmonic, finger scrape is heard, more so than any other Taylor I have played. The Elixir 12s don't help either. They sound really "Tinny". I have an Epiphone EJ 200ce with the shadow eSonic 2 pick up system in it and it blows the ES2 out of the water. But as an acoustic the Epi is nowhere near. Very frustrating this! What a shame an LR Baggs, or even a Shadow pickup wasn't put in the 517.

[Strumming Fool]

Can't argue with you on this. I'm in the court of those who believe that the ES2 is not an improvement over the ES1.3. My  two newest Taylors were ordered without ES for this reason. I do have 3 Taylors with ES 1.3, that all perform admirably plugged or unplugged. My two oldest Taylors and my two newest Taylors have had installations of the LR Baggs Lyric with great results. There are after-market plugs available for the three control knobs should you decide to have the ES2 removed and replaced.

[Huw1952]

Thanks for the tip.

[Huw1952]

I read online that you can adjust the piezo screws to suit. Has anyone tried this?

[Geosh]

I replied to your other thread, but one other suggestion is look at the preamp you have in your guitar. In the earlier versions of the ES2, they used a hotter preamp, which later was changed to fix some of the balance issues they had.

It made an improvement in one of the guitars I had with the ES2, but still not enough for me to bond with it. I had similar complaints to what you are describing, and eventually sold all the ES2 equipped Taylors I had. Now I've got an 814 with a Baggs Anthem installed and couldn't be much happier about it.

[SoCalSurf]

I do not amplify much, but the ES2 on my 517 sounds awful plugged into my Fischman Loudbox mini. It takes the most resonant and full guitar and turns it into a tinny, fragile mess.

But I will live with it because I love this guitar in every way otherwise and can choose another guitar to plug in. But I realize not everybody is in that position and may rely on it for gigging and such.

[Huw1952]

My thoughts exactly. I think the 517 has shown up the weaknesses of the ES2 as it has such a beautiful and clear tone.
 I have run it through a Boss effects pedal with some tone modelling and got nearer to the sound I was expecting, but you shouldn't have to do that. I am also going to try an IK Irig acoustic stage mike and try and blend some of the ES2 with it.

[rwill2cruz]

I found the same thing. However using a mic sounds great.

[floyd80]

I find the ES 2 can sound great IF you use additional hardware between the jack and the amp. My set up is ES2 (with the Taylor EQ knobs all at 12'oclock)> TC Helicon BodyRez  Pedal > Trace Elliot Transit A > QSC Touchmix > QSC K8.2. There's a lot of tweaking going on before it hits the PA, but I've dialed it in pretty well. Each guitar varies - I have different settings for my 312 and my 818. I know it's not optimal, but I like the concept of the ES2 and made it work for me.

[Huw1952]

Thanks to all the advice I have managed to greatly improve the amplified sound. I bought an IRIG acoustic stage mike system which you can blend in with the piezo pickup. I also got the Bodyrez pedal. I linked them into my Boss effects pedal with added reverb and delay and..... success!! I now have many options to alter the sound to my liking without all those horrible scratchy noises and harmonics from the ES2. Thanks to those who posted replies 👍

[Huw1952]

Found an even better solution in one pedal. A bit pricey but boy was it worth the money. An effects pedal and preamp by a Danish company called T-Rex and it called the "Soulmate Acoustic". Now the 517e sounds as I'd hoped and expected! Awesome!!!!

[tbeltrans]

If this is not allowed in this forum, mods please remove this post.  Anyway, over at AGF, one guy who was dissatisfied with the sound of his Taylor equipped with ES-2 discovered a solution that might just be the ticket for folks here:

It involves a very simple filing adjustment to the saddle.  Here is a link to the thread.  The first post is the one that is relevant.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=562847

My K14ce BE doesn't seem to exhibit any problems with the ES2 so I have not had to try this solution myself.

Tony