Looking for Budget Acou-Elec W/top shelf electronics

[whit townsend]

Say under 600, but maybe even under 400.

I realize the electonics is usually first to suffer at lower price points.

Looking for a niced playing acou/elc for church w/best electronics possible.

Prefer built in for convienience sake. Will to sacrifice pure acou tone for excellent pup & good set-up, intonation.

[Mikeo]

Say under 600, but maybe even under 400. I realize the electonics is usually first to suffer at lower price points. Looking for a niced playing acou/elc for church w/best electronics possible. Prefer built in for convienience sake. Will to sacrifice pure acou tone for excellent pup & good set-up, intonation.

 

 

 

Takamine's are pretty good at what they do.

[whit townsend]

Yea, but Taks are a little on the pricy side. Was hoping to spend a little less.
What goes in the Waldens?

[Freeman Keller]

Whit, unfortunately good electronics are rather pricy - looking at Baggs and Fishman by themselves you are in the $140 to 250 range. Some things you might check is the 1xx and 2xx Taylors with their "ES blue" (a stripped down version of the standard ES) and Carvins, which have Fishman (I was pretty impressed by a C980 plugged in).

[rjoxyz]

If you are not in a big hurry to receive it, one of these might just fit your description (or similar listed by the seller):

http://cgi.ebay.com/AVALON-Silver-Series-AS201CE-Electric-Acoustic-Guitar_W0QQitemZ180095733640QQihZ008QQcategoryZ47064QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

The eBay seller was slow to deliver in my case and another forumite had problems with them. In addition to this particular Avalon, there are a few others left from this seller that feature Fishman Prefix Plus systems.

The Silver Series Avalons are made in Asia with very nice appointments and good build quality. The plugged in sound is great. They are a bit light on the bass end acoustically (to my ear), which seems to be common with other Avalon models due to their unique bracing.

I have 2 Avalons, a cedar/mahogany Gold Series and a spruce/mahogany A/E Silver series. Both are great values, the latter moreso than the former.

Happy hunting!

[whit townsend]

Whit, unfortunately good electronics are rather pricy - looking at Baggs and Fishman by themselves you are in the $140 to 250 range. Some things you might check is the 1xx and 2xx Taylors with their "ES blue" (a stripped down version of the standard ES) and Carvins, which have Fishman (I was pretty impressed by a C980 plugged in).

 

 

Yea, I was hoping to budget maybe 200 for a good onboard fishman system or baggs, and up to 300 for a decent plywood acoustic to house it.

 

My other option:

just put an undersaddle in my D28 and get a paracoustic DI or similar. Still gonna cost me, and I'd just as soon leave the Martin as my Bluegrass guitar.

[moctzal]

Have you considered getting a K&K pure western mini (soundboard transducer) and maybe a para di? The K&K alone has a relatively strong signal for a passive pick-up.
It's a favorite of many on this board.

[Freeman Keller]

Have you considered getting a K&K pure western mini (soundboard transducer) and maybe a para di? The K&K alone has a relatively strong signal for a passive pick-up. It's a favorite of many on this board.

 

 

And that is what Bryan Kimsey puts in the Martins that he works on for folks who are mostly 'grassers.

 

http://www.bryankimsey.com/kkpups/index.htm

[EvilTwin]

I've heard nothing but good things about Wechter guitars. Their Pathmaker Series is all laminate construction, but no one seems to mind, and they come with a great three-source pickup combination (piezo, mic and mag).

Here's one under $500:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PathMNatAR/

Some others:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/5730e/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PathMLaceART/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PathMBKAR/

Or if you want a more traditional acoustic...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/5711e/

[jeffcoop]

Yea, but Taks are a little on the pricy side. Was hoping to spend a little less. What goes in the Waldens?

 

 

There are Taks in your price range.

 

Here's one with a minimum advertised price of $399.

 

Here are two at $499: One; Two.

 

And here's one at $599. All of these can be obtained with additional discounts ($30-50) through MF's current promotion.

 

For what it's worth, I owned the predecessor model of that last one a few years ago--I picked it up for $349 at the Guitar Center Memorial Day sale in 2004. In a sense, it was exactly what you were looking for: the electronics were very good, but the acoustic sound was a bit weak. I sold it because of my dissatisfaction with the acoustic sound, but if my principal concern had been plugged-in sound, I would have kept it.

[J.]

Some say that the Godin Quantam (?) electronics that they put into their lower end acoustic/electrics are pretty good for the price. You might want to check one of those guitars (Seagull, Simon & Patrick, A&L, Norman) out.

 

I do agree that some of the Takamine's have nice electronics. I like the one that has the option to blend another source in with the included UST. The barn door preamp as an 1/8" jack that lets you plug in a soundhole, AST, or mic. I think it would be could to put in an LR Baggs M1 and mix it with the onboard electronics.

[drnihili]

 

What goes in the Waldens?

 

 

Well here's the top end Walden at a bit over 600.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Walden-G3030CE-All-Solid-Wood-Acoustic-Electric_W0QQitemZ290114052370QQihZ019QQcategoryZ2385QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

And here's Walden's page for it so you can look at what it has under the hood.

http://www.waldenguitars.com/steel/supra/G3030CEQ.html#

says Fishman Prefix Pro.

 

If you drop down to their midrange models you can probably cut the price at leas in half. For example a D550CE can be had for about 250 with a Fishman Classic 4.

 

Caveat - I know nothing about the electronics or how good they are, I'm just passing on info.

[whit townsend]

Thanks everyone.

[GotDeeBlues]

Before you pull the trigger, check out Samick Greg Bennett designs with Fishman electronics. I buying the Rio Grande A/E Dread (D15E) solid cedar and ovangkohl back & sides. Nice Carolina models with cedar/rosewood both with Clearwave 50 eq