EuroAussie Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 This is a bit of a two part question folks. In the context of playing live solo, strumming, flatpicking and vocals on top ... (1) What in your mind is the best Gibson for playing plugged in. In terms of overall tone, playability, comfort ? (2) Which Gibson would you recommend for a live situation that would complement my Country Western. Given that I woudl be looking for a cut-away to play up the neck, primarily strumming, flatpicking with vocal on top. Mainly playing alone with a looper to do some lead work. Open to wood types. I currently have also a Taylor 214ce which i love the playability and feel, but the live tone just doesnt cut it against my Gibby and Furch, so looking for a replacement for it. Looking forward to your advice. cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 ANY Gibson you pick up will fill the bill! If you like being "plugged in" with an overall wonderful tone and playability, the SongWriter series is a very good choice. Great for strumming, flatpicking, and lead guitar runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbarker393 Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 I have to agree with the songwriter. I have one and it's a beautiful strumming guitar. I tried the hummingbirds and j-45, but to my ears, the songwriter sounded best and felt the best in my hands. Go with what sounds and feels good to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maninblack Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 J-45's sound great live. Nice and balanced. Natural. Plus they look and feel so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 ANY Gibson you pick up will fill the bill! If you like being "plugged in" with an overall wonderful tone and playability' date=' the SongWriter series is a very good choice. Great for strumming, flatpicking, and lead guitar runs. [/quote'] Got to agree with this, but the SWD is the only Gibson I have used live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 ANY Gibson you pick up will fill the bill! If you like being "plugged in" with an overall wonderful tone and playability' date=' the SongWriter series is a very good choice. Great for strumming, flatpicking, and lead guitar runs. [/quote'] I say this series of guitar because EuroAussie preferred a cut-away body style. The SongWriters have a beautiful cut-away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 Thank you for the comments. Yes, the SWD is one which i would like to explore further, but i would also be keen on a J-185ec ... if only i could find a decent one. Ive tried three J-185's in different places around the world and none has blown me away, but i know one exists out there ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Larryp basically nailed it. Dont see a model having a particular edge for stage as far as its basic tone is concerned. However, for live sound, maple and shallow bodies have an advantage as hedge against feedback and general muddy sound. J180, Star, J185ec etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pittstrummer Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Of course its not a cutaway, but my Hummingbird is real nice for the singer/songwriter thing my wife and I do. I mic it with an SM57 or plug it direct into the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 You can't go far wrong with a good Gibson, so it comes down to personal choice. Some guitars will feel more comfortable to you. For example as much as I like J-200's they are just too big for me to feel comfortable playing live. However, it's worth thinking about the transducer you use as there is a lot of choice out there and some sound a lot better than others. The subject of what pickups people use in their acoustics comes up from time to time, so you could find out what everyone said if you search the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 For me it ain't about the guitars cuz I gig with all of them. Just depends on my mood which one goes. But it is all about which pickup I slap across the soundhole. For a straight blues gig is is the DeArmond 210. For backing stuff I might go with something like a Duncan SA-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Glad we all agree on the best Gibby for the job...lol......For me, it's either my Hummingbird, J150, or Songwriter. I might go with the J150 first. Lots of volumn, plugged-in or unplugged. For mellowness and warmth, it's "the bird." Then my Koa Songwriter has a tone that truly is different. Playability pretty equal on all three. Very low and no string buzz. All three are super for fingerpicking/strumming, whatever you need to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 Thanks for the comments folks, much apprecaited ! Couple of you mentioned the Hummingibrd, which I really love but its not an option as I already have a Country Western which is basically a Bird with different bling. I was originally thiking of the songwriter but one post commented that the maple b/s might work well when plugged in, hence the J-185ec is srtarting to work my mind a bit more. In terms of electronics i would use very likely a Fishman Matrix Infinity which i combine with the Fishman DI Aura. Combination of those two provides a heavenly live tone. I have this currently installed with my Furch OM. Next weekend Im travelling to Germany where is the music shop in Europe and they pretty much have any guitar you can think of so i will have a whole in the candy store ! cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Thank you for the comments. Yes' date=' the SWD is one which i would like to explore further, but i would also be keen on a J-185ec ... if only i could find a decent one. Ive tried three J-185's in different places around the world and none has blown me away, but i know one exists out there ![/quote'] One of my playing partners has a non cutaway J185. It's a lovely guitar and plugged in sounds great. The volume and notch filter are positioned in the sound hole and are quite awkward to adjust mid flight. This is the Baggs system I think. My SWD cutaway has the eq, vol, notch and tuner on the bout which makes for fast in flight fiddling, if so desired. I have used one of those rubber feedback busters which you can't use on the models with sound hole adjusters etc. You might want to take this into account too, but that will depend on the amount and type of live work you do. We all choose our guitars on tone, feel, heart etc etc but we should not ignore all the practical issues which might effect our playing too. Let us know how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Those Chet Atkins guitars would be great for on stage.....mimimal feedback, very compact, that's the way I'd go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 One of my playing partners has a non cutaway J185. It's a lovely guitar and plugged in sounds great. The volume and notch filter are positioned in the sound hole and are quite awkward to adjust mid flight. This is the Baggs system I think. My SWD cutaway has the eq' date=' vol, notch and tuner on the bout which makes for fast in flight fiddling, if so desired. I have used one of those rubber feedback busters which you can't use on the models with sound hole adjusters etc. [/quote'] I find that I do not generally need to adjust the onboard controls on my acoustics after the sound check, so I don't find this a big issue. On the models with the sound hole adjuster controls you can actually lift them off gently and reattach the controls a little deeper inside the body with double sided tape. Then you can use a backbuster ok provided you don't want to make adjustments during the set. There are some sound hole controls like the Fishman ellipse system where you cannot move them back like this as they are too bulky and actually modelled to the soundhole. I don't like them and don't have any like this. You can't really use a backbuster with them. You could stick duct tape over your soundhole once you had set your guitar up at soundcheck, but it's not going to do a lot of good to your guitar finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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