younggun1281758315 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Anyone out there played both of these? I'm thinking very serious about picking up a Spirit, but would be willing to save up the extra $600 for the Synapse IF it is worth it. Unfortunately I'm not in a town that has a dealer where I could try them out for comparison. Is the Synapse that much better than the Spirit? What's the difference in the sound? My take on the major price difference between them is the graphite U-channel, but how much of a difference does it really make? Is it a reliability thing?...it doesn't seem that a graphite U-channel would make a huge difference in playability or sound. Obviously the pickups are going to have a huge effect on the sound, but I wouldn't think the piezo bridge and center EMG pickup would account for the huge cost differential (I could be wrong there though). I guess what it comes down to is...Will I be disappointed if I buy a Spirit and be kicking myself for not going for the (much) more expensive model? -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdsman Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 When you were posting in my thread, where you talking about the bass or the guitar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
younggun1281758315 Posted August 15, 2008 Author Share Posted August 15, 2008 OOf, I was talking about the Bass...hope I didn't raise false hopes for you, though I'd bet since this official Steinberger site lists the Spirit Guitar they are probably in the same boat as the basses. Cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwgreen Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 I've had a Spirit XT-2 for some 10 years now. I wasn't comfortable with the sound. The first string wasn't loud enough. It improved when I turned one of the mics upside down. Later I changed the mics. I routed the XT-2 to make room for a couple of passive Bartolinis. That improved matters a lot. I also installed a switch to enable inverting the phase of the coils, which gave a wider range of sound possibilities. However, I was still wanting to try active electronics, So I got some active EMGs and on-board preamp. The routing done previously was fine. The sound is much better that the original. Not necessarily better than the Bartolinis. I have recently got a Synapse 15FPA, which has a more open sound, like a piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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