The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi there,
    I made this simple video to compare the tone of my four vintage archtops, acoustic and electric (through an Ampeg jet), I was pleased to taste the differences. I hope it can be useful for you too.
    best
    Marco


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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Great comparison and nice playing! I like the ES-125 very much but that is L-7 sounds glorious.

  4. #3

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    Thanks! Very informative!

    Great to see how a cheap student-model ES-125 competes so well with much more expensive guitars ;-) (I think I liked it best, both acoustic and amplified).

    The Ibanez sounded the least good to my ears, both acoustic and amplified.

  5. #4

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    I preferred the Guild by far. Fat, round tone, much better to my ears than any of the others.

  6. #5

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    L-7C as far as warmest tone!

  7. #6

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    L7c both amplified and unamplified.

  8. #7

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    I liked the L-7 best (both amplified and acoustically) as well, but the acoustic sound of the ES-125 was superb, surprisingly so. The Guild sounded great too. The Ibanez was a tad bright for my taste.

    Great playing and a neat collection of guitars!

  9. #8

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    The L7 won in both categories with the Guild slightly behind electrically. I thought the L7 by far had the acoustic sound round and full. The guild not the low end but nice highs.

  10. #9

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    ES 125 wins the electric tone in my opinion. I agree that Ibanez is a bit too bright. The electric tone of L7 and Guild are too acoustic for my taste.

    Acoustically it's harder to pick one. There is less dramatic variation in the acoustic tone of arcthops than flattops. There is something usable and endearing about the tone of any archtop I played, even the ones with mounted pickups yet none of them had tone that stood out like a well made flat top would. Although I prefer the plainer, simpler tone of archtops than complex flattop tones most days.

  11. #10

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    I think a lot of people assume thinline Gibsons will be bright acoustically but every one I've picked up (ES 125T, ES 225TD, ES 330) has had a very mellow, warm (albeit quiet) acoustic tone. I was just practicing on my 225TD this morning before work. Totally pleasing sound.

  12. #11

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    Please to meet you, you sure know how to make an entrance!

    Lovely playing & thanks for the comparo.

  13. #12

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    I have to say the Guild and the L7 are a close first and second to my ears. All sounded excellent, however. Nice playing!

  14. #13

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    I liked the L7 in both cases. Warm and rich sounding to my ears.

  15. #14
    Thanks guys for your welcome,
    after yours here my opinions:
    First, lets say that in a video you cannot feel the playability of the guitars, they are really different in neck, scale, strings tension, feeling etc. this is really important, and the Ibanez really suffer from thin strings (sorry didn't have the time to put fatter strings), I ensure that as an electric guitar this one is a cheapo great!
    Acoustically, the L-7c is the real one, louder and fuller sounding, now I put 80/20 013 bronze and is an acoustic triumph. I love it.
    To me The Guild is the nicest guitar in the world, a real deal, very playable, nice softer and brighter acoustic tone than the l-7.
    The es 125 as an acoustic is a surprise, a punchy tone (not really dynamic) but interesting. I used this tone in a couple of records mixed with the p90, it worked well.
    The Ibanez to me is unusable as an acoustic, too soft, thin, bright and with a lot of unwanted resonance, rattling etc.

    As electrics: The artist award is full, dynamic, sweet and lovely, is a long scale guitar so is more in tune and plays better to me, the chords are full but transparent. my favorite.
    The L-7 is more a single note punchy tone, great for jazz/blues/funk, cut through the mix and bite, a complete different tone.
    es-125, great tone full and rich, but these guitars are not consistent, I played few es125s that was not brilliant at all, this is a good one.
    Ibanez: a great choice if you cannot afford an original vintage es175, to me plays great electric, but the original pick.ups are bad, but if you put some great humbuckers it will be better than a modern es175.

    Greetings from Italy

  16. #15
    thanks!

  17. #16
    I agree

  18. #17
    I agree, and is very very well made, with gorgeous woods and hardware.

  19. #18
    nice to meet you

  20. #19

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    Welcome, and enjoyed the playing and the vid !
    I do have to admit I'm partial to L-7's but more the '30's, than any later models.
    And for sure, you have to love the Guild AA build and appointments, but maybe they too suffer from the modern L-5 characteristics - great amplified, but heavy and quiet acoustically.
    And just two other things - would you really buy a 125 for any acoustic qualities? Probably not. You'd just take what it had, and just plug it in.
    And then - - and sorry if this is another thread - once you do plug in a guitar, can't you basically always fix any guitar's shortcomings ?
    Thanks for mentioning playability etc ( and the strings you used ) and thx again for the test.

    Just MHO.

  21. #20

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    Acoustically, I liked the L7 best, though the Guild was distinctive and the ES-125 surprisingly good. Amplified, I liked the Guild best.

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by mtjazztone
    Hi there,
    I made this simple video to compare the tone of my four vintage archtops, acoustic and electric (through an Ampeg jet), I was pleased to taste the differences. I hope it can be useful for you too.
    best
    Marco

    Your playing was so nice I had a hard time concentrating on comparing/contrasting the guitars. All were very nice. Love the format!

  23. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by lawson-stone
    Your playing was so nice I had a hard time concentrating on comparing/contrasting the guitars. All were very nice. Love the format!

    Thank you so much

  24. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis D
    Welcome, and enjoyed the playing and the vid !
    I do have to admit I'm partial to L-7's but more the '30's, than any later models.
    And for sure, you have to love the Guild AA build and appointments, but maybe they too suffer from the modern L-5 characteristics - great amplified, but heavy and quiet acoustically.
    And just two other things - would you really buy a 125 for any acoustic qualities? Probably not. You'd just take what it had, and just plug it in.
    And then - - and sorry if this is another thread - once you do plug in a guitar, can't you basically always fix any guitar's shortcomings ?
    Thanks for mentioning playability etc ( and the strings you used ) and thx again for the test.

    Just MHO.
    Yes, the Guild AA is heavier than the l-7 or es-125, 'cause the top carving is thicker and has groover imperial tuners, but this mean that for professional use the guitar is more consistent. Less feedback prone and well in tune.
    No, you will not buy es125 for the acoustic proprieties but I really love guitars that are alive!
    thanks

  25. #24

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    Definitely the L7 for me, both plugged and unplugged. The sound seems more focussed, balanced across the spectrum, and just the right amount of punch when needed. Wrap it up and send it to Edinburgh, please

  26. #25

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    In terms of acoustic sound, I find it almost impossible to evaluate videos like this because they don't give a sense of the acoustic sounds in the room or the guitars' relative volumes. They all sound really good in terms of timbre (except maybe the Ibanez), but they all sound about the same loudness in the video. I'm sure if I were to play/hear them in the room, the Guild and the L7 would sound really different from and louder than the others, but through the same mic and recording chain, mixed to the same overall volume, with youtube's audio and data compression, those differences disappear. Plugged in, they all sound really good, a bit different from each other. But again, divorced from context (e.g., how the guitar sits in a band mix, how the player and instrument fit with each other in a band context) it's really hard for me to form preferences. Grand scheme of things, there's a basic similarity to all hollow guitars with neck pickups. Those all sound good on that video.

    John