longterm test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longterm test report
So far in this test on the Ibanez AE255BT baritone acoustic, I’ve changed the strings to a lighter gauge – 0.056, 0.045, 0.035, 0.030, 0.022, 0.016, bass to treble – and settled on a tuning that is full of promise.
BbC A close relative of DADGAD, I’ve landed in FBb
C F, which involves placing a partial capo at the 5th fret, covering the top five strings. It sounds complicated, but you soon get used to these loony tunings in the acoustic world.
My final test is to explore the AE255BT’s electric voice and test a few pedals with it at the same time. To begin with, the pickup on the Ibanez baritone is the company’s own T-bar variety – basically a piezo undersaddle affair but with the connecting lead in the centre, as opposed to many other types that have the lead at one end. Ibanez reasons that
by doing this the piezo makes a better contact with the saddle and avoids any imbalances or dropouts. Ibanez says that the T-bar also “reduces noise and provides a wide range of natural piezo-style sounds. It also captures palm hits and delivers a bass drum-like response…”and everything is powered by coin batteries in a compartment under the end pin.
Remembering that I hadn’t tried the baritone through an amp since I replaced the strings, I fired up my AER Compact 60 and, after taking out a little mid and bass, found a workable sound. Add a splash of in-built digital reverb and we were good to go. This particular tuning arrangement lends itself to lots of fretted notes played against droning open strings – I’ve always favoured ambient material and I generally use quite a lot of reverb – and the baritone’s electric voice was very engaging in this respect, with all the frequencies nicely balanced.
After noodling around for a while I decided to try adding my Boss OC-3 octivider into the mix. These are great little pedals and something of a secret weapon of the solo acoustic player. On the pedal’s Poly setting, it’s possible to select the frequency range that the octave effect covers, so you don’t end up with something that sounds like a slightly odd 12-string. I dialled it in so that the octave was only present on the bass string and up to around the 7th fret on the fifth string. The idea is to keep the effect very subtle and mix it back to the extent that you only really realise how much it’s been bolstering the sound when you switch it off. The other crucial piece of advice is to use it sparingly – maybe on one or two tunes where a reinforced bass is necessary.
I was concerned that the OC-3 would have problems tracking the baritone’s lower register, but it coped like a pro. There were a few soulful moments there, adding a bit of rumble and funk to my ambient noodlings.
The next stage was to try the baritone with the preamp that I’ve been using for ages.Yamaha’s AG-Stomp has been around for years – I first started using one around 2005 and they weren’t new then. It’s a multieffects unit voiced for acoustic guitars with mic simulation, EQ, reverb, delay and many more tricks up its sleeve. The mic simulation is particularly noteworthy because it not only turns a mono input signal into a very realistic stereo image, it also has the effect of taming the sometimes plastic quackiness you get from under-saddle pickups. It adds ‘air’ into the mix the same way that a pair of microphones does and I haven’t used anything else that manages to combine all this in such a compact unit. One final bonus is that, in a live situation, you can hand the frontof-house sound engineer a stereo feed via two balanced XLR outputs. They love you for that.
I tested the AE255BT through the AG-Stomp using headphones as I wanted to hear the full stereo effect and there was absolutely no problem setting up a sound that I would be happy to take out on the road with me. A little hall reverb, a subtle mix of ‘dry’ and ‘effect’ with the simulated condenser mics, reduced mids and bass, plus a slight push to the trebles and it was job done – a lovely, rich, produced sound.
Lastly, I plugged the baritone into a Walrus Audio Slö (reviewed in issue 447), which has a range of ambient reverbs to hand. The combination proved inspired, particularly in that you can ‘freeze’ the reverb tail – a lot of time was spent on this setting, as it provides you with instant prog rock landscapes in which to work. It also offers volume swells, which are great fun to play with.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time I’ve spent with the Ibanez AE255BT – it’s been fun exploring its, ahem, many depths. It’s proved a great acoustic companion and its electric voice has convinced me that I would gig it in an instant. Bravo, Ibanez!
“The combination with the Walrus Audio Slö proved inspired – it provides you with instant prog rock landscapes”