The Captain wants to know why the D18 was much louder than the Hummingbird. The sound comes mainly from the top, and if you damp it with a socking great pickguard it's going to be much quieter.
Would love to see Andertons start stocking and showcasing some Seagull acoustics. Canadian guitars all built in Quebec that give Martins and Gibsons a run for their money for a way lower price point.
@@nharry9763 I loved it when I took my Alvarez to a rehearsal for the first time - the bass-played came out with the immortal line "The only problem with it is that it makes everything else sound like sh*t!". 🤣
If you have spent some time around guitars, that should be obvious. A square shouldered dreadnought is the most powerful and present. OM is the most balanced. A Jumbo is big and round sounding. A Grand auditorium is sort of like a less present dreadnought with that weird taylor mid/high eq thing. The 000 is a little more trebly than an OM. The 00 is admittedly similar to the 000. The Parlor is going to be really trebly and cool for finger style.
@@sordel5866 Hi. Yes, I just didn't realise it was such a premium range of guitars and I threw in the "fell" pun, which may have been a little too, er... subtle! As we speak, my Fender Strat is locked away in its case while I enjoy playing the incredibly cheap Jet JS400 I took an internet punt on a while back - struck it lucky with this one.
Love the Alvarez stuff. I have the MD70BG and it's very nice. As a huge Yamaha fan it would have been awesome to see the guys react to hearing and playing an FG5 or FG9. Just get'em in stock 😊. Great video 🤘
My guess was D18, Chris Stapleton, J45, Alvarez, Hummingbird. I don't even own an acoustic and rarely play them or listen to demos of them, so I'm pretty much completely clueless about them. I'm much more familiar with the electric side of guitars. The only one I'm a bit familiar with is the J45, which I think is a larger Epiphone acoustic unless I'm thinking of a different guitar, so I think that should make it darker and 3) sounded the darkest. Definitely seems like it must have a distinctive sound since Pete and Ben were both in agreement the whole way through and even someone completely clueless about acoustic guitars like me was able to pick it out. The others were more or less guesses, so it's pure luck I also got the D18 correct. I think I liked the sound of the second one the best - interesting that it turned out to be the Hummingbird, since I also like the look of it the best! I guess I know which acoustic to get if I ever decide to invest in one. 😀
Big win for Alvarez! They earned their Laurels. 👏 I think that slight differences in the Mic angle/location had a big impact on the YT audio. The Alvarez didn't sound particularly good to me in the first round, but clearly sounded the best in the second round and overall. It's a big challenge to make the same model Acoustic Guitar sound the same. Hats off to Alvarez if they have mastered that. That was fun. Thanks
I have the Alvarez LD70e and I'll tell you... Best value for the money in an acoustic out there. You can't go wrong. It's a true Martin killer. It's better than some HD28s I've played.
For all of us not in the Martin league, Alvarez seems the way to go! Would be interesting to repeat with older examples of the same guitars, difficult to arrange I know!
Brilliant video, even if it was a nightmare to set the mics up for. Love the Frontier. Pete, have you got long Covid? You've been ill all summer, it might be time to go & see the Dr.
Great episode, and I hope you'll do more of these series! It's like always fun, and everyone loves these :D. For the sound I loved the Martin, and Alvarez Then J45 the most(For a song mix), but each of them are amazing... Nice playing as well!
As someone who, 45 years ago, was bought a Yamaha CJ818 by my parents as an 18th birthday present from a shop on Guildford high street called Andertons (still in pristine condition and still my go-to acoustic) I am somewhat disappointed that you never use or promote Yamaha guitars (electric or acoustic) in any of these tests. Their A3R would stand side by side with any of the test/demo units in this test.
All this has proven is no one is as good at this game as chappers. Rob says with great conviction exactly what it is. And is then mostly right. Which explains why chapman guitars are so good.
They all sound fantastic. I have owned a J45 and a G45 from Gibson, and love them both, but the others in this line up would be welcome in my collection.
For years, I have been playing a Hummingbird and an Eastman D-20 (high quality D-28 copy) as my main guitars - when it comes to strumming the Hummingbird is played with a pick as loud as the Eastman played with fingers. When recorded, the Hummingbird reveals its true quality - it may be quiet, but it is so well-balanced that recording with it is a dream. It's no wonder you hear it on so many recordings...
I actually got two of them when Cap was playing. I recognized the D-18 and the J-45. I don't have any experience with the others, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Couldn't really guess on the others.
Biggest takeaway - Chappers still holds the title as the man with the golden ears. To be fair - I didn’t do any better than these two. Now I want to see Rob do this same blindfold test 😁
Excellent video, albeit an impossible challenge 😅 Just like to say I saw Ben play in my local pub in Cambridge the other day and his incredible talent was even more obvious live!
Guitars are really difficult to judge blindly in a scenario like this. Everyone has a different play style, dynamic touch. Example the J45 sounded thin and bright in Pete's hands, but full and warm in Ben's. Ben was also thumb picking and finger picking, which also greatly effects tone. It's a fun challenge but to anyone shopping, just go to a store, and try guitars yourself to see what speaks to you with your specific play style.
Since they are both blind folded, I wish there was an A B C labeling. It would have made this easier to follow along. Eventually they're remembering guitars that we mere mortals don't remember since they mostly all sound great.
Rob is just blindfold master, he notices all the small things and is able to focus very well blindfolded. Like Pete instantly noticed that the Alvarez has V neck after the blindfold is off, even though that is something that they could have noticed blindfolded and is a dead giveaway that it is alvarez and not d18.
The Gibson dreadnoughs sounded best, timbre-wise; although I distinctly recall they felt quieter when I’ve played. A bit stiffer than your average acoustic, too. But the recorded sound is very good.
Sad to say the Gibsons were on the bottom in all cases. The Epiphone shocked me it sounded amazing and very close to a Martin. The Alvarez was really nice too seemed closer to a Taylor sound. Still the best of the lot was the Martin as it is just simply the best in most cases to my ear.
Looking at the 'Taylor' comments makes me laugh. I bought my first Taylor in 1999, a 710 Rosewood dreadnought. It was loud and fabulous. I'm truly thinking the Avarez won because of the Rosewood being louder. I bought Taylor because it truly sounded better and specifically louder than a Martin than a Martin D18 after playing them side by side. I'm a Taylor fan for life. My 814 was purchased in 2001, sounds fabulous and plays great.
oh yes, cool video, we did a similar test (we have the luck of having some nice guitars at home) it's so hard....but cudos to Ben and Pete (i was most impressed by Pete: this sounds rosewoody...) great job, guys...
It would have been nice to put a Sire into the mix. I will say that I helped a friend by an Alvarez a few years ago as a swap for a Breedlove that she had bought, but wasn't getting on with. She almost didn't get the Alvarez because I liked it more than the Breedlove, which I had only played once.
Yes. In a similar blind shootout a few years ago a Taylor was beaten by a dirt cheap acoustic. I think Taylor must have protested because the video mysteriously disappeared from Andertons channel.
I am planning to buy my first high end acoustic soon, this video is interesting :) I will still be driving around to the different stores and try out 100s of them, but this is opportune either way ^^
I'm sorry, but as soon as I saw this, I was reminded of lyrics from the old Stealers Wheel song ... Clowns to the left of me Jokers to the right Here I am stuck in the middle with you 😋
