I’m interested in any thoughts on which option may be preferable between the Tonewood Amp 2 and Yamaha Transacoustic 2nd Generation.
I’m thinking of buying an electro-acoustic, which would be for home use: learning songs, writing my own bits and pieces, improvising and playing creatively.
Budget would be somewhere around £1000-£1200, so either the Transacoustic or a decent electro-acoustic plus the Tonewood 2 would come in at a similar price point.
The Tonewood seems more versatile in that it can be transferred between guitars, but having looked into compatibility and installation of the brace in some depth online, it seems that the compatibility and sound quaity does vary noticeably depending on the guitar you use it with.
Transacoustic has the appeal of buying the whole setup off the shelf, plus the added appeal of the built-in Looper on the premium models. Having said that, I already have a Ditto Looper I could plug into.
I’ve watched lots of the video reviews and demos, including the Justin & Mike Dawes Tonewood review. Both options look great in their own right, so it’s a really tough choice. Any thoughts of those that have played either one or both would be greatly appreciated.
One question I have for you is whether you use the effects that come with such setups currently.
I play acoustic, fingerstyle and strummed and rarely use any FX at all. I have several fx options, fishman ToneDeq and amplifier fx. And have tried the fx but they rarely get used by me.
But read the reviews and just had to try it. Finally found a shop that had the Transacoustic and excitedly sat down to play it. It did everything the reviews raved about but for me it didn’t do a lot in person.
If you already use and like those effects, it’s a totally different story and ignore me completely.
I know you asked about the Tonewood and Yamaha, but I had a thought.
Last December I tried out a range of about 12 Semi-Acoustics, made by Gibson, Taylor and Maton in one shop all through the same amp a Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge- 60 watts, I was massively impressed by it, very neutral and great tones, I could clearly hear the difference between the guitar and how different tone woods and mics affected the sound. For the £489 I thought it was incredibly good. See Fishman Loudbox they also do the Fishman Loudbox Performer - 180 watts
It might be worth trying one out with your guitar(s) in a store and comparing.