Godin's Multiac Spectrum SA Acoustic-Electric Guitar is armed with a sophisticated electronics system and pickup array to give you a huge tonal palette. With a Seymour Duncan Lipstick pickup mounted in the neck and a 13-pin connector giving you complete control over Roland's GR Series and Axon's AX100 guitar synths, your creativity is unlimited. The classic top X-bracing pattern has been updated to maximize resonance. A slender neck profile and the shallow body depth make for a very comfortable playing experience. The body design that incorporates two chambers helps prevent feedback. It comes ready for the road with a gig bag.
Godin's custom preamp includes a 3-band EQ for setting overall tone while a slider permits control of synth guitar volume and the degree of acoustic sound blended into the output. The lipstick pickup has its own volume and tone controls, making this one of the most tone-tweakable and versatile guitars out there.
Godin Multiac guitars use the RMC PolydriveT system which has individual transducer saddles under each string. This system not only produces superb amplified sound, but also produces a hexaphonic output through a 13-pin connector, which provides these guitars with direct access to RolandTM GR-Series synthesizers. A 1/4" phone output works with a regular guitar cord.
The key to the exceptional synth tracking of the Multiac guitar lies not just in the electronics, but also in the carefully selected and balanced blend of different woods used in its design. All of the materials are the result of extensive prototype testing to achieve the best possible combination of plugged-in guitar sound and synth tracking.
Body Style: Chambered Mahogany
Top: Spruce
Fingerboard: Ebony
Neck: Mahogany
Radius: 16"
Scale length: 25-1/2"
Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Electronics: Custom RMC with 13-pin connector for direct control of Roland GR Series and Axon AX100 guitar synths
Plus a Seymour Duncan Lipstick pickup with separate volume and tone controls
Includes a gig bag
Origin: Handcrafted in Canada
It's the best of both the unplugged and plugged-in worlds. Order today.
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Just enough about me to make sense of my comments:
Cut my teeth playing acoustic in folk clubs in England. Messed with a few bands, both acoustic and electric in USA, but my traveling lifestyle made bands impossible…..so I built a huge pedalboard that allows me to be my own band. This includes a looper and a guitar synthesizer.
When I play, because of acoustic beginnings, the heel of my right hand rides the wooden bridge plate as an anchor and guide. Metal electric guitar bridges just don't work for that. So for years I tried to jerry-rig axes that could do acoustic, electric, and drive a synth, while having a folk guitar bridge.
As soon as I saw the Multiac Spectrum SA I knew I was home. I have lived there for two years now, and have had time to really get to know this axe. There is still nothing else to compare. Here is the good and the bad…..
The guitar is nicely made, and the setup was great right out of the box. Looks different and classy and attracts a lot of attention, especially in black, like mine. Blows other musicians away when they hear what it can do. Using the under-bridge pickup, with just a touch of bite from the lipstick pickup at the neck, and the EQ sliders set flat, I get a pleasing acoustic sound. As advertised, because the chambered body has no sound hole, feedback is almost a total non-issue. I don't mess with the on-guitar controls much at all. I pretty much use that same setting as a feed to the synth, and also as a feed to a Boss guitar multi-processor. To be honest, although they look cool, the guitar front controls are in the wrong place, and being sliders, they are hard to adjust on the fly. The controls are mostly on the upper bout of the body, above the strings, and it is a trip out of the way of strumming to stab at them (as opposed to knobs on the lower bout , below the strings, as in most guitars. Those can be adjusted accurately and quickly with the side of the little finger almost as part of the strumming motion) Changing from guitar voice to synth voice for instance, on the Godin, requires bringing up the synth voice with a slider (really hard to hit the right volume in a quick stab), while also turning down the guitar voice using a volume knob located on the top side of the guitar. Almost impossible to do simultaneously and cleanly. To get around that I have incorporated an A/B/AB combiner box on the pedalboard and I have wired it so I can make the switch with one stomp. Another strange contra-intuitive aspect of the controls is that to fade between the bridge and the neck pickup you slide towards the neck to get more bridge, and towards the bridge to get more neck. Duh!!? Like I said, I don't use the guitar controls much. The volume and tone knobs on the top side, and the EQ and routing sliders on the face all work fine when you can set them calmly, while not playing. I have never figured out what the little switch on the face does. The manual (more on that later) merely says that it allows choice between two frequencies. I have switched it a hundred times under all conditions and can hear no difference at all. All of this may sound harsh, but it is all washed away when I play this guitar. It just feels good. The neck is fast, the bridge is right, the sound is good, and because it can talk to my pedalboard via 13 pin connector, it has a thousand voices. I have no desire for any other guitar.
The Godin Multiac Spectrum SA came with the Godin gig-bag. Nice bag, but after the two years it began to fall apart…..fair enough, its a cloth bag with zippers and it worked hard. I love this guitar so much I decided to get a hard case this time. No case for it at MF, so I contacted Godin. "Sorry" they said, "No case for this model is available". Duh!!? Went to my local guitar store and tried dozens of cases. Nothing really fits. I wound up having to buy a huge Gator dreadnaught case which is way too deep and I had to pad with foam under the guitar. The guitar case with the guitar inside is horribly imbalanced and I am going to have to butcher the case and move the handle to make it useable.
So Godin makes a great guitar, but peripherals, not so much. The "Owners Manual" that came with the guitar was generic to all the Multiac models and very poorly written, leaving me with many questions and a lot of trial and error. For instance, after a few months, the electric neck pickup quit. I figured it was broken. I was almost ready to send the guitar back for repair when, on a whim, I unscrewed the metal plate on the back of the guitar. Tucked away inside, almost out of sight, was a 9V battery! It turns out that if you leave a guitar cord plugged to the guitar, the pickup is active and it drains the battery. There is no mention of the back plate, the battery, the need to unplug, or battery replacement instructions in the manual!
I have to give the Godin Multiac Spectrum SA five stars because, as said before, there is nothing else that can do what this guitar does. No contest. If I lost it, I would buy another tomorrow. Could the peripheral design be improved? Yes. But I have a feeling that when I have played my last gig, my Spectrum will have to be pried from my cold dead fingers.
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.I?ve been waiting for Godin to create a SA guitar with extra pickups for some time now. I currently have 6 Godin instruments. Steel SA, Classical SA, LGX (AAA) SA, Bass A5 SA, Mandolin A8 and now the Spectrum SA. I?ve owned and used Godin guitars for a long time and love the quality and workman ship of their instruments. I perform about 3 times a week up and down the Easter sea coast line and I needed an axe to reduce the number of guitars on the road & stage. The body is a little bigger and a touch heaver. The tone is this is awesome, better than the Steel SA that I loved. I?ll be selling the Steel SA now. I play anything from Celtic, Folk, Rock, Country, to Jazz. This can handle it all. Can?t wait until they make it with 2 electric pickups and a 5 way switch?..
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.First off, I'd like to thank Rhomvargo for his concise review, critical in my decision process.
I've been searching for an acoustic midi guitar with STEEL strings for a long time. I have known about this guitar for a while but was never able to find one in a nearby store to test drive. The price was too steep for me to gamble on an online 'blind' purchase. Over the last year or so, my search kept leading back to this guitar. I noticed several 'used' models but was suspicious that there were so many returned - could there be a hidden flaw?
A week ago, two of the used models dropped below half of a new model (aged inventory reduction) and I put one in my cart - waiting for payday… Payday came and someone else had purchased that guitar - my cart was empty. However, there was another used one for that price but it had no photos. I took the leap of faith…the guitar arrived yesterday in pristine condition. I cannot find the scratches mentioned in the online description.
First test was to see if it was too heavy for me: it is no heavier than my Ovation Super Shallow.
2nd test was to see if it felt and sounded good as an acoustic-only guitar. This phase of my test took two hours because it sounded so much better than I expected that I got 'lost' in the exploration of the harmonics, sustain, action and box-guitar sound.
3rd test was as an electric (I shred on my other acoustics, this one had to be shred-able too) - The neck is superb! I was all over the place, running up and back, linear runs are butter-slick and cluster runs are indescribably fluid - just AMAZING!
4th test was as a Midi controller (I already own a Freeway SA and a YRG) - The RMC hex pup has great tracking through my Roland GR.
I can't say enough about how awesome this guitar plays and sounds, I'm sure there are some things I'll have to get used to like the knob/switch locations and blending between the pups. I wasn't sure I'd like the slotted headstock, but I'm thinking I really like it if it plays a part in the sustain and resonance. We'll see if changing strings is a chore...
One of the reasons I play acoustic instead of electrics is weight that hurts an old shoulder injury. The other reason is the vibrations on my abdomen: I crave 'feeling what I'm playing' in my gut, it helps me experience my playing better - and I was worried this guitar wouldn't have much of a 'belly buzz'… I was wrong - the unique chambering and solid wood top/back make for more vibration than I get from my other acoustics. It actually feels like nothing else I've ever played. And for over 20 years, all I played was Gibson ES335's…so, my frame of reference creates a high standard in a semi-hollow design.
Feedback is simply not an issue, even at high levels with distortion and OD. I have to use soundhole covers on my other axes to control feedback, but even then, they don't have the ceiling this Godin does. Without distortion, this guitar has harmonics and overtones that sustain three or four times as long as a top end traditional box guitar.
The cutaway is liberating - runs and high-fret chords are perfectly intonated and simple to execute.
My test drive took four + hours but I was convinced within the first 10 minutes that this is the guitar of my dreams. Check my live looping vids on YouTube (search using my name) in a month or so if you're interested in how I go after the 'folk-metal' rainbow - got some Ovation and Yamaha examples up there now, can't wait 'til I get some vids of this Godin Spectrum posted. I will certainly be using the Spectrum on my upcoming Looptober Tour.
I cannot imagine ever wanting for another guitar - and this is only after one session playing the Godin Spectrum. My crayon box just got a lot more colors :)
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.This is truly an amazing guitar. It is the ultimate creativity tool. It is easy to play, fretboard fast and smooth. Electronics are fast tracking, and easy to manipulate via the onboard guitar knobs. This is the ultimate guitar. I absolutely hate to put it down.
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.I've had my Godin Spectrum for several years. What a work horse! So many sounds are possible right out of the guitar. So many choices for outputting and blending the sounds of this guitar. The electronics are very quiet. Choice of two mid-range frequencies to boost or cut – perfect when a guy's voice needs sonic shelf space. Perfect for a solo gig. Works like a charm with my Roland GR-55. Nice balance to the guitar. Neck is rock hard. Extra bonus: it is so much fun to play!
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.I love this guitar. It's not the first I've had. I foolishly sold my first a few years ago. What I like about it is that it really does do it all. If you set yourself up with an acoustic amp/simple PA, an electric amp, and a guitar synthesizer like the Roland GR series, you can become a one-man band with a vast range of sounds at your fingertips. It's a firmly built instrument, beautiful to look at, and able to handle dropped tunings, which is a big plus for me. I also have the Godin LGXT solid electric, but what I like about this one is that with it's heavier gauge strings (12-52s) and chambered body, it can be played with all the vigor and variation of an acoustic. In fact, it sounds quite decent unplugged, and for late-night playing when you don't want to disturb the neighbors, this is an option. However, you would need to plug in for the guitar to be worth buying.
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.I've been playing for a little over 35 years I play live 3 nights a week and I rely on my Roland GR 55 and VG 99, that was the primary reason for this purchase I own four Godin guitars total and they're the only guitars I honestly have never had a complaint about. I'm a big Les Paul fan and I have several of Les Paul standards as well as a few other Gibson high end guitars but my Godin's are workhorses they are truly functional tools and this one is no exception, in fact this is very likely the best investment I've ever made I have heard others referring to it as feeling as though it was made for them I could say the same this guitar feels like it was made just for me. It is the first guitar I've ever purchased that I took out of a box tuned it and simply played it, no modifications or adjustments needed perfect playing guitar. I did however replace the strings to my liking. The guitar plays beautifully it sounds fabulous and of course of the 13 PIN access is unparalleled and perfect for me and my uses, I used this guitar for virtually everything now. Even without the 13 PIN access it is a fabulous guitar and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
.Keep it handy, you'll want to use it…...a lot.
Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar Natural
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