The guitar and pickup, designed in conjunction with virtuoso picker Tommy Emmanuel, offers “stunning” tones and ease of playing
“There’s something incredibly inspiring about playing a guitar that offers amazing comfort and ease of playing across the fretboard, as well as an acoustic tone that has both stunning presence and responsive low end whether you’re picking or strumming,” says resident six-string ace Steve Stine.
And we couldn’t agree more.
Especially when the guitar in question is the Maton EBG808TE, which the renowned Australian company designed in conjunction with acoustic legend Tommy Emmanuel.
(Image credit: Maton)
Built to Emmanuel's exacting specs, the model boasts a AAA Select Sitka spruce top, Queensland maple back, sides and neck and a streaky ebony fingerboard and bridge.
It’s a top-quality build, to be sure. But, Steve says, “there’s another level I wasn’t even expecting – the acoustic pickup offered in Maton’s guitar line has given me the ability to simply plug in and record with literally no post-production, EQ’ing or tweaking needed, which has made my job so much easier and keeps me moving forward quickly with all of my projects.”
That pickup is the AP5 PRO, which Emmanuel helped develop as well.
(Image credit: Maton)
The updated pickup system features separate microphone and piezo input controls to allow for blending of both microphone and piezo levels prior to sending the actively combined signals through to the master volume.
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Additionally, the highly selective cardioid microphone system offers greater microphone level before feedback in live environments, and the newly upgraded microphone is directly mounted to the preamp casing via an adjustable arm for easy position tweaking.
What’s more, the system is, as Steve says, incredible easy to use.
Just how easy?
Watch Steve take the EBG808TE and the AP5 PRO pickup system for a test drive in the above video, demonstrating “how easy it is to capture audio for livestreaming, or recording direct to video, or maybe building a recording.”
To check out the EGB808TE for yourself, head to Maton.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
