2 in 1! AT4040 vs. Takstar & $12000 guitar vs $450 guitar

[burntrissole]

Here's an example of both an Audio Technica 4040 at $950 and a Takstar PCM6100 at $26 (from ebay). All prices are quoted in Australian dollars for everyone not here. The guitars being used are a 2005 Simon Marty handmade cedar and brazilian rosewood guitar at $12000 and a 2004? Starsun spruce and unknown ply back at $450 (from ebay again).
To make things a bit fairer between the guitars I moved the mics in a bit closer on the starsun because it's about half the volume of the Marty and it also adds a bit more bottom end to it.
The recordings aren't that flash they're straight into the preamps of a digi 003 with no effects on them at all. I have a vested interest if people can tell the difference between the guitars, the Marty has really old dodgy strings on it whereas the ones on the starsun are new.
Hope you enjoy.

P.S.

Edited post with more recordings from a touch further away to help get rid of some of the distortion. The different noise specs start to come into play here.

[kijix84]

Would have helped if the $400 guitar was in tune.

Results were pretty much what I expected--Except that the 3rd example I thought the lack of quality was due to the Mic and not the Guitar ... the guitar almost made a bigger difference here. THen again it sounded like Acoustic guitar so that would make sense. I'd be more interested in the same kind of test done with electrics.

Overall, more expensive guitar sounds better than way less expensive guitar and good mic sounds better than bad mic. Not much suprise there

[burntrissole]

The intonation on the $400 guitar is the issue there not the tuning, really obvious here because it's fretted up at 14th fret and open strings.
What I was trying to show was that in a recording a $400 guitar still will never sound as good as a really good guitar but you can make the discrepancy between the two a lot less compared to a live situation.
Cheers

[Deodar]

#2 needs the strings,&why the distortion in the last bar?

[burntrissole]

HI Deodar sorry could you clarify the last post? The distortion, I think is present pretty much the whole way, only came when I normalised it. I normalised them all to the same level so that the different output levels of the mics wouldn't come into play but it shows how badly I set it all up this time.

[Deodar]

Well I've had another listen,the "distortion" could actually be string 'reverb'?I don't know
the acoustic engineering term for it,but if I had a string buzzing like that I would change
the set.But actually I play electric & string noise is not usually a factor so my ears are out
of that frequency response range.Both guitars sound mellow to me but the trebles are
accentuated-sorry this makes no sense to me either really,not exactly how I'd like to put
it.Lack the terminology thankfully.

[burntrissole]

Ok got you. I think I know what you're talking about with that one. The partials that are coming out with that guitar/mic combination are quite ...... hmmmm how to put this painful? The frequency boost in the mic is an atrocious one for this particular guitar but with a decent $5500 guitar I used to have it made it sound brilliant.
The one thing I'll go out on a limb not to concede though is the actual strings. On the $400 guitar they're Savarez Alliance high tension which are "normally" a great string. A lot of top end harmonics because they're carbon fibre which I think in this case could be exacerbating the deficiencies of the guitar when paired with this mic. Live though, they give the sound a lot more projection and tone, which as we all know is manipulated by how it's recorded.

[kijix84]

Oh, if you were on the 14th fret yeah that explains everything.

Well that's something I didn't know-- Hell I didn't even know you could get a guitar that wouldn't go out of tune as you get higher up- The 12k one sounds impecable.

[roysboy]

great test ....I honestly didn't hear a sonic difference until the last one ( intonation aside ) I have wrestled with this idea of "best" this and that also and I come to similar conclusions ....you can squeeze an awful lot more out of "budget" gear than most of us might expect if you take some time and develop your ears. I have owned a half dozen strats , about a dozen acoustics , a few gibsons , coupla telecasters over 30 years . All good instruments .But today I'm making a living playing a 199.oo Fender Affinity telecaster (my "CHINACASTER", as I affectionately refer to it ) and haven't put it down for about 4 years. It just feels and sounds GREAT to me , always stays in tune and shows little treadwear , aside from a few scratches. Its all about what works for you and not what "the man" says will work for you . By the way , I still have a nice '85 stratocaster that DOESN'T stay in tune but looks spectacular hanging on the wall in the studio .

thanks for the test

[Deodar]

Burntrissole(lol,that cracks me up)re your reply to that one.Your terms are what i meant,
projection!Yes.;also I would wonder if the harmonics are true,it sounds like a G string &
your thumbpicking is muted.So maybe the trebles are projecting more,as trebles usually do
& I go for.But too much enters the distorted red zone.When metal wounds come unwound they sound buzzy wheras your trebles just sound really tightly wound even though in tune.
I mean tight around the tuners of course.I can't differentiate guitars is the good news?