I've been refining my preferences in the acoustic domain and trying a pile of guitars to see what I prefer. Contrary to my own expectations, I've ended up back in the Martin-sounding camp. After running the racks at my local GAS emporium it was the Martin D35 that I came back to. It wasn't 'perfect' but it was close, and I much preferred it to the D28, with a D18 coming in second place. All of the Gibsons (*all* of the Gibsons) were dead as doornails and less well made than the Yamahas, and the Matons seemed crude and stiff. The Taylors all sounded like Taylors...can't afford a Collings (and they had none in stock anyway) so back to the D35.
My concern is the legendary 'whumpiness' much discussed with these - to my ears the D35 had a big, open bass and fairly strong trebles but with a quite restrained midrange. I need it for open mic acoustic stuff with a male and / or female vocal, and also for acoustic full band sessions (i.e. playing smaller sessions with the rock band in a fully acoustic mode). In other words, yer bog standard acoustic playing, lots of picked full chord strumming with some fingerstyle and partial chords etc. I can't stretch to a D35 retro with the Fishman Aura so it would probably be a used D35 with a Baggs or similar or the Martin thinline gold thing and possibly a preamp pedal. Whatever I can pull together roughly in line with what I can sell my Lowden for.
Am I going to run into problems controlling the D35s bottom end on a stage? What are the known drawbacks / things to look out for with these?
Comments
I had an HD35 - victim of said whumpiness - apparently due to scalloped barcing.
I *think* Lewy said than plain D model wouldn't be prone to this.
Feedback
[stuck record] Don't get one with a built-in pickup/preamp anyway. Get a plain acoustic and retro-fit it with a simple pickup, no onboard preamp, and do the rest offboard. That way you aren't tied to a technology which will be obsolete in ten years and with the reliability problems of internal preamps and batteries. [/stuck record]
The K&K Pure Mini is an excellent passive internal solution, although it can be a *bit* bassy, which might be more of an issue on a 35… but you can always EQ it, and it just flat-out sounds better than an undersaddle pickup in the first place.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The 'whumpy' bass issue is why I chose my D28 over an HD28. When compared side by side with an HD28 (scalloped bracing) my ears told me the HD28 was louder, fuller and better sounding. But after going back and forth between the 2 for a couple of days I realised the HD28 was stronger in bass and treble and the D28 was more balanced and so the mid range came through. The bass on the HD28 was almost overwhelming when I tried to sing over it and I would expect it to be tricky to record in a mix.
I haven't been lucky enough to try a D35 but with it's straight braced like the D28 so shouldn't has as prominent bass response as a scalloped braced Martin but I would expect it to have more than a D28. It should be just about right, but's that's just my speculation.
Let your ears decide...
To the OP
If it's got to be a D I would tend to go with head over heart and agree that forward shifted / scalloped bracing in a D can lead to an instrument that suits some, but not all. I have a D28 that I gigged for nearly 20 years during the 80's /90's (less since ) and a D41 that is 17 years old but not played half as much. When played finger style the D28 is much warmer and some would say "opened up" while the D41 is sounds tighter but with an interesting chime and compression. Personally, I love them both . I know that I'm saying nothing you don't already know but don't make a judgement on how it sounds in the store (if new) but think about how it will develop down the line. If it's lower mid heavy new it will only get more so, if it's slightly brassy (but full) now it will mellow out .
Personally, I would die to keep the Lowden and find something to scratch the more American sound on the side
Good luck and enjoy the search
i wonder if i can use an eq / preamp to make my little 00-16 sound a bit more dread-like in a live application...
TBH plugged in, the feel still matters but the sound between a dread and an 0 narrows so much to be more about the pick up / sound system . I remember seeing Fairport Convention about 80 years ago,:) Simon Nicholl was using a parlour ( Bill Mates, I think ? ) 2K plus in the hall. a full band, and it sounded huge.