Sonic Preview and Vital Stats

Though a large grain of salt should be taken when judging acoustic tone quality over the Web, these examples will give you a rough idea of the results on a level, low-bandwidth playing field.

I tested each unit in two ways. I plugged in my Paul Reed Smith Custom and an old Fender Telecaster to see if I could get the soldibodies to sound like a flattop. I also wanted to hear how they handled a conventional acoustic-electric, so I whipped out my trusty 1960 Gibson J-45 (with a third-party pickup) and an electro-acoustic Yamaha APX-10.

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	Yamaha APX-10, first dry, then through the Rhythm Guitar body type on the Zoom 504 Acoustic pedal. Note where the Zoom comes in at the top of the second phrase to sparkle to the highs and oomph to the lows.

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	Same APX dry, then with the Boss AC-2 Acoustic Simulation pedal's Enhance mode. Not necessarily an improvement but rather a great way to highlight the high chimes I hit at the end of the example.

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	PRS feeding the Boss AC-2. It may not replace your Martin, but could do nicely in a pinch on stage.

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	PRS feeding the Zoom 504. Maybe not quite the real thing, but the Zoom comes very close, particularly the "ring" of the last few notes

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	Gibson J-45 feeding Boss AC-2. The AC-2's Jumbo mode did wonders for my Gibson's normally anemic under-saddle piezo

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	Gibson J-45 feeding the Zoom 504. The Zoom's Bright setting really spiffed up my Gibson's sub-par pickup