Taylor T5 Pro - Pacific Blue Review

Incredible and genius instrument

Let me begin by stating that I have owned and played some of the most iconic guitars manufacture. I owned a Gibson Country Gentleman for several years just like Chet Atkins played before he died. I have a 1959 original Gretsch Double Anniversary, I"ve owned Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Teles/Strats, 335"s/ as well as Taylor and Gibson acoustic guitars. I sold most of my stuff when I… read more moved to NYC for financial and Space availability reasons. Having said that, I bought this T5 as sort of a multi-tool for guitar projects and I have been completely blown away by I can accomplish with this 1 guitar. Though price heavy, keep in mind you are getting basically 4-5 guitars in one. I read many negative reviews in the guitar forums before making this purchase. I seriously do not believe these guys truly understand this guitar. It is an extremely complex instrument that requires a little time shaping your tone. But I promise you any tone you desire is here. You have to know how to create it using the guitar in conjunction with external sources. But it"s all here! I promise you that. Well worth the money I just spent. I recently began researching hybrid guitars out of necessity for downsizing my studio. I moved to NYC not long ago and my available space became incredibly limited. I have approximately 30 sq ft of space to set up my little home studio. I dreamed of having a guitar set up just like this T5-magnetic pickups, piezo, hollow body-acoustic, etc. So recently I began th process of elimination in determining if this guitar would actually accomplish my multi faceted needs. I watched every YouTube video I could find. I decided the T5z Custom was what I needed. I went to a local store and played a T5z and immediately realized the jumbo frets were going to be a problem for me. I also did not like the small body as it felt a little neck heavy. So I decided the T5 was the right choice for me. I ordered a used one just to test for a few days and absolutely fell in love with this guitar. It was a 2006 model T5-C2 Koa. I could not believe the acoustic tone unplugged. For such a thin body it projected just enough well rounded tone to really enjoy playing unplugged though not too loud as to not disturb the neighbors at late hours. I decided to order a brand new T5 Custom from Sweetwater only to my disappointment, they were on backorder until spring of 2019. I couldn"t wait this long as I was needing the guitar for an upcoming project. So I settled for the T5 Pro Pacific Blue. I created a very detailed audio analysis of each guitar the T5C2 Koa and the T5 Pro using my setup with GarageBand. Before I go any further, let me explain that prior to giving GarageBand a try, I sincerely thought it was a joke. How could a tablet app do justice to a $... guitar. Surely it"s just a toy for beginners( my original thoughts). However the more I analyzed my options with GarageBand the more I realized the legitimacy of this app. I now use my iPad for most of my guitar recording using GarageBand, Amplitube, and AmpKit+. I have never enjoyed playing guitar more in my life than I am right now. This setup is perfect for the T5. The T5 needs a full frequency audio interface whether you"re playing through a physical amp or software. I also realize there are much more sophisticated options available right now however I don"t have $2k to dump into an effects pedal. This setup is the best affordable option for me and it works great for my studio needs. So back to my analysis. I recorded a track for each of the 5 settings that were useful for my style of playing. I play acoustic guitar, Chet Atkins finger style, blues, and jazz. I was very interested in how the T5 would measure up to emulating those sounds. I could not be happier with the results. The only advantage I can see with the T5 Custom Koa is the unplugged tone. Hands down it is by far superior to the T5 Pro unplugged. However I don"t think most guys are buying this guitar as a practice guitar or songwriting tool exclusively. My audio analysis revealed that plugged in, both guitars produce the tones I wanted perfectly. My analysis included comparing acoustic strings to electric strings as well. I read somewhere online where a jazz player was using Elixir Acoustic Polywebs on his T5 so I put a set on my T5 Pro but was not happy with the finger noise in position 1. So I went back to Elixir Electric Polywebs 10/46. However I substituted an 11 for the 10 on the 1st string. The 10 is much too thin for the T5. I am accomplishing every tone I"ve ever used in my life with this one guitar. I hesitated spending this much money on a hybrid guitar however I couldn"t be more happy. I will advise you that it takes much patience getting to know the frequency response of this guitar. You will need an external equalizer to achieve the tones you desire. The guitar itself is on the thin/bright side but you can round it out using external EQ. I prefer AmpKit+ in conjunction as an external app with GarageBand as they use the Peavey Amp models. I play mostly clean and it works best for me. This is a powerful setup as crazy as it sounds. Most of my musician friends cannot believe the tones I am achieving using this setup. I am blown away myself. I highly recommend this guitar if you are looking for a multi-use option. This is a powerful tool for serious guitar players. I will probably keep this guitar for life unless I can trade at some point for a T5 Custom. Excellent instrument and excellent buying experience with Sweetwater. Andy worked his butt off making sure I got the right guitar for me. I couldn"t be more happy!!!

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