Buy a guitar with piezo or GK3 (Roland midi) to simulate the acoustic guitar sound?

[ifac8]

I currently want a guitar to play metal and another acoustic guitar. But I only have space for one guitar. I know that I definitely need a guitar to play metal. So I am going to buy a guitar with piezo such as jp and majesty. But I find that the Roland gr-55 or gr-20 can simulate acoustic guitar sound too. I know that if I buy the Roland gr, I can play much more stuff. But I am currently only interested to play the guitar stuff.

So I cannot make a decision to "buy a jp with piezo" or "buy a jp without piezo and the Roland gr". My main concern is about the quality and the tracking speed of the acoustic guitar sound. Please give me some advice. Thanks a lot!!

Remark:
1. You may say I can buy a "jp with piezo and the Roland gr" at the same time. But "buy a jp with piezo" or "buy a jp without piezo and the Roland gr" can save some money. Also, I really want to hear comments about "piezo vs midi"
2. I currently have the line 6 pod hd desktop. I think it can work with the electric guitar piezo to simulate the acoustic guitar sound. Am I correct?

 

[markd]

I don't have a JP, but I do have a Brian Moore C90p.13, which has the piezo and the 13 pin Roland system built in. The piezo is the RMC system, which uses the piezo to transfer the sound to the 13 pin output. The tracking is AMAZING because the string rests directly on the piezo.

Using the Roland GK system (which I had installed on a strat before my Brian Moore arrived) I had a lot of glitches in the tracking. Bending noted was almost impossible.

Regarding the sound quality of using the piezo as an acoustic sound vs. using the GR synth acoustic sound? Well, I think the piezo blends nicely onstage or into a recording. By itself it is a little wimpy. You couldn't go and do an acoustic gig with the piezo and have it sound that great, in my opinion. I tried it once and it was miserable. Using the GR acoustic sounds can be a bit more pleasing, but again, the tracking ability of the GK pickup comes into play. If you just strum open chords it should be fine. Anything more intricate could be an issue.

Personally, I would look into getting the RMC system installed into a JP if you are serious about having killer piezo and MIDI access.

RMC Pickups

Of course, there are other options regarding instruments that come with the RMC installed, but with this being an EBMM forum, I will leave that alone.

 

[Lou]

I have not had good results recording the direct piezo signal of the JP into a DAW.

 

[R and R]

I too have the Brian Moore C90P.13 and I can say that I never use the piezo because the Roland acoustic tones are great. I also have a Silo Special with a GK3 and I did a mod of a Silo FR with a GraphTech FR. I prefer the RMC system of the Brian Moore but I've always wanted to try to replace the Music Man piezo saddles with GraphTech saddles. Then you would have the best of both worlds!

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Have you tried to Boss acoustic simulator pedal? Whilst it does not compare to a piezo system, in the context of a mix or a live show I am sure nobody could tell the difference.

 

[NorM]

I love the piezo. I do have to send it direct to a board or an acoustic amp but I love it.

 

[Mordimer]

Hey!
I have JP7 with piezo and I like it much. The piezoelectric transducer is part of the bridge saddle so the string rest directly on it, just as in Brian Moore C90p.13 which was mentioned by markd.
At the begging of this song you can hear clean piezo sound (2 takes panned L/R):

 

[Spudmurphy]

I love my piezo too. You'll love it!

 

[MajtasticVoyage]

DO NOT GET THE BOSS AC2/AC3...

It is okay in a loud and live situation but there is an impossible-to-get-rid-of hiss/noise that is present at all times a note is being played; it's not a constant 60Hz hum or anything; but it's part of the software processing and it's there NO MATTER what, juuuuuusst on top of the note, barely perceptible at first - but once you hear it, you'll never NOT hear it again. Go try it for yourself and see if you can deal with it before you buy. Words of warning from a friend...

Anyway, I would get the JP with piezo. I find guitar synths tacky and gimmicky (I apologize if anyone's offended) - I can see how they definitely have their place in composing and layering texture, but as a meat-and-potatoes kinda guy, synths are just not responsive enough and they do not sound natural enough. That said, I have never heard their acoustic sounds... That being the case, I would probably go for the synth if you're recording - I'm sure it's got some fully processed beautiful acoustic guitar sounds - but for the FEEL of playing, and given your interest in mostly guitar (and not playing horns, oboes, or drums on your guitar) the JP w/piezo is for you. But do spend the extra money for a good acoustic amp or preamp. Either way, they sound divine in a clean channel blended with the middle magnetic pickup position.

 

[ifac8]

Thank You for all comments! I had watched some demos about the Boss AC2/AC3 on youtube. I think they don't sound as good as the piezo or the Roland synths. Also, I notice that it adds some noises to the sound. Anyway, thx for this information.

The piezo seems the way to go. The Roland sounds convincing for me but it seems not responsive enough. I had tried a jp with piezo, but my local music store still doesn't have the majesty. I think I will buy either one after I tried the majesty.

But, if anyone still have opinions about piezo or GK3 (Roland midi), please give us more comments.

Besides, I usually record my electric guitar sound directly to the computer without using a real amp because my room has no space for a real amp. Did anyone try to use the line 6 pod hd to record the electric guitar piezo sound? Any comments? I found two short demos on youtube which sounds good for me. But other than the line 6 pod hd, any other devices can record the electric guitar piezo sound directly to the computer? Do they sounds better? Please leave a comment!

 

[markd]

I use my piezo with an Avalon preamp into pro tools, but I HAVE used it into my Pod 2.0 set to "mic preamp" - I wasn't pleased with the sound. I guess if I had spent some time REALLY tweaking it I could have ended up with something better...but my Avalon pre is killer.