I did quick samples from a bunch of songs with the T5. Unfortunately, as Nono mentioned, the Powerbook has a lousy input jack: you have to have some sort of preamp before plugging it in the line-in before you can get a decent input level from the guitar.

It is also worth noting that the few “picked” songs don’t represent a true picked song – as I just used the hotel room’s card-key (I didn’t have a pick handy)

Just crank up the volume if you can’t hear it, or better yet, use headphones. But this should give you an idea how the T5 sounds like. I ran it through the GT-8 first, in bypass mode of course, just so I can use its volume controls. Still, there’s no effects, no EQ, and everything was in the detent (flat) position… straight to the line-in of the Powerbook. No post-processing as well.

Simply put, the samples below are the pure, unembellished voice of the T5.

• Green Tinted Sixties Mind (Mr. Big) 11 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 188KB Intro only. This is just to prove how low the action of the guitar is that even tapping [without any compression and effects] can be clearly heard.

• Hole Hearted (Extreme) 1 minute and 16 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 1.2MB Verse and chorus only. A fun song to play.

• I Miss You (Incubus) 44 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 692KB Verse and chorus only. I just did this because I remembered how the acoustic version sounded like, so I wanted to check how “acoustic” a sound the plugged T5 can generate.

• Just Take My Heart (Mr. Big) 14 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 228KB Intro only. Again, one of those songs you just have to play hehehe. Would sound better picked though (I plucked for this)

• Love Will Come To You (Indigo Girls) 1 minute and 1 second / CBR 128kbps Mono / 1.1MB Verse and Chorus only. Testing it how it will sound with different tunings (dropped the tuning on three strings)

• My Stupid Mouth (John Mayer) 31 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 500KB Verse and part of the pre-chorus. I wanted to hear how the guitar sounded when strummed with hands (nails)

• Neon (John Mayer) 21 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 332KB Verse riff only. This was to test if the guitar was capable of “hearing” that slapped C (bass) note.

• Return to Pooh Corner (Kenny Loggins) 32 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 504KB Intro, shortened verse (straight to end) only. I think it would sound better if picked instead of plucked (I did the latter)

• State of Mind (Raoul Midon) 49 seconds / CBR 128kbps Mono / 768KB Verse and Chorus only. I wanted to see how responsive the body sensor was to tapping/slapping various parts of the guitar to produce that percussive sound Midon is known for. Unfortunately, the sensor doesn’t pick up the body taps that much (as compared to a flat-top, deep-bowl guitar) – so I had to keep on tapping on the strings to simulate the said percussive sound.

• Tibet (Marty Friedman) 23 seconds / CBR 128kbps stereo / 384KB Ending only. This was recorded already in the PC so it should be much louder than the previous clips…

post updated on December 3, 2008 @ 3:30 pm