Joined: July 2004 Posts: 812
Location: Hicksville, NY | Welcome to the OFC BTW. I hope that you will have more stories to share with us about your experience with your guitar(s).
I currently have an applause, and the pickup only has two controls -- (1) gain and (2) tone. I never have to use batteries for it, and I think it sounds much nicer unplugged. I like the "softness" of it, as opposed to having a "big" sound making it the ideal guitar for practice and for use in the classroom to accompany the children without disturbing the other classes. When it's plugged in, I don't even bother using the tone control because the sound tends to be unbearably bright. For whatever reason, either it's the amp that I have or it's the strings that's on it (custom lights: 11-52), I really do not know why. Once thing is certain, it only happens that way with the applause, and not with my balladeer or with the Martin (via condenser mic).
IMHO, for guitars retailing under 300 bucks, the Applause AE48 is a very decent guitar. Not the best, but a very decent one, and I'm quite happy with mine. If the pickup is not working properly, I would recommend taking it back to the retailer where you purchased the guitar from to either have it fixed or replaced.
Congrats with your new guitar BTW :)
Peace!
Gil |