(Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report *Now w/pics*

AcornHouse

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With the recent post about GC, I thought I'd peruse their used listings, which I hadn't done in a while. One of the "new arrivals" was a Guild G500 acoustic amp for $160. A quick google search didn't turn up much info about the amp, :?: but with GC's liberal return policy fresh in the mind, I thought I'd give it a chance. :idea: If I don't like it, then back it goes, and I'll keep using my Marshall AS80r. If I like it, then I'll get rid of the Marshall, and welcome a new addition to my Guild family.

I'll let you know what I think when it arrives. :arrow:
 

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Re: (Future) NAD Guild G500

Had some discussion about Guild acoustic amps in the past and that one was possibly built by Randall. (?)

Anyway, looking forward to the report!
 

AcornHouse

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Re: (Future) NAD Guild G500

Yeah, I saw that thread, just not much on how they sound.

It's leaving Texas for Ohio today. I'll let you know.
 

dapmdave

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Re: (Future) NAD Guild G500

I was eyeing that one, too. I hope it sounds good.

Dave :D
 

AcornHouse

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

The Guild G500 acoustic amp arrived today. Here's my initial impressions.

Everything seems to be working; it's a 2x10 60w with reverb and chorus effects. It has a switch for active or passive preamp with sensitivity and level settings, treble, middle, bass eq and the mysterious "plectrum" dial. Chorus has speed and depth control. I REALLY wish I had a manual for some of these settings, I'll be fiddling and trying things as I go.

I'm plugging in a D4 with an added Baggs iBeam pickup.

So far, minimal background noise, depending on various levels. Not noiseless, but ive heard worse. It's very boomy, I've got the bass turned all the way down, but it's still coming through. That may be because of the D4/iBeam combo, however, which tends towards boominess, anyway. I'm going to try to find another guitar to plug in to compare.

It's not a home run, but it's not a strike out. I'll see how it goes (maybe ill offer it up to the LTG masses at some point), I don't think ill be returning it to GC.

Btw, I saw one post somewhere that said that there wasn't a G500, only G700s. I can state definitively that this is a Guild G500. It may have made by Randall, but there are no other markings othe than Guild and G500. The good news is that is says "Made in the USA", so it wasn't one of their imported amps.
 

AcornHouse

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

The speakers, btw, are completely anonymous; no label, and I'll to really search for any markings to ID them. Just generic, black, 10"ers.
 

AcornHouse

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

Just noticed that auto correct changed the label of the mystery dial to plectrum. The label for that dial reads "Plectron".

Any ideas what it does?

EDIT* Never mind, found some older posts talking about it.
 

Jeff

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

AcornHouse said:
Just noticed that auto correct changed the label of the mystery dial to plectrum. The label for that dial reads "Plectron".

Any ideas what it does?


I had an Aspen with the same feature, & never was quite sure just what it did. My hearing being what it is, I was never sure it did anything.

124910.jpg
124757.jpg

125048.jpg
 

chazmo

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

Yeah, Grot said it had something to do with pick noise. Interesting. Do you hear any difference when you change that dial? Probably want to turn the other stuff off to see if it changes anything.
 

Bill Ashton

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

It seems to me that I remember a review when that amp was current, complaining about how the knobs worked backwards. Maybe you are turning up the bass inadvertantly??? Have you looked the amp up on Harmony Central? That review may have been in a real old issue of Acoustic Guitar...
 

AcornHouse

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Re: (Arrived) NAD Guild G500 - Report

Bill Ashton said:
It seems to me that I remember a review when that amp was current, complaining about how the knobs worked backwards. Maybe you are turning up the bass inadvertantly??? Have you looked the amp up on Harmony Central? That review may have been in a real old issue of Acoustic Guitar...
No, up really is up. I couldn't find any reference to the G500 which seems to be an odd duck. It's Tolex covered, rather than wood like the Aspen, Sequoia, etc. it also doesn't have Guild knobs and brown control panel rather than gold. The grill cloth weave is the same, as is the badge, but it doesn't have the notch filter. I'm wondering if it was a first run, and then they refined and expanded the line, dropping the G500. :?

I've been fiddling (so to speak) some more, and changed the active switch to passive, which I knew it should have been. I hadn't been getting a lot of volume in passive at first, but more trying got it dialed in better.

The "Plectron" knob is supposed to add more string presence (noise?), and when dialed down gives a rather muddy, organ-y, sound. I'm finding I like it close to dimed.

It's growing on me as I work with it. I'll probably have to change the position of the iBeam to really get the EQ where it should be.

I'll try to get some pics in a couple of days.
 

The Guilds of Grot

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Hey GAD, did you see this latest photo? How does this fit into you're review?

If I were to guess, I would go with the early model theory.
 

txbumper57

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That is a good looking amp Acorn! That is also the first one I have seen covered with the Tolex besides the G1000 which was the "Amp in a Seat" model that had shiny black paneling and tolex mixed. I love my Sequoia model. It also has a very small amount of Background noise but it doesn't bother me too much. I am sure this has been verified in the time since your original posting but just in case it hasn't these were made by Randall for Guild. Do you still play it?

TX
 

The Guilds of Grot

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That is also the first one I have seen covered with the Tolex besides the G1000 which was the "Amp in a Seat" model that had shiny black paneling and tolex mixed. I love my Sequoia model.TX

They also did a natural mahogany version of the G-1000

G-1000-1.jpg


I got this thing dirt cheap as a floor model at Sam Ash on 42nd Street in NYC. It was missing two knobs. The gray faced knobs are not original but I rearranged the missing knobs so the gray ones are for setting volumes.
 
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walrus

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I think all these acoustic amps by Guild are very cool. The look of the wood, etc. is great!

walrus
 
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