The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

As many of you may or may not know, I've been searching for a companion to my Gibson J200 for a few years now. I was specifically looking for a cutaway model with internal electronics that would work both in a live and recording environment. After many hours in various acoustic rooms playing the usual Taylor/Martin/Gibson suspects in the $1500-$2500 range and trying to internally justify the price, I stumbled across a Breedlove AD25/SR Plus selling for $699 at Banjo Emporium the other day.

Now I am somewhat of an old-school purist in terms of name-brand guitars but a couple strums on this baby had me re-thinking my philosophy. This thing sounded great! I kept switching back and forth with some of the big-brand models and I honestly couldn't hear a real big difference. Throw in the fact the GC is doing 12-month/same-as-cash financing this weekend and I was sold. Here are some of the specifics:

Features - No shortcuts here. Sitka top, Rosewood back and sides. High gloss finish. mahogany neck, gold Grovers, abalone inlays at the soundhole and around the top, mother-of pearl inlays on the fretboard. Classic 4T Fishman preamp with Brilliance, Treble, Middle, Bass and Volume controls - includes built in Tuner. This is a very pretty, slightly rounded dreadnought model guitar.

Sound - Wow! An immediate attention-grabber. I've since read many people comparing the sound to somewhere between a Taylor and a Martin and I have to somewhat concur. Has both the woody Martin low-end and the Taylor brightness. Doesn't quite have the J200's brightness but it will make a very nice alternate/companion when recording at home. It sounds great plugged-in here at home but until I take it in to band rehearsal and plug into the PA and play against a drum kit and the rest of the folks this part of the research is incomplete.

Playability - Very nice up and down the fretboard. Not quite as easy as the J200 which admittedly plays like butter but more than passable. I've been playing it for hours since Friday. Nothing like a new guitar to get you playing like that again.

Extras - Comes with an amazing hardshell case that is now probably the best case I have. Even comes with a shoulder strap to make lugging it around even that much easier.

Summary - I am very happy with this guitar. Since I already own a 'cadillac' with my J200 I didn't really need to go out and break the bank. If any of you are in the same situation and are looking for something in the sub-$1000 range, I heartily encourage you to go out and test-drive one of this babys!

Hi Bob,

congrats to the new baby!

Seems to be a really good deal. The specs look nice, only one question: is it all solid wood?
The baby is new, so wait some month and play it and you will see it will sound even better if the wood set down and you learned to change your style to fit to this guitar. Maybe a smooth setup and she also plays like buttter.

I have had the same experience, not to look at the brand name and the price. Also that same modells can sound and play different. I wanted to buy a Martin D28 a year ago, also tried some expensive Taylors, a lot of other brands in all price categories and ended with a cheaper Taylor 214e (I dont like cutaways on acoustic guitars). To me the best sounding guitar of all that I played. After a setup done by myself the playability is great also.

Buying a cheaper guitar and have stayed with a lot of budget, I was able to buy my AW1600. But thats an other story ...

Good luck and a lot of fun with the new baby
Andreas

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Blues aint nothing but the blues!

Andreas,

Thanks. The top is solid Sitka, back is solid Rosewood, sides are laminated Rosewood.

Bob,
I think you got yerself a nice guitar. Breedlove has excellent ratings around the internet. I've not played one personally, but from what I read and what you just wrote, you did good! Hope to hear something soon.

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GSMUSIC: Hey RZ, Im not no upper class american, the gear I own is what I have special to me. My car sucks, my house sucks, my nieghborhood sucks. Does yours RZ? Does it?

rz-land

Nice move, Bob. Congrats! I've also seen several very positive reviews of the Breedloves, and I've noticed the prices dropping a bit lately. But you're the first person I "know" to offer a review. Thanks for that, especially if I decide to add a guitar next year. Let us know when you post a recording of it, eh?

Jeff

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Recent AW16G fiascos: http://www.jlh.2tunes.com