Guitar Gear

I know, I know… When I get excited about some gear, I’m like a pit bull that won’t let go. But this T5z has gotten me real excited! So excited that I test-drove it today at Guitar Center, and walked out of the store with one!

I went into the shop specifically to test-drive the guitar. I wasn’t intending to buy it, but after two hours of playing, I pulled the trigger. I wasn’t going to leave the store without one in hand. It really is that good.

The standout feature of the T5z from the beginning is its versatility. The premise of the guitar when it was first released was that it could handle both acoustic and electric duties.

Unfortunately, though I loved the prospect of a dual-solution guitar, I had a real problem with it in that I felt the acoustic setting was not acoustic enough, and the electric side wasn’t electric enough. The acoustic setting was kind of lifeless in the amps I played it through, and the electric settings, while serviceable, were a bit uninspiring, and I about said as much in my original review 12 years ago.

But 12 years later, my opinion has completely changed. The acoustic sound is very acoustic and the electric sound is electric. It’ll never replace the sound of my Les Paul or my J45 – those sounds are distinct – but it’s not meant to do that. This guitar is meant to get you into the genre that you’re playing. Even though I just got it, I can see that it is now the most versatile performance guitar I have.

And for me as a worship leader, it checks off all the boxes for what I need. My band plays a mixture of contemporary Christian and more old-school Catholic folk stuff, and having a guitar that can cover the range is important to me. The T5z fits that bill perfectly!

And that brings me to the T5z being the perfect complement for my BOSS Katana Artist.

Since I’ve gotten my Artist, when I’ve had to play a set where I need both acoustic and electric, I’ve brought two guitars. I have my Artist banks set up to accommodate both electric and acoustic. When I need to play an acoustic song, I unplug my Les Paul, switch banks, then plug in my acoustic. But with the T5z, I just need to switch banks and adjust the volume knob on the guitar.

But the even cooler thing is that I now can do that mid-song. This is going to open up all sorts of possibilities for me.

For solo gigs, I can’t wait to use the T5z through a looper. I can do the foundation track on the acoustic setting, then do solos on an electric setting. Granted, I’ll have to adjust my rig a bit and I think I’ll be getting something like a Strymon Iridium to handle those electric duties. I tell you, I can’t wait to dive into what this guitar can do!

Update 12/25/2019

As one of my regular gigs is playing at church, I used the T5z with my Katana Artist yesterday for Christmas Eve services. I had spent about an hour prior to going to the church setting up my acoustic and electric banks. I was going to have a full band, so I needed to get my sound dialed in.

To make a long story short, the T5z worked spectacularly with the Katana Artist as I was both hoping and expecting. I did the traditional Christmas hymns in Acoustic mode, but for the more contemporary stuff we did, I was able to switch between Acoustic and Electric with a little dirt then back again mid-song!

The ease of which I was able to do this – it was so natural. Just a simple button press on the GA-FC to switch banks, then move the pickup selector to an electric position. It confirms my belief that the T5z is the perfect guitar for the Katana.