The Godin A6 Ultra Koa Extreme is a great eye-catching value, and the perfect guitar for a gigging soloist, jazz player, or a feedback-free substitute for an acoustic guitar. From first hand experience, the Godin A6 is the perfect companion for bands that need acoustic guitar accompaniment, but don't want to deal with a true acoustic on a loud stage. The Godin A6 sounds as good as most amplified acoustics, it never feeds back, and it's comfortable and easy to play all night long.

The Godin A6 Ultra Koa Extreme features the follow construction and components:

• Solid Koa Extreme figured top with chambered maple back
• High gloss finish
• Godin humbucker neck pickup with passive volume treble and bass mini-knobs
• Godin EPM under saddle bridge transducer with sliders for active treble, mid, and bass
• 25.5" scale mahogany neck with Indian rosewood fingerboard
• TUSQ saddle and nut
• Schaller strap lock buttons
• Output jacks for electric and electric/acoustic mix (when using both they act as individual electric and acoustic jacks)
• Deluxe Godin padded gig bag
• Made in Canada
• 2015 list price $1259

Whether using the mixed output or running the individual electric/acoustic output jacks, the A6 Ultra can span a wide range of tones and excels as a live performance instrument.

Using the split separate outputs, a typical configuration is running the humbucker neck pickup into a conventional guitar amp, and the bridge transducer into an acoustic guitar amp, or through a preamp direct into the PA. The neck humbucker is voiced for fairly mellow tones, and the chambered body provides a round, deep tonality. It does a surprisingly good job at emulating a hollow body jazz guitar. The bridge piezo is bright and crisp sounding, but largely devoid of piezo crackle and quack. Tested through a Fishman Loudbox with a touch of reverb it sounded articulate and clean, and unless you are a hardcore folkie, would easily hold its own in most performing situations. Direct into a PA, it does benefit with a little signal conditioning, and we tried it with our BBE Acoustimax preamp. The Acoustimax has a built-in BBE Sonic Maximizer, which works to open up the sound and making any acoustic type instrument sound more spacious and open.

Using the blended output, it's possible to get all Electric, all Acoustic, or a blend of the two. By blending a little neck pickup into a mostly acoustic signal, you get a very rich acoustic tone with a nice low end. For players doing primarily acoustic work, the blended output is probably all they will ever need.

At home the Godin A6 is great for just sitting around or practicing both your electric and acoustic parts. While certainly not as full sounding as a true acoustic, it puts out a reasonable amount of volume, the slim body is easy to hold, and the Godin electric style neck has light action and is easy on the fingertips. At only 6 pounds it travels easily and takes up far less space than a traditional acoustic.

The Godin A6 is one of those guitars that once you own it, you'll wonder how you got along without it. Whether your are a performer or just like to play, the Godin A6 is a go-to instrument for a wide array of playing environments.