Smart technology has fully arrived onboard the acoustic guitar, and the breakthrough comes from France’s Lâg Guitars in the form of the Tramontane HyVibe series. While we’ve seen shades of similar technology, we’ve never seen anything as advanced or flexible as the HyVibe system, which provides integrated onboard effects that emit from the guitar’s soundhole. In addition to eight acoustically generated digital effects, HyVibe also features a metronome and looper, and in Speaker mode the acoustic guitar becomes a speaker that can amplify tunes or tracks from your phone using Bluetooth. The system charges via USB to provide an estimated 10 hours of use, and there’s a free app on the way that will greatly expand the HyVibe’s functionality and flexibility. Lâg makes three dreadnought cutaway models with HyVibe technology that are close in design and cost, with street prices starting at about a grand. The THV30DCE on review here represents the top of the line.
Any player who has checked out a ToneWoodAmp or a Yamaha TransAcoustic will be familiar with acoustically generated digital effects. Like those systems, HyVibe technology uses actuators to process guitar vibrations into effects that emit from the soundhole, turning the acoustic into its own signal-processing amplifier. The HyVibe has two actuators beneath the top, rather than on the instrument’s back as the other systems do. In essence, this turns the soundboard into a membrane speaker, so the sound is coming directly from the top.
“It makes more sense to place the actuators under the top because it vibrates much more than the back,” product manager Robin Tirado explains. That’s an interesting point proven by how the HyVibe’s effects are so clearly pronounced and capable of great volume, if that’s what your heart desires. If not, it’s easy to dial things back with