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Washburn EA16 Electro-Acoustic Guitar

 

Review of the Washburn EA16 by The Man in the Jar

Features of the Washburn EA16  

Tuners - 18:1 Grovers with large kidney knobs. The guitar emerged from the warehouse wildly out-of-tune but these machines brought it smoothly back into tune at the first time of asking.

Headstock - Flared paddle with three-a-side and a Dutch gable top. The Washburn logo is rendered in a nice old-fashioned script.

Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is cleanly cut.

Neck - I was pleasantly surprised by the neck on this guitar. It's lovely and slim back-to-front with a nice, generous fretboard width. This makes for a comfortable flat feeling against the palm when reaching around with the thumb to damp the 6th string. The near parallel profile from head to heel augments an almost Les Paul feeling. The heel is fat and rounded and feels comfortable to play around when you venture above the 12th fret.

Fretboard - The medium brown rosewood fretboard has a dry look to it which could be softened with an application of specialist lemon oil. White pearloid dot markers adorn the face and the whole is finished nicely with white binding.

Frets - Medium-thin frets are nicely polished.

Action - A good, low action straight from the box makes this guitar an immediate pleasure to play.

Body - The body and top are maple (as I suspect is the neck). The review model is covered in black lacquer finish that has the tiniest hint of fine gold sparkle. The round soundhole is decorated by a thin rosette with colours that reflect a stylish Art Nouveau sensibility. There's a substantial cutaway to assist access to the upper frets and the control panel sits on the top edge of the body.

Bridge - The rosewood bridge is cut into a rather attractive butterfly shape and the plastic saddle is compensated at the second string. The strings are secured by traditional bridge pins. 

Pickup - The Washburn EA16 uses B-Band technology, a modern marvel that is explained here

Controls - The control panel seems at first glance to be a bit crowded, but it's well-ordered and all the controls are easy to use. I particularly liked the battery compartment mechanism. It consists of a cradle into which the 9 volt battery slides. The cradle is made in such a way as the battery can only be inserted in the correct orientation. The cradle then slides into a hole in the control panel, again it fits in only one way. At the bottom of the receiving chamber are two substantial looking springs that dock firmly with the battery's terminals.
The panel has a slider for Volume and individual slides that control Treble, Middle, Bass and Presence. All the tone controls run + or - 12 dB. An unusual extra is an onboard Chorus. The Chorus has an on/off button and two small control knobs, one for Rate and one for Depth.
Down on the bottom of the guitar are two outputs, one is a standard jack marked Hi-Z, the other is an XLR marked Low-Z Balanced for direct inject into a mixer.    

*THE NEW 2008 MODEL HAS THE WT-92 PRE-AMP SYSTEM WHICH IS NOT B-BAND AND COMES WITH A BUILT IN TUNER. THE CHORUS CONTROL IS ALSO NOT ON THE NEW 2008 WT-92 SYSTEM*

Strap-buttons - Single strap button on the bottom of the body.

Finish - Very good throughout.

 

Sound of the Washburn EA16

Acoustically the first thing you notice is the bright, zingy tone dictated by the maple construction. The tone reacts and varies well depending on where you strike the strings; A mellow-honeyed tone over the soundhole and a tight, almost harpsichord crispness hard up against the bridge.
When amplified I found I was backing off slightly on all the tone controls, but I suspect that's because I was playing in isolation and therefore needed less cut-through. In a band situation you'll be grateful for the extra scope available on the eq.
The Chorus goes all the way up to throaty wobble, a sound that most guitarists won't use. But set down in the lower 25% of Rate and Depth the effect adds a lovely, lush layering to the sound, especially on strummed chord progressions.  

 

Overall Impressions of the Washburn EA16 

If you need an electro-acoustic guitar in your armoury then the Washburn EA16 deserves your full attention. This instrument embraces the fact that electro-acoustic guitars are all hybrids and are, by necessity, a compromise solution between an acoustic instrument and an amplified environment. The Washburn delivers a bright, enthusiastic tone with plenty of leeway in the eq to sculpt the sound to the needs of the venue. The XLR out is an absolute boon and a big point-scorer for the live musician. The onboard Chorus is a bonus for occasional use, but there's always the danger that you'll get hooked, in which case an off-board unit in your effects loop would be a sensible upgrade.
All in all the Washburn EA16 is an excellent, versatile instrument for the price asked.

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