Bose Corporation is pleased to welcome Gibson Acoustics as the latest manufacturer to participate in the development of customized ToneMatch® presets for their instruments. These presets are designed for use with the Bose T1 ToneMatch® audio engine and Bose L1® Portable Line Array systems, and help musicians achieve exceptional amplified tone.

Cliff Henricksen and I had the opportunity to work directly with legendary Gibson Master Luthier Ren Ferguson and Gibson Sales and Marketing Director Robi Johns to create the customized ToneMatch presets. Their expertise would prove to be crucial in our quest to develop presets that were authentic to the unique sound of these iconic instruments.

We decided to conduct the ToneMatch® session at the local music store “The Music Villa” in Bozeman MT. This was an ideal location as they were an authorized L1® system dealer and A Gibson 5 Star Acoustic Showroom.

The session itself was fantastic and everyone is excited about the results.

We developed presets for the following Gibson Acoustic models:

Songwriter Deluxe
Songwriter Deluxe Cutaway
J-45
SJ-200
Vintage Gibson
Hummingbird Series
CJ-165 EC

The presets can be downloaded from Bose.com in the following location.

I am going to ask Cliff to share his thoughts on this wonderful achievement.

Neil

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Neil-at-Bose,

Neil and I went out to visit Gibson Acoustic in Bozeman Montana in the fall. This is not the rock and roll Gibson. Rather, it is the American Heritage Gibson, the instruments that the real authentic American folk and western music was created on. They're still the choice of our best artists and we found out why.

Our mission was to create a series of ToneMatch(TM) presets for the famous Gibson guitars. Most of these come with pickups and a front end. They all have the right sound unamplified, and so we had a ready reference for the tone we would craft when the sound got into the air, out of the L1.

We worked in a part of the Music Villa, a local Bozeman music store that specializes in upscale guitars, amps and other equipment. Because Gibson is so close in the neighborhood, they are also closely allied and, of course, the Gibsons are the headliners in the store. Music Villa is also an L1 dealer and they love it for amplfying the instruments in the store. Paul Decker is the store's owner, who graciously made their performance space part of the store available for our ToneMatch work. The day before the session, we set up our equipment and went off to meet Robi Johns and Ren Ferguson at Gibson. Robi is Marketing and Sales VP for the division and Ren is the legendary luthier and soul master of the Gibson plant. Both are, as you could guess, experienced veteran players.

That first afternoon, we visited the factory nearby. It was literally dripping with heritage guitar-making supplies like hot animal hide glue, nitrocellulose varnishes and a host of other materials with similarly vintage names that Mark Twain must have even been aware of. In a way, the factory is in a time warp and the instruments are all hand-hewn works of wood-and-finish art, just like they always were. And the wood. So beautiful and so pleasant to smell, a banquet of senses, all put together by genuine artists to make these famous ships of love. It was an amazing visit.

Our tone-crafting session was met with a bit of initial hesitation. After all, what might the mighty science of Bose Corporation bring to test these guitars? Lasers? Chemicals? But once they could see that it was all art and no real "technology" to speak of, we were family. The game was basically to make the amplified sound match the trademark sound of the instrument by itself, with the system off. Once we got into it, it was butter. While these sessions look like a lot of fun from the outside (they really are a lot of fun), I was exhausted by the time we were done and Robi and Ren were smiling. It's intense, high-concentration work.

The photo is "the lineup" after our session at the Music Villa. Left to right, you have Robi, Ren, Moi, Paul and Neil, in the company of some of the little beauties we worked with.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Col. Cliff-at-Bose,

Here's Don and Juan singing "Gibson Necks (is all I eat)"

Sticking the camera out the window, you get this. ("Neil; stop the car!") It's amazing we got anywhere with this stuff to look at. We get paid to do this?

This photo is titled "Grand Canyon". Ever tried to take a photo of the grand canyon? You look at it and think "this isn't how it was". Same for this. I mean, the thing was drop-dead glowing and living georgeous. This is our tour guide. We all had headphones on (like hers) and she talked into a microphone to us, because of the noisy factory.

Here's Ren, gettin-down for us, just as good as you please.

This SJ-200 was extremely hard to put down and leave behind. We were told that this was also commonly referred to as "The Cowboy" guitar due to it's moustache shaped bridge.

This is great Neil,

One of my duo partners plays an SJ200, and another just got a J45.

I'm going to be playing with someone tonight that has a new Hummingbird so I'm going to install the Presets right now before I head out.



I can hardly wait to try these out.

Looks like you had a great time, Cliff!

This whole ToneMatch® thing was a pretty good idea, don't you agree?

I like seeing you continuing to develop new presets for us. Who knows, I might own a Gibson guitar one of these days! Looked like a very nice part of the country.

Yes indeed, the TM idea seems to be a pretty good one. And yes, we did have a really good time. See; that's when you can tell you are doing the right thing: when it all flows clean, like a mighty river. Although you're really expending a lot of work-energy, it all just feels like play.

Thank You - I have a 185 so maybe one of these is close. Thanks Cliff.

Hey Cliff!

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
...
I'm going to be playing with someone tonight that has a new Hummingbird so I'm going to install the Presets right now before I head out.

...

She loved it.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
Hey Cliff!

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
...
I'm going to be playing with someone tonight that has a new Hummingbird so I'm going to install the Presets right now before I head out.

...

She loved it.

Thanks!

ST,
That is truly great..

Neil

Got it, ST. Roy too (let me know how that works. It's probably close to one of the models we made tone on).

Beautiful. I'm smiling.

Has anyone else had the chance to try the new Gibson presets?

If so please let us know your thoughts..

Neil

Hi Neil,

My J200 playin' partner is out of town of a couple more weeks. I'll let you know what he thinks when he gets back.

I don't have a Gibson (though my first real girlfriend's last name was). I try all the presets with my Yamaha Silent guitar as it is very basic and no tone of it's own really. A couple of the Gibson presets sound pretty good.

I have J-185. I have been bouncing between the Songwriter Del. Cut, SJ-200, and CJ-165 settings. I hear a lot more fullness then before. I had been using the Guild settings before I got these. I'm happy.

Which would work best with my J185 EC with maple back and sides and Fishman pickup?