Has Carl Martin made the ultimate floorboard for acoustic guitarists?

The Carl Martin Quattro combined four of its popular analogue effects into a floorboard solution back in 2008 to great effect. Now the Danes are ready to do the same for acoustic players, with some digital magic thrown in for good measure.

The Acoustic GiG (€763.51) seems like a one-stop tone shaping solution for gigging acoustic players with everything most players could need in one floor-based unit.

(Image credit: Carl Martin)

First up is the Compressor/Limiter circuit that offers compression and level controls, then comes Carl Martin's Vintage Style Echo with controls for level, tone, repeat and tap-tempo, plus the useful inclusion of a ‘Dotted 8th Note’ switch – especially handy for some U2 unplugged tones! 

The Reverb part of the Acoustic GiG is a new Analogue/Digital Hybrid from Carl Martin, tailored after vintage-style spring reverbs. The company call it a "beautiful, shimmering, yet warm reverb" that modulates at higher settings.

The Boost allows player to cut through the mix with a clean volume increase of up to 15db and there's a semi parametric EQ for tone shaping. This section of the GiG is from Carl Martin’s 3 Band Parametric Pre-Amp.

(Image credit: Carl Martin)

Additional features include feedback-fighting phase inverter circuitry and a Phase Shift switch. There's also a tuner and mute switch. 

Connections include 1/4” input, unbalanced 1/4” output, balanced XLR out with ground lift, an insert section placed right after the boost and before the EQ section, and 9V DC input with a direct DC output for powering additional pedals. 

For more info on the Carl Martin Acoustic GiG head to carlmartin.com

Rob Laing
Guitars Editor, MusicRadar

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.