Hold on to your EMGs, folks - LTD has started breakin' hearts as well as breaking skulls. Yup, this is the company's first proper foray into acoustic guitars, branded under LTD's existing XTone range.
Familiar features such as the XJ frets and thin neck profile will grab the attention of electric players. The concert-sized AC-10E has a smaller and more shallow body than some of its rivals, which means two things. First, the resulting acoustic tone has less bass and volume, but the upshot of this is that there's less to muddy up.
"It's when you belt it that things really come to life, adding a zing to the top-end that's missing from the softer dynamics."
Second, that bowel-rattling feedback you get on the confines of a smaller stage is less prevalent. Through the amp, you get an immediately hard pick attack, showing that LTD hasn't lost its edge when it comes to cutting through the backline.
It's when you belt it that things really come to life, adding a zing to the top-end that's missing from the softer dynamics. LTD has fitted its own ESP preamp to the AC-10E. The preamp controls sit flush, but are sprung to pop up when pressed.
It's a simple detail, yet it means that once you're finished tweaking, you can press the controls back in so that you don't accidentally change things mid-song.
The LTD doesn't have the widest sound range, but don't take that to mean it's bad. If you're playing rock/metal and you want to switch to an acoustic for short bursts in your set, the AC-10E offers minimum interruption to your technique and you'll still cut through.
