Best Electric Violin (2020)

hurry Guinea hi and welcome we're

looking at my dog's chicken all right as

a metalhead back in the day when I used

to to around and you know hang out and

see the fans and the groupies you know

he's the rocker pieces huh

pretty rock and roll it was awesome but

you know sometimes you just want to try

something different so what does a

rocker do what does a metalhead do to

kind of reach the soul of people and in

the spirit of music well allow me to

demonstrate

Ted ah yes you are looking at a electric

violin this is a creme ona s beef for

silent violin 180 e you're not gonna

find a whole lot of info on these things

it is an electric violin I don't know

what year this thing was made at but I

bought it from Steve's music in Ottawa

and it was on got a pretty good deal to

tell you the truth it was on for 300

normally 350 I've seen them as high as

five sorry 400 and as low as about 260

on Amazon or something like that yeah so

I think this might be a discontinued

mono model or some like that but not a

lot of info on it so what I did find out

about it some of the stuff was obvious

to me some of it wasn't what you're

looking at and we'll start with the body

although I you've heard me say that bass

wood has internal qualities of a rotten

tree stump I thought this was maple at

first but no it's bass wood now they do

kind of do something funky with the you

can see the the Lyman here's on an angle

so I mean okay it doesn't hurt it hurt

like that doesn't affect the yeah

playability but it's kind of odd that

they did it that way but I guess you

know they use up every scrap of wood

they could possibly get now that said it

does get pretty good I'm gonna start

with the bridge I thought it was wall

when I first went into actually rosewood

which that's given a very neat sound

a very nice sound actually now the pegs

and the fingerboard are evany I thought

at first maybe it was just one of those

painted to over maple next but no it's

actual in that buddy not that price you

would hope to get that anyway so so here

we go

good look at the tuning pegs white holy

lights always a hard time heard time in

here to get good lighting but you get

the idea so they're they're pretty

tuning pegs and you got kind of like a

semi half scroll thing going on let the

back of the scroll Oh kiss funny focus

is the other way but it isn't focus that

way

and it's a maple neck so you got like a

knot there

and then the electronics again it runs

on a 9 volt battery and it's pretty no

I'll have to wait I put two hands on it

but basically you just push this down a

spring-loaded and then you can pull the

battery an on/off switch although this

is upside down the first one is the

headphones a headphone jack another one

says mic but it might be for music as

well this is actually good plug your CD

player mp3 or something in there and

play along with it while you're on the

headphones and then of course you've got

an output jack which is yes it's only

unique I don't know why they made them

so small but they did you have a volume

and a tone mixer that's it now where's

the have a look at the beautiful logo

here so and of course it's in that

traditional kind of Orange II kind of

color so it's not the you know the

bathmate violet and oh yeah the chin the

chin piece okay is actual ebony as well

which is nice it's a little bit small

for me but it I can make it work plastic

but you got good tuners here so we're

looking at focus

I think the glare of the tuners clear of

the finish and then we have a piezo

pickup for the bridge and you can see

the bridges sits right on top of the

piezo next to that

it doesn't have a bad sound now you get

a little more than just that we'll have

a look at the case so it's not a bad

looking case although I brought my own

rosin and my original Maya at my other

Bowl here I'll put my other bow aside

it comes with a hardwood boat this one

it's not the best it really it's

playable but I'd use it as a backup if I

had to not exactly you know like most

most of these kits don't come with a

good boat thing kind of beginner and

beginner violins again I'm not an expert

violinist by anything I'm a guitar

player who wants to play violin from

time to time and this is my third violin

so there's the the socket covers over

top when it's in the case usually a

beginner violin is gonna be like

anywhere from no matter what we're

talking about from zero to about 500

bucks consider that all beginner stuff

the elastic here was just to kind of

hold the the go in so you swish that

this is not a bad case it's not a hard

hard hard case it's like a hard foam you

got a flap here and just take that off

no it comes with a set of headphones one

thing you'll notice that maybe it's

maybe my battery I don't know but

they're not very loud even at full

there's really not that much difference

between when you're playing with the

headphones on and when you're not is it

it's not very loud this is the quarter

inch jack to 1/8 and I don't know how

many feet that is but it's probably be

like 10 feet or something like that

maybe 15 at the most a little

spring-loaded trap door spring-loaded

trap door you get a thing rosin

and they'll take you probably built half

an hour to Roz multiple and then you get

a strap so that you can actually it

looks like two straps sir okay so you

can carry this looking if you want a gig

bag okay that's cool that's that's all

the stuff that comes with it not a bad

deal and again very spacious case and

I'll just show you what it looks like in

the case it screws some people that's no

that's how the thing is uh it's heavy

enough like it's for what it is and then

of course we can grab our another bow

and we can put it in here however we see

fit sometimes you have people like it

this way something like the other way

went in there and then you just turn to

go to the horsehair like so yeah there's

locks ivenna then it might better I'm

sorry that was my good bow there this is

the not so good bone you know book the

other one you know as well but might

take you about half an hour to rosin up

each bowl just to get some sound out of

it uh for the money is it a good deal as

a bad deal is it

yeah well it does play nice I will say

that it'll probably even at this it will

probably play better than just about any

acoustic violin you'll pick up it's not

that it plays better it's just it's

easier to play just because of the more

accessibility bowing is definitely not

going to be a problem with this yeah but

you know as much room for the bow as

possible it's pretty thin so in that

sense playability is going to be pretty

good to inability this thing's already

been toting around on a couple of buses

when I was in town the other day I was

just basically getting my my doing my

driving course there and of course this

thing you know I'd take it on this bus

that bus and a bouncy old bus up the

highway to get up back home here in the

middle of nowhere and yeah it's still in

tune it

didn't bust was hard as hell yesterday

and even in the case it didn't seem to

affect it so that's good the case itself

was finish up on the case here is it a

good case well it's an old KK so when

you have another pouch here it's an okay

case for what it is if you're the type

of guy that's going to be playing a game

throwing it in the truck or van or car

whatever and loading it up with the rest

of the musical equipment taking it to

your gig taking it home maybe you play a

couple of gigs a month or whatever yeah

that's gonna probably be fine for you if

you're the guy or girl that you know

you're jumping in taxi cabs and taking

buses three four or five times a week

just to go to practice here there and

then like Orchestra stuff or whatever

and you're playing all over the city

now you're probably get it better to get

a real good hardshell Road case it's

gonna get banged around right so but for

the average person this is probably all

the case you're going to need so it'll

do the job you know a case is a case but

if you're gonna really see if it's going

to see some really hard road where you

might want to approve that

but that said that's not too bad at

least it came with a case right it

basically comes with everything today

even with the battery to get you going

the battery again I don't know how how

old that battery is it was working in

the store I walked in and I bought it I

saw that but as I said I was you know

fifty bucks off or whatever that said

how does it compare to say like the

Yamaha silent violin which I have played

or dabbled on them in the stores I

haven't really played it played it

because I can't but I'll be honest where

I can't play violin very very very well

I can do it enough to say I can get some

squeaks and squeals out of it I'm going

up on scaring the cats right but because

you know I am a guitar player so I do

understand you know music theory stuff

that and I'm also play mandolin so I

kind of know where things are going to

be on the violin too Plus this is my

third violin my first violin I bought

over 10 years ago it was Ahab hocked a

violin or three-quarter scale violin and

I didn't know the difference

at the time I was starting to get some

squeaks and squeals I did but I was like

oh my god I can't play this thing the

neck was too small and then I realized

there was bigger violence and then I

bought my for for violin which is a full

size which this is also a full size and

I was playing it for the last past

couple of years and I haven't really

touched it in the last past eight three

or four years or maybe it was seven

years really I just kind of pick it up

maybe once twice a year that was it

because it was a very low-end $100

beginner violin but you know the British

kept collapsing it was really tricky to

get it into tune you know to full pitch

that type of thing it just you know it

was a cheap carnelli violin it is job

and I recently sold it for 60 bucks to

my sister's friend and it'll be good for

him to you know figure out whether he

wants to you know keep playing or not

now I know that if I had a better violin

I would actually play it more and I've

already probably doubled on this thing

for about an hour now normally or what I

do review I would just you know not

touch the thing at all not play it until

until they do the review but the thing

is is with a violin you know you're

gonna walk into a violence during this

day all these nice new violins on the

wall and you're gonna see all you can

see the the rosin on the on the

fingerboard because they're one of those

things you have to test drive them in

order to know if you can play them or

not not even whether you like to sell me

can go like this okay that sounds okay

and you can compare it from the next one

to the next one to the next one to the

next one you say okay this one has a

brighter sound than that one this one

has a much richer tone than the other

one but until you really play them you

won't know exactly what they do but you

can get an idea but what you don't know

is if you pick it up it might be the

best almond viola in the world but you

might not be able to play it every

violin although they're all kind of the

same dimensions and they're saying you

know in the four-four scale they don't

all play the same way and each one is

really like for example like a chin chin

piece on this is eventually going to be

changed to probably a larger one for me

I find it just a little bit too cramped

but I it's usable for now that type of

thing the fingerboard I find is

excellent I picked up another violin it

was like a $1400 violin a long a McQuaid

and a really nice one too it was new but

I mean it was it was a really nice one

very sleek the neck just you this so

much more roomy the silent violins they

play really nicely you know even guys

hacks like myself can actually play them

so that's one of the things every violin

you're going to pretty much try out and

look at it in the story you're probably

somebody's already tried it because you

know and then some of them are so

astronomically expensive you wouldn't

buy it without trying it right it's kind

of not like a car or something like that

where okay well it's gonna work the same

as the next one these are very refined

instrument and you know people are gonna

definitely be you know trying them out

so that said that's why I just left it

with the rosin on it that said for the

money again you're getting I think I

think you're getting okay yeah I don't

know I think it's probably a little bit

built down to the price you know what

the basswood body and self ad that said

you know if you were to grab a regular

viola and crack somebody over the head

with it

it would just smash it this is heavy

enough yet Kelly you know you'd Club

them over the head oh yeah not that I'm

recommending you around clubbing people

with your violin but if you had to pay

yeah this thing this thing's pretty

solid which is another advantage if

you're going to be playing say live

where you get in a hot bar with those

lights on yeah you know there's a lot of

humidity from people dancing and you

know just the breathing and you know

we've got three other people in a bar

you know 100 people in the bar you know

it creates a lot of condensation

probably going to handle it a lot better

than your acoustic violin so that type

of thing we're gonna check it out we're

gonna test it out you'll see lots of

testings of this thing for sure so next

to that again my playing notwithstanding

it you know it is pretty cool definitely

something that

I can have for a long time and again I'm

not a violin player or fiddler as a

first you know as a first instrument you

know this is kind of like third fourth

instrument type of thing I think I play

I play any instrument my goal in life is

having one of everything you know but

also to be able to play it well enough

which if I'm playing along with things

I'll probably play this thing a lot

better than I do just kind of jamming by

myself but like anything it does play

well enough that you can actually learn

to play so in that sense it's really

good where the silent violin the Yamaha

silent violin really Trump's this thing

is that all the effects are built into

the other one which doubles the price is

there like eight hundred dollars

starting off here in Canada and I didn't

want to do payments although with 400

down that long the McQuade I would have

been able to get away with about 60

bucks a month with a total interest on

on on an $800 violin would have been

something like 82 bucks or something

like that so that wasn't too bad I just

didn't want to do payments right and it

might have been a better purchase in a

lot of ways but there's another thing

you can look at let's say you are our

guitar player like me and you've got a

whole bunch of effects anyway you know

you got effect pedals you know a little

stock boxes well that's really all

that's really missing out of here is

that it's you got a I wouldn't even call

it a tone in a bass it's just like a a

mixer at own mixer switch and a volume

that's in very simple

so that's said as long as it's doing

this job you can plug in plug into any

effects pedal or whatever and you're

good to go now saving money in the in

would you be saving money on that route

well it depends on the effects I mean

some of the rack effects are four or

five six hundred dollars right but we're

talking like say like my little zoom

pedal I think was like a hundred and

twenty new and it's got like I don't

know 50 different types of effects and

you can you know custom

is them to whatever you want that's an

advantage so let's say you want to do

some deep reverbs and stuff like that

well you can really mold the reverb

perfect to the violent where the silent

violin had the other the amaha one one

of the things is the modes you can make

a sound like a bark violin you know like

the really old ones or you can make it

sound you know like an orchestra violin

you can make it sound you know

modernized you know electric violin so

in that sense that yeah it's probably a

better better deal

excuse me sir a better deal in that

sense but as far as the playability I

don't know I think this one is it

it doesn't seem all that squeaky like it

really doesn't like it there does seem

pretty good but I can tell you that the

Rosewood bridge really does add a lot a

nice sound to it

Plus this kind of has like tonal

qualities like an electric guitar where

you got a solid body so feedback should

be pretty low but we'll see that later

on

so I'm guessing going on a little bit

long now but again I don't see too many

reviews on these things so I figured

well I'll throw that out there first and

you're gonna see a lots of it like many

other guitars and stuff like you're

gonna see a lot of videos on that but it

is a pretty pretty little violin and ask

the guy at Steve's this interview sold

manesis I always says we sold a few is

that the guy people seem to really like

them so I can imagine the players who

play like that's that their main

instrument they would really like this

thing it is kind of heavy but it does

seem well-balanced most of the weight is

back here so that's good it because it's

a little heavier but you might find it

when you're one thing I noticed is that

you got to kind of kind of dig it into

your shoulder a little more to hang on

to it so I think that's just more of you

getting used to it the cheek piece does

seem to be set up so that you're in the

right position

you know what the neck when you're

playing it so it doesn't feel like

you're you know just kind of hanging you

know hanging on to it it does feel like

you're playing it properly that type of

thing so the tuning pegs one thing last

one the tuning pegs I haven't adjusted

them yet so I don't know if they're

going to be like

they are again they are evany so the

same with the fingerboard in 70 but it's

not the most refined

evany fingerboard you know it's not

completely smooth though to the point

where it's got that glossy shine to it

but it's playable

it's definitely playable so I guess I'm

gonna leave it at that and then uh I'll

do again lots of demonstrations on it so

yeah I'm gonna see how I'm gonna see how

well I can get with this and then you

know really take it to another level

not that I'm not gonna not play guitar

anymore like that I'm not that type of

person I you know but it's still gonna

be my main instrument but I do want to

take this to another level so I think

it's going to be a lot of fun I can't

wait to see this will be will consider

this because I'm not a beginner beginner

I mean I do understand an awful lot of

where what I'm doing on the violin but I

just don't have the I don't have it down

yet so you'll see we'll call this week

number one and and and we'll go from

here so you know few people do that so

maybe I'll do that too with my progress

and you know some Yola say oh my god you

know sick my ears my ears okay well you

know on a good start anyway so this

would be week one we'll see we'll see

what I get out of it we'll plug it in

and you'll get to hear it

and yeah we'll go from there so if you

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others always always do the right thing

and have yourselves a great day one more

nice flyby of this pretty little

instrument they are cool

here we go

I bought the new Yamaha five string

electric violin and a digitech RP 360 FX

processor the bridge is well protected

I've included some close-up photos at

the end of the video

the bridge has a built-in pickup the

output is a standard quarter inch plug

there is a volume control that could be

activated by pressing the button

the violin comes with a chin rest and

fits any standard shoulder rest the wood

is thin that seems sturdy I don't have a

guitar amp so I'm going to connect the

violin to my home stereo the violin uses

a standard piezoelectric pickup and

doesn't include a preamp like the Yamaha

silent electric violin series the output

impedance of the violin is high I'm

plugging it directly into the stereo

would result in and distorted and weak

sound the digitech processor has a 1

mega ohm input meant for instruments it

amplifies the signal optionally adds

digital effects and has a 500 ohm output

that is appropriate for a standard

receiver or mixer input the digitech RP

360 also has a headphone output for

quiet practice and a USB output for

computer recording the power adapter

includes plugs for US and European

outlets

the left and right output our standard

quarter-inch connectors that I plugged

into an auxilary input on my receiver

I've got the violin plugged into my

stereo and I'm going to tune it

the Pakes are standard we can be

replaced with planetary pigs if you'd

like the pigs turn and catch nicely

violent includes fine tuners on all

strings

you

the vibe string version weighs 570 grams

which is a bit more than a four string

acoustic it has very similar dimensions

with a slightly wider fingerboard and

slightly tighter string spacings

you

hey guys this is a review of the stag
silent electric violin I've played this
for about a month now and I decided I
would give a review when I first bought
this thing of I wasn't exactly that
happy but I've started well I change a
couple of things it came with some
really bad strings a horrible bridge and
a horrible bow the case as well was
really flimsy and uh it's pretty useless
um the one problem probably with the
bridge I came with is that it's too tall
so when you as you get higher up on the
fingerboard the strings start like
elevating from the fingerboard and so it
gets really hard to press down the
strings so you get the right notes um
also the strings that came there they're
really just bad so I exchange them with
these evah pirazzi carrasco strings um
they're really good in fact they're
probably more expensive than the violin
itself um yeah
one thing to note about this violin is
probably that it has one lead um and one
headphone yeah headphone I'll take and
the head don't the headphones is pretty
useless there's a lot of static noise
when you play it and yeah I recommend
not using it really unless you're just
fingering and you know practicing the
violin um also let's see what else is it
just say yeah the the tuners right here
are really really stiff and mm probably
gonna need to put some oil on them too
to get it moving uh yeah I was going to
compare a like it's a silent violin
right so it's supposed to be silent I'll
give you an example and the comparison
between this violin and and the
acoustic while in that half let's see
right so as you can tell it makes quite
a bit of noise and it's not exactly
silent but I mean what can you expect
it's a like hundred dollars and Harris
an acoustic violin and yeah so let's
give a try
me
oh yeah so I mean it's silent compared
to an acoustic violin but it still makes
make some noise uh also another thing to
note about this electric realm is that
right here on the back you have this all
this plastic that hides all the
electronics underneath and it really
interferes with the the shoulder rest so
the shoulder rest tends to fold off
quite often yeah other than that I
figured I'd play this for you and on the
on the amp and so you have a feeling of
what it sounds like
oh yeah note that it does have an
equalizer on it low high and then volume
I normally don't use this as you can use
it and adjust the same thing on the amp
and it's probably a lot better on the
amp so normally when you play it it
would keep these low and high on the
lowest yeah but I'll play it for you yes
um it is the cheap electric violin but
it does give some good sound this is
without any effects by the way
Oh
No
um as you can tell the sound is a bit
bit flimsy but of course this is without
any effects so I'm trying some effects
too now and this is this effect is
really just giving it more like like I'm
playing in a big bigger room and it
sounds a lot better than when you do
that
Oh
Oh
yeah um is always pants as well let's
see yeah so the sound is quite good when
you piss effects to it oh let's see
I think I'll give you guys a preview of
Oh some metal like and the bottom does
work quite well with the um I guess I'll
give you something yeah
and see
yeah and I think that pretty much sums
it up uh I don't there's anything else
to say about the violin but yeah it's
it's not the greatest but for a price I
think it's probably the best you can get
out there I do recommend it for
beginners or anyone who hasn't played um
and I like violin before just so you
know you get to feel most likely I'll
buy probably a Yamaha or something else
after I get a little better at this um
but other than that it's pretty pretty
good purchase for the price at least
yeah

I'd like to introduce you to the sv 4

Series and sv 5 series they are red and

black and what I'm so proud of is the

aesthetic of the instrument and the

weight of the instrument these are

featherweight instruments for one

particular reason is that we've removed

any extraneous electronics it is just

the pickup volume knob and output jack

other companies put preamps and

electronics on the instrument which

weigh it down which creates an

uncomfortable experience as you're

trying to hold it up again I follow the

guitar industry you would never even

consider putting pedals and effects on

the instrument you put them on the floor

so I've removed all extraneous

electronics so the instrument is

featherweight the aesthetic of the

instrument is also important to me it is

not a stick nor does it try to imitate

an acoustic violin look we wanted to

have something that was cool and hip and

funky and beautiful all at the same time

it has a streamlined effect to it

we've removed the upper bout because I'm

an electric instrument you really don't

need to have that as much we've got the

heel of the Stingray right here so that

when you shift into higher positions

they're still extremely accurate because

of the heel of the violin is still there

to anchor your thumb this is the SB 5

which as a fifth string and it's a C

string and what I'm so proud about is

that the pickup brings out the richness

of a viola and any other in street you

want to get into that low end so you

here on the studio