In a sea of me-too acoustics, the ARD70E from Alvarez is truly unique. The fusion of the quintessential singer-songwriter slope-shoulder body and a 12-fret slot-head neck creates a look, feel, and tone that are unlike anything else in its price range. At the heart of the ARD70E's amazing tone is its hand-sanded scalloped bracing, which allows the top to resonate more freely without compromising strength & stability. Alvarez's rosewood bi-level bridge puts more down-pressure on the bone saddle, creating a more efficient energy transfer from the strings to the top, giving you more volume than you ever thought possible from a guitar in this price range. And with its hand-selected rosewood back & sides, you get all that big, warm bottom-end rosewood is known for at a groundbreaking price. Alvarez also refined their neck profile, with a thinner, faster neck that plays easier, yet still feels solid in your hands.

The ARD70E features Alvarez' SYS650 electronics, which uses patented electret film technology instead of Piezo materials. A piezo pickup tends to color the amplified tone, which can often sound thin and two-dimensional. You don't get that with the electret film technology, which works similar to a condenser microphone, allowing for a more accurate reproduction of the instrument's true acoustic voice. The SYS650 is a dual pickup system incorporating one under saddle pick up and a transducer pick up placed under the soundboard. Either pickup can be selected or you can blend… read more between the two to find subtle changes in response for lead, picking or rhythm work.

The system also has a fully chromatic, precision tuner with backlit LCD screen; 3-bands of rotary EQ, and a great notch control that helps identify and eliminate feedback. read less