A few years ago I bought a Cort electro-acoustic for around $450. It worked fine for playing and I liked the sound. Unfortunately the Fishman amp system decided to fry itself a few months ago, and I found it would cost about $250 to put something else in it, as the Fishman systems are all enclosed and theres not much you can do about fixing them. I looked on Kijiji and purchased a lovely Alverez, second hand for $300. Really nice guitar, Chinese of course. I play out at Open Mics a lot so I need a guitar I can plug in. Of course, I don't believe any of these systems can reach the quality of setting up a microphone to amplify or record an acoustic guitar, but its still a good compromise when that option is not available.

My 2 cents worth.

Andrew Lloyd