O-Port for Acoustic Guitars

[GuitarsCanada]

Review Submitted By Bytor1975

Name Of Reviewed Item The O-Port for Acoustic Guitars

Your Review The O-Port is a new product I was able to demo at the Summer NAMM show. Simply put, it is a flexible plastic ring you install inside your acoustic guitar. This product is really cool because it is like lifting a wet blanket off of your guitar! And I'm telling you, it works!



I cannot find a website for the product yet, and the parent company has nothing on their site.

So basically at the show they handed me a $200 Yamaha acoustic without the O-port. I played it a few minutes and got used to the sound. Then they handed me the same model with the O-Port installed and WOW! It was louder, crisper, more lows, and brighter top end.

Then they handed me a Gibson electric/acoustic, plugged it in an acoustic amp, cranked the amp all the way up and WOOOOOOOOO... you guessed it. FEEDBACK. Then they handed me the same model Gibson acoustic with the O-Port installed... same amp, same volume... feedback BUSTED. Really cool. And for around $20! And you can barely see the thing once it is installed.

So they gave me one.



So I loosened my strings and popped it right in. It took all of 5 minutes. This things sounds great! I highly recommend getting one when they are available!

As you can see, once installed all that is visible is the thin black edge from the sound hole. They also have a cream color available as well.



Would You Recommend This Item To A Fellow Member? Yes

Other equipment used for this review Taylor 314ce Two unknown model Yamaha acoustics at Summer NAMM 2009

Value For Money Yes, very much worth the price

Price Paid (Optional) It was a freebie, but if this comes out on the market I will buy for other acoustics I have.

[dan_]

More info here:
http://www.dmg-austin.com/

[Bytor1975]

Thanks for the link! As you can see from the box on the picture I posted, there was very little info.

[DARE-DMG]

Howdy Bytor1975 and dan. I am one of the partners with the O-Port and thought I would give you some updates! I probably met you in Nashville at the NAMM show! I was also at the recent MIAC show in Toronto with Coast Music. Yes, Coast Music will be distributing the O-Port throughout Canada for us beginning the first of December. They already have information about it on their website. Our website which is only a sales brochure now will go active on November the 18th. I am glad that you have tested the O-Port from Nashville and found it did what we said it would do! I know that doesn't always happen! We are an Austin, Texas based company and are very pleased that the O-Port will be available in your market very soon. I hope you enjoy it! Best, DARE-DMG

[zdogma]

interesting product.

[Mooh]

Hmmm...well I'll try anything once when it comes to acoustic guitars.

Not all soundholes are created equal. They vary in size, and some soundholes have reinforcement all the way around which make the soundhole edge thicker on those models. Also, does this product ever contact the bracing?

Just wondering.

Peace, Mooh.

[WarrenG]

Why not just call it a Tornavoz?

[DARE-DMG]

The O-Port will come in two sizes initially. The material we have used is flexible and with the two sizes will fit almost all sound holes. The device doesn't contact the bracing or anything else inside the guitar. It simply forces the air inside the body to the top of your guitar. The O-port is controlling the air inside your guitar as you strum the strings. And if you currently use some type of dampening device because of feedback issues throw it away. The O-Port without covering the sound hole, supresses feedback. At both the NAMM show and at MIAC we demonstrated this by having people play right into an amp, first without the O-Port and then with it. It is pretty amazing that it supressses the feedback without covering the soundhole! You can get more technical information by viewing the information brochure at www.dmg-austin.com.

[DARE-DMG]

Warren, The O-Port does share one thing with the Tovanoz. The thought process of "what if we could control the air inside the acoustic guitar". Beyond that, they are quite different. theTorvanoz was developed last century as a brass, flared cylinder. The O-Port is a patented acoustical enhancement for your guitar that has been proven via extensive sound studio testing to actually improve the tone and clarity of your guitar. Much of the feedback we have received after giving samples away to hundreds of attendes at Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Namm in Nashville and MIAC in Toronto has been that it makes your guitar sound fuller with more clarity. Some have mentioned that the individual notes have more sparkle. We simply have created a device that is forcing the air inside your guitar to move in a specific forceful way. No tricks or electronics. I Hope that helps explain a bit more of what it does! best, David

[Mooh]

Not quite like the Virzi tone producer once found in Gibson mandolins, but maybe a similar net effect? Anyway, I'd like to try an O-Port as a feedback buster, it might be handy come outdoor festival time.

Peace, Mooh.