Harpejji M5 Review - Part 2: Sound
The first part of this review was focused on the outer aspects of the instrument. In this post I’d like to focus on the sound of the new harpejji M5, using the K24 as a comparison.
What we are comparing
As a reminder, we will be comparing a 2013 Bamboo K24 with a 2025 Maple M5. Both are stringed with the exact references suggested by Marcodi (which are Ernie ball Strings). The M5 has the original strings which were shipped with the instrument (so ~6 months old strings that travelled oversea) and the K24 has strings that are ~2 months older than that.
Both instruments are plugged directly into a Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL sound interface and recorded at 48kHz on a computer, then exported to high-quality mp3’s (mono 48kHz, variable bitrate 220-260kbps). No additional effect or amp simluation is added, so it might sound a little bit dry… It’s normal — nobody would ever record a song this way! The goal is not to provide clips that sound nice, but clips that allow an analytical comparison of the two instruments.
Of course, listening to these clips mainly makes sense when using headphones.
Overall volume
The first thing I noticed when comparing the two instruments side by side is that the K24 has a slightly louder output than the newer M5. Here are two recordings with exactly the same settings (volume and tone fully open, same recording gain), where I played the same thing on the K24 first, and then the M5, trying as hard as possible to play in the same way (although I find it difficult not to compensate for volume!).
First the K24
Then the M5
It’s a well-known fact in psycho-acoustics that the volume does influence the perception of other characteristics of the sound, so from now on I’ll adapt the gain to try and get the same output volume on the two instruments.
Hiss
In a video presentation of the M5, Landon Meeks from Marcodi says that the new pickup design needs “less volume compensation”, “inevitably” leading to “less hiss”.
After adapting the volumes as explained above, and using only my ears without any kind of measuring instrument, I can say that there is a tiny difference when the tone knobs are fully open: the K24 produces very slightly more noise in the upper part of the spectrum than the M5. But I usually play with the tone knob fully closed (see below for an explanation), and in this case I can’t hear a real difference between the two instruments.
I don’t include recordings for this section, because I’m not sure what part of the noise comes from my recording rig and what part from the instruments. Maybe someone more experienced with studio recording will provide a better comparison and/or measurements (I’m mainly a gig guy, and by no way a sound engineer!).
It might be that when playing through an effect that boosts the higher end of the spectrum a lot (like a strong distortion) and with the tone knob fully open the difference becomes significant. But for my use of the instrument, I don’t expect to feel any difference at all.
Note however that the new pickup design, even if it doesn’t really influence hiss, does influence other characteristics of the instrument, in particular what I call “mute pops”. More on that later.
Tone filter
In his video, Landon also mentions that they “revoiced” the tone filter. This is another quite obvious change between the K24 and the M5. The former has a tone filter that goes from “an awful lot of high frequencies” to “quite a lot of high frequencies”. I think that the M5 has a slightly wider tone setting, but overall it’s “rounder” - or less “brilliant” - (less high frequencies) than on the K24.
Here is a small musical phrase played…
on the K24 with the tone knob fully open:
on the K24 with the tone knob fully closed:
on the M5 with the tone knob fully open:
on the M5 with the tone knob fully closed:
But there’s more to it…
I think this more or less covers what Marcodi advertises concerning the sound of this new model. But there are two more aspects that I want to talk about; to my knowledge, there’s next to zero resources on these aspects on the web, so I don’t even think they have an official name yet. In my head, I call them bass gap and mute pops, so that what I’m going to call them in this post.
Bass gap
One thing I like less on my otherwise beloved K24 is what I call the bass gap: the eight bass strings and the 16 treble strings are equalized very differently internally, so there is a considerable change in sound quality when going from one side to the other. I’m not sure why they did it like that, but that’s definitely a fact about the instrument.
Here is my K24 played on the 4th fret from string #7 to string #10. With the tone knob fully open, it really sounds like two different instruments:
Still on the K24, but with the tone knob fully closed, it’s already better, but there’s still a considerable gap:
To mitigate this, I usually run my K24 bass side through an equalizer to try and get a more balanced sound over the whole instrument. That also explains why I’m almost always playing with the tone knob fully closed.
So when the M5 came out, I was wondering whether I could play the instrument directly through an amp, without no need for an equalization.
Let’s see: this is the M5 played exactly on the same place (fret #4, strings #7-#10 - of course, it will sound a minor third higher than on the K24). First with tone open:
Then with tone closed:
So as you can hear, if the M5 does reduce the bass gap, it does not suppress it totally. Depending on the amp, music and situation, the gap might go unnoticed on the M5, but in a studio setting or with a high quality full-range amp, it’s still definitely noticeable.
Mute pops
The other big untold secret of the harpejji sound is what I call mute pops.
The muting system of the harpejji is a blessing, and I truly love it. But muting/unmuting a channel is bound to make some noise, especially if you want an immediate effect. On the lower part of the instrument, that’s hardly noticeable. But to get a balanced sound across the instrument, it is necessary to boost the higher strings much more than the lower ones. So when playing softly in the top register, the noise of the muting system becomes very noticeable. Then add some reverb and it can get even worse!
There are workarounds - for instance, when letting the sound die at the end of a piece, I often use a volume pedal to fade out the sound before lifting my fingers to avoid these pops that would otherwise break the atmosphere. It works, but it’s still a workaround, isn’t it?
So does the M5 bring any improvement there? Let’s compare!
Here is a soft, slow melody first played on the three highest strings of the K24:
And now the same melody on the three highest strings of the M5:
As you can hear, the M5 is much better here! While the mute pops are still noticeable, they are much softer. I might still use the fade-out trick at the end of a piece, but I expect that it will be easier to get a nice, soft melody in the higher register on the M5 than on the K24.
(Temporary?) Conclusion
In this post, I reviewed what I consider the most important aspects of the sound of the new harpejji M5, per se and in comparison with the K24.
The M5 has a very round and balanced sound, with clear improvements over the K24, especially regarding mute pops and the bass gap. The instrument is a pleasure to play and is very rewarding.
In comparison, the K24 feels a little rougher, a little bit less balanced, and somehow less well-behaved. Still… I kind of like it too! This roughness contributes to the character of what I’m playing and sometimes this is exactly what I need. Also, I’d say that my K24 sounds a little bit more acoustic than my M5, which can be nice sometimes.
As an important reminder though: I’m not sure what part is due to the model (K24 vs M5), what part to the wood (Bamboo vs Maple), to the age of the instrument (12 years vs a few months), etc. - so take this comparison with a grain of salt.
When I bought the M5, I was wondering if it would replace my K24 completely. I know now that this will not be the case. My K24 and M5 are two great instruments and I’ll probably end up playing one or the other depending on the context and musical style.
That’s it! I think these two posts on the harpejji M5 cover most of what I feel important to say about the instrument for now. Maybe in the upcoming months, I’ll find other aspects that I want to share - in that case I’ll extend this multi-part review with a new post.
One thing is still missing, though: I’d like to record some real music (not only 10-seconds clips) on the K24 and M5, to demonstrate how the instruments behave in real situations. I’ll try and post something in the upcoming months, but don’t expect it to soon: other projects (and the way towards them) are likley to keep me busy for the next few weeks!