yes I used to have both simultaneously.The Yamaha LLx16bll and the Martin D28.
the ARE was pretty rubbish. Very complicated - there were lots of little potentiometers that didn't really add much to anything but made the volume ineffectual. Not being Ralph McTell the Yamaha corporation were bloody unhelpful. I got a luthier to by pass it, and it was a bloody good guitar. Kind of hunky, like those old Levins.

The Martin was lovely felt like an old hunting rifle. I did a few good gigs with it. To be honest, the fault was with me. I had been struggling with a slide - and one day I went into a guitar shop and tried a guitar and could do what I'd been struggling with. So I went for that.