Would you buy an electro acoustic if you only played at home?

lovestrat74 · October 2021

Do you plug your acoustic in when playing at home?

Just curious as I would probably only ever play an acoustic at home, so what would be the reasons to plug in?

VimFuego · October 2021

if I liked to tone of it unplugged, if I liked how it played etc, then yes I'd buy one even if I'm only playing at home.

Lewy · October 2021

It's not my bag but usually people plug in at home for two reasons:

1) to use fx
2) they play that tippy tappy loopy style that relies on being plugged in

TTony · October 2021

Yes, I use an electro when playing at home. Mostly it's plugged into a DAW, sometimes via pedals, rather than into an amp.

Funkfingers · October 2021

Electro-acoustic is convenient for recording. Much, much cheaper than professional room treatment, microphones and outboard processors.

Switch625 · October 2021

My first acoustic was actually an electro-acoustic (Washburn EA16), simply because when I was looking for an acoustic guitar this one happened to be on sale and I liked the look of it. I think I plugged it in once just to test that it actually works but other than that it's played purely as an acoustic and sounds lovely. I prefer the cutaway style and slightly smaller body too compared to a traditional acoustic.

Keefy · October 2021

A no from me, because:
(1) Electronics add to the cost, so for the same money you could probably get a ‘better’ straight acoustic;
(2) I don’t like having features that I don’t use; and
(3) I have a nagging feeling that sawing a hole in the side of a guitar and sticking a plastic box in it won’t help the unamplified sound.

But of course if the guitar said ‘Take me, I’m yours!’ that’s a different matter.

Tannin · October 2021

There are brands which pretty much always provide their own well-respected pickup system (Takamine, Maton, Cole Clark). It is safe to assume that their economies of scale are such that it adds very little to the cost. (In fact, by the time you factor in the cost of producing and stocking twice as many models, ones with pickup and without, just having one on everything very likely costs sweet FA.) I never mind getting the pickup with these brands, even though I seldom or never use it. On the other hand there are brands which add in third-party pickups and I always resent having to pay for that and would rather not have it.

Best advice: completely ignore the presence of a pick-up. Play the instrument. If you like it and you reckon it is the best one you are going to get in that price range, buy it. Don't even bother looking to see if it has a pickup or not, just play it and make up your own mind.

munckee · October 2021

I occasionally plug mine in to have reverb, chorus, compressor etc. I think for recording it's useful

Musicwolf · October 2021

Lots of reasons to have an electro-acoustic at home;

1) I find the piezo makes it easy to plug into my rack tuner

2) ................er, did I mention the tuner?

Lestratcaster · October 2021

Possibly, if I was using it for online streams, I'm a tutor too so I do online lessons but prefer to mic it up so in that case an electro-acoustic would be redundant.

octatonic · October 2021

Funkfingers said:

Electro-acoustic is convenient for recording. Much, much cheaper than professional room treatment, microphones and outboard processors.

Sounds worse though.

octatonic · October 2021

I prefer the integrity of acoustic only from the terms of the instrument's response.
Jamming a preamp/battery box in the sides of the instrument doesn't make it sound better.

In instances where I need to plug in I use a simple piezo and then have all the electronics outside the instrument.
I have an LR Baggs pedal that sounds better than any onboard electronics I've found.

ICBM · October 2021

Not intentionally - even if you want to plug it into something, I always think a simple pickup and an external preamp is better, and can be bought later if necessary which allows you to spend more on the guitar itself initially, and get a better one - but if I found an unusually good guitar that I liked for other reasons and it happened to be an electro, I probably wouldn't turn it down.

sev112 · October 2021

Occasional benefits

when your strings are a bit dead, or the temp/humidity is such that it’s playing a bit dead

practising , esp when you’ve in,y got one mic and you use that for singing , but you need to get the volumes right

real reason
playing acoustically inside a room means you get immediate bounce back / reflection from the walls, which is artificial, and for some reason makes me sound better / good. I find to improve both my singing and guitar playing tone together, I need to record them together and then get depressed when I play it back to myself at how bad I sound compared to what I thought I sounded like when I only played and sang acoustically.

DavidR · October 2021

My personal answer to your question lovestrat is no. I do only play at home for the most part now. I do record stuff but into a mic. I think of an acoustic as something without electrics and I have no need or wish for them. Reasons? Weight, aesthetics.

Large element of one's requirements, fashion and personal likes and dislikes to this question - which is a good one.

Also, looking at what's being sold just now, I suspect my preferences are in the minority.

thermionic · October 2021

Funkfingers said:

Electro-acoustic is convenient for recording. Much, much cheaper than professional room treatment, microphones and outboard processors.

And yet it always sounds much, much crapper.

Personally I would find it a waste of money that could be spent on better woods and construction… but I can see how it could be very useful for looping stuff etc.

ICBM · October 2021

thermionic said:

And yet it always sounds much, much crapper.

Personally I would find it a waste of money that could be spent on better woods and construction… but I can see how it could be very useful for looping stuff etc.

+1

I can see the point for effects and looping, but even a basic dynamic mic in an average domestic room sounds better than a pickup system if you want to record the sound of an acoustic guitar.

Keefy · October 2021

ICBM said:

thermionic said:

And yet it always sounds much, much crapper.

Personally I would find it a waste of money that could be spent on better woods and construction… but I can see how it could be very useful for looping stuff etc.
+1

I can see the point for effects and looping, but even a basic dynamic mic in an average domestic room sounds better than a pickup system if you want to record the sound of an acoustic guitar.

The best recorded acoustic guitar sound I have ever achieved was with a large-diaphragm condenser mic right in front of my face (behind a pop shield) and pointing down. The sound the mic picks up is quite similar to what you hear while playing. It’s a world away from the sound you get from plugging in, no matter how ‘open’ you think the pickup sounds.

Mellish · October 2021

I'm on the side of spend the most you can afford on an acoustic. At a later date you could add electronics. Or a soundhole pickup, you could do THAT if you wanted to

Tannin · October 2021

octatonic said:

I prefer the integrity of acoustic only from the terms of the instrument's response.
Jamming a preamp/battery box in the sides of the instrument doesn't make it sound better.

And it doesn't make it sound any worse either. It makes no difference at all. The sides of a guitar have practically zero effect on the sound production, they are essentially there just to hold the back the correct distance away from the top and you could make them out of moulded plastic or steel reinforced concrete or roasted mashed potato and it wouldn't change the sound much. The instrument has so very nearly the exact same response with or without pickup as not to matter in the slightest.

(I have seven guitars. Four have factory-installed pickups, three don't. Who cares? The gloss vs-non-gloss finish on the tops makes more difference than pickups ever will.)

BillDL · October 2021

munckee said:

I occasionally plug mine in to have reverb, chorus, compressor etc. I think for recording it's useful

As far as the reverb and chorus are concerned, exactly. For recording I would most likely now use a mix of piezo and condenser mic, but I haven't recorded anything for years and my playing has been restricted to home for years or (more recently after Covid restrictions loosened up) informal jamming with a friend in his garden bothy or in is secluded garden. Much as I would love a Yamaha Transacoustic I couldn't justify the expenditure and car repairs and other looming projects would have to wait. It is nice to have added ambience to acoustic playing sometimes, hence having electro-acoustic guitars.

I find that when I play an acoustic guitar I am not really hearing what I am playing. I can feel what I am playing and I sometimes put my ear down to the guitar, but it's impossible from a playing position to get your ear down in front of, and several feet away from, the soundhole, so you aren't hearing what is being projected - other than what @sev112 spoke about earlier with regard to reflected sounds. I have found that an acoustic amp on the other side of my livingroom, set to a fairly low volume and EQ'd to give as accurate a representation of the guitar's own sound as is possible, makes all the difference. To this end I just bought a Laney LA30D 30 watt acoustic amp last week. I only saw the classified ad by @Keefy after I had bought mine, which is a pity, but the one he is selling is higher wattage than I needed or wanted. The one I bought is much better than the wee practice acoustic amp I had for the house.

The alternative way of hearing more of what you are playing is to buy a guitar that has a vertical-facing sound port in the side of the upper bout, as some luthiers are incorporating into builds these days. I have a cheap old 12-string electro-acoustic that I converted to a 6 string with hefty strings and tuned down rather than tossing it out. I left the hole where the piezo preamp was fitted and it is amazing how much more I can ear my own playing.

TheBigDipper · October 2021

Wiz's for Tannin and BillDL. Nice posts.

I've never gone shopping for an electro-acoustic, but if I stumbled over one that I liked and could afford, that wouldn't stop me buying it - even if it was only for home use. A nice guitar is a nice guitar. But... I do seem to have only chosen guitars without pickups. I've only got two (out of 5 acoustic) guitars with pickups fitted. Passive K&K Pure Minis that I either plug into a K&K preamp or a FlyRig Acoustic before feeding a desk. I'm with ICBM regarding using external electronics.

Tannin · October 2021

BillDL said:

I find that when I play an acoustic guitar I am not really hearing what I am playing. .....

The alternative way of hearing more of what you are playing is to buy a guitar that has a vertical-facing sound port in the side of the upper bout, as some luthiers are incorporating into builds these days.

Sound port, yep. Great idea. None of my lot have one, but it would be nice if they all did. Mind you, starting as of about yesterday, it seems that Gibson invented the sound port years ago. (!)

I like your use for the amp. Like you, I only play at home (well, mostly at home) for my own pleasure these days. I nearly always sit in one of three places: in front of the big double-glazed sliding outside kitchen door (where the sound hits the glass and washes back over me wonderfully); or in front of the big double-glazed living room window (ditto); or else outside on the deck (where I don't get the reflected sound fix but it's outdoors and on a nice day being outside in it beats sitting inside looking at it every time.

Open_G · October 2021

Bought a pure acoustic for home use.

Ended up spending a further load of cash to install a pick up a few years later for gig use.

I’d always keep that option open given my time again

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Would you buy an electro acoustic if you only played at home?

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