Electro acoustics

Frankieabbot · March 2015

So........I've had my electro acoustic for just over a year now. I bought it to be used solely as an acoustic and never had the intention of playing it through an amp. I've had fun plinking and plonking on it since purchase. But now I'm thinking what it would sound like amplified. Can anyone extol the virtues of playing through an amp. Or will I just be making the noise that I produce, errrrm, noisier!

ICBM · March 2015

The purpose of an electro-acoustic is so you can amplify it at gigs.

The only real benefit if you're not gigging is if you want to use effects on it, which can sound really nice even if you're just playing for yourself - usually reverb, delay and possibly chorus are the first choices for an acoustic.

bazxkr · March 2015

Guess it raises the question too of which amp to get if you wish to head that direction.

It's fun to experiment with different sounds plugged in and can sometimes keep the interest going.

So a normal guitar amp or a dedicated acoustic amp ?

For home noodling would there be a noticeable difference ?

ICBM · March 2015

bazxkr said:

Guess it raises the question too of which amp to get if you wish to head that direction.
It's fun to experiment with different sounds plugged in and can sometimes keep the interest going.

So a normal guitar amp or a dedicated acoustic amp ?

For home noodling would there be a noticeable difference ?

Yes, big difference.

The only real reason to use a normal electric guitar amp would be to put distortion on it, which can be done but is very much of an 'acquired taste'

. Distortion will generally sound pretty nasty through an acoustic guitar amp, unless you use some sort of pedal/FX unit with amp/speaker emulation. A distorted piezo pickup (the usual type in an electro-acoustic) usually sounds pretty nasty even through an electric guitar amp though.

bazxkr · March 2015

Interesting...........when I get a chance I'll put my APX500ii through a Marshall AS50 and a Blackstar ID30 and see what happens when experimenting with gain/effects etc. Never thought about this before. Both will sound crap of course but that's down to my playing.

My JP6 with piezo sounds really nice on acoustic setting only through the AS50 but does sounds too fizzy through a normal electric valve or SS guitar amp.

Frankieabbot · March 2015

bazxkr said:

Guess it raises the question too of which amp to get if you wish to head that direction.
It's fun to experiment with different sounds plugged in and can sometimes keep the interest going.

So a normal guitar amp or a dedicated acoustic amp ?

For home noodling would there be a noticeable difference ?

Amps specifically for acoustic guitars! I didn't realise this. I was just gonna buy myself a small ( and cheap) second hand 10 watt amp from my local second hand shop.

bazxkr · March 2015

Yeh, just for a bit of fun at home it is probably not worth going for a dedicated acoustic amp.... a little SH one for £20 will at least get you where you need to be. Will still work ok & annoy the neighbours which is the main reason for having an amp LOL

crunchman · March 2015

Personally I think most acoustic amps are very overpriced. I'd just get a decent powered PA speaker - something like this:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/ev_zlx_12p.htm

There is DSP with eq facilities on the this anyway but if you want something more then get something to plug in the front:

http://www.lrbaggs.com/preamps/venue-di-acoustic-preamp
http://www.fishman.com/products/view/tonedeq-preamp-eq
http://www.fishman.com/products/view/aura-sixteen
http://www.fishman.com/products/view/platinum-pro-eq-analog-preamp

This will probably work out a lot cheaper than a dedicated acoustic amp, will give you far more volume, and will be far more versatile. If you are at a gig where there is a decent PA just take the pre-amp. You also have the option to use the powered speaker as a floor wedge. If you get a pair of them (for around £500) then you only need a mixer (which you might already have for a home studio) and you have a basic PA for small gigs.

bazxkr · March 2015

It's my impression the OP just wants something for amusement/enjoyment without spending anything much at all.

Like an old SH Marshall MG10/15 or wahtever so a dedciated acoustic amp is way off target. But I might be wrong.

Frankieabbot · March 2015

bazxkr said:

Yeh, just for a bit of fun at home it is probably not worth going for a dedicated acoustic amp.... a little SH one for £20 will at least get you where you need to be. Will still work ok & annoy the neighbours which is the main reason for having an amp LOL

This seems the way to go. And annoying my neighbours as well is a bit of a bonus LOL.

robwright · April 2015

Grant Lee Buffalo used to amplify an acoustic through a guitar amp IIRC. Admittedly it is an acquired taste but it worked for them. Depends if you want the sound of an amplified acoustic or something more 'experimental'.

ICBM · April 2015

robwright said:

Grant Lee Buffalo used to amplify an acoustic through a guitar amp IIRC. Admittedly it is an acquired taste but it worked for them. Depends if you want the sound of an amplified acoustic or something more 'experimental'.

So did Kurt Cobain, and the Beatles - the feedback intro of 'I Feel Fine' was done with a Gibson J-160E through an AC30, and they did normally amplify them like that… there were no acoustic guitar amps and barely any PA equipment by any modern standards back then!

Mostly it's done with magnetic pickups though - those two are, certainly (Cobain with a Martin D18E through a Twin). KT Tunstall was recently using a LR Baggs M1A with distortion in her little Washburn as well, although I'm not sure what amp. I'll have to check out Grant Lee Buffalo again, I like the band but I hadn't paid close attention to the guitar sound.

robwright · April 2015

ICBM said:

robwright said:

Grant Lee Buffalo used to amplify an acoustic through a guitar amp IIRC. Admittedly it is an acquired taste but it worked for them. Depends if you want the sound of an amplified acoustic or something more 'experimental'.

So did Kurt Cobain, and the Beatles - the feedback intro of 'I Feel Fine' was done with a Gibson J-160E through an AC30, and they did normally amplify them like that… there were no acoustic guitar amps and barely any PA equipment by any modern standards back then!

Mostly it's done with magnetic pickups though - those two are, certainly (Cobain with a Martin D18E through a Twin). KT Tunstall was recently using a LR Baggs M1A with distortion in her little Washburn as well, although I'm not sure what amp. I'll have to check out Grant Lee Buffalo again, I like the band but I hadn't paid close attention to the guitar sound.

I fancy trying this out - what sort of magnetic pickup woud be best? I'm guessing a cheap soundhole would do it? or could I try a normal guitar pickup?

ICBM · April 2015

I would think a cheap soundhole pickup would be OK, and is the easiest to mount. Despite what I said about KT Tunstall, you probably don't want a M1A if you're going through a guitar amp, they're intentionally designed to be microphonic (to pick up the body resonance and give a more natural sound) and I found it very feedback-prone… she may not have been using an amp at all, just going into the PA. The Fishman Rare Earth was much better in that respect, I used one of those into a Mesa combo on the dirty channel and got a pretty good sound.

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