What ampilfed acoustic guitar kit?

[hewesy]

Just a quick question for the acoustic players out there,

What kit do you use when you amplify your acoustic?

I've recently bought an acoustic amp (Marshall AS50R, fanastic, superb, marvellous...) after almost 10 years of just playing totally acoustically (although I recorded using a zoom FX box for chorus and reverb).

The Marshall has Chorus and Reverb built in, which I've got into using and it made me wonder, what does everyone else use?

So if your an acoustic performer, playing coffee house or similar gigs, what's your rig consist off??

I'm interested in adding a tuner (I have a Boss TU2 on my electric pedalboard, may add one for the acoustic as it's good) and possibly a volume pedal as I play fingerstyle and with a pic, to match the levels/dynamics.

Anyone use anything else?? Any other effects/amps/mixers etc??

Cheers,

[fergdc40oz]

I've had an AS50 for about 6 months now and just love it. It breathes new life into my thin, boxy sounding acoustic electics and makes them boom on the low end and shimmer on the high end. It is really a fantastic amp. Haven't tried singing into it yet (I couldn't carry a tune if I had a Sherpa to help me) but will try to get a friend to try it out so I can let you know.

[hewesy]

To be honest I can't recommend the amp enough, it really is that good. I even set the EQ totally flat on the amp and my guitar and it does sound like my acoustic, just louder. Beautiful amp, and the chorus and reverb are great, the chorus sounds great, and adds some nice sparkle (even does a passable cure sound, if you set the knobs right (Speed at 10 o Clock and Depth at 2 o Clock, standard Robert Smith setting!). The reverb adds nice articulation, especially on fingerstyle.

Unfortunatly I can't sing either, but my girfriend can so I will try the vocals and guitar soon and report back.

You can use the mic in front of the guitar though, with the piezo running through channel one and that really adds some nice sparkle, have the piezo as the main (louder) sound and add the mic to add some string noise etc.

Also, the RCA inputs are great for CD/MD use, I use it to play backing tracks through, the amp is almost a mini PA system!! Play the backing tracks through the amp whilst running your normal electric setup, helps practice (and makes people think the band is playing in your spare room!!).

Try it, I think you'll like it gururyan...

[hewesy]

By the way fergdc40oz, does yours emit a low level hum at all??

My mate has one that hums a little, but doesn't get any louder when you turn up the volume.

Just curious...

[fergdc40oz]

I really don't notice any hum on mine...maybe the slightest amount, but not really much at all

[hewesy]

Me neither, his has a very low level hum, almost like a transformer noise rather than a hum from his guitar etc. Just an amp sound when it's switched on I guess. Still quieter than my Vox though!

Do you have the footswitch for yours? Do you rate it? Are they black same as all other Marshall footswitches??

Cheers,

[fergdc40oz]

I don't have the footswitch...I don't usually find the need to switch the chorus on the fly, so I didn't get it. I think it's just a regular switch though.

[agentyang]

i just posted a new topic on this,

but when i used my yamaha cpx-8 with boss's ac-2 acoustic simulator for electric, it sounded amazing, like it was miked and perfectly balanced, even through a regular electric amp!. i did some research and am wondering whether boss's ad-5 acoustic processor "acoustic" parameters, which

(from Boss site)

"turn the brittle, sterile sounds of a piezo pickup into the rich, "airy" sound of a mic'd acoustic guitar" , is just the ac-2 disguised? the settings look similar.......
anywho, i'd like someone else to try it and see if they found the same sounds.

[boyecho]

so you're giving advice to people to never ever ever use something you've never ever used?

what about tiny clubhouse gigs with no p.a.? i like acoustic amps. acoustic direct boxes are nice too, but the direct boxes dont tend to have reverb or alternate inputs for the things which have been listed above...

[fergdc40oz]

I think, like I said before, a box works fine if you need to be loud and can go through the PA, and if you have a real acoustic that sounds like an acoustic when it's unplugged. I have a Chet Atkins and an Ovation that both sound horrible unplugged...they are thin body and were really designed to be plugged in to sound right. Therefore, for me, I need to have them plugged in, even when I'm sitting around the house practicing, and I could never get a decent sound running them through a regular electric amp, so I picked up an acoustic amp to see how that would work for me, and it turned out it was absolutely perfect for my needs.
For someone playing small coffehouse type gigs where you don't need a lot of volume, acoustic amps can be perfect, because they typically have a couple of channels, and you can run your vocal mike and guitar through them. Really, it just depends on the situation-they make sense for some people and not for others.
On a side note, it kind of bugs me when people offer strong advice about something they've tried for 5 minutes in a store...i'm much more likely to listen to someone who has actually owned and used their gear everyday, and has spent the time to understand how to get a good sound out of it. Not that everyone's opinion isn't valid, but if you don't have much first hand experience with something, you should say that from the begining

[agentyang]

one thing to note is that the speakers on acoustic amps are very different from electric amps.

electric amps speakers are virtually lo-fidelty (meaning less pure tonality) woofers designed to distort as the signal gain increases. this is bad news for amplifying acoustic tone. a good acoustic amp will have a hi-fidelity cone speaker plus a horn and tweeter to full amplify the entire harmonic range of the acoustic guitar. remember, the sound of the electric is purely based on electical signals picking up vibrations. the sound of the acoustic is purely based on the relationship between the string vibrations, the wood, and the air. amplifying that is much more complicated, and electric amps are not designed to deal with such a harmonic range. "sounding good" does not necessarily equal good tone. do a search on google for acoustic sound engineering for lots of articles on why electric amps are not designed for such a job.

[SpokenFor]

even though i have an incredible pickup combination on my taylor, i still run through the L.R. Baggs para acoustic direct box. it's really just amazing how perfectly it allows me to recreate the acoustic qualities of my taylor.

here it is on e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2553269131&category=7266

[GibsonSST]

i would recomend the Genz Benz Shenendoah acoustic amp. sounds absolutely gorgeous. but i have also found that the Carvin Legacy amp works very well with acoustic also.

[LennyNero]

Hi,

when I got back to playing more acoustic I was looking for a guitar that I culd use on stage (with my band) as well and went for an Ibanez AEG-modell (best value for the price and good sounding Onboard electronics).

I went directly into our bands mixing-desk and added a Boss AD-3 later, which enhances the dry guitar-sound.

But you still hear the piezo-sound...