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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Hamburg, Germany | First of all I'd like to say to everyone. This is my first post in the forum.
I own an Ovation Model 1517 made in the beggining of the 80's. I have a Marshall V265R where I plug my fender stratocaster and my ovation, but I am not happy with the sound of the last. I tried with several effects such Behringer and Zoom for acoustic but still not good.
I would appreciate any hints about how to get a clean sound with my old friend in this amp., (if possible).
I want to avoid to gig with 2 amps. since we are an small band and we play in small clubs.
Thanks. |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Welcome Aik! The only thing I could say is that you would need another amp more suited to an acoustic, although I am not very knowledgeable in the amp area. You might try snagging something like a Roland AC60 that is very light to transport, yet gives a big sound. I'm sure someone will be around soon to respond with more smarts than me. |
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April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Welcome Aik. I will echo Jim's comments (and his lack of knowledge with my similar lack). I think electric guitar amps are designed NOT to produce a clean acoustic sound, so it will be very difficult to get the sound you are after from that amp. |
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October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Welcome Aik!
Agreed with what has been said allready. I beleive the only way you will getthe Clean Acoustic tone you seek is with an Acoustic amp/PA. I own a Fishman loudbox 100 (watts)
Love it. Good luck. |
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January 2006
Posts: 1118
Location: NW Washington State | An acoustic amp is the answer, but he said specifically that he didn't want to carry two amps.
Aik, you have already tried a Zoom pedal like the 504 or A2 through the clean channel on your amp?
If the Marshall is a stereo chorus two 12" speakers, maybe the speakers are part of the problem. Most acoustic amps have high frequency "tweeters". You might experiment with add-on tweeters. Maybe something like THIS. I'm not sure if it would be stereo. You could add a switch to it. Or just get a CHEAP PAIR OF TWEETERS and try them without a box. Connect them to the extension cabinet outputs of the amp.
-Steve W. |
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March 2007
Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | What happens if you plug an electric guitar into an 'acoustic amp'? Maybe with effects pedals to get the 'electric' sounds? |
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April 2008
Posts: 288
Location: New Hampshire, USA | If you've got some bucks to spend, get an AAD Cub. Big acoustic sound, and you can practically put it in your pocket it's so small:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo7e0AOfyjQ |
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November 2005
Posts: 4827
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | You buy a Marshall to get The Marshall Sound.
(and look?)
Hard to complain that it doesn't do any other sounds..... |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | You said you only want one amp, but how committed are you to that Marshall being that amp? There may be other single amp choices out there that will provide a better clean signal for your acoustic sound plus give you some overdrive for your Strat. I have some experience with amps, but the Marshall (and others, like Mesa Boogie) models are mostly made for players looking for a lot of overdrive. Going with a cleaner amp and adding overdrive and distortion through pedals is an alternative. |
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July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | Get s direct box and run it right to the PA.
It will sound great.
Electric amps are not for acoustic guitars. |
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September 2004
Posts: 777
Location: East Wenatchee, WA | Originally posted by PEZ:
Get s direct box and run it right to the PA.
It will sound great.
Electric amps are not for acoustic guitars. What PEZ says. I have tried acoustics through a variety of electric amps, and never have found one that works very well. I now have only a Keyboard amp and my PA that I find my electrics work fine through (with a pedal) and my acoustic is fine.
You must be using a PA for live performance, so just DI into it and you will be quite happy. |
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March 2009
Posts: 2
Location: north of boston | I understand you wanting to keep the Strat/Marshall but outside of doing "the line" to the PA, your real only other choice is to drop the gain and all other amp settings.
Depending on the room, I'll use the Celebrity for most of the first set and 3 tunes back to back in the 3rd.
I should add that it is a lot easier with a 2 channel amp.
The HRDeluxe has the clean/drive.
The BluesJr. must be re-dialed.
"One for one amp" too.
Vin |
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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Hamburg, Germany | I want to thank all of you for your friendly answers.
My amp. does have 3 channels and I can use the "clean" one for the Ovation.
I tried with a Zoom A2 and a Behringer DI, but there is always a dirty sound. It is better directly to the amp.
The problem must be, as someone alredy pointed, that even so, a marshall is still to "agresive" for acoustic sounds.
I will try some of the comments (thaks Pez and Numbfingers) and I will post the result. |
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December 2004
Posts: 566
Location: Denmark | On many combos the back is very open - maybe also on your Marshall. Then I would guess that plugging the Ovation into the "clean" channel and locating the amplifier in a corner somewhere rather than in the open would improve the sound a lot. This will give the effect of a longer horn/bigger cabinet and give a more full sound. You could also experiment with damping on the walls of the cabinet to give a less harsh sound but this is at a cost in efficiency.
The direct into the PA is probably best, and you can still use the amp for monitoring.
I actually had the impression that e.g. the A2 was meant for having an electric guitar sound simulate the sound of an acoustic guitar. |
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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Hamburg, Germany | Ok, after a little time I come with "my" solution.
I tried placing the amp. in different locations and different settings and finally I connect it to a DI box from behringer to the PA. And it works!
I can say that this is the best I could get other than expending money on a new amp.
Thanks to all for the help. |
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March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I'm glad you found a solution, but just for future reference, no you can't run an electric guitar through an acoustic amp. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15664
Location: SoCal | Originally posted by CanterburyStrings:
I'm glad you found a solution, but just for future reference, no you can't run an electric guitar through an acoustic amp. Why not? Granted, it won't sound great, but Chet Atkins did it for years with a nylon string and an electric amp.... |
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March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Yeah, Chet ran a nylon string through an ELECTRIC amp. You can do that and it will sound OK. But an electric amp boosts the signal, while an acoustic amp does not. It is designed to give you a flat sound (to keep the guitar sounding truly acoustic). An electric guitar plugged into an acoustic amp won't sound just "not great", but it will sound TERRIBLE. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15664
Location: SoCal | I know what you're saying and to a degree, I'm just teaing. Electric and acoustic amps are built differently to accent different sounds. You can run an electric thru an acoustic amp and it will be ok (or use a POD to model a particular amp. But if you run an acoustic thru and electric guitar amp it will blow badly.
Chet Atkins could do whatever he wanted because he was Chet Atkins and sounded good no matter what... |
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March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | I'm late to this party and I'm not an amp guy, but I remember that when I was looking for an amp for my daughter I was told the Marshalls do not sound good with an acoustic guitar. I got her a Fender, which was OK, but she has to be very careful with feedback issues.
I used a small bass amp for my acoustic for awhile and it was better than a regular electric guitar amp. |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Okay... I'm confused! :confused:
I have a Roland MicroCube, a Roland Cube Street, a Fender G-DEC and a Crate Profiler 5...
I run my Ovations through all of these.
These Cubes have an acoustic setting, but I use JC Clean or the straight 'mic' setting.
I just got back from using the MicroCube and I played the Sweet T with the Vox emulator (Brit Combo)...
Nothing blew-up...
None of my amps are 'acoustic' and they all work.
So... What's up with that? |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | The only problem I have found with plugging an acoustic guitar into an electric amp is that they are prone to feedback at higher volumes. Not a problem for me because most of the places I play, I'm either playing at low volume or plugged into the board instead of the amp. I have both a Crate acoustic amp and a Crate electric amp. The acoustic amp also amplifies string noise, so most of the time I just use the electric amp and it sounds GREAT. The acoustic is nice because you can plug a mic in too, so on those rare occasions when I have to sing and there will be just me, it sure beats lugging a PA system. |
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Joined:
April 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Hamburg, Germany | If you read the head of this post, the question was not about if you can or not plug an acoustic guitar on an electric amp, but on an specific one (Marshall VS265R).
I don't want to by a new amp. (not jet). There are plenty of amps. where an Ovation can sound great, but mine is not one of them, unfortunatelly.
I tried with some different interfaces such as effect pedals and DI's, but they never work find in the MArshall. Even pedal boards as the Zoom A2 where a disaster for the Ovation sound. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | The Mashall Valvestate amps were designed primarily to produce something approaching the classic heavily distorted Marshall sound in a smaller, lighter and cheaper package. They do an OK job of that but their clean sound is pretty lame. You'll struggle to get a useable sound out of any electric-acoustic with that particular amp. Best bet if you are playing clubs is to get a basic DI box and go straight to the mixing board with your Ovation. |
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Help pluging my Ovation