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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Hi All
Is it really all that different using an "acoustic" amp? I mean, normal amps have an acoustic setting....and are a whole lot cheaper!
How bad can it really sound? playing an acoustic through a acoustic setting, on an "electric" or "normal" guitar amp?
Cheers |
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Joined:
September 2005
Posts: 3619
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I personally haven't found a non-acoustic amp that brings out the full potential of an acoustic guitar. To me, playing an acoustic through a regular amp would be like owning a Fararri and never driving it over 40 MPH. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | A bit of an exaggeration mate, no? amps don't cost 100k..
Although I definitely get what you mean, waste of the good parts of the amp I guess....but hey, if they're half the price.. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | A professional grade tube amp will make many acoustic electrics sound fabulous, but they can be pricey. For most acoustic applications, players want a clean sound, so that means lots of headroom and little distortion, which is what good acoustic amps provide. Electric players typically want the opposite, and since many of them don't have a lot of cash, there is a pretty big market for cheap solid state electric amps that provide lots of distortion. These are the types of amps that acoustic players should avoid. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Fair enough, cheers! |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | ProfessorBB wrote:
A professional grade tube amp will make many acoustic electrics sound fabulous, but they can be pricey.
Brad, I have to disagree with you here. Take an old school tube amp like a Fender Twin (high power, lots of head-room) and run it at moderate volume and you might have a chance at a reasonable sound, which will be compromised further by the non-linear frequency response of it's speakers. Use a modern "pro grade" tube amp, say a Boogie Triple Rectifier, which is extremely expensive and designed on every channel to deliver high- gain distortion and you may as well take your acoustic, stick a gramophone needle into the top and hook it up to a Victrola.
Martinez, do a search through the archives, there have been many discussions over the years on this. And the bottom line is - there is a reason why dedicated acoustic guitar amps evolved, and there is an equally good reason why they are more expensive than what may appear to be similarly spec'd electric amps. If you think you can achieve a good sound through an electric guitar amp, good for you, just let me know where you're playing so I can avoid it.
On another note. This is my last post on this forum. I've been here since the very early days. There have been some dramas and some great times, and I have made some very close friends who will be in my life long after the OFC as gone the way of USA-built Ovation guitars. It's been a blast, but I no longer enjoy being here. Some of you know why, others will find out in due course. Play your Ovations, and don't let the bastard grind you down. |
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January 2012
Posts: 29
Location: Michigan | The only replacement I would take for a nice dedicated acoustic amp is a tube amp like others have said. For my money, a great, inexpensive amp that plays way louder than it's 60 watts say it should is the Fishman Loudbox Mini, which are around $260 street price. The Loudsox Artist is amazing and much better appointed with extras, but runs close to $500. |
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April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Paul, a shame to see you go. Your expertise will be sorely missed. |
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January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | I use a Loudbox Mini and love it |
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April 2010
Posts: 1227
Location: Connersville, Indiana | I used a smaller Crate Acoustic amp and ran it though my p.a. if the venue was big, in real small areas I always used my small Cube amp. Nice clean sound, plus it has built in effects that you can noodle with until you find the sound your looking for. Have fun! |
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September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | Paul Templeman wrote:
If you think you can achieve a good sound through an electric guitar amp, good for you, just let me know where you're playing so I can avoid it.
Haha great!! (by the way I didn't say I can achieve a good sound, only wondering if it was possible)
Thanks for the answers people. Acoustic amp it is then. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | ProfessorBB wrote:
A professional grade tube amp will make many acoustic electrics sound fabulous, but they can be pricey.
The Rivera Sedona (EL34) came to mind when I read Brad's comment. The Sedona shines as an acoustic amp.
Just a quick unscientific experiment using an FD14 and a Rivera Stereo EL34 amp (2x60w):
I used the clean rhythm channel (tweeked as flat and un-pushed as possible) on my Rivera TBR1SL head (think Fender 4x10 Bassman, old black-face Fender Twin, as the voicing on this channel). Speakers were a set of Rivera Q-Cabs (each cab has 2xEVM12L).
The sonic results were, MUD... although the EVM12L is one of the greatest lead guitar speakers ever made, its freq. response is an asymmetrical bell curve and only covers around 80-5000Hz.
Next, I pulled the Q-Cabs out of the mix and hooked-up a set of custom made BagEnd Acoustic cabinets... things sounded ok and got better the more I tweaked the rhythm channel settings. The sound was very usable and the TBR's onboard reverb added a nice touch.
Finally, I pulled the TBR's tube-preamp out of the mix. I plugged the FD14 into a D-TAR Mama Bear and fed the Mama Bear directly into the TBR's EL34 power section via the Stereo Effects Return... this turned out to be a pretty nice sounding ad hoc acoustic setup.
What did I learn: Nothing new... the main objective of amplifying an acoustic instrument is to accurately increase the instrument's volume. This linear task is not the usual design objective of an electric guitar amp.
The tube preamp section of my electric guitar amp has multiple voicings and is purposely designed to color the input signal. It is also designed to overdrive the tube power section, causing even more change due to tube saturation. The tube guitar amp and its speakers are an integral part of the sound. You are "playing" the tube amp as much as you are playing the electric guitar plugged into it (the "quest for tone").
The 60w EL34 power amp sections of my amp seemed to idle through this exercise. When fed a clean signal, its output was clean and very usable for acoustic.
In contrast, I was able to achieve some interesting results worth further investigation, when I repeated the same experiment with a 2x3w EL84 Lexicon Signature 284. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | You're right, Temp. I certainly wasn't thinking of the high gain Marshal and Mesa Boogie amps. This is your field of expertise, so I'll defer to you. I attend about a half dozen acoustic concerts every year at the Denver Botanic Gardens and came to the conclusion that the better tube amps are o.k. with acoustics based on the stage gear these traveling acts are typically using. After hearing Kaki King do a primarily acoustic show in a relatively small venue in Denver through a Vibro King, and also seeing those same amps being cranked by Pete Townsend at a Super Bowl halftime show, I was pretty impressed with its versatility. |
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December 2009
Posts: 686
Location: Route 66, just east of the Cadillac Ranch | I play for fun and have never given much thought to amplifier selection when it comes to acoustics, however I have noticed my acoustics sound better through my Ultrasound AG-30 than they do through my Henricksen. I just looked up the specs on the AG-30 and it's solid state and designed for acoustics whereas the Henricksen is a tube amp for guitar/bass. Go figure.
ps. Both amps were were given to me by my brother, so I had no reason to do any research before acquiring them. As they say, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. :) |
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September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | If a gift horse is gonna give me an amp I'll kiss it on the ass!!
:-) |
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December 2009
Posts: 686
Location: Route 66, just east of the Cadillac Ranch | That's beautiful. :) Makes me think not all American expressions hold up when they cross continents. |
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November 2008
Posts: 400
Location: Northwest Arkansas | I have an "old" 8-speaker TA 200 Trace Elliot. Sounded great, but now it needs new speakers. Way too much money to replace 'em. I just run out of my xlr to the board and use the monitor, |
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August 2007
Posts: 1008
Location: Tuscany, Italy | Trace Elliot is what I have (TA40CR) and love how it sound with my Os. |
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November 2008
Posts: 400
Location: Northwest Arkansas | If I ever get the cash. I'll restore that TA 200. It is really nice. Stereo. Two xlr's out. Really hot. The sound man kept telling me to turn it down. I told him it was balanced line output. My volume had nothing to do with it. I may restore the speakers and put wheels on one end. That thing weighs a ton. 200 watts is a little much for an intimate acoustic gig. I just run through the pa. Unless I play a sports bar. I think that would be a hoot. Turn that baby up to 11 and play like I was 20 again. I have a little 35 watt Crate I use for a monitor. It has it's purpose. This amp is what the Eagles used on the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. :grin:
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Yep… the TA200S… the holy grail… until you no longer have roadies to move it for you.
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Or was this the holy grail?
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August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | I've heard that people get good results playing acoustics through a bass amp.
Anyone got an opinion on that?
I've got 2 good bass amps but I play bass through them. I pretty much play the acoustic acoustically and wouldn't know what I was listening for if I plugged it in. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | In the day, the Trace Elliott's were the holy grail. Others have since caught up with them and now there's lots of good, clean acoustic amps. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 260
Location: Spain | By the way, has anyone used one of these?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vox-AGA70-Acoustic-Guitar-Amplifier-Amp-7... |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | wasn't even aware that Vox made an acoustic amp. |
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"Acoustic" Amps..