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Joined: January 2007 Posts: 47
Location: Virginia | As you all now I'm a NOOB here AND in the world of acoustic guitar.I play and own 2 electrics and I play them through a Behringer GMX 212 but never a acoustic much LESS an Ovation.
Welp ... last week I went and killed 2 birds with one stone and bought a Ovation and MAN I'm am SOOO pleased .
ANYHOO ... I went to my local pawn shop Saturday afternoon before work and bought me a amp to play the Ovation on... a Fender Frontman 15G. Not anything big and I got it for dirt cheap, it does sound nice and I play it through a chorus floor unit which enhances the sound ...
SO ... I was just curious as to what YOU guys use to play your Ovations on and what effects if any do you use ...
Sorry this was so windy but I can get that way at times when I get excited ;) |
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Joined: January 2002 Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I use a Trace Elliot 35 or the bass acoustic or a G-B Shen Jr or an Ashdown Reso1. Just fiddle with the knobs till it sounds good. Each guitar and room will need something a bit different. |
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Joined: May 2003 Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | For my acoustic, I use a generic 10watt Yamaha keyboard pa. |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | I play acoustics through either my church's or my band's PA. At church I play without effects. My band gear includes an Alesis Midiverb unit that we use to add a touch of reverb. |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I now have a Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue 15-R (fancy name, huh?). The clean channel with reverb is really good. I add bass to the GC057 for straight acoustic. I also use the overdrive to get strange with that one. The others I just play clean, touch of verb.
Previously, I had/still have an Orange Crush 10. Better for the Strat.
I also have a generic 10w AC/DC, that I can take outside.
All cheap (inexpensive) but effective. |
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Joined: June 2004 Posts: 580
Location: NW NJ | Genz-Benz Shenandoah 85 (precursor to the Shen 100). Sweet! Like Bill said - tweak it till it sounds right. |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4827
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Yamaha SPX-90 into a Fender BXR sixty. The 15" speaker covers the full acoustic range nicely.
That or, most often, just into whatever PA the place has when I show up. |
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Joined: January 2007 Posts: 47
Location: Virginia | This 15G doesn't sound to awful bad with the chorus ... I also tried my digital delay and it sounds O.K. to me .
I was just wonderin' like I said what other's here were use'n ! |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4827
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Don't worry Show, it's a junky/addict behaviour to try and convert everyone to your way of seeing and doing things... Whatever keeps you playing out is perfectly fine.
The only reason I use the equipment I do for my O's is....it's what I already owned! (plus I get paid more often for bass than anything else.) |
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Joined: October 2004 Posts: 180
Location: Chicagoland | Try running your Ovation through an aucostic amp and you will see the sound quality you are missing. |
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Joined: October 2006 Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Marshall Acoustic Soloist AS80R for me. It's about 10 years old now and was Marshall's entry into acoustic amplification. I like it alot! It has an XLR input for microphone and a magnetic auxiliary for an electric guitar/drum machine and a transducer channel where i get the sweetest acoustic guitar amplification I've ever heard coming from such a compact unit. Sucker weighs 50 lbs. though! |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | I use a Roland AC 60.
Bass at 2 O'Clock,Mid at 11 and treble at 1
Add a little reverb and a touch of Chorus. |
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Joined: January 2007 Posts: 47
Location: Virginia | So an acoustic amp will make what I have sound MUCH better then the amp I'm currently use'n ?
Why is that ? What makes an acoustic amp sound better ? I might have to look into gettin' one of those ... MAYBE ;) |
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Joined: March 2003 Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | Genz Benz Acoustic 200 stereo with two extention speakers. Not small but can play anything and voice is excellent. Enough inputs to do a duo as well.
Steve |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Quick Question-- Do cloth-covered wires (tweed) reduce the noise I get when I kick my wires around?
Answer quick, I'm on my way to the store for other stuff.
Kinda off-topic, but we are talking about amps. |
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Joined: June 2005 Posts: 1320
Location: Round Rock, TX | Acoustic amps are voiced for piezo pickups. Electric guitar amps are voiced for magnetic pickups. Acoustic amps are designed (generally) to run clean at high volumes. Most electric amps assume that you're gonna want to overdrive them. So, it's a metter of voicing and cleanliness.
My three favorites in descending order (both price and how much I like 'em) are the Bose PAS (it's what I use now), the Fishman Loudbox performer (it's what i'd be using if I hadn't heard or couldn't afford the Bose) and the Roland AC-60. Even though I have the Bose I'm thinking about getting he Roland, too. They're just so dang portable. |
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Joined: January 2003 Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | - Old Man Arthur:
Handling noise is mostly caused by the internal construction of the cable rather than the outside covering. 'Spectraflex' is one brand that has low handling noise. |
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Joined: May 2003 Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Electric amps, are in a sense, part of your instrument, they are "tuned" to take advantage of your magnetic pups.
Acoustic amps, are "tuned" to transfer the sound as is, without coloring. Some like acoustic guitar amps, others like keyboard or bass amps, others like using a PA. It all depends on you needs and how much money you have and how much equipment you want to lug around. You can add effects to warm up the sound.
I go for the less is more approach.
I've seen some four channel PA's that work great for solo act, I think it was a fender 150 watt deal. Seemed very portable, definitely less than 50 lbs. I always look at things as how much I can get on my bike to the gig. That's a bicycle, not a motorcycle.
I've found that at low volumes an electric amp will work, but once you get it above, I don't know, say "5" the amp starts drasticly changing your sound, if not sooner. |
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Joined: August 2006 Posts: 122
Location: Tucson, AZ | ...I play both my DeArmond-equipped Roundback and EA68 Viper through my Super Reverb with JBL/D110Fs...works fine for chordal jazz. |
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Joined: July 2003 Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | an4340 is right....electric amps are voiced to "color" the sound. You can use one, but know that there is some tone in what you are hearing that is from the amp and not your guitar.
I have a Crate Taos 30-watt acoustic amp for my Ovations. Crank in some reverb and chorus, and I'm a happy camper.
Roger |
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Joined: September 2004 Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | I run through a Fender Acoustasonic 30 with a delay, phaser, and a bad monkey for color.
Pauly |
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Joined: January 2007 Posts: 47
Location: Virginia | Thanks guys/gals for the explaination ... |
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Joined: May 2003 Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Paul,
what brand are your pedals? I know the Bad Monkey is digitech. I've been looking for something to add some warmth to my acoustic sound and I found the sansamp to be first rate, but I don't have the scratch to buy one now. I was wondering how long you've been using the Bad Monkey (what a name!) and if it added noise to the signal when the other pedals are also on.
I've found that when I've used digitech's distortion, I think it's called the tone driver, in front of a digitech reverb, I get alot of noise, but when I use each alone, the tone is pure. Any thoughts are welcome. |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12754
Location: Boise, Idaho | I have a little Epiphone 30 watt acoustic amp. Has a reverb, and that's about it. Nobody listens to me except me, so I don't need much. I just got it because it was $120 new a couple years ago. I haven't seen an Epiphone acoustic amp since. |
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Joined: August 2006 Posts: 122
Location: Tucson, AZ | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Quick Question-- Do cloth-covered wires (tweed) reduce the noise I get when I kick my wires around?
Answer quick, I'm on my way to the store for other stuff.
Kinda off-topic, but we are talking about amps. ...what you're describing is the "triboelectic" effect, which is what happens when you "sqeeze" the insulator-material between the outer braid shield (ground) and the inner core (signal). It'll happen with ANY cable, but will be less noticable in cables using higher quality coaxial insulation.
...so, it is NOT the outer material, but rather the inner insulation, that's causing "noise." |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 347
Location: Reno, NV | Originally posted by Showtime_100:
So an acoustic amp will make what I have sound MUCH better then the amp I'm currently use'n ?
Why is that ? What makes an acoustic amp sound better ? I might have to look into gettin' one of those ... MAYBE ;) Yes, the acoustic amps sound way better. Even the cheapest CRATE acoustic like I have sounds much better. |
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Joined: September 2004 Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | an4340 posted Paul,
what brand are your pedals? All Digitech X series Hyper Phase and DigiDelay. As for noise with the Monkey I have not experienced any, it gives me a warm tone which is what I was looking for, but just like any wild monkey it can bite when needed. :D
Pauly |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Jeff Burns and I use the Bose L1 Personal Amplification System at every gig. In my home practice space I have set up: Fishman Loudbox 100 and a Crate Acoustic. I really like the Fishman but neither can compete with the Bose. The best, hands down (but we got the tower on ebay for $1300, subwoofer for $300: pricey!) Effects: I use the Yamaha Acoustic Magicstomp pedal. It has vast downloadable options. When I needed a new stereo chorus patch for playing through two amps I simply found the right file on the Yamaha site and loaded it into the Magicstomp and, voila, a ready-to-use patch! |
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Joined: October 2006 Posts: 51
Location: Arizona | Has anyone tried/heard any of the Behringer acoustic amps? They seem to have a lot of bang for the buck compared to the competition, but I don't think I've ever heard one before.
Behringer Acoustic Amps
I'm looking at the ACX900, which has balanced outputs, 24-bit effects, and 90W output for $240. The manuals can be downloaded at
Behringer site
Seems like a lot of features for a very reasonable price, my main question is the sound quality. |
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Joined: January 2007 Posts: 47
Location: Virginia | Not to sure about their acoustic amps but their electric amps rock ! |
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Joined: September 2004 Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | I just got an electric amp a V-Tone GMX110 for Christmas and it's very good. I have not had it long enough to experience it's full depth but so far it does what I want it to.
Pauly |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I seem to be one of the few OFC members who prefers to use the stereo features on my Ovations and ADII. I use two Fender Acoustasonic Jrs with DSP, where the channels are split to each. I feed both into a Yamaha stereo PA system for additional sound reinforcement. I know this is overkill, but the fullness of the sound is just incredible. When playing in mono mode, or at church with the house sound, I use a Trace Elliott TA100R. For the non-acoustic guitars, I use a variety of other Fender amps. |
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Joined: August 2005 Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I use a Roland AC 60 Acoustic Chorus amp. The thing I like is that it's small and portable (@ 20 lbs. and about as big as a compact boombox)and has plenty of power. I've used it outside at a country club swimming pool with no trouble at all.
Clean vocal sound.
I zero out the amp when I use my CS 257 and set EQ on the guitar. When I use my '71 Ovation Balladeer (Fishman Natural II undersaddle pickup, no onboard EQ), I set bass at 9 o'clock; mid at 1 o'clock; and treble at 11 o'clock -- generally. Usually you have to tweak the settings from room to room.
The amp has a nice reverb, chorus, and delay, so I really don't need effects. I have a Zoom 504II acoustic effects box when I want more than a straight acoustic sound. I can hear some snickering out there, but I'll tell you what -- when you're poor, it's a lot of bang for the buck. There ARE a few cheesy effects on it, but for the most part, they're surprisingly good. And the 12-string effect is KILLER!
Probably what you need to do is go out and try some gear with your guitar and see what YOU like. I like the AC 60; I play a lot of gigs, and the Roland is tough, durable, and, best of all, light! I like it, but you might like something else. :) |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4827
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | If you're going to play out, size matters. If, like my friend the heavy metal grandfather, your gear never leaves the house...it's less of an issue.
Until the wife wants that "giant music box thing" out of the livingroom. |
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Joined: November 2004 Posts: 382
Location: USA | No amp I run through a PA. Mackie SRM 450's.
Amps that i do like would be the Fender Baby blonde...and Crate amps. |
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Joined: August 2006 Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | i got a roland ac-60. ive used it once and like it but i just dont plug in much...jason |
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Joined: December 2005 Posts: 149
Location: New York, NY | Fender Deluxe Reverb for my electrics. Nothing for the acoustics |
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