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| Hi To All,
. My Ovation has the volume only preamp. (Custom Balladeer 1979) (which works great). I would like to get some suggestions on amps that work well for small gigs. I have a Peavey KB60 that I currently use,(I also play bass thru it) It works well but I would be open to any opinions of other amps that might do a better job on getting more of an acoustic sound. Again thanks to all!
Dad Roadie P.s. Is there any simple way to post a photo of my instrument? Ived tried to do it the way the information posted says but I don't understand the URL thing. I have a picture as a JPEG if that helps. |
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Posts: 425
Location: SE Michigan | It really depends on what you are doing, are you playing with a band or just you? Large venues or small rooms? My view is that once you start playing out it's best to get a respectable PA system. You can get a small half way decent PA for under a grand. We use a 12-channel passive mixer with effects and three powered 12" cabinets, two for mains and one as a monitor. It gets the job done in most situations. If it's just for casual jams and small stuff they make several nice acoustic combo amps that are designed for acoustic guitar sound and usually have at least one XLR microphone input. I would also consider getting even a single powered speaker cabinet. It can serve as an amp and a small PA and later can be added into a larger PA. The beauty of powered speakers is that the speaker and power amp are perfectly matched and they are very flexible. I sold my Marshall AS50D and bought a Yorkville NX55P powered speaker, alone it is 550 watts, much more flexible.
I used to own this model (Marshall AS50D), I liked it a lot, but it really is for small performances:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/marshall-as50d-50...
My buddy has a Fender Acoustisonic, he likes it and we have used it before as a stage monitor:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/fender-acoustason...
This one looks decent if you are trying to save a few bucks:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/behringer-ultraco...
Good luck, let us know what you end up with.
Edited by Brian T 2013-05-14 8:08 PM
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Location: Chicago | Jeff and I swear by the Bose L1. We also hook up a small Fishman Loudbox100 behind us as a monitor. The Bose is amazaing: portable, clear and flexible. Perfect for acoustic instruments. |
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Location: Flahdaw | +1 on the Fishman Loudbox. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | When I play in a band situation. we use a Yamaha PA (can't remember the model number). No effects boxes; I run the guitar straight into the board, EQ it and put a little reverb and chorus on it. Sounds nice and acoustic. When I play solo, I use a Roland AC 60 Acoustic Chorus amp. Great for small to medium clubs and restaurants. Lots of punch, and best of all, it only weighs a little over 20 pounds. Really nice reverb and chorus effects for the guitar and the vocal channel is clean. You can get reverb to a really heavy delay (a'la John Lennon on "A Day In The Life") on the vocal channel. Great little amp. I put it on a tripod speaker stand and it really projects. Plus you can also piggyback it into a PA system...
Edited by rick endres 2013-05-15 8:04 AM
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Location: Delaware | Bose L1 for acoustic guitar and vocals. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Hi Dad Roadie.. I fixed your posts above if you were wondering where the duplicates went...
As for the amp... The Bose L1 is pretty much the gold standard of sound for an Ovation as far as I'm concerned. |
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Location: Jet City | bkok999 - 2013-05-14 5:55 PM It really depends on what you are doing... I'll reserve my answer until this is addressed. This topic has been discussed... at length... dozens of times. The answers are always the same. You'd probably get more info using the forum's search feature. Here's a good start... BEST AMP SEARCH
Edited by Damon67 2013-05-15 4:23 PM
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Location: Denver, CO | A few years ago I bought a Troubadour, specifically choosing it over a Loudbox because to my ears it sounded better. YMMV... I like that the Troubadour has xlr input for a mic as well as 1/4 for the guitar, plus an xlr out connection to run straight into a PA, and it's very very portable. |
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| Thanks to all for the suggestions. I hope to be able to try some of these out . I been using Martin Silk and Steel on the instrument for years. It really warms up the bass even though it cuts a lot of the volume. I use the guitar for small get togethers so I don't need a lot of volume but I believe most of these amps have a line out to feed it into a PA system if needed. Again thanks to all .Someday I will figure out the picture thing.
All the Best!
Dad Roadie |
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Location: Utah | We have the Crate 60w acoustic amp. They call it the Gunnison. We tested a bunch of different amps in the 15W to 100W range for my daughter when she was playing a lot of shows and found the Gunnison sounded best to us with her Ovation plugged in. Her bandmate bought the Roland AC60. As their roadie/soundman I got to carry and mess with both quite a bit.
The Crate is louder by a fair amount. The quality of the sound is excellent in both, yet different. They have similar features in terms of inputs, effects, line out, built in tilt-stand, etc. Both are quite usable for a restaurant or bar, though you're not going to do ear bleeding volumes which seem popular with some bars. For that you're likely looking at plugging into the house system, which either amp does a great job using the line out.
The Crate is louder and I like the sound better. The Roland is lighter and has a carry bag. Both sound great, work well.
Beware that the lower wattage amps seem to have a significantly lesser speaker in them. All the brands we tested had the same issues. First, the speaker is smaller diameter and has less depth of sound. They just sound smaller and less lively. The cabinets are smaller, and the price point is lower, so they have made compromises in sound to reduce costs. The second problem with the speaker is they do not seem to be able to provide clean undistorted sound at full power. A 15W amp should be pretty darned loud when cranked, with the 30W and 60W siblings only being louder when turned up all the way. However, the lower wattage amps all had speaker distortion well below full power. So they did not have a usable 15W or 30W. Going up to a 60W or 100W amp seems to solve the problem.
I have not played nor heard the Bose systems to compare. |
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Location: Jet City | I use a Roland AC60 into a PA pretty much all the time. I rarely need it as a stand alone amp, but in a small situation it works well.
I have toyed with just using a Roland AD-8 into the board, but having speakers just in case is good.
If you have the $ though, I'd get the Genz Benz Shenandoah Compak. That's my next acoustic amp purchase. |
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Location: NW Washington State | If you're generally happy with the Peavey KB60 and need to switch between bass and guitar, you might try an acoustic pedal to give you more sounds. I've used a Zoom A2.1u and liked it. The A2 is the same effect without USB interface or volume pedal. The older Zoom 504II is OK, but more "digital" sounding. There's a new Zoom A3 too. There are several other brands, maybe someone here has tried them.
-Steve W. |
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| Thanks to all for the reply's and thanks to Mr. Ovation for fixing my goofs. I really enjoy hearing from others and value the ideals and opinions. Has anyone had good luck with the Zoom pedal? The Peavey works well for the my bass and the Ovation sounds good after tweaking with the knobs. A lot of times I have to switch between songs and a pedal would be helpful to save time. The amp has 2 input channels with volume controls on each but only one set of tone controls. It would be nice to keep having just one amp as the old bones are starting to feel my age!
Is there a way to easily take a PDF picture of my guitar to post? Ive read though the information on the site and I'm still having trouble. Its asking for a URL file. Again thanks to all!
Dad Roadie |
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Location: Tychy, Poland | i used Roland AC60 for last 3 years or so, but last christmas my gf bought me a polish combo - Martinello and it sounds great. I'm not sure about availability in USA since they're small manufacture, but for equivalent of ~500 % they're worth a shot.
They're made by Marcin Czarnecki from fingerstyle duo Los Desperados ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoL2BXHUvS0 )
unfortunately i haven't found any vids of those amps with ovations on Youtube. But i found this -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INYPXA4nTj8 |
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Location: Jet City | Are any of your pictures on the web? If not, put some in your gallery here, and then they can be linked to. Send me a note once you've done this and I can help. |
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| Hi to All,
Thanks again for all the suggestions and help. A special thanks to Damon67 who gave me the suggestion on putting the picture in an album,which I was able to do.
All the Best!
Dad Roadie |
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| Hi Dad Roadie. I play proffesionaly and own many amps, p.a. Ect. For a new band I just started I purchased a vintage 1982 Custum Legend as I am now relying on Ovation guitars more and more. Just for fun I used the Custom Legend on two jazz gigs I did the week I got it. I have now plugged it into a Yamaha stage pass 500, Polytone mini brute, vintage Traynor tube amps, Roland ac30 and Proffesional P.A. Systems using an L.R. baggs para acoustic d.I. I always notice the same thing sound wise... The Ovation has TONs of tone and needs to be "tamed". Unlike an Archtop with a humberbucker in it that needs to have tone added! My favorite amps are the vintage Traynor tube jobs. The Yamaha Stage pass 500 costs about $900.00 I think and can be used with only one or both speakers... Making it very versatile. You can use it like an amp... Or like a P.A. The L.R. Baggs is a great device if you have to plug into a large system run by a sound crew... But I find I'm dialing the tone down as the volume goes up. Hope that helps and good luck in your search! Will. |
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Location: Canada | Good thread, and instead of starting a new one I would like to add the question ... which amp would be best suited for a 12-STRING Ovation? Some amps have effects such as chorus, but I doubt they would be very useful for a 12-sting which has different requirements than 6 string. Opinions please ... |
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| After writing all of that I thought... If I was stuck on a deserted island (that had A.C.) and could only have 1 amp I think I would want the Roland A.C. 60 mentioned above. As far as 12 string goes I could not say except that a very clean amp with wide tonal response would be where I would start. Will.
Edited by will 2013-05-19 10:02 AM
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Location: Las Vegas | Fishman solo. SA220. It rocks. |
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| Thanks to Numbfingers for the ideal on a pedal still using the Peavey KB60 . Picked up one of the old Zoom acoustic pedals reasonably. What a great pedal!!
It really bring out a lot of the depth in the guitar thru this amp. I have one channel with the pedal and the Ovation and the other channel set up for the bass. The EQ on the amp is set for the bass, the pedal gives me the opportunity to adjust the tone for the Ovation Had the chance to use this set up over the weekend and it worked fantastic. Best $20 I ever spent!
Thanks again to everyone that replied!
Dad Roadie |
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Location: Australia | For a tiny portable amp, The AER Alpha is a world beater. |
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Best amp for Ovations
