Amps for Acoustic Guitars

[Paul in Colorado]

What do you use to amplify your acoustic? I know a lot of people go direct into the PA, but are there any little acoustic amps you like?

[Tim Armstrong]

I'm a direct-to-PA kinda guy, but when I was brewing beer at the brewpub in Virginia Beach, we had a guy who did a solo act with a Peavey Ecoustic amp that sounded way better than I could've predicted...

Tim

[Singin' Dave]

There are a lot of fine acoustic amps that will do well for you (Fishman loadbox etc.) But my take on an acoustic amp is to get yourself a small powered PA speaker that has a wedge cut in the side and a small passive mixer. MUCH more versatile and adaptable for the long run, as a powered speaker can serve many functions throughout your musical life (monitor for band/gigs, small PA for backyard jams or party announcements, killer boom box for iPod at parties, acoustic amp with multiple channels for vocals, etc.)

You can score a 250-400w powered speaker by Samson, Yorkville, JBL, heck even Carvin and others for ~$500 (or less used)

The only exception to this is if you need lots of FX on your amp. Then it may make sense to go with an amp that provides the FX you need.

Live I always go into the PA by route of a L.R. Baggs PADI, which is a great pedal sized preamp/DI with EQ and filtering.

I had an Ultrasound 50w acoustic amp for a while and liked it but it was very limited SPL wise and could never hang with a band in any situation. I got myself a small 250 W powered speaker and a Mackie 1202 mixer all in for $250 used and have never looked back.

[backline]

Originally Posted by Singin' Dave

There are a lot of fine acoustic amps that will do well for you (Fishman loadbox etc.) But my take on an acoustic amp is to get yourself a small powered PA speaker that has a wedge cut in the side and a small passive mixer. MUCH more versatile and adaptable for the long run, as a powered speaker can serve many functions throughout your musical life (monitor for band/gigs, small PA for backyard jams or party announcements, killer boom box for iPod at parties, acoustic amp with multiple channels for vocals, etc.)

You can score a 250-400w powered speaker by Samson, Yorkville, JBL, heck even Carvin and others for ~$500 (or less used)

The only exception to this is if you need lots of FX on your amp. Then it may make sense to go with an amp that provides the FX you need.

Live I always go into the PA by route of a L.R. Baggs PADI, which is a great pedal sized preamp/DI with EQ and filtering.

I had an Ultrasound 50w acoustic amp for a while and liked it but it was very limited SPL wise and could never hang with a band in any situation. I got myself a small 250 W powered speaker and a Mackie 1202 mixer all in for $250 used and have never looked back.

Man-O-Man, this guy hit every nail right on the head. I would say print his response and then go from there. And stay away from "Acoustic Guitar Amplifiers".
Good Luck

[TxTeleMan]

Just say no.

A mic through the PA gets the best sound.

[getbent]

we use two fender acoustasonic SFXII's I got used. Our fiddle player (who plays a little acoustic too) and rhythm player (acoustic) each have one... they sound just fine and allow them to control their own thing without futzing with the pa. I don't know whether it is the best sound or not.... but, it is what we kind of settled on and have been happy with...

[tjalla]

I'll add a pro-acoustic amp comment. I've gigged for 5 years with my trusty SWR California Blonde + extn cab. Where its underpowered I line out to powered speakers or to PA, but always have the excellent preamp in the SWR, plus my own independent monitor (master volume level doesn't affect lineout signal).

I very often get comments on my acoustic guitar tone - the Larrivee's I use don't hurt a bit either - but the times I run direct to PA, or even using a valve pre (SIB Fatdrive) or a Baggs PADI in the past, to my ears always fall a tad short of the SWRs preamp signal to desk. Mine accepts vocals too, but SWR make a smaller version with just a guitar channel. Worth considering.

Bang for buck, however, is indeed a good small mixer (consider Mackie Onyx 1220) and a good powered wedge - Yorkville NX series in particular.

[RomanS]

+1 for the SWR California Blonde - a singer I used to play with always used it and got a great sound out of it; BTW, he also plugged his Tele into that amp, and got very useable clean sounds.

[photoweborama]

I played through a Fender Acoustasonic. It was huge but had a fabulous sound, and seems to be tuned to kill all kinds of feedback you usually get with an amplified acoustic.

Here is my son playing through it. You can only see part of it, though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyMbew7jW7o

[SimpleOne]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

What do you use to amplify your acoustic? I know a lot of people go direct into the PA, but are there any little acoustic amps you like?

Have a Crate Taos...30 watter...cool for duos with another guitar...great sound...so so effects (others have said, I like 'em!)...with a fishman rare earth pup...really shines and with a little chorus or delay, very cool...is small and has a line out also...generally overlooked but a very good seller for the novice...the bigger Crates have been used in a professional capacity also. As a 30 watter though it is rather anemic...with 1 x 8 incher. Sparkles big time...go demo at the Big Box! good luck!

[tiktok]

I used an SWR Strawberry Blonde for a long time, but ended up bypassing the preamp and just using the power section and speaker, and used an external preamp. Then I switched to using a Roland "keyboard amp", the KC-300, which is really just a four-channel PA monitor.

I also have a Tech21 Acoustic amp that always seemed underpowered, although it looks cool.

Oh, and for personal monitoring I have those Trace Acoustic Cubes, or a Samson hotspot type thingy.

[Bluesbob]

I use a Fishman Loudbox 100, which is like a mini-PA with an input for a guitar and a microphone on separate channels. It's really small (smaller than a Champ), but it packs 100 watts - 10 for the tweeter and 90 for the 8-inch woofer. It's loud enough for a coffee house acoustic gig and also makes an excellent monitor for stage use - up to the point of playing in a really loud rock band. It doesn't have enough juice for that without putting it through the monitors, but it still offers multiple DI outs and fine tuning your sound, leaving volume and EQ adjustments within the players reach. Most quality acoustic amps have these features. Of course, JMHO and YMMV.

[pengipete]

I can't impart much wisdom except to say that my piezo acoustic sounds better through my Kustom bass amp than through my guitar amps and that it really benefits from going though a bit of EQ first.

[casadyrocks]

I've had a Fender Acoustisonic Pro that I got at an amazing price three or four years ago. It is powerful, large and heavy, unlike most newer acoustic amps. forunately ,it never leaves my house. I have always liked it to this day- not something I can say about any of my electric amps. They all lose favor with me at some point.

[Lawn Boy]

I like my first generation Acoustisonic Jr.,
spring reverb, chorus, XLR channel, tilt
legs,looks cool, IMO gets the job done.
In a small room it works for me as a
mini PA. LB

[Joe-Bob]

My acoustic has a DSP preamp, so I can go right to the PA, or I can use a DI box. I have also used my Princeton Chorus, they turn out to be totally acceptable acoustic amps.

[studio1087]

I prefer my little PA but I have a Fender Acoustasonic 30 (It's the smallest Acoustasonic) and I love playing and singing through it. You can do the tiny coffee house guitar/vocal act through it.



I have the older model with digital effects. I just like the reverb.

John

[toadman]

crate Gunnison works fine for me. mic throughthe PA sounds best i with the band behind me i like more monitor power. i take a line out of the Gunnison to the board usually. the gunnisson also makes a dandy accordion amp.

[David Barnett]

Originally Posted by TxTeleMan

Just say no.

A mic through the PA gets the best sound.

A mic on the acoustic guitar is okay as long as the PA is great, and the room acoustics are conducive to good sound, and if you're a soloist. In a band situation it's worse than hopeless.

Doing an entire bluegrass band with one large-diaphragm condenser mic is a lot of fun when everyone knows "the dance", and as long as there are no monitors. Otherwise, throw purism out the window and get pickups for everyone.

I agree with the poster who suggested that the best acoustic amp is a small PA. I might suggest running one of the Rane acoustic preamps directly into a powered speaker, as the Rane will give you more acoustic-guitar-specific control functions than just plugging into a Mackie 1202 or similar small mic mixer. Fishman also makes a good small preamp.

[Singin' Dave]

Originally Posted by David Barnett

I might suggest running one of the Rane acoustic preamps directly into a powered speaker, as the Rane will give you more acoustic-guitar-specific control functions than just plugging into a Mackie 1202 or similar small mic mixer. Fishman also makes a good small preamp.

I agree. Optimal chain would be:

Guitar-->Preamp/D.I.-->mixer-->powered PA speaker