Bassman Brad
New member
I have recently been playing in an acoustic trio. Although I perform most of the show on bass, I have also been switching over to acoustic guitar for a few songs. I recently bought a cheap, used acoustic/electric (an Ibanez AEL-20E) which has a piezo system built-in, for use on the acoustic numbers. (I found that, by shopping used, I could actually buy an entire acoustic electric guitar for less than it would cost to put a decent piezo system in my other acoustic guitar.) When I first got it, I thought that the Ibanez sounded like every other guitar that I’ve ever heard with a piezo system. Harsh and brittle on the high end, with exaggerated string noise. This seems to be endemic to the piezo technology, itself, and is not a condemnation of the Ibanez. I’ve heard Martins that were equipped with a piezo system which sounded pretty much the same.
After some experimenting, I was able to make it sound quite a bit better. While you can’t take the piezo sound out with equalization, finding an amplifier that matched the guitar did seem to improve things quite a bit. Direct into a PA didn’t sound very good. In fact, this seemed to shine a spotlight on the piezo-ness of the sound. I have one bass amp which is so tonally neutral (especially when bypassing the preamp and going direct into the FX return jack) that I use it like a mini-PA system. This is what I use to amplify keyboards and the various bass amp models in my SansAmp and Boss GT-6B, and is the first amp I turn to when I need a “natural,” uncolored tone. The Ibanez sounded absolutely terrible through that amp. I mean painfully bad. Maybe there was an impedance mismatch or something, but this just didn’t work AT ALL. The solution that I finally came up with, which is what I used at our gig last night, was to plug into an electric guitar amp, an all-tube 15 watt Traynor amp, which has a really nice, mellow clean channel. The Traynor seemed to take quite a bit of the edge off of the piezos. (I’m guessing that this is because of the even order harmonic thing that you get with tube amps.) Anyway, that’s what I’m doing now.
Right now, I’d say I’m about 85% satisfied with the tone I’m getting. I am fully aware of the problems inherent in trying to amplify an acoustic guitar in a live setting, and I do understand that a certain amount of compromise is always required in these situations. I doubt that I’ll ever reach 100% satisfaction with the tone. But, I think there’s still room for improvement, without laying out big bucks for a different guitar, or a dedicated acoustic guitar amp.
I know that there are processors out there which are designed to take the sound of an acoustic/electric, and make it sound more “natural” (i.e. more like a real acoustic guitar miked up in a room). Some examples are the Boss AD series (AD-3, AD-5, & AD-8), the Yamaha AG Magicstomp, and the new (and rather expensive) Fishman “Aura” system. I’ve done some research and read some reviews on these units at places like Harmony Central. However, I still don’t know if something like this would work for me.
So, my question is, does anybody have any experience with these types of processors? What were your impressions of these units? In other words, how well do these things work, in real world terms? Would they take away enough of the piezo sound that I could run the guitar directly into the processor, and then on into the PA, and be able to leave the amplifier at home? Although I have gotten pretty good results going through the amp, it sure seems silly to carry an electric guitar amp to an acoustic gig. Besides, I already have to haul one amp for my bass. I’d rather not have to carry a second one for the guitar.
Thanks,
After some experimenting, I was able to make it sound quite a bit better. While you can’t take the piezo sound out with equalization, finding an amplifier that matched the guitar did seem to improve things quite a bit. Direct into a PA didn’t sound very good. In fact, this seemed to shine a spotlight on the piezo-ness of the sound. I have one bass amp which is so tonally neutral (especially when bypassing the preamp and going direct into the FX return jack) that I use it like a mini-PA system. This is what I use to amplify keyboards and the various bass amp models in my SansAmp and Boss GT-6B, and is the first amp I turn to when I need a “natural,” uncolored tone. The Ibanez sounded absolutely terrible through that amp. I mean painfully bad. Maybe there was an impedance mismatch or something, but this just didn’t work AT ALL. The solution that I finally came up with, which is what I used at our gig last night, was to plug into an electric guitar amp, an all-tube 15 watt Traynor amp, which has a really nice, mellow clean channel. The Traynor seemed to take quite a bit of the edge off of the piezos. (I’m guessing that this is because of the even order harmonic thing that you get with tube amps.) Anyway, that’s what I’m doing now.
Right now, I’d say I’m about 85% satisfied with the tone I’m getting. I am fully aware of the problems inherent in trying to amplify an acoustic guitar in a live setting, and I do understand that a certain amount of compromise is always required in these situations. I doubt that I’ll ever reach 100% satisfaction with the tone. But, I think there’s still room for improvement, without laying out big bucks for a different guitar, or a dedicated acoustic guitar amp.
I know that there are processors out there which are designed to take the sound of an acoustic/electric, and make it sound more “natural” (i.e. more like a real acoustic guitar miked up in a room). Some examples are the Boss AD series (AD-3, AD-5, & AD-8), the Yamaha AG Magicstomp, and the new (and rather expensive) Fishman “Aura” system. I’ve done some research and read some reviews on these units at places like Harmony Central. However, I still don’t know if something like this would work for me.
So, my question is, does anybody have any experience with these types of processors? What were your impressions of these units? In other words, how well do these things work, in real world terms? Would they take away enough of the piezo sound that I could run the guitar directly into the processor, and then on into the PA, and be able to leave the amplifier at home? Although I have gotten pretty good results going through the amp, it sure seems silly to carry an electric guitar amp to an acoustic gig. Besides, I already have to haul one amp for my bass. I’d rather not have to carry a second one for the guitar.
Thanks,
