Acoustic amplification

solo2racr

solo2racr

SUCK, SQUEEZE, BANG, BLOW
As one would expect, Plugging my acoustic into my Peavey Bandit combo sounds like crap. Would a speaker change help this or is the reason in the amp/preamp section? And yes, I used the clean channel and both low and high gain inputs. No matter what I turned in the Clean or Master section, not any better, just different. What I am thinking about is if it IS in the speaker, I could just get another cab with an acoustic speaker in it and changed the ext speaker jack to one that would cut off the original speaker. Thought????
 
solo2racr said:
... I could just get another cab with an acoustic speaker in it and changed the ext speaker jack to one that would cut off the original speaker. Thought????
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Sure, other more high fidelity speakers (very carefully with the more fragile 'hifi' stuff.
Some pro instrument/pa cone drivers at least have reasonably gentler curves that would respond to contouring the tone.
Also try it with other cleaner paths like any decent instrument d/i pre amp with an eq.

A friend has one on these-
http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&mid=1834&sid=420&cid=94
..I like it better than my Roland AC60 ( has too much fizz' up top.
Personally I've come to think it is the typical piezo pickup itself that is the weak link.
 
Speakers and amp, none of it is designed for the task you are after.


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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
solo2racr said:
As one would expect, Plugging my acoustic into my Peavey Bandit combo sounds like crap. Would a speaker change help this or is the reason in the amp/preamp section? And yes, I used the clean channel and both low and high gain inputs. No matter what I turned in the Clean or Master section, not any better, just different. What I am thinking about is if it IS in the speaker, I could just get another cab with an acoustic speaker in it and changed the ext speaker jack to one that would cut off the original speaker. Thought????
Click to expand...

Plugging an acoustic-electric (piezo pickup, I assume) into an electric guitar amp will always sound like crap, and a speaker change won't help much if at all. Electric guitar is all about the midrange.

There are amps made for these guitars that sound better (IMO); they have separate tweeters, porting, and hi-fi gain structures (no overdriving), although purists will say that they sound like crap, too. I think they sound a whole lot better, and for live performance you don't have a lot of choice; micing is generally not an option. Going into a PA with monitor foldback works pretty well, too, if that's an option for you.

If you want to play loud, you'll need a feedback buster for the sound hole, too.
 
Plugged in direct (yes, it's a piezo) into the pre and on into the box, and out to the monitors sounds great. Just didn't know if it was simply the speaker voicing or amp structure to make it sound like crap. I was guessing that maybe a speaker better suited for a acoustic would do it alone. Sure is cheaper than getting a whole acoustic amp. This is all just for practice purposes. I can better hear the small nuances if they are amplified. I could always just play through the monitors but it would be easier just to plug into an amp.
 
I would say your hearing may be damaged, if you need an amp to hear the "small nuances." First thing you should do is get your hearing checked.

That said, a keyboard amp is often a good budget alternative to an acoustic guitar amp.
 
stevieb said:
I would say your hearing may be damaged, if you need an amp to hear the "small nuances." First thing you should do is get your hearing checked.

That said, a keyboard amp is often a good budget alternative to an acoustic guitar amp.
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Thanks for the concern but my hearing is fine. Before I got into recording and making music, I was into music reproduction (25 years ago). Audiophile type if you wish. I have known the importance of not abusing your ears for many years. When I say "small nuances", I really do mean small. Maybe I'm being to picky? But then, like Steve Vai says......."The Audience Is Listening"

Thanks for the tip on keyboard amps. I'll have to try one out and see what it sounds like. Thanks.
 
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