Members navigate40 Posted June 27, 2018 Members Share Posted June 27, 2018 Hello I thought it a good idea to start a new thread. I am in the beginning stages of thinking about playing an acoustic in some small venue. I have a Martin DRS2 and a Breedlove Stage exotic. Both have just a simple vol and tone control in the sound hole. The tone control in the sound hole is not very effective for shaping tone. I have only played these through an inexpensive electric guitar amp....and the results are not great. SO...wondering...what most who do play an acoustic professionally do. Is your acoustic amp enough to shape your tone (most seem to have bass, mid and treb)? Or do any of you use an EQ pedal? Ancillary questions: 1. Those of you who play both acoustic and electric, do you find an EQ pedal useful for both? 2. If you were to bring just one amp to a gig to play predominantly electric, but some acoustic...do you bring an acoustic amp...or an electric amp and an EQ pedal? Thank you John ps - and by acoustic amp....I am talking about one in the sub $250 range....something like a Fender Acoustasonic 40. pss - and yes....would assume that playing through a mic is best...but for this question....just interested in direct plug into an amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted June 27, 2018 Members Share Posted June 27, 2018 This is the same issue you had when you asked about getting a compressor for your acoustic, You don't need a compressor or an eq pedal. You need this.[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"auraspectrumdi1_large.jpg","data-attachmentid":32265260}[/ATTACH] You also need to stop trying to run you acoustic through an electric guitar amp, the ton will suck. Many of my acoustics with pickups in them to not even have a volume or tone control. $0 watts is not much power with a solid-state acoustic guitar amp, go bigger if you can. The Fishman Loud box Artist or Performer. The Fender Acoustsonics that are made with the wood cabinets are nice too. There are a few others too. The sounds ok, but if you push it at all, it's gonna be weak. [video=youtube;9_UwoEvXjxA] Time to hot a GC and see what ya like. That's a pretty low budget you have, so your choices for something really nice will be limited. Normally without an amp, you will run your guitar in the house PA and listen to your guitar through the monitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 27, 2018 Members Share Posted June 27, 2018 I don't play professionally, just in a praise band, so take this for what it's worth. I either run my acoustic through the PA using a DI box, in which case all EQ is done by the sound guy, or run my electric through an amp. If you need an amp for both, make it an acoustic amp and start saving for a pedal board for the electric. And no, miking an acoustic live isn't really the best option unless you're absolutely sure you don't need to move on stage. I remember mike stands with two mikes, one up high for vocals and another down low for guitar, from back in the 70's, and I don't want to go back. BTW, I agree with Mikeo. Either raise your budget or start browsing used gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted June 28, 2018 Members Share Posted June 28, 2018 EQ is on the guitar as well as the amp. The amp is a Fishman SA220 and has the usual treble, mid-range and bass controls along with reverb, phase switching, notch filter (feedback control), volume and gain on each of two channels on the face panel. On the back panel is an upper range roll-off control (tweeter level), FX in/out and Aux. No pedals for me. I know a player who feels incomplete without something on the floor to step on. Electric players switching to acoustic are that way and he's one of them. Equalizing is definitely needed as most guitars favor a certain frequency range - usually bass on Martin and upper mids on Taylor - and that can be maddening. But, I'd get that in the acoustic amp before a pedal. I'm wireless because I like to kinda wander when I'm playing standing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ski219 Posted June 28, 2018 Members Share Posted June 28, 2018 I have an older and simpler Fishman preamp with EQ. When I play acoustic in public I use a PA, sometimes just 1 powered speaker. Having the preamp allows me to adjust both tonal control and volume. (I play acoustics with K&K Pure Mini pickups that have no volume or tone controls) Even when playing with a full PA and a sound tech I use my preamp so that I have the ability to control my own sound from where I am sitting or standing. Not sure how the small acoustic amps sound but another option would be to buy a small PA. In my mind that is the better choice for playing in bars, restaurants etc. A speaker on a pole will spread he sound out better than a little amp on the floor or on a stand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted June 28, 2018 Members Share Posted June 28, 2018 EQ is on the guitar as well as the amp. The amp is a Fishman SA220 and has the usual treble' date=' mid-range and bass controls along with reverb, phase switching, notch filter (feedback control), volume and gain on each of two channels on the face panel. On the back panel is an upper range roll-off control (tweeter level), FX in/out and Aux. No pedals for me. I know a player who feels incomplete without something on the floor to step on. Electric players switching to acoustic are that way and he's one of them. Equalizing is definitely needed as most guitars favor a certain frequency range - usually bass on Martin and upper mids on Taylor - and that can be maddening. But, I'd get that in the acoustic amp before a pedal. I'm wireless because I like to kinda wander when I'm playing standing. [/quote'] I have a Fishman solo amp which turned in to the SA 220 for some legal reason. Great acoustic coffeehouse amp, or with a band. There are direct outlines on the Fishman stuff so you can run them to the house PA. I tried the lower priced Bose unit too in the same price range and didn't like it better than the Fishman. I added the Specra DI to the front end of the acoustic channel and it even nicer than just plug it into the SA 220. My mic of choice is an older Beyer Dynamic or a Shure 58 Beta. It was 900-1000 bucks 9 years ago. The new SA 330 is still the same price 9 years later, hower, they have added a sub out. Not inexpensive either. You can even get the channel expander and turn the 2 channel SA 220 or 330 into a 4 channel amp. I have not tried the SA 330, but a 100 extra watt of headroom can't hurt. One option would be to do an amp with a direct line out or an amp modeler and run it to the Fishman. Most of the Fender amps I like have no direct line out and are a 50 plus-year-old design. I did see that the Fender BassBreaker has a Direct line out. My Mesa amps have a direct line out too. There's a lot of options, and they are not what some call inexpensive, but if you want a great acoustic sound, it's the price you pay I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delmont Posted July 8, 2018 Members Share Posted July 8, 2018 Hello I thought it a good idea to start a new thread. I am in the beginning stages of thinking about playing an acoustic in some small venue. I have a Martin DRS2 and a Breedlove Stage exotic. Both have just a simple vol and tone control in the sound hole. The tone control in the sound hole is not very effective for shaping tone. No surprise there. I have only played these through an inexpensive electric guitar amp....and the results are not great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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