Amp Question

[Starbuck]

Hi all, My question may sound dumb to you but here goes. If I get a (removable) pickup for my acoustics, is there a noticable difference not using an acoustic amp? Keep in mind I play for pleasure and have a Small Fender Amp for my electric.

[Jeff Flowerday]

Hi all, My question may sound dumb to you but here goes. If I get a (removable) pickup for my acoustics, is there a noticable difference not using an acoustic amp? Keep in mind I play for pleasure and have a Small Fender Amp for my electric.

Electric guitar amps color the tone to certain degrees. Acoustic amps similar to keyboard amps are designed to be transparent and allow the acoustic tone to come through as natural as possible.

But for home use the electric amp it will get you by.

[david henman]

...jeff nailed it.

another option is to plug into your stereo system, if that can be done.

-dh

[allthumbs56]

It will depend on what you're trying to accomplish.

I have a friend that uses a soundhole pickup into a little solidstate Fender Champ. He uses it occasionally for accompanying a small choir in his church. It sounds pretty good for what he does.

For my own purposes (live "venue" performances) I ended up with an undersaddle pickup in my Yamaki with an external Fishman preamp into a Yorkville keyboard amp (DI'd to P/A).

[Starbuck]

Thanks for the info guys..

I'm just trying to be informed before I go pickup shopping. I've had salesmen telling me I also need a new amp. I'm just playing for pleasure and (starting) to record myself with a Boss BR-600. I do also have a keyboard amp, would that be better than say a wee fender?

[Budda]

since you own both, you can plug into each of them and see which one sounds best to you :)

[Jeff Flowerday]

Thanks for the info guys..

I'm just trying to be informed before I go pickup shopping. I've had salesmen telling me I also need a new amp. I'm just playing for pleasure and (starting) to record myself with a Boss BR-600. I do also have a keyboard amp, would that be better than say a wee fender?

The keyboard amp should work for acoustic.

[Ripper]

Keyboard amps work very well for acoustic. I've also got a Yorkville bass amp that works really good as well.

[Slidewinder]

Yup, Jeff nailed it. the only thing I can add is that if your guitar is in the 500-800. range or less, then a good acordian amp like a little ampeg will sound great.
If your spending serious money for a high quality acoustic then go for a good quality acoustic amp.

[Starbuck]

Well that's the thing. I have a Taylor GS that I was told putting a pickup (Like an LR Baggs or some such) would only turn it into a cheap electric. So I don't want to blow a bunch of dough needlessly, in the case that it sounds like crap? Make sense?

[fraser]

i dont have a lot of experience with pickups in acoustics, but i think that it will only turn your guitar into a cheap electric if you try to treat it as an electric with your amp settings.
i tried one of these a while ago-
http://www.deanmarkley.com/Pickups/ProMagPlus.shtml
still sounded like an acoustic-
can you plug multiple instruments into your boss unit? would be cool to plug your acoustic straight into it, while also micing the guitar, and mixing the signals-

[Starbuck]

Yeah that's another thing I'd like to try. I would have to do seperate tracks I think but it might be cool. THink I'll just say the heck with it and pick one up. I"ll go check out that Dean Markley one now.

[Jeff Flowerday]

K&K pickups. You have a nice taylor might as go with the best sounding pickup around, IMO.

[Slidewinder]

LOL.. sorry I have to say once again, Jeff nailed it.
You have a Taylor so you want it to be heard properly and K&K's will do that.
A friend of mine plays a Santa Cruz Vintage Southerner and uses a K&K Pure Western pickup through an acoustic amp. The sound is nothing short of amazing.

[Starbuck]

Hmmm, those look great, but they're permanent no?

[Jeff Flowerday]

Hmmm, those look great, but they're permanent no?

Yes they have to be installed and are installed with glue.

[Starbuck]

Yes they have to be installed and are installed with glue.

Well I'm not sure if that's the route for me as I'm mostly an unplugged player. I'm looking for a decent alternative that doesn't require glue and a guitar tech. I also realise that will alter the quality of the sound, but I really don't want to mess with my GS.

[allthumbs56]

The Dean Markley soundhole pickup works well but if your main objectives are playing for yourself and recording then I think you might prefer playing unplugged for the former and getting a half-decent recording mike for the latter. I have yet to hear a plugged-in acoustic that sounds better or even as nice as one unplugged.