amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

B

boulder4112

New member
hey i'm looking to get an amp that is good for both acoustic guitars and hollowbody electrics, can anyone tell me where to start? electric amps I know stuff about but i'm clueless here. I want something that can be overdriven, not necessarily a fat gain knob or a second channel but at least something where if I crank it it will give me some nice distortion. Off the top of my head I'm thinking fender but that's only because I dont know companies that make acoustic amplifiers.... do ya think if I'm splitting 50/50 between a hollowbody electric and an acoustic i'll want something made for acoustic or electric specifically? also hoping to use this to throw in some amp variety, something to complement my regular balls to the wall distortion amp.
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

surely someon has an opinion on this... name a good acoustic guitar amplifier for me to add some variety to my sound. Thanks-
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

As I don't play acoustic too much, I don't have much experience, but from what I've heard of the Peavey acoustic amps, they are pretty nice. I don't know how running an electric through an acoustic amp would be, and I don't really think you could get too much in the way of distortion out of that amp. Conversely, I don't know how running an acoustic through an electric amp would be, though it has been done many times. I think it's mostly an issue of feedback problems, though on an album I saw recently (i forget the name) I heard a 12 string acoustic through a Marshall Super Lead or something. Maybe you could try a Fender Blues Jr, or Peavey Classic 30 - they do clean and kind-of-dirty pretty well. I'm sure sooner or later someone will get in here that knows what they are talking about though :22:
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

I have a Fender Accoustasonic,Jr (no DSP other than the chorus). I have played several solo gigs with it and like the sounds I get. I have also used my clean strat through it and get some brilliant yet warm tones. The biamped speakers are not disto friendly, but you get excellent jazzy tones!! If you play around with it long enough, you can get some pretty good disto tones, but the tweeter in the amp really makes everything bright! I played an ES-335 through mine while in Atlanta, and could not believe the buttery smooth tones eminating from the amp. Definitely worth a test drive!!!
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

This will be contrary to a lot of the opinion here, but I've never found an acoustic guitar to be much different frequency-wise to that of an electric. Consequently, I've always played my acoustics through the same system as my electrics (minus a lot of the compression and distortion). However, Fender amps seem to reproduce acoustic (at least to my own ears) better than a lot of other brands.
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

I'd just look for a nice old silverface Fender Twin Reverb. Have it retubed if needed and the bias balance control changed to a blackface era bias adjustment control, and at the same time add reverb to the normal channel and do a few other minor tweaks. Lew
 
Last edited:
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

taking my cue from some of the responses here, would I be right if I said that the sound of an acoustic amp is due mostly to the tweeter? because if so... it would not be so hard to stick a crossover and a tweeter onto the top of a speaker cab. disregarding arguments about class A vs. the world, is there any other major difference between acoustic and electric amplifiers?
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

boulder4112 said:
taking my cue from some of the responses here, would I be right if I said that the sound of an acoustic amp is due mostly to the tweeter? because if so... it would not be so hard to stick a crossover and a tweeter onto the top of a speaker cab. disregarding arguments about class A vs. the world, is there any other major difference between acoustic and electric amplifiers?
Click to expand...

That tweeter may not sound so great with your hollowbody electric....might sound sizzley. I wouldn't want that for my guitar. If you look for a nice silverface Fender amp you'll always be able to resell it for what you paid for it or more. If you buy something new it'll be worth half what you paid for it when you go to sell it...and probably not sound as good as a 70's Fender Twin Reverb or Pro Reverb. I gigged for a few years as a single with my Ovation through one channel of my old Fender Pro Reverb and my Strat through the other. I've also gigged with that amp using my Ovation through one channel and my vocal mike through the other. Lew
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

Acoustic guitars are by far more difficult to get a good sound out of them plugged in. They are designed to be played Acoustic. I play a lot of Acoustic guitars and have found that the PUP system is really the key. I just recently saw Keolo Beamer perform who is a slack key guitarist and I have to say all 3 guitarists had the best Acoustic sound I have ever heard. During the break I spoke with one of the guitarist and he told me they all had LR Baggs systems in the guitar and they were going straight into the board. The only adjutments on the guitar was a volume control and a mix between the piezo pup and the internal microphone.
As far as Amplifiers go for Acoustic guitars I would say the Crate systems are very good and the Fender Acoustasonics are also very good. This IMO will not reproduce the sound of the guitar accuratley, but give a decent acoustic tone. For electric hollow bodies I don't think they will sound as good as other choices. I own a Tacoma Archtop which has a Kent Armstrong Single coil PUP mounted on the Pickguard. This is an acoustic guitar not an electric. However this PUP sounds amazing thru a Fender type of Amp. I actually use a Carvin XAmp, which is similar to A boggie 50 Caliber with this guitar it sounds as sweet as can be. Very Jazzy type of sound. This is an electric guitar Amp not acoustic. I would say you may need two different amplification systems to get the best of both. DS
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

I have a buddy who plays through an old Roland Jazz-Chorus (120), and he always gets a good sound through both his semi-hollow body and his acoustic guitar. I think that the Jazz-Chorus has a greater frequency response than most guitar amps, so you might want to try one of them out . . .
 
Re: amp for acoustics/hollowbody electrics

Lewguitar said:
That tweeter may not sound so great with your hollowbody electric....might sound sizzley. I wouldn't want that for my guitar. If you look for a nice silverface Fender amp you'll always be able to resell it for what you paid for it or more. If you buy something new it'll be worth half what you paid for it when you go to sell it...and probably not sound as good as a 70's Fender Twin Reverb or Pro Reverb. I gigged for a few years as a single with my Ovation through one channel of my old Fender Pro Reverb and my Strat through the other. I've also gigged with that amp using my Ovation through one channel and my vocal mike through the other. Lew
Click to expand...

Yes, but remember if I'm putting it in myself I can always throw a switch and/or volume knob in there to adjust or just turn it off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

5
Best humbucker for single humbucker guitar
2 3
Replies
42
Views
2K
El Dunco
El Dunco
I
Advice on practice amps
Replies
8
Views
575
PFDarkside
PFDarkside
Zombie 13X33
Mick thomson soloist passive swap options and opinions
Replies
10
Views
565
dave74
D
H
Custom 59 - Too Bassy for my tastes. Suggestions?
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
eclecticsynergy
eclecticsynergy
B
Wiring a nashville tele for the first time.....what should I do?
Replies
8
Views
2K
alex1fly
alex1fly
Back
Top