Equalizer and Dreadnaught

[Wayne27]

Can you use the equalizer controls on your acoustic amp to make a dreadnaught sound better for fingerstyle playing like smaller body acoustics guitars?

 

[jeremy]

you can eq your amp so it sounds good for finger style playing with a dread but the complexities of making a dread sound like an om or something is beyond the simple eq on most amps

 

[GuitarStv]

Kinda? Start by trying to suck out some of the lows and a bunch of the low mids. It'll never sound like a smaller body guitar, but usually it's the booming that causes problems when recording a dreadnought with a delicate passage.

 

[ehdwuld]

Put lighter strings on the dreadnought

Bamm

I have a Martin 000 amd a Hummingbird
Light strings on both
Sound alike for finger style

 

[Securb]

Fishman has some stomps that will help with this

 

[Wayne27]

Kinda? Start by trying to suck out some of the lows and a bunch of the low mids. It'll never sound like a smaller body guitar, but usually it's the booming that causes problems when recording a dreadnought with a delicate passage.

So as long as you remove a bit of the booming bass it should make fingerstyling better?

 

[Wayne27]

Put lighter strings on the dreadnought

Bamm

I have a Martin 000 amd a Hummingbird
Light strings on both
Sound alike for finger style

Wouldn’t lighter string make it harder for the guitar to resonate due to the bigger size of the guitar?

 

[Mincer]

The Aura pedals sort of do this. But the overbearing bass and the mass of a large top of the guitar moving simply sounds different than a smaller guitar played lightly. If you are after a better electrified sound, look at the Fishman stuff. But it won't transform the acoustic sound. With acoustic guitars, there are always compromises like this.

 

[GuitarStv]

So as long as you remove a bit of the booming bass it should make fingerstyling better?

No, the only thing that will make fingerstyle playing better is practice.

But often times dreadnoughts are boomy and smaller bodied guitars are more balanced in tone . . . so you might be able to make your dread sound a bit more like a smaller bodied guitar by removing some of the boom. Finger style guys often go for a smaller bodied more balanced sounding instrument so it might sound more like recordings of fingerstyle stuff that you can hear.

 

[ehdwuld]

Wouldn’t lighter string make it harder for the guitar to resonate due to the bigger size of the guitar?

No it wouldn't
it would be less loud

Which equals les boomy

Price of a set of strings
Why not try it

Rather than speculate on how it works

I have

Like i said
I have both style guitars

Both with extra light strings
play both fingerstyle

Why do you believe the the misconception you have about resonance

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Heavier strings will drive an acoustic top harder, which usually means a louder, bigger sound. I’ve tried to like acoustic strings lighter than 13-56, and just can’t do it.

As for the original question, I’ve never had an issue with the finger style tone of a dread with 13s. I also think the plugged in tone of any acoustic guitar has a lot more to do with the electronics than the guitar.

 

[alex1fly]

So as long as you remove a bit of the booming bass it should make fingerstyling better?

It'll make your playing more clear. Excessive bass and low mids can definitely cause a lot of problems.

I wouldn't worry about lighter strings decreasing your resonance. Maybe a 10% chance it ruins your sound. Maybe less.

When I want more clarity and snap from my fingerstyle playing, I'll pluck closer to the bridge. The strings vibrate less there. Takes a firmer touch with the picking hand, but cleans up the sound some more.

Have fun!