ToneWoodAmp

Butch Snyder

ObsoleteChickenPickingologist
I've been getting more and more into my acoustic playing. Going and seeing Tommy Emmanuel gave me a lot of inspiration. I happened upon a video of the ToneWoodAmp. Blew me away! Now there is a ToneWoodAmp 2. I ordered one.

 
Magnetically? To the back of wood?

Interesting tech anyway. Obviously using the body as a 'speaker' to add effects acoustically. Seems mainly useful if just playing on your own. Or I guess if mic'd the effects get picked up. Not clear if the soundhole mic will pick it up because that's magnetic.
 
I think it's a really cool idea. I'd need to actually have one in my hands and mess around with it for a bit to see if it works for me, but it's a very interesting way to kinda bridge the gap between electric and acoustic guitars.
 
I had read about them, and was intrigued, but I couldn't find a reasonable use for the way I play. Love to hear your thoughts afterwards.
 
I got the original Tonewood amp as a gift about 5 years ago, I've used it with my acoustic here and there. It comes with this X-bracket that you stick inside the guitar, and this has magnets on it that grab the actual amp on the outside. Once you plug the guitar into the Tonewood, you could even take the output from the Tonewood and put it to a PA or a separate amp.

There are some cool effects - not just chorus, reverb, delay which are really nice. Also distortion (not great), autowah, tremolo, and volume swells IIRC.

It really adds some nice dimension to acoustic in the room. Turn the Tonewood up a bit and you get some warmth, shimmer, and space that I kind of miss when it's off. You have to position it properly on the guitar so the little speaker is flush against the back, otherwise it can cause feedback. Turn it up too much and depending on your input gain and FX settings you might get a bit of feedback too as it causes the body to resonate.

IMO it's not too hard to manage, just start with the gain/volume low and you'll find the sweet spot!
 
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