why an acoustic amp?

[skyydogg01]

I was at sam ash yesterday and i was plugging an acoustic electric into an electric guitar amp. the guy that worked there literally took the guitar out of my hand and said "you don't want to do that, you plug these into the amps over there". I looked at him like he was retarded and told him flat out "this is what i want this amp for, i'm an electric player first and i want one amp to do both" (I have been doing this for a while with my current set up) he goes on to say "oh this one will give you a better sound" it was an amp i tried just previous to that one and decided against it.

so my question is: does an acoustic/electric guitar damage an electric amp or something? I've always wondered this. I will NOT be playing out with this setup. It's only for practice.

thanks.

 

[mnbaseball91]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

My first question is why you need to plug in your acoustic for practice. Unless you mean band practice...

Anyway, it won't damage anything, but it won't sound as good in most cases.

 

[aleclee]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

No damage. The "problem" is that guitar amps don't have very even frequency response and most piezo setups are designed for full-range amplification.

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

I'm playing with the worship team at my church and i just need the amp to be heard at rehearsal. i have a Behringer ADI21 (basically a Sansamp Acoustic clone) that i'm running into before the amp and will be using it (out to the PA) for sunday church services.

thanks for your help

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

I use to run my Ibanez Aw 80 CE NT through a marshall 10 W amp, she sounded sweet for what i wanted. Not any better or worse then if i was playing through an Acustic amp, just 'different'

 

[itbepopples]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

What sort of music do you play in church? I've been to church many times and I've never seen anyone with a guitar or anything interesting like that. Wrong denomination I guess.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

I'm guessing he plays Slayer? :scratchch

An acoustic guitar amp is similar to a PA in that it reproduces a very wide frequency spectrum. A piezo pickup will not damage a guitar amp, it will just sound like a piezo though a guitar amp... Since you are using it for rehersal and a PA for the performance the only problem is your sound not being as good in practice as it is when you perform...

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

thanks everyone

does it matter if the guitar system is passive

oh, and the denomination ... there is none ... non-denominational.

it actually sounds pretty good through my Ibanez 10 watt (with my zoom 505 II running only chorus and reverb and the behringer), it's just not loud enough and i've been eyeing a bigger amp for awhile since i got rid of my halfstack before i moved.

so there is my predicament ... discuss

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

Well, guys like John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls have been doing what you did in that store for years . He plays an A/E through a DI box straight into his CAE OD-100 heads.

I've been using my Ovation 1771LX through my Fargen Epic 30 DC with much success. It's true that you won't get the full frequency that PA/keyboard speakers and the like will give you (ideally get something with tweeters), but if you play mostly electric like I do, it does a very passible job for the ballad or two my band does

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

The best electric/acoustic sound I ever had was plugging my Martin into a Deluxe Reverb clone made by Blues Pearl. I EQ'd it as flat as possible, but I also have a theory that tube rectifiers act as a sort of compressor on an acoustic. All I know is it sounded better than an SWR California Blonde acoustic amp.

The biggest reason NOT to use an electric amp is because of the midrange presence they have, which leads to uncontrollable howling. As long as the EQ and gain can be flattened enough, the problem goes away.

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: why an acoustic amp?

Thanks a bunch guys. I really do appreciate it. now, i'm justified.

thanks again.