Acoustic Amp

[n24re]

First off I am a bedroom player...church evening service at best. I am curious the value of getting an acoustic amp for my new Piezo Custom 22. Am I really going to tell a big difference versus the clean channel on my Custom 20?

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Steve

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Yes and no -- it's an entirely different sound. I have an acoustic amp that has three different drivers in it, and ... well, it's an acoustic amp, it sounds like an acoustic amp. Which is different from a plexi clean channel which is different from a tweed clean channel which is different from a (certain British) clean channel which is different from a plaid clean channel which is different from a certain familiar solid-state clean amp (and the chorus sings: 'aaaah!').

I have a friend, the way he tries stuff out is to buy used, and then sell it off if he doesn't like it. If he occasionally loses money, he considers that the cost of "in-home trials", but for the most part, he's very shrewd, and loses very little.

 

[n24re]

Thanks Dusty!

I sit near a guy at my office....he does this a bit....seems like a mostly normal guy thing to do. I will have to find one to give a try.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's worth trying to find out for yourself if that's a tone you want. I don't find the piezo to be "pseudo-acoustic", so much as "another clean tone" (just like singlecoils are "another clean tone"), so through the clean channel in your Custom 20 is certainly also a viable thing to try. I'm pretty sure that's what Alex Lifeson did in the early days of Rush -- piezo through a clean channel of something for the pseudo-acoustic tones. It was close enough that it evoked the pseudo-acoustic tone on familiar tunes, and sounded good enough that I, for one, didn't mind. Carvin make a nice one, I also have a Fishman. SWR and Rivera make nice ones, too, but I don't have those.

I actually spend very little time on mine. I prefer even humbuckers through the clean channel of some of my amps (PRS MDT being the biggy). I have found by rolling the tubes to be of the "late distortion" variety that I can dial in a fairly great clean tone. I am also going to try rolling the speakers to something more designed for clean tones, with something with high power handling, so that it doesn't distort much. Maybe one of the George Alessandro speakers from Eminence. Or even go crazy and get a pedal steel speaker.

Cheers.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

The big thing about acoustic tone is the upper frequencies. They can't be taken out of the signal at any point in the chain -- not by the strings, the pickups, the cables, nor the amps and cabinets.

 

[shinksma]

An acoustic amp, with all "effects" off, is essentially a clean PA. There are some that so a little tone shaping to help make the guitar sound better, but really you want a relatively untouched tone curve. Regular electric guitar amps, even the clean channel, have a significant tone shaping and compression on the signal. So yes, you will hear a big difference. Whether you like it is another story.

So if you run the piezo signal into a true acoustic amp, maybe through an acoustic modeling or "enhancing" pedal, you will get a sound closer to that of a miked acoustic guitar, good enough for "in the live mix", but it won't be exact, of course. Heck, even the piezo from an acoustic guitar sounds "not exact" straight into a PA.

The best small, relatively inexpensive acoustic amp I have tried (and bought) is the Fishman Loudbox. It comes it three sizes, I use the smallest one, 60W. The bigger ones have two separate amplifiers ("bi-amplified") for vox and instrument, while the smaller one has a single amplifier (but two channels to control vox and instrument separately). The bigger ones also have more features, like a notch filter and effects loop.

The small one is loud enough for my purposes, but when we gig we use a PA (the Loudbox has an XLR out to the PA, so I use it as a local "monitor"). If I was gigging solo/duo without a PA, singer-songwriter style, I'd get the biggest one, 180W.

 

[dmatthews]

When I got my P22 I didn't really know what to expect out of the piezo.
Tried it on my Fender Hotrod Deluxe and it sounded uninspiring at best.
Tried it on my PRS H combo and it sounded better.
Tried it on a Roland JC120 and it sounded good.
Tried it on our in-house PA and it sounded better still.
Tried it through a LR Baggs Para DI to the PA and... THAT is what I'm talkin' 'bout Willis! I suspect it would have been just as good with the Para DI to the Roland JC120, but that was gone before I got to try it again.
The piezo really deserves full range amplification, something that a guitar amp just isn't built for.
Take your lovely Cu 22P to a store and ask to try a full range amp or PA with and without a proper DI. Prepare to be amazed!

 

[rugerpc]

Piezo through even an average acoustic amp is quite a different animal. I run my HB II piezo through a Crate acoustic and it sounds much nicer than through any electric amp I own. An the Crate is just a middle level acoustic amp.

While we're wishing for new PRS products, how about a PRS. Acoustic amp??

 

[n24re]

Thanks for all the info...I am now on the hunt for an Acoustic Amp!

PRS Acoustic....that would be a gem!