Electric amps with acoustic guitars

[HailToTheBlues]

Hi guys,
just wanted to know how to make an electric guitar amp sound good with an acoustic guitar. Maybe building an acoustic pre-amp or sorta? I'm using a lag t100dce, an electro-acoustic guitar, just in case that's an important detail.

Best regards

[thesameage]

It's mostly about proper EQ... at least that is my understanding.

[GermanCdn]

I used to use a Peavey Bandit for my acoustics before there were a lot of dedicated acoustic amps on the market.  Six band eq in front, chorus in the loop and on board reverb and it worked fairly well.  Still somewhat limited in volume, couldn't go much past 1/3 of the way up without feedback issues.

[RobA]

It depends on what you mean by sound good. The frequency response of an electric guitar amp is pretty much designed from the ground up to remove much of what you want an acoustic amp to deliver. The main thing is going to be the speaker. To get the acoustic to sound like an acoustic you'll need a tweeter and probably a cleaner midrange than a normal electric guitar speaker is designed to give. As was mentioned above, you'll need a lot more clean headroom for an acoustic than you do for an electric.

[RobA]

One thing to think about is that it actually might be easier to go the other way, depending on what you are looking for on the electric side. I have a modified Godin A6 that puts out an acoustic and a mag pickup signal individually on a stereo cable. I send the acoustic out straight to the acoustic amp and then run the electric signal to an H&K TubeMeister 5 and then use the direct out from it to go into the balanced input on the acoustic amp. The direct out is speaker emulated so the resulting electric sound is convincing. It works well if you don't want to haul around two setups.

[HailToTheBlues]

I asked about acoustic pre-amps because i notice there's a couple electric amps that have both electric and acoustic pre-amps, so that you can use it as an electric or acoustic amp. So i thought if i had an acoustic pre-amp boxed in pedal enclosure, i could play with my acoustic guitar, in any amp.

[GermanCdn]

You certainly can, but how good it's going to sound is a completely different issue.

I've always found that an amp (or guitar) designed for two purposes either only does one well, or neither well, as there is too much compromise in the design (think a keyboard/bass amp combo.  Usually sounds good on keys, but it ain't a good bass amp).

There are a lot of inexpensive acoustic amps out there (the Fishman Mini box for one) that can be had new for a decent price, and the used market is usually pretty flush with them (Trace Elliot/Vox/Fender/Peavey units can usually be found <$300), so if you're truly in need of a useable acoustic amp, that's a better bet, though not at all DIY.

[thesameage]

Tiny Giant amp might be a diy contender.

http://musicpcb.com/pcbs/tiny-giant-amp/

[HailToTheBlues]

Thanks for the advice! Currently i'm not needing one, i was just thinking about that pre-amp thing, and i felt i should ask you!

[HailToTheBlues]

Thanks for the link!

[thesameage]

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=3248.0

[toetap]

I have got nice steel string acoustic sound from a Fender Deluxe, also my nylon string sounds great through my 40/60 reverend hellhound/4-10

[alanp]

If you need it louder, I highly recommend a tricone resonator. I've got one myself.

It is LOUD. Use a heavy pick and heavy strings, and it is LOUDLOUDLOUD. With NO electricity. Plus they always look distinctive, like a Lamborghini Miura parked at Pak N Save.

[HailToTheBlues]

I love the sound of resonators, especially for delta blues! i'm sure i'll get one myself one day

[Morgan]

One of our local fiddle players plugs her piezo-equipped fiddle into a mesa 2x12 guitar amp, mics it with a Shure Green bullet, and consistently sounds fantastic. I'm constantly amazed by people who make things that shouldn't work...work.