Gigging amp for acoustic AND electric guitar

[Doctor Jeff]

I play in a small jazz combo with piano, bass and a singer - occasionally drums - and usually bring my Epi Joe Pass and Fender SCXD. We play in small restaurants, and the Super Champ is fine for that setup.

But, I have a vintage Harmony acoustic with a Barcus Berry contact pickup I want to bring along for a little variety, and also an Ibanez nylon string A/E. I tried out an acoustic amp I have at home - Ibanez Troubadour T80 - and it just didn't have enough oomph, plus I had a hard time controlling the piezo quack and tendency to feedback. (I run it through a Fishman preamp.)

So, is there one amp that will do it all? Acoustic plus a nice clean jazz tone for electrics? I tried the Fishman Loudbox Artist and Fender Acoustasonic 150 at a local store and was impressed with the acoustic amplification; didn't try them with a magnetic pickup though. I haven't seen or tried a Lunchbox Acoustic in the flesh.

Any thoughts?

[jorgemg1984]

The Loudbox Artist has the ability to dial the tweeter out so it should work great for both!

[Spook410]

Hard to beat the Fishman gear for price, but they always sound boxy to me. Still, I think Nosoyninja uses a Fishman with his dual source rig and likes it. I'm going with something more component. Still missing the Barb EQ, but so far, so good.

DTAR Solstice preamp
- Barber Barb EQ in the insert for magnetic pup
- Empress Para EQ in the insert for the acoustic (optional, but can make a big difference)
- TC Electronics HoF reverb in the FX loop for both

Powered speaker
- Schertler Jam 150 extension will cover small spaces
-- Works very well with a 4' speaker stand
- QSC K10 if your drummer is athletic

[NSJ]

Yep Loudbox Artist

[pantz]

I use a Loudbox mini for both amplified acoustics and acoustic electric archtops and can always find a decent tone. Of course, it usually ends up going through the PA since the amp is so small. . . .

[kamlapati]

I have and use a Loudbox Artist for both acoustic and electric archtops. Another vote. Definitely worth a try.

[mangotango]

AER. A guy at the Workshop band that I attend uses a 175 through one and it's the fattest sound.....but you can still happily play an acoustic through it, or use a mike.

[Chazmo]

I use an Acoustic Image Corus for both. It's an amp-in-a-bag grab-and-go for any occasion.

[JensL]

+1 on the AER for smaller gigs with jazz box or acoustic.

I use mine all the time for that, and have been for about 8 or 9 years

Jens

[Doctor Jeff]

Thanks for the thoughts.

In my limited time in the shop I actually liked the Acoustasonic sound better, but the Loudbox gave a nice clean tone as well. The size factor of the Fishman is a definite plus. I imagine if I spent some more time I could tweak each of them to get the sound I wanted.

For my budget around $5-600 is OK, but the Acoustic Image Corus would be stretching it a bit.

Interestingly, the Acoustasonic has a Fender Tweed and Blackface emulation, while my SCXD has an Acoustasonic emulation. I didn't try the Acoustasonic with a magnetic amp, but running an acoustic through my SCXD is not too bad in a pinch.

[Jonathan0996]

I use the Corus too. I like it a lot for its ability to handle acoustic and electric guitars, as long as what you want is a very clean, uncolored archtop sound. Any of the Acoustic Image amps with a Redstone or Razer's Edge speaker with a tweeter would also do nicely.

That said, they are pricey.

[Woody Sound]

This one also has a tweeter that you can turn 1/2 off or full off. I did a 3-week pit job, "Promises Promises", with this one amp. Jazz tones, rock tones, and acoustics.


http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&m...sid=629&cid=94

[feet]

surely there is a roland product of some kind in that price range in your local shop or on craigslist. perhaps not everyone's ideal, but cheap, sturdy and available. i love running acoustics through my old jc-77, and i can run a mic at the same time; instant $200 singer/songwriter touring rig!

i guess it does electrics, too. takes some massaging on my part for that, but it works fine.

[xuoham]

I too need an amp (relatively light) that has full frequency range for electric and acoustic and everything in between, and since i own some multi effects and amp sim boards i am seriously considering EV ZLX-12p or 15p.
I has good reviews and according to them seems to be almost as good as QSC products.

[holgit]

I use my AER cheeky.d for electric (archtops, solid body) and acoustic guitars. It has two channels. One of them with a tube preamp for a fatter electric sound. Mine has a 10 inch speaker. Very nice sound and very loud, if you want. I am very happy with it.

The AER Compact 60 (I have the 60 II) is very usable for archtops and acoustic guitars, too. In my opinion a not so good choice for solid body guitars.

[Little Jay]

Another +1 for AER: even with my ES-333 with Overdrive and LOUD it still sounds good! (I use a eq-pedal to filter out the highest frequencies to avoid buzzzz when using OD).

Mine's a AER Alpha, also does a perfect job as vocal PA in small venues......

[Pukka-J]

I suppose the ZT Lunchbox Acoustic is another option worth investigating.

[Chazmo]

That Genz Benz that Woody Sound provided the link for looks really nice. I especially like the removable amp so you can use it as a combo or plug it into a bigger cab like a Raezors Edge. Similar in concept to the AI, but not as expensive.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available anymore from the usual suspects such as Musician's Friend. Maybe you can pick one up used. I bought my Corus used for about half price and it has been a workhorse.

[Petimar]

My Quilter MicroPro does both great. Sounds so good on acoustic instruments that I sold my Schertler Unico.

[NSJ]

It's very interesting for me to hear my Jim Hall and my L5C with the Loudbox Artist. My L5c sounds less than ideal with my electric amp (Henriksen) whereas the Jim Hall is made for that Henriksen. That's why I was looking for an acoustic amp initially --to find something that will suit the L5c that isn't a 35 kg Fender Twin.

But the L5c come alive with the Loudbox. And here's the interesting thing-The Jim Hall changes very nicely with the Loudbox too, almost like a different guitar. When plugged into the Loudbox, The pup in the Jim Hall seems much more quiet (not as hot) as the pup for the L5c (Johnny Smith mini HB). The Jim Hall guitar become a quiet sounding electrical guitar where the acoustic qualities become much more pronounced in the mix. Sort of like....Jim Hall himself.

[nosoyninja]

As mentioned by spook, I also use the loudbox artist as my main amp. I use it as my main amp and it works great with my tele clone, my epi joe pass, my gypsy petite bouche, my ibanez semi-hollow and of course my dual system thorell FV studio.

I use an LR baggs paracoustic DI with the acoustics and a tech 21 paradriver DI for the magnetics. But I don't allways need them. It just allows for more versatility and control in unusual situations or crappy sounding rooms. I suppose you could skip the lrbaggs DI if your acoustics have built in preamps, but the para-driver (or similiar, like the empress para EQ or whatever), is very useful to deal with EQing mag pups in this amp. The high freq is set at an extremely high 15khz. Useless on an electric.

I suppose the shchertler jam line is somewhat comparable in specs/size/price. It sticks more to the powered-speaker-with-mixer approach, but has the same sort of inputs and outputs as the Fishman. In either case,or with any acoustic amp, I would recommend using some sort of preamp or EQ before going into the amplifier with a magnetic pickup.

K

[woodbury]

+1 for Acoustic Image Corus. I've been using it as is for acoustic. For electric, you probably want to add an EQ pedal (Barb EQ, Sansamp Para Driver DI, etc) into the signal chain.

[jzucker]

the acoustic image corus is head and shoulders above anything else in this category. Not even close.

[Spook410]

the acoustic image corus is head and shoulders above anything else in this category. Not even close.

Possibly. And I'm not as big a Fishman or AER 60 fan as some. But you should hear the DTAR Solstice with the JAM 150 ext speaker. Great dispersion and hifi sound. Swiss army knife options.

(BTW.. I still occasionally listen to that amazing demo you did with the Heritage Sweet 16 and Barber BarbEQ)

[jzucker]

thanks! The problem with the DTAR is that the treble control is at 10k. This is fine for acoustic guitar but not very good for electric.

I wish the various jazz amp manufacturers would figure this out. But a barber BarbEQ does go a long way towards rectifying that problem.