Acoustic amps vs jazz amps - what's the difference?

[destinytot]

Hi Mike.
I applaud your reasoning in acquiring the AER, doubling as a small PA
and guitar, I think perhaps some readers might not be aware that you
are a vocalist and guitarist. It's a good compromise, mind you I can't
imagine a queue forming to buy the 'cheeky d' AER .
Your RE200 must surely be adequate for home use ?, I have gone
completely OTT with a Fender 65 Custom "15" at home , which is almost
untransportable by myself, not having the build of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
For easy transport ,just for guitar, a Mambo fits the bill more than adequately.

Hi! Yes, the Evans is more than adequate* for home use - bright 'clean' sound. I'm bound to say that, thanks to the Joyo American pedal - and to the forum, without which I wouldn't have known - I really like the (guitar) tone(s) I'm getting from the AER... but imho neither amp (or 'none', as I also have a great little '80s Polytone - which is to say I think I have too many amps...) compares to the particular valve amp I tried in December: Fender 68 Princeton Reissue versus Fender George Benson

*Edit: serious understatement

[KennyC]

Doctor Jeff,

I too use the Fishman Loudbox Artist as my main amp. My Gretsch (and my other seven guitars for that matter) has never sounded sweeter!

[feet]

i'm very much a tube guy as well, but for floaters and acoustics, i'll go to bat for the dumbest sounding amp i own: the roland jc-77. it just somehow works as an ad hoc singer/songwriter pa system with two inputs, one of which can be appropriated for mics (that don't need phantom power). and the two 10" speakers crank out enough power and decent enough bass (and tone). the separate ins mean you can have different effect chains going for guitar and voice if you so choose.

its not very small or light (though the casters are helpful) and i don't like it much for other stuff, but for $200-300, its a lot of amp that can be used several different ways.

[Phalanx_warfare]

Me too. I can’t understand why no one likes the old ones at least.

I actually bought the Acoustasonic junior because I could piezo and mike a gut strung box with an SM 57 at the same time through the one combo 40 watts per channel and it got the best live clean Acoustic sound for Bellinati’s Garotto solos I ever found.
So I decided to try the L-5 through it and JP Epiphone and was astounded how good it was.

The Takamine 132 also plugged straight in well, and miked up the same but the Kohno/Matsuoka was unbelievable.

I played it with an Archtop for a friend whose a no hack ear either for a blind comparison test asking him “if he could hear the buzz louder in my JC 120 (sold) through the door and swapped amps mid tune and he couldn’t tell the difference, while he incidentally rubbished the Acoustasonic I always praised; so I opened the Door and his chin hit the floor. Its never missed a beat in 30 years, has a superb chorus, good reverb, horn midrange, very good EQ , string dynamics, and two 8” speakers all stock and wouldn’t sell it. Its been a fantastic horse but was a lot dearer than the new ones. Yet you can get these for 200 bucks in as new condition. Snap them up I say as for it has few peers with an Archtop semi. My Acoustasonic Junior for Arch-tops, especially sweet laminates that often really sound better to my ears than solid Englemen spruce and don’t sqeal like a piggy.

I love my valve amps but they are so much more temperamental and evoke an overhead.

Another good cheapy is the Mustang v2 100watt 15” speaker.
It models a 57 bandmaster 57 Twin 57 Deluxe 65 Twin Reverb 65 Deluxe Reverb all quite faithfully and the guy threw it in for nothing when I bought his American Standard 2012 Tele for 1000 au (about 700 us) with only a jack ding like amateurs do when the yank a lead from behind a strap and the knurled jack grinds the lower bout.
Its an incredible little bit of kit that does so many things well I was astounded because when he just threw it in for nix I thought he was just getting me to take out his rubbish.

The Roland CUBE Street Ex is another good little amp that plays jazz well but has the beauty of running at a real 25watts per channel running on 8 AA batteries for over 4 hours at full output as well as a mains option. Its fantastic. I can plonk it miles from a power point and if the drummer doesn’t go nuts will get by. I wouldn’t think it would go up against an angry Krupa but a little trio in a small venue no problem.

Its perfect for busking Chord melody arrangements and you can get a shoulder bag with a should strap to carry all 14 lbs of it that keeps the rain and dust off it when a busk gets soggy and hear mum calling me... and the gals go awwww lol.

[citizenk74]

Me too. I can’t understand why no one likes the old ones at least.

I actually bought the Acoustasonic junior because I could piezo and mike a gut strung box with an SM 57 at the same time through the one combo 40 watts per channel and it got the best live clean Acoustic sound for Bellinati’s Garotto solos I ever found.
So I decided to try the L-5 through it and JP Epiphone and was astounded how good it was.

The Takamine 132 also plugged straight in well, and miked up the same but the Kohno/Matsuoka was unbelievable.

I played it with an Archtop for a friend whose a no hack ear either for a blind comparison test asking him “if he could hear the buzz louder in my JC 120 (sold) through the door and swapped amps mid tune and he couldn’t tell the difference, while he incidentally rubbished the Acoustasonic I always praised; so I opened the Door and his chin hit the floor. Its never missed a beat in 30 years, has a superb chorus, good reverb, horn midrange, very good EQ , string dynamics, and two 8” speakers all stock and wouldn’t sell it. Its been a fantastic horse but was a lot dearer than the new ones. Yet you can get these for 200 bucks in as new condition. Snap them up I say as for it has few peers with an Archtop semi. My Acoustasonic Junior for Arch-tops, especially sweet laminates that often really sound better to my ears than solid Englemen spruce and don’t sqeal like a piggy.

I love my valve amps but they are so much more temperamental and evoke an overhead.

Another good cheapy is the Mustang v2 100watt 15” speaker.
It models a 57 bandmaster 57 Twin 57 Deluxe 65 Twin Reverb 65 Deluxe Reverb all quite faithfully and the guy threw it in for nothing when I bought his American Standard 2012 Tele for 1000 au (about 700 us) with only a jack ding like amateurs do when the yank a lead from behind a strap and the knurled jack grinds the lower bout.
Its an incredible little bit of kit that does so many things well I was astounded because when he just threw it in for nix I thought he was just getting me to take out his rubbish.

The Roland CUBE Street Ex is another good little amp that plays jazz well but has the beauty of running at a real 25watts per channel running on 8 AA batteries for over 4 hours at full output as well as a mains option. Its fantastic. I can plonk it miles from a power point and if the drummer doesn’t go nuts will get by. I wouldn’t think it would go up against an angry Krupa but a little trio in a small venue no problem.

Its perfect for busking Chord melody arrangements and you can get a shoulder bag with a should strap to carry all 14 lbs of it that keeps the rain and dust off it when a busk gets soggy and hear mum calling me... and the gals go awwww lol.

[Marcel_A]

As I've been learning I've grown away from rock music and heavy overdrive & crunch and towards a cleaner sound. I did see that John Scofield is a big fan of the AC30 and watched his videos about the AC30 on YouTube, but I've never been able to make the AC15 work for me as a clean or jazz amp.
Cheers

If i get the chance to pick up a second hand AC4 i am going for it. I allways thought it was the fenderish sound i like, but i am in doubt lately. I mean the fender-sound is good, but i like the more english sounds aswell.

[Spook410]

5 year old thread. Modeling has changed a lot. Lighter weight options available in acoustic and electric guitar amps. Batteries are better for portability. Wonder what will be different in the market 5 years from now.

[TedBPhx]

The Mesa Rosette 2x8 300 is a great acoustic amp. When the EQ is set right bringing up the volume makes the guitar bigger not different. Good acoustic amps will not color the sound at all and will not break up. Playing the 175 through it does give it a more acoustic sound, probably from the marine birch cab, pretty, interesting but not what I’m listening for from the 175.

[guavajelly]

I played an AER compact 60 for a couple of months in the '00s with an all solid woods Eastman archtop. The AER is a very neutral amp – amlifying the "natural" tone of the guitar without make up. I recorded this guitar direct so the amp was producing that kind of tone for gigs.
Eventually I sold it and started using Fender tube amps again. The AER has a built-in limiter. It turned out that it was always fine for the first set. In the break our drummer had a beer. Though not being really loud he played more "dynamic" after that – just enough to make the limiter in the AER kick in. And that turned the great natural tone into a compressed mess that couldn't keep up with the band.
OTOH it was ideal for small gigs with guitar and a singer.

[Phalanx_warfare]

5 year old thread. Modeling has changed a lot. Lighter weight options available in acoustic and electric guitar amps. Batteries are better for portability. Wonder what will be different in the market 5 years from now.

True indeed, but as I actually picked up the forum with this particular page I figured people would still take the odd look at it for what it’s worth to people researching boxes.
Yes modelling has come a long way.
Thanks also for the welcome and sorry I’ve so busy.
Gee those Eastman ES175 clones are good guitars. Its only con is the head stock is so wide at the top the D & G strings bind on the the A and B posts respectively but other than that it’s better than the real thing.
You always tune a string upwards of course but go a few cents too far and you must slacken it off a long way before the bind let’s go. But after setting up the intonation and action perfectly and tuning it well what a guitar for a lousy 1000us. I’ve made quite few strung instruments and learned much of that from Harry Vatiliosis, a very respected luthier, and the glue line joins and craftsman ship on the box and neck fitting Eastman astounded me; and I glue successful book matches that are 70% 1.6mm thick along the join so these guys are good man. Its surprising the headstock problem was a passed as acceptable by such obviously good wood workers but then when things are out sourced to remote cultures with a very short history of these type of horn your going to find a learning curve.
I can fix it easily enough but it will be hard to get it perfectly invisible and occurred to me a wider diameter bollard somehow sat on the offending posts would give the the 2 mm or so clearance it requires.
Its probably why this Blondie was only $1400 AU, but man it plays well.

[sgosnell]

For the string binding problem, a String Butler will fix that.
https://www.string-butler.com/

They're available on ebay and Amazon.

[Phalanx_warfare]

For the string binding problem, a String Butler will fix that.
string-butler - dietrich parts - www.string-butler.com

They're available on ebay and Amazon.

You legend. Thank you buddy. Your dead right that will sought it right out. Not knowing that existed is as weird as never knowing of Spiro Gyra existed until 2007 ?
I’ll just have have hang my Herb Ellis bar mute gadget from a chandelier ?
Scrunchies work even better when ever I might actually need something like that but love the open string voicings to barre contrasts to much to kill it all indiscriminately so just tighten up technique with the odd tricked up palm mute.
Thats really great it will fix the problem and elegantly to boot.
Thanks again that’s really pleasing.?

[Roberoo]

Doctor Jeff,

I too use the Fishman Loudbox Artist as my main amp. My Gretsch (and my other seven guitars for that matter) has never sounded sweeter!

I use a 60 watt Fishman Loudbox mini. It has a flat response but still warm with a good reverb. There is no brittleness I think because it has no tweeters. I can run my Guild Savoy through one channel while also miking the arch top through the other channel at the same time and blending the sound. I find the sound quality to be really good if you don't run the guitar volume wide open. It can run for hours on a battery at gig volume which is great for some outdoor gigs.

[Webby]

Two years ago I bought an Ibanez T20 (a dedicated acoustic amplifier) at a flea market, just because it was incredibly cheap (20€), and I thought it might be a useful tool, because it had a seperate mic channel. It turned out I quite like the sound of it with my electric guitars, and I really enjoy the portability, when I don't want to lug around my old Bassman.
I think it sounds best, when I set it all flat and hit it with my Jr. Barnyard Preamp. It's my lightweight Gibson EH-150-clone, and I have a dedicated mic-channel in the same amp for acoustic. Perfect Setup for my Swing-guitar needs.

Here's an excerpt of a CD I recorded with that setup, that shows my "wannabe-Charlie-Christian-Sound"

Paul

[gitman]

My experiences with "acoustic" amps : I bought my AER "Acousticube" amp some 20 years ago, it's the first version of that amp and quite basic when compared to the newer ones. 120 watts into a 6" broad-range speaker in a ported cab. Plenty loud for any jazz gig and it sounds GREAT with my Cordoba Crossover nylonstring (Fishman-equipped) and gets the sweetest, most plummy and yummy tone when I plug in an archtop with a DeArmond 1100 pickup. That came as an absolute surprise !
My other "acoustic" amp gets a lot of stage-time : it's a ROLAND "Street" model , originally designed for busking. At low bedroom/restaurant levels it's all I need , even with bass and sax on stage. It's sound does not carry far but when that is not an issue it's a great little unit with a very useable sound, for archtops especially !

So what's the difference between a dedicated acoustic amp and one designed for a clean-ish jazz tone ? I don't really know.
Both are useable in either context , the acoustic models usually have a different eq lay-out and some have fx on board.