I have a 120 watt Crate gfx-120t channel tracking electric guitar amp. I have two guitars - a black fender strat and a celebrity ovation acoustic electric. My question is: how do I get an acoustic sound in my current amp? Whenever I plug it in, it seems to sound like my electric guitar on clean, which totally defeats the purpose of having an acoustic electric guitar. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you kindly. :)
The limiting factor in the Crate amp is the two 12 inch speakers . They do not reproduce the full spectrum of sound accurately enough to separate the differences between the acoustic's sound and the electric's . You need a high frequency speaker (tweeter) to bring out the nuances of the acoustic guitar . We have gotten used to hearing the roll-off of high frequencies inherent in electric guitar amplifiers that are basically going through a woofer speaker (or two or four etc.). The new acoustic amps are designed with a woofer and a tweeter , usually piezo-electric , and are much better in reproducing the full sound spectrum . My band often works with an acoustic soloist who plugs directly into the PA system after going through a Fishman pre-amp designed for acoustic guitar . If you already have a PA system the latter method would probably be less expensive . I hope this helps .
If I claim to be a wise man , it surely means that I don't know .
Seconding Diceman: Acoustic to equalizer to PA is probably the way to go.
Electric guitar amps not only lack the high-end (tweeter) drivers, but the amplifier stages' frequency responses are probably not sufficient either -- an electric guitar amp simply cannot reproduce the transients (picking) or high freq sparkle and shimmer of an acoustic guitar. Additionally, a PA or acoustic guitar amp will likely produce lower distortion, providing more clarity. "Clean" on an electric guitar amp really isn't all that clean.
-=tension & release=-
In a professional setup, the pickup signal almost always passes through a preamp or direct box before heading to the PA mixer or an amplifier. These are crucial for getting a convincingly acoustic sound. It is a common misconception that pickups need preamps because the amplitude or level of the signal they produce is too small for most amplifiers. In fact, many pickups produce a signal with a quite large amplitude. The problem with guitar pickups is that they have a large, frequency-dependent output impedance, not that they have a low output signal.
Preamps designed for acoustic guitar pickups provide some or all of the following functions: buffering (converting impedance), gain (amplifying the signal level), equalization ("EQ", adjusting the timbre and controlling feedback), mixing (combining the sounds of two or more transducers), and an effects loop (matching levels for external effects, and controlling the effect amount). They come in various sizes and degrees of complexity and expense, from small, inexpensive onboard or belt-clip units, to expensive, feature-laden rack mount units.
Effects needed achieve desired sound. Equalization (EQ), Delay-Based Effects (Reverb, Chorus, Delay), Dynamics Processors (Compressors, Limiters, Gates), Enhancers.
joe
