Hey,
I have this Austin acoustic amp (35 watts) that I bought several years ago when I got an acoustic-electric guitar. Anyway, since then I bought a Hamer Hollow bodied electric guitar. We play out at gigs sometimes, and recently I used this acoustic amp for my electric guitar on stage sort of as a monitor. I had it mic-ed. Anyway, there was quite a bit of distortion that night. I just assumed it was the PA system, but just now I had my guitar plugged into that amp directly and it was doing the same thing. I am thinking somehow this amp got damaged, either in transport or by putting an electric guitar into it.) Anybody have any thoughts on this? I am thinking the damage is done, and I am probably going to go ahead and buy a new amp, but I don't know what kind to get. We are not a heavy rock band or anything, and I would want to use the amp the same way - to mic it on stage so I can hear my guitar better. I would also want one that I can plug either guitar into. I also don't want to spend a ton of money. Any suggestions on an amp?
MoGal
try putting an acoustic into the amp i think the amp is not made to recieve signal the electric guitar puts out, i may be wrong but i think the db a acoustic sends out compared to an electric is totally different. amp suggestion... Fender Hot Rod Delux, or a Dr. Z
No matter where you go.... There You are! Law of Location
Yes, the stronger input of the electric guitar might've overdriven the amp, and the speaker cone - or the tweeter - might have cracked. Or the voice coil may have warped. I did that with a 10" ElectroVoice speaker once: after that it had a 'raspy' sound to it even at low volumes.
You could have the speaker replaced, or try what leear mentioned.
Another good little amp that lots of people here use is the Roland Cube or MicroCube.
Best regards.
I put my acoustic guitar into it and though not as bad, it still had the crackling. I'm not sure it's worth fixing the thing - maybe just replacing it. I'd like a little amp that is wedged, like a stage monitor would be. Do any of these have a wedge shape to them? I don't want to keep using a brick to angle it up!
MoGal
Doesn't Marshall have a little solid state that is wedge shaped?
"There won't be any money. But when you die, on your death bed, you will receive total conciousness. So, I got that going for me. Which is nice." - Bill Murray, Caddyshack ~~ Michigan Music Dojo - http://michiganmusicdojo.com ~~
The Marshalls are straight up and down. Lemme see here....
Fender Acoustasonic is tilt-back http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Acoustasonic-30-DSP-Combo-Amp-with-Effects?sku=480728
Ibanez has one http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ibanez-TA35-35-Watt-Acoustic-Amp?sku=480283
This Crate *looks* like part of it is angled upward http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Crate-CA30DG-Taos-Acoustic-Amp?sku=487790
Maybe something along these lines
Hey, thanks for the suggestions. Are you sure these amps will work with both a hollow-bodied electric guitar AND a regular acoustic/electric? They look geared towards acoustic electric guitars only.
MoGal
Oh you know what? I totally spaced out on that.
Regular electric guitar amp! (I looked up only acoustic ones.)
Of the amp makers on musiciansfriend.com, there doesn't seem to be any regular amps with the kick-back or tilt-back feature, and I have no idea why. Even my little Fender bass amp is tilt-back.
Instead of a brick I suppose you could get a foldup amp stand, but that's another piece of gear to drag along so I don't know.
Another idea: If you have a spare floor monitor, like one that was leftover when you upgraded to something else, you might be able to plug it into the speaker output of your present amp. Just sort of bypass the internal speaker.
I may be wrong, but I got the impression from the site that the Austin has the tweeter built in to the main speaker. Some of the acoustic amps mentioned above have a separate tweeter. I don't know if they have a tweeter 'pad' switch, which defeats the tweeter (my bass amp does), but if they do, you could switch the tweeter off so it doesn't get ruined when you play the electric guitar through the amp.
Just some other thoughts.
Thanks DemoEtc...I will look into some of this. Maybe I'll go up to Guitar Center. I do have a Gemini Powered monitor that I used to use on stage, but the thing is so big and heavy that I was trying to avoid dealing with that.
MoGal
Does it have a tube? I understand that's the way they sound when they're getting ready to go.
As for playing an acoustic through an electric guitar amp..... I have a Marshall AVT50 & am able to use it with a Fishman preamp. I also use a Sunrise pickup.
Nice.....very nice & loud.
I don't know what it has in it. I don't think I ever got a manual when I bought it - I bought it from the place where I got guitar lessons. I found a link to a picture of the amp I have - http://www.austingtr.com/products.php?CatID=7&PageID=51 .
I did put my electric guitar into it and now it has this crackling distortion. I put my acoustic guitar into it today and it did not sound as distorted.
I have a small 30 watt bass amp - does it hurt to put an electric guitar into a bass amp?
MoGal
Really, for best sound you should run an acoustic electric into an acoustic amp and an electric guitar into an electric guitar amp.
You can run an electric guitar into an acoustic amp, but it usually sounds very sterile. Even playing clean electric guitar amps distort to a degree. This is what they are designed to do. Acoustic amps are designed to produce a very clean sound without distortion. You don't want acoustic guitar to distort.
But that Roland Cube would probably work for both. It is a solid state designed to produce a great clean.
Yes, you can use a bass amp, sometimes this sounds great. The Fender Bassman was designed to be a bass amp and became one of the most popular electric guitar amps ever.
Are you running straight into the PA now??
You could buy a little multi-fx unit. Then you could run this into the PA. You would hear yourself through your stage monitors. You could use a clean preset when you play acoustic or electric/acoustic, and use a electric guitar preset for electric guitar tones.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I used to run the guitar right into the mixer, and had my stage monitor. I had a hard time hearing my guitar. Since then, I started to run it directly into this Austin amp, and then I ran a microphone from the mixer and mic-ed the guitar amp. This helped me hear the guitar a lot better, and I angled it up. In addition to that, I have a little Heletron TC Voice monitor attached to my mic stand, to hear the rest of the mix. It really made a huge difference in terms of hearing myself better. Then, this last gig it started the crackling noise. By the way, what wattage would I need in an amp if I am using it this way? We are not a hard rock band or anything.
Anyway, I think I like the idea of mic-ing the guitar amp, so maybe I will try the bass amp I have first, before investing more money. I don't know if my Austin acoustic amp is ruined or not. I know I can't run the electric into it anymore, but the acoustic might still work.
What is a "multi-fx unit"?
MoGal
