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Old 02-06-2016, 02:49 PM
penguin71 penguin71 is offline
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Default Guitar Amp vs. Voice Amp

Not sure if this belongs here or not - so if, not please move accordingly. Was wondering what the difference between amps designed for guitars vs. amps designed for voice and whether or not they make a significant difference in the sound of the voice coming through. Thoughts?

I use a couple of different amps - a couple of Vox VT-40's and a Genz-Benz Shenandoah Compak 300.
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Old 02-06-2016, 03:38 PM
Russ C Russ C is offline
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Apart from any effects and eq options built in, I can't imagine that any intentional differences would ever equal the differences that speaker choice matched to cabinet size and amp quality (inc. transistors/tubes) make.

This might not be exactly the advice you were asking for but I reckon it's more relevant than stuff the manufacturers like to screw onto their preamp panels to help sell amps.
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Old 02-06-2016, 04:09 PM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by penguin71 View Post
Not sure if this belongs here or not - so if, not please move accordingly. Was wondering what the difference between amps designed for guitars vs. amps designed for voice and whether or not they make a significant difference in the sound of the voice coming through. Thoughts?

I use a couple of different amps - a couple of Vox VT-40's and a Genz-Benz Shenandoah Compak 300.
i p71

Acoustic amps with at least an 8" woofer work fine with guitar and voice. I've never had a combo tube amp or solid state (electric guitar amps) sound good with voice.

I once owned a great 15" woofer plus horn 100 watt 4 channel 'keyboard' amp which worked well for about anything. It was actually more like ˝ of a PA system.

The key for sounding good with vocals is having enough depth for good tone on the low end, and enough throw power to carry the venue.

My UltraSound AG-50 and AG-15-M work well in small venues (same speaker/high frequency drive in both).




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Old 02-06-2016, 04:38 PM
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moved from general
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Old 02-07-2016, 01:07 PM
Br1ck Br1ck is offline
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My Carvin AG300 I view as a powered PA speaker. What you need for acoustic or vocals is a full frequency speaker cabinet. A friend has one of those Genz Benz amps, and it is really good, but not as full sounding as my Carvin, but not something I'd look to change if I had one. The portability can't be beat. If I wanted a bigger sound I'd get a powered PA speaker to run with it.
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Old 02-07-2016, 03:43 PM
G_Sin G_Sin is offline
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If your end goal is to improve the tonal quality of your amplified voice, then perhaps a voice effects pedal is appropriate?
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Old 02-07-2016, 04:23 PM
paulin paulin is offline
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I have just finished sound checking my Genz Benz Shen 150 LT and my Bose L1 Compact for a gig coming up Tuesday. Via a small mixer I'm running a guitar and 2 voices thru them using a Shure 58 Beta and a Sennheiser e835 mics.

I have decided to use the Bose Compact. As great as the GB Shen is for acoustic guitar, I just like voices better thru a PA. This has been my experience for many years now testing a number of combo guitar amps. To my ears voices sound better thru a PA.
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Old 02-07-2016, 05:16 PM
RockerDuck RockerDuck is offline
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40 yrs ago, it was common to use a twin reverb or a vox to play acoustic and sing out of. Actually, a Twin reverb sounds good for vocal, but times change. Guitar amps are now geared for mid range speakers, vs full range of yesteryear. Basically, an added tweeter separates a guitar amp from a PA. Fender took a Twin reverb and added four inputs for a PA once..
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Old 02-13-2016, 10:24 PM
penguin71 penguin71 is offline
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Thanks for the information - appreciate. Any recommendations for a PA/voice amp?
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