ELECTRIC THROUGH ACOUSTIC AMP?

[warmsden]

Howdy,
Got a quick question. I have a 414 with an aftermaket Fishman Matrix UST which I run through a Fender Acoustasonic Jr. The Fender is fine for what I do, which is sit on the couch, drink beer and play old stuff. There are probably better amps out there for someone who gigs out.
I just bought an Epiphone Sheraton electric and I'm wondering how it might sound through the Acoustasonic.
Won't have access to the amp for a few weeks and wonder if anyone on the forum has run an electric through an "acoustic" amp. How's the sound?

Thanks,
Little Willy 2 Shoes

[Chicago Sandy]

For rehearsals at my house of my temple's band (for a Motown revue), I ran my Fender Mustang with pickups out of phase through my Marshall AS 50R, boosting the treble and reverb and adding a bit of chorus. Sounded great!

[Pipsqueak]

saw a thread not long ago about the same situation....

some said you're good to go if you get something like a POD inbetween the guitar and amp

[Acousticado]

I run my 814c and Strat through my Carvin AG100D Acoustic Amp/PA. As my needs are probably similar to yours, I run my Strat through a Line6 POD (v2.0). The POD is a digital amp modeler and you can "dial-in" many of the best electric guitar amps of all time (digitally modeled within the POD; e.g. '65 "Blackface" Fender Twin Reverb), plus download umpteen models created by enthusiasts. Purists don't like modelling amps/devices, but like I said, for my needs (and probably yours) it's great. There are many on this forum using a POD and loving it. I've read that acoustic amps (as opposed to electric guitar amps) serve best with the POD and electric guitars because acoustic amps tend to have a "clean" sound by comparison, allowing the POD models to sound best. A used POD v2.0 can be bought for between $100-200.

Hope this helps.

[bing4sons]

Nothing against the POD, but I'd rather put the money towards an electric amp. The sound just isn't the same.

[min7b5]

I used to play an Archtop into a SWR Ca. Blonde...one of the best loud clean tones I've ever heard.

[gdgross]

It certainly can be done, just try it and see. Many folks don't like the tone of an electric guitar through an acoustic amp, though. Kind of lifeless, IMO. Half of the character of an electric guitar is in the amp, and an acoustic amp is designed to be much more like a PA system than an electric amp.

A notable exception to this, as eric mentioned above, are that some jazz player like plugging in their archtops to clean amps. Sometimes this can help with feedback, too, if the amp has a notch filter. Me, I'd prefer a twin reverb or something.

[stevemc]

I've never had an acoustic amp but I play my Taylors through my Peavey Delta Blues amp every once in a while and I think it sounds pretty good.

[Tay810]

Once in a while I'd pull out a Standard American Strat I used to own and play it using my Crate 125D...I'd practice jazz licks on it...fortunately the amp has reverb, chorus and delay...I'd also tweak the main volume and the gain knobs to get some sort of distortion. Like one of the other peeps said, save and get a electric amp...unless the tones don't bug you...at first they bugged me...it was almost like hearing elevator music (trying playing creed or scorpions tunes). Now I use a Roland keyboard amp with my new strat, since I'm learning how to use a GR-33/VG-88.


_________________________
2 '99 Taylor XXV-DR's
'87 Taylor 910
'98 Taylor 810
'54 Martin 000-18
'94 Larrivee D-60e
'97 Larrivee D-09
'93 Larrivee LV-19 CA Sp. Edition
'94 Fender Super Deluxe Strat

[warmsden]

Everyone,

Good,good info. I knew I could count on the folks on the T****R forum for intelligent responses,

Willy 2 Shoes

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by warmsden

The Fender is fine for what I do, which is sit on the couch, drink beer and play old stuff. There are probably better amps out there for someone who gigs out.

The way I read your post, this is the crux of your need and the POD is your solution. Personally, with little exception, electric guitars run straight through an acoustic amp just don't sound very good -- especially if you want to vary your sound(s), including wailing out with distortion and other effects (which the POD is full of in addition to the dozens of modelled classic amps -- has a built-in tuner too). Most with an electric guitar want to do this from time-to-time. Not to over-push the POD, but it's the cheapest way to go and don't assume that these little kidney-shaped tone monsters can't meet your need. If your needs change and the absolute authentic tone of a particular amp is what you want to go for, then by all means, buy a good electric guitar amp. But again, that's not what I read you want/need. JMO.

[Yoder]

[QUOTE=Tayloresque]. . . then by all means, buy a good electric guitar amp. QUOTE]

Yea, buy a good tube amp to play electric. Lst night I bt a Rivera 55 Supreme that was customized. A rich guy traded it and a custom G&L straight across for a Taylor 710 limited I traded in a couple of months ago. The amp has less hours than any amp on the floor and the dealer gave me a killer deal. Wow! Things will never be the same in my household!

[Pvee]

I use my Carvin Ag100D when I only want to take one amp.

I was ask to provide some music for A Seniors dinner at our Church and they wanted old country music for the theme of the event.

I made some background tracks and put them on a cd.
Plugged the portable cd player into Channel two and used a telecaster into channel one and had a mic in channel three.

There is enough eq possibilities with the carvin that all the channels sounded great.
It worked out well and the Telecaster sounded great through that amp.

Sometimes I will use an external analog delay for the guitar channel instead of the built in digital delay, but thats about it.

[Steve314]

Originally Posted by gdgross

It certainly can be done, just try it and see. Many folks don't like the tone of an electric guitar through an acoustic amp, though. Kind of lifeless, IMO. Half of the character of an electric guitar is in the amp, and an acoustic amp is designed to be much more like a PA system than an electric amp.

On thing to consider is how the signals are produced, and how those signals are processed in the amplifier.

An electric guitar produces a signal by the disturbance of a magnetic field by a metal string. On an acoustic, by and large, the signal is produced by pressure. This pressure can be on an under-the-saddle element, or even through the vibration of the top, as in the ES.

Because the signals are generated differently, it's necessary to process each one differently to get the best results from that signal. Amplifiers are designed with these differences in mind.

Certainly, you can run an electric guitar through an acoustic amp, and vice versa, and it'll sound fine. But I think to maximize the potential of the guitar, you need to use the proper amp...

Steve

[James Willer]

I play my Guild SF4 through an acoustisonic jr and it works fine. It's not an electric guitar amp of course but it works good until I can afford one.