Emerald nylon + Tonewood amp

[cleser]

Anyone use a Tonewood amp with their emerald?
Thoughts?

I typically like nylon string guitars and was wondering if anyone has used their emerald with the Tonewood amp specifically? Thoughts

[ed62]

I use one on my emerald synergy harp guitar....Was a little tricky mounting the X brace with the offset sound hole because I had to reach pretty far back into the body with my arm to get it where I wanted..You may want to check and see if your arm fits before you buy one or you will have to find a way to mount it without an X brace (sticky tape, etc.)..but other than the install it sounds awesome once you get your settings adjusted where they need to be.
It can be prone to feed back if you try and go too loud with the volume and gain but this could possibly have something to do with mine being a harp guitar with stereo pickup...it seems to be my sub bass strings feeding back through the tonewood when too loud.

[steelvibe]

I used a Tonewood Amp on both a RainSong Shorty and a Journey OF660 with great results. I have also used it on a Martin I once had but found that the TWA actually works better with CF (maybe due to thinness and lack of bracing). You will need to spend some time finding the sweet spot on your instrument (which I've found are not far from the TWA factory instructions) and then get your Global Settings sweet spot to not clip and/or cause feedback loops. Once you save those settings then it is a very usable device.

The only catch is if the back of the guitar you would mount it to has arches or rib bevels (like the OF660, the X20, or GS Mini). It isn't a deal breaker but you do use it on guitars like provided in my example, then you would be left with a trickier install that could be less optimal for the TWA's performance. Other than this, great tones- especially the reverb. The reason I let my TWA go is because I needed the money and wasn't using it for live play, in which case I prefer stomp boxes for ease of l/O and the ability to mix effects more efficiently.

[ealmasy]

I've been using a Tonewood with my CA GXi, and have been very happy with it, though I will say it works much better with a pick than when fingerpicking.

I had really hoped to use it with my CA Cargo when traveling, but so far have been stymied about how to get the brace mounted inside the guitar; with the offset tone hole and small size, I just cannot reach in far enough to position it correctly.

[ed62]

Originally Posted by ealmasy

I've been using a Tonewood with my CA GXi, and have been very happy with it, though I will say it works much better with a pick than when fingerpicking.

I had really hoped to use it with my CA Cargo when traveling, but so far have been stymied about how to get the brace mounted inside the guitar; with the offset tone hole and small size, I just cannot reach in far enough to position it correctly.

I recently bought something called alien tape ….its double sided silicone tape that holds things in place pretty well and is removable without leaving any adhesive residue...I havnt tried it with a tonewood amp yet but I think I will try it on my sable this weekend.....I cant mount the X brace on this guitar so it may be a solution to your problem also..I will let you know if it works..I actually use it to keep loose fitting bottleneck slides on my pinky finger ...works well
heres a link to the alien tape if you want to check it out
https://www.tryalientape.com/?mid=11...RoC_4IQAvD_BwE

[ealmasy]

Originally Posted by ed62

I recently bought something called alien tape ….its double sided silicone tape that holds things in place pretty well and is removable without leaving any adhesive residue...I havnt tried it with a tonewood amp yet but I think I will try it on my sable this weekend.....I cant mount the X brace on this guitar so it may be a solution to your problem also..I will let you know if it works.

Thanks – will be interested to hear your result. I thought about just bringing a roll of blue painter's tape, but in addition to being awkward, I'm not sure it would hold firmly enough for an extended period.

[ed62]

Originally Posted by ealmasy

Thanks – will be interested to hear your result. I thought about just bringing a roll of blue painter's tape, but in addition to being awkward, I'm not sure it would hold firmly enough for an extended period.

Well its on there now and boy does it sound nice on a sable!!!....I just cut 4 one
inch squares and had to fold them in half to make the alien tape thick enough to be higher than the padded rests on the tonewood amp..put one in each corner of the TW..you can pull the TW off easy enough on the sable which has a sandpaper like finish on the back but it seems pretty secure when its on there...Bet it would stick really well to a gloss finish...Its worth buying that tape just to have around the house because ive used it for quite a few different things already...its pretty neat stuff!!!
Update.....I just pulled the tonewood off the sable and put it on my steel resonator gutar...The friggin tonewood punches through steel and sounds awesome LOL....You just made my day

I looked up the Alien tape. Not sure how I've lived without, but I can think of a lot of uses. Thanks for the tip Ed.

[ed62]

Originally Posted by EvanB

I looked up the Alien tape. Not sure how I've lived without, but I can think of a lot of uses. Thanks for the tip Ed.

No problem...It is amazing stuff

[cleser]

Thanks all for the insights, I wonder if it can be installed at the factory via custom order?

[ed62]

The tonewood with alien tape is working so well on all my guitars that I may pull the X brace out of my emerald ....It makes experimenting with different positionings of the tonewood very simple...I think it will also solve the problem with guitars that have arched backs.

[mountainmaster]

OK, so now I am interested in a Tonewood Amp and that means... questions!

I see that it still requires a pickup, but does it work with passive pickups such as the K&K? Edit: This question answered. Yes, it does. Should have used the forum search.

It uses the back of the guitar as its "speaker" so I would be surprised if it turns your guitar into a really loud monster. But does it make the guitar any louder at all?

And I don't get the choice of effects though. There are some effects that are not very useful for acoustic guitars like overdrive and auto wah, but there is no chorus?
IMO chorus is the modulation effect that works best with an acoustic guitar. I guess the Leslie would come close but that is a more complex kind of modulation which adds overtones etc.

[ed62]

Originally Posted by mountainmaster

OK, so now I am interested in a Tonewood Amp and that means... questions!

I see that it still requires a pickup, but does it work with passive pickups such as the K&K?

It uses the back of the guitar as its "speaker" so I would be surprised if it turns your guitar into a really loud monster. But does it make the guitar any louder at all?

And I don't get the choice of effects though. There are some effects that are not very useful for acoustic guitars like overdrive and auto wah, but there is no chorus?
IMO chorus is the modulation effect that works best with an acoustic guitar. I guess the Leslie would come close but that is a more complex kind of modulation which adds overtones etc.

I bought mine over a year ago and it didnt come with a chorus effect...since then they offered a software download which replaces the overdrive with a chorus and thats what i ended up doing although I kind of wish I still had the overdrive yesterday when I was playing around with it on the steel resonator guitar..Im surprised they dont come with the chorus effect already on the newer models..
The resonator guitar has a passive pickup by the way so they do work but the effects were definitely not as pronounced as the sable which has an active pickup....Dont know if the volume difference is because of active vs passive or steel vs carbon....could be a combination of both ...The tonewood is definitely great if your playing acoustically but I dont think it will ever replace amped pedals...I did see Andy McKee live last year and he did use one direct into the house PA which sounded pretty darn good with just a tonewood.

[ed62]

Originally Posted by cleser

Thanks all for the insights, I wonder if it can be installed at the factory via custom order?

Send emerald an email and ask....they are probably familiar with the tonewood and the X brace is probably the best way to mount it overall when possible.

What Ed says.