Knowledge needed on amplifying guitars without pickups

[mightymole]

I am fairly new to the acoustic world. One year in so far. I have a couple of questions as to amplifying my two Martins that do not have pickups installed. I probably will not have one installed either due to the fact that playing guitar is a strictly a hobby and I don't plan on gigging.
My goal is to get a close representation of what is coming out of my guitar and having it come back to my noggin.
Here is what I have done so far, and checking to see if making an upgrade in gear would really accomplish much. I dusted off my old microphone (shure pg58). I did the same with a basic mixer I have laying around (Mackie 402). I hooked the microphone up to the mixer and then over the the pa (Atomic CLR). I Play in front of the mic and the sound I get coming back seems to fine to my ear. Nothing earth shattering but fine. I would say the one complaint I have is that mixer does not have a lot of tone shaping ability. Also my microphone is maybe a little lower level in quality.
I play in an untreated room that I will not be spending money on to upgrade with sound treatment. I don't have golden ears, also I don't want to spend a lot of money to get that extra 5% better sound if you know what I mean. I could probably spend about $400 on used equipment. I would by locally from Facebook.
I don't really want to buy an Acoustic amp in that I am satisfied with the pa I already have. So would an upgraded mic, or mixer, or perhaps a pedal of some type greatly improve my listening pleasure? If you think so where would you suggest I spend my money? Any specific brand ideas as well?

[Rudy4]

Invest in a good chair (you may already have one...) and sit facing a corner of the room. You may have to shift forward or back to get a perfect reflection for your ears. You'll hear an accurate, but louder representation of your guitar.

Using a single mic and listening to an amplified signal will give you the sound from a single point. I wouldn't think that would be what you are looking for.

Is there something else you're hoping to achieve?

[mightymole]

I am basically trying to replicate playing through an amp without the aid of a pickup. I do have a pretty good chair and have played around with distance of guitar to the mic as well what part of the guitar is closest to the mic. It seems that I like it the sound best where the neck meets the body and about a foot away from the mic.
Being an electric player before acoustic I like at times to hear the sound coming at me. Often though I just grab a guitar and play which is great as well. It is more to have a change of sound from time to time.
In addition to fairly accurate guitar replication I have pondered the idea of some tone shaping. Reverb, maybe a slight delay, more eq ability. I guess that could be achieved by putting a pedal of some kind in the chain.
Also wondering if any upgraded microphone or mixer would make any significant improvement in sound in an untreated room.

[Chriscom]

Originally Posted by mightymole

I am basically trying to replicate playing through an amp without the aid of a pickup....

If you want to improve the fun level of playing through a PA (as opposed to wall reflection lol) some effects and tone shaping will definitely help. Budget is always a factor and there are tons of pedals out there.

The Fishman Tonedeq has compression, reverb and delay, and bass/mid/treble EQ, so a handy all-in-one package. $339 at Sweetwater or currently $309 for a demo unit

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...p-with-effects


A good cheapie route is this Behrginer pedal but it's mainly just bass/mid/treble, at $39

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...river-di-pedal

And you could always add a cheap reverb pedal to that, but I think good reverb is hard to get on the cheap side, maybe others can chime in.

The Yamaha MG06X is a good compromise except no mid-eq, which is something most acoustic players want. You can fiddle with the bass/treble balance though to get partway there. $169

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...r-with-effects

I don't know enough about your mic and PA to say much--is that the wireless Shure? But any of the above will add to your experience. Hope you have fun!

[hubcapsc]

My guitars don't have pickups in them, I don't often need one.

I played a couple of songs with my buddy Kent at a little festival
last summer, he handed me an old soundhole pickup he had, probably
a Dean Markley.

The good sound man probably had something to do with it, but
I can hear the sound of my guitar separately from Kent's no
problem in this video. I'm probably going to get a new soundhole
pickup of my own, probably one of those mojo tone ones...



-Mike