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  #1  
Old 03-31-2018, 08:35 AM
Quickstep192 Quickstep192 is offline
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Default Maybe stupid archtop amplification question(s)

As you may have noticed from my other posts, I'm looking for an archtop guitar for an upcoming gig.

Sorry for the naive questions, but I have no experience with archtops or electrics.

I was looking for an electric archtop, you know, the kind with a pickup, when a friend informed me that I'd also need an amp that would be mic'd into the venue's PA. The additional cost of an amp put a halt to my search until today when I noticed that K&K and Fishman make pickups for archtops.

Since I already have a K&K pre-amp, it seems I could use a K&K Definity pickup on an archtop and couple it to my K&K pre-amp.

Is this too good to be true?

I also notice that Fishman makes an archtop pickup that replaces the bridge. Could this also possibly be paired with my K&K pre-amp?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
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  #2  
Old 04-01-2018, 02:41 PM
jwguitar jwguitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Quickstep192 View Post
As you may have noticed from my other posts, I'm looking for an archtop guitar for an upcoming gig.

Sorry for the naive questions, but I have no experience with archtops or electrics.

I was looking for an electric archtop, you know, the kind with a pickup, when a friend informed me that I'd also need an amp that would be mic'd into the venue's PA. The additional cost of an amp put a halt to my search until today when I noticed that K&K and Fishman make pickups for archtops.

Since I already have a K&K pre-amp, it seems I could use a K&K Definity pickup on an archtop and couple it to my K&K pre-amp.

Is this too good to be true?

I also notice that Fishman makes an archtop pickup that replaces the bridge. Could this also possibly be paired with my K&K pre-amp?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Almost all Archtops have pickups on them depending on what you are looking at. You could plug direct into the PA however I never cared for the sound of doing that. Unlike acoustic guitars that have preamps most archtops have built in or floating pickups that are passive, so all you need to do is plug your guitar into the speaker and you are good. There are so many jazz guitars out there depending on your price range. But I would take a look at some hollowbodies that have humbucking pickups built in.
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Old 04-03-2018, 01:29 PM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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K&K and Fishman pickups for archtops sound completely different than an archtop with a magnetic pickup (and different than a mic'd acoustic archtop). You need to decide what sound you are after, get that guitar, then solve the amplification issue. Direct to a board sounds different than into a mic'd amplifier, so again you need to decide what sound you are after. There is a third way - direct into a board through a box designed to emulate an amplifier. Remember - once you are looking at "electric guitar", the amp is at least half and often a lot more of the sound.
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Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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Old 04-04-2018, 03:54 PM
WildcatGuitar WildcatGuitar is offline
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Originally Posted by MC5C View Post
K&K and Fishman pickups for archtops sound completely different than an archtop with a magnetic pickup (and different than a mic'd acoustic archtop). You need to decide what sound you are after, get that guitar, then solve the amplification issue. Direct to a board sounds different than into a mic'd amplifier, so again you need to decide what sound you are after. There is a third way - direct into a board through a box designed to emulate an amplifier. Remember - once you are looking at "electric guitar", the amp is at least half and often a lot more of the sound.
I’ve only just begun playing my Godin 5th Ave, after using my ‘43 Epiphone Blackstone acoustically for ten years, but it’s true the amp has a huge influence on sound of an arch top.
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  #5  
Old 04-04-2018, 06:56 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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I’ve only just begun playing my Godin 5th Ave, after using my ‘43 Epiphone Blackstone acoustically for ten years...
Nice little guitars both - bought my current 5th Avenue about ten years ago, had a '46 Blackstone w/OHSC back in the '80s-90s that I traded on a '47 script-logo/early white-label A-Series L-7...
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  #6  
Old 04-04-2018, 07:44 PM
M Hayden M Hayden is offline
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If you’ve got a preamp/DI already, use it as a front end to the amp. Most of them will work fine, and it’ll provide a way to dial in the EQ. Since archtop tone is usually dead clean, that works.
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Old 04-05-2018, 06:01 AM
WildcatGuitar WildcatGuitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
Nice little guitars both - bought my current 5th Avenue about ten years ago, had a '46 Blackstone w/OHSC back in the '80s-90s that I traded on a '47 script-logo/early white-label A-Series L-7...
I really like the neck profile of the Blackstone and at 60+ yrs old it sounds great and better every year.
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  #8  
Old 08-22-2018, 08:34 AM
varmonter varmonter is offline
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You could also try plugging a magnetic pickup
into the kk preamp. I do it all the time with an m80.
Most archtops are meant to sound clean.
So you don't need the tube loading warm overdrive
the amp would impart.
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