Anyone using a Blues Jr. IV for their Acoustic?

[rocket launcher]

Good morning gents,

I recent joined a neighborhood weekly jam band, and am having a blast. First time I have played consistently since college (30 years ago). So far it's all electric guitars/bass, playing blues, country rock, funk and some jazz. We only play in living rooms using jam tracks through a small PA, so volume is not really loud.

I am currently playing a recently put together Telepartscaster through a new Blues Jr. IV and want to introduce an acoustic to some of the jams where I think it will really add to the groups sound.

I really don't want to haul in two amps, so is it possible to maybe just add an EQ and get a good enough sound to layer in with this Blues Jr. IV?

Is anyone else using this newer model Blues Jr. with an acoustic with pretty good results? As always, I appreciate your suggestions!

[earri]

I have a blues Jr. I use with my Strat. I have played my acoustics through it (used to quite a bit before investing in a line array). It's not bad. It's not great, but definitely serviceable.

[rocket launcher]

Thank you for your response!

Did you try and work out the sound with an equalizer?

I was thinking about picking up one and giving it a try so I didn't have to fiddle with the tone knobs to much if I switched from my Tele to my Taylor. I could just plug in, hit the EG pedal, and strum on.

[Steve DeRosa]

A little history:
When Charlie Kaman developed what was arguably the first viable "acoustic-electric" pickup system a half-century ago, it was done with the typical pro/semi-pro stage gear of the day in mind - meaning a mid- to high-powered 1x12"/2x12"/4x10"/1x15" tube combo - and if your guitar is fitted with a piezo UST (with its aggressive upper-mid "quack" and ice-pick highs) that's really the only way to go IME. I've been playing Ovations since the late-70's, still gig with my single-knob '82 Custom Balladeer, own/have owned several other UST-equipped instruments since then, and the most "acoustic" tone has come from amps of the same general type (whether tube or solid-state): Peavey Bandit 65 (my go-to in the '80s-90s) or Studio Pro 50, Randall RB-120, Fender Frontman 212R, or the MusicMan 410-65 I used for large halls/outdoor gigs 30 years ago - all through the low-gain input with little or no EQ; bottom line here is that you're not hearing quack and screech in your unplugged tone, and regardless of what manufacturers may try to market you don't want them in your amplified tone either. Old Charlie K. was enough of a musician to know how an acoustic guitar should sound, and enough of an engineer to make it happen with the relatively primitive technology of the day - the natural rolloff of a typical guitar speaker above 4-5kHz and the low-end response of an open-back cabinet combine to provide a natural filtering effect, focusing the tone within its optimum range...

In a nutshell, the Blues Junior should be a great amp for a small gig; just remember to dime the master and keep the input gain and guitar volume control as low as possible, if you want the most "acoustic" tone. I'd strongly recommend something with more grunt for larger venues, though; much like a jazz guitarist you need loads of clean headroom, and that little BJ is going to run out of gas and/or edge into distortion (great for electric, bad for acoustic) if you push it too hard. Finally, you'll want to plug in for practice a few times before you play out, to get the hang of things and retrain your ears - while you'll never achieve a perfect re-creation (translation: skip the outboard EQ), if you're used to the stratospheric highs of a dedicated modern acoustic-electric amp you'll be surprised just how much closer to your unplugged tone you'll sound...

[earri]

Originally Posted by rocket launcher

Thank you for your response!

Did you try and work out the sound with an equalizer?

I was thinking about picking up one and giving it a try so I didn't have to fiddle with the tone knobs to much if I switched from my Tele to my Taylor. I could just plug in, hit the EG pedal, and strum on.

No, I didn't use a separate EQ, just the tone controls on the amp. You could mark your Tele settings with a piece of tape (white plumber's thread tape works well) or a marker for easy recognition.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by rocket launcher

…We only play in living rooms using jam tracks through a small PA…

Hi r-launcher

A simpler solution might be to run the acoustic through a channel on your small PA.

Acoustic amps are built not to distort easily and give full spectrum from low bass to high trebles. Electric amps are designed to overdrive easily, and hit the strongest in the mid-to-high spectrum.

I've seen/heard people play acoustic guitar through electric amps, but usually high end amps (often hand built) which are tube driven and operate well in the clean spectrum.

I'd not classify my Blues Jr. as a specialist in the 'clean' department. In fact, the reason I chose it was for the grit and dirt of it's distortion.

[rocket launcher]

Thanks for the input gents,

I am going to spend some time trying to see if I can get a decent sound without using an EQ, and maybe one acoustic will sound better than the others. Worth a shot.

Plugging right into the board through the PA is a great idea. I will try that as well. The board we are using is a pretty good one.

[RogerPease]

Hi, Rocket.

I give big amen to everything Steve DeRosa says! You can get a serviceable sound
with an acoustic through a Blues Junior. (My experience is with a BJr III, but they're
not that different.) If you keep it within it's cleans you can get a nice tube saturation
sound, kinda like an L.R. Baggs Session pedal with the saturation turned up pretty
high. You might like it. As Steve says, turn the Master all the way up (to 12!) and
use the input Volume pot (and/or guitar volume) to control how loud you are. It'll
around be around 2 or 3, maybe 4.

One thing that might be worth doing is replacing the original Fender speaker with an
Eminence Cannabis Rex speaker for about $95. Noticeably smoother sound and it's
a very efficient speaker so it helps you keep away from the amp's breakup point.

Cheers.