New Amp Buying Experience

[Zarathustra]

It seems a lot of users here are like me, acoustic players, mostly ignorant of amps and the world of electrifying one's sound. Having just impulsively purchased a new amp, I thought I'd share my experience.

I had a little credit at my local Guitar Center, and decided it was time to buy an amp for the acoustic-electric I just purchased. (That's another story, we'll see if this is worthy of a sequel before I get into that.) After doing minimal research, mostly reading and aggregating reviews, I purchased an Orange Crush 20W amp. While waiting for it to ship, I decided it would now be appropriate to research best amps from reputable online zines and forums.

Turns out the guitar intelligentsia recommends an amp specifically designed for acoustic guitars. Who knew? (Apparently A LOT of people that aren't me.) Here's the thing though...my amp sounds fantastic. It fingerpicks beautifully on the clean setting, and I figuratively rocked my house like a hurricane on the dirty setting.

Am I missing something? The Orange amp did have great reviews, so far I am really impressed. I thought I'd dip into the hive mind on this one. Also, what is your collective experience with setting up a mic in front of the acoustic and hooking that into the amp? Advantages and disadvantages vs. directly plugging into the guitar.

Speaking of which, I am playing a Seagull Maritime SWS cutaway. Pretty versatile guitar, but she really stands out when fingerpicking.

Anyway, thanks for indulging. I've been reading a while, these forums really are quite useful.

(I feel it is unnecessary to point out that perhaps it would have been a good idea to do meaningful research BEFORE purchasing an amp. I am at times prone to impulsivity, and random scolding and clucking on the internet isn't going to stop me in the future from doing irrational, impulsive, and sometimes really dumb and dangerous things.)

[Chriscom]

Congrats on buying something you like!

So I gather your Orange Crush is aimed at electric guitars, at least the reviews and such I just glanced at focused on that. I mention it because Orange does make amps for acoustics.

All things being equal, an acoustic guitar is going to sound better on an acoustic amp than an electric amp. Others can provide better technical explanations but acoustic guitars have a different and richer sound pallette in their native state. Acoustic pickups try to capture as much of that as possible, some much better than others and with different types of trickery. Electric guitars basically don't exist without their pickups, so it's just a different animal.

Given the wide variety in acoustic pickups, I can tell you from personal experience some sound more electric-y than others, so maybe in a weird way you're benefitting from that. Or maybe you're not as focused as lots of others here on the Holy Grail of acoustic guitar sound amplification, My Guitar But Louder. As happy as you are I'd be surprised if your amp captured the kind of woody, airy, acoustic physicality that a high-quality purpose-designed amp does. But I am often surprised!

I gather that amp also lacks effects, and most players here want at least basic effects like reverb. Many are also focused on vocals, and most (all?) acoustic amps I'm familiar with have a mic channel.

As for micing your Seagull (I love Seagulls): A decent mic does a much better job of accurately reproducing the sound of an acoustic guitar. Many use them that way at home and in the studio. But in live environments, your typical bar gig, that can be a feedback nightmare, though some here pull it off. What I don't know is whether a mic would function well with your amp's guitar input--the volume might be lower than expected? Not sure, that gets into something called gain staging, don't know.

Hope the above is at least a partial answer. Enjoy your new toys!

[Methos1979]

Another most dedicated acoustic guitar amps do is to incorporate a vocal input since many of your acoustic amps are bought by singer/songwriter types whereas most electric guitar amps only have guitar inputs as vocalists in bands sing through a PA.

[Zarathustra]

I will need a mic input at some point, that does make a difference. It seems the acoustic amps are a little pricier, so I think what I have here is a fun at home/practice/outdoor gigging amp that will serve as a nice backup once I invest in a proper acoustic amp.

Of course, I could always make the ultimate deal with the devil and get an electric someday.

I also realized that saying something that would be appropriate in a workplace setting, like "thank you for the input" or "thanks for the feedback" comes across as a bad pun on an amp forum. So I'll go with thanks for responding.

[MikeBmusic]

A typical electric guitar amp (and speaker) has a fairly low high frequency capability, so the 'air' of the acoustic sound is lost. This is no big deal (assuming one can get a clear sound from the amp) in a band situation, but solo/with a singer, the guitar doesn't sound as 'acoustic' as it could be.

[martingitdave]

A lot of players used Fender tube amps to amplify their acoustic guitars. The premise behind acoustic amps is to have speaker systems designed to provide full frequency and flat response, sort of like a PA system. And, the input and pre amplifier design is tailored to acoustic pickups. The other feature is to provide a microphone input for singing. That said, let your ears be the judge. If it sounds good, it sounds good!

[Lost Sheep]

I made a post yesterday wherein I described an experience of serendipity - photos I took of a band that were grainy and rough. But the band LOVED them (Not your run-of-the-mill color glossy, these were Black & White, gritty - grainy and the paper had a surface like sandpaper.) Unfortunately, the post seems to have disappeared. But it was overlong anyhow, but demonstrated the happy outcome of serendipity. I stumbled across something my "audience" really liked.

So it may be with your Orange amp.

You may have discovered a signature sound for yourself that comports with your artistic values. Embrace it! Make it yours. Use it to the utmost and explore all you can do with it.

Some good things in life started out as accidents or happenstance. Witness, penicillin.

Plugging a microphone (from in front of your guitar - or your voice) directly into an amp expecting an electric guitar signal may be problematic. Mic output is generally low-energy and you may need a gain boost to get full volume and an impedance match as well, to get decent frequency response.

When you do want to add voice to your guitar, you can still use the guitar-only amp if you add a mixer to the mix. An adequate mixer with mic and guitar inputs can be had for well under $100 from a number of manufacturers. It also lets you have your controls at some distance from the speaker

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

A lot of players used Fender tube amps to amplify their acoustic guitars. The premise behind acoustic amps is to have speaker systems designed to provide full frequency and flat response, sort of like a PA system. And, the input and pre amplifier design is tailored to acoustic pickups. The other feature is to provide a microphone input for singing. That said, let your ears be the judge. If it sounds good, it sounds good!

Yep. I used a Fender Twin Reverb for guitar (electric and acoustic) for a lot of years before I made the switch to mostly acoustic. Do my ears hear a difference when using an acoustic amp or going direct to a PA? Yep, again.

The most important thing: if you like the sound, it's a good choice.

I recently bought a THR30ii to use when recording electric. It has an acoustic setting on it - tried that with one of my acoustics, and it sounds really good. Not my reason for buying this particular amp, but sometimes you get happy happenstance.

Years ago, I bought (a good buy) a battery amp (geared for the electric player) to use for the occasional away from a plug-in situation; well before the current crop of decent battery powered acoustic amps/PAs. That amp didn't particularly please my ears, but it was an adequate solution to the need. Not every purchase is the "perfect sound," but if it works for you, call it good, and enjoy.