TonewoodAmp Review

[negriljerry]

You've probably seen this promoted online... here's my take.

TL;DR: I like it despite some weird and obvious flaws that I plan on taking up with the makers. Costs about the same as a mid-priced effects pedal. I use it a lot on my camping ax (Recording King parlor) and a Martin 000M (I bought a 2nd magnetic x-thing for inside the guitar which holds it on). Sorry for the long review, but I figure more info is better than less.

Does anyone actually need this newish acoustic guitar toy? Heck no, but when did need come into play with guitars?

Using a 20% online discount, I finally gave in and bought the TonewoodAmp directly from the makers.
Where it sits on the back of your guitar makes a big difference as to how much of the effect sound projects thru the center hole, so experimentation using masking tape to hold it is required before installing the x-brace. The unit ("amp" + inside x-brace w/magnets) weighs just under a pound, so you may not be comfortable with that extra weight.

They put a LOT of thought into the sounds and controls - you'll consult the manual often at first - so it baffles me why some of the effects are so poor or simply unusable.

The first knob cycles you through the effect types: Reverb (hall, room, plate), Delay (can add reverb), Tremolo Delay (which re-defines "useless"), Leslie (why? why not a simple chorus than a failure at Leslie?), Auto-wah (meh), and Overdrive (right, screeching distortion is what I've always desired out of my acoustics).

The reverbs are good, as is the delay or delay + reverb. They are the reason to own this doohicky.

Why do I scorn the Tremolo Delay? Good question - what could be wrong with a nice trem along with some delay? Because the trem/vibrato (it's actually a combo of both) is applied TO THE DELAY ITSELF. You ever hear a clean electric guitar recorded with a delay that warbles all over the map but no actual tremolo on the basic guitar signal? Me neither. What they were thinking is a mystery that I plan on getting to the bottom of. There's a section in the user manual named Updating Firmware and Software. It's BLANK.

The "Leslie" effect is not quite so poor but way off. For one thing the slowest speed (parameter set to 0) is at least 4x faster than a real leslie or any good rotary sim (I've owned several). Still, it's a passable chorus to which you can add reverb for a cool ambient sound. It's never my go-to when using this unit.

I've only used the auto-wah (envelope filter) briefly, and it's a nope too. Just makes no sense with acoustic but I guess they decided to throw it in just for the heck of it.

We won't speak of the overdrive. If you get the urge to do Purple Haze on your Martin, go for it.

They built in dual notch filters to kill feedback, a very cool touch, as is the separate gain and volume controls for each effect. Memory capabilities are excellent, you can save multiple FX settings and well as separate guitar profiles.

Background (as in, why get it?): I'm an old guy who spent his first 30 or 40 years picking electric exclusively, to the point where I sold off my best-of-bunch Martin D-28 that I bought when I worked at the local music store for barely more than the $350 I paid for it with case. That was dealer cost in '71. And I'm an admitted reverb junkie.

Now I play mostly acoustic, partly because my bass gig dried up and there's no outlet for playing electric other than home. Luckily I've fallen in with a great bunch of local acoustic pickers here in NW GA and keep my fingers quite busy.

[blindboyjimi]

Nice review. I bought one used but I didn’t realize the guitar needs a pickup. I have 15 guitars but none with a pickup so it has sat on a shelf in my music room for a year or two.

[nickv6]

Trem delay is great. If you set the predelay at zero the effect becomes trem from the very beginning of the note.
Autowah is also great. If you set the sensitivity carefully you can play with no effect then dig in for a single note run (for instance) and the wah really holds the interest.
Lots of playing around with the settings is needed to get the best of it.
I'm with you on the distortion though..what on earth is that doing on there?
Nick

[ctvolfan]

You pretty much summed up how i feel about mine but those crappy effects don't take away from the joy i get from the good ones. I like hall, room, plate, delay and the additional ones with chorus. But yeah this'll those other ones are worthless.

Originally Posted by negriljerry

You've probably seen this promoted online... here's my take.

TL;DR: I like it despite some weird and obvious flaws that I plan on taking up with the makers. Costs about the same as a mid-priced effects pedal. I use it a lot on my camping ax (Recording King parlor) and a Martin 000M (I bought a 2nd magnetic x-thing for inside the guitar which holds it on). Sorry for the long review, but I figure more info is better than less.

Does anyone actually need this newish acoustic guitar toy? Heck no, but when did need come into play with guitars?

Using a 20% online discount, I finally gave in and bought the TonewoodAmp directly from the makers.
Where it sits on the back of your guitar makes a big difference as to how much of the effect sound projects thru the center hole, so experimentation using masking tape to hold it is required before installing the x-brace. The unit ("amp" + inside x-brace w/magnets) weighs just under a pound, so you may not be comfortable with that extra weight.

They put a LOT of thought into the sounds and controls - you'll consult the manual often at first - so it baffles me why some of the effects are so poor or simply unusable.

The first knob cycles you through the effect types: Reverb (hall, room, plate), Delay (can add reverb), Tremolo Delay (which re-defines "useless"), Leslie (why? why not a simple chorus than a failure at Leslie?), Auto-wah (meh), and Overdrive (right, screeching distortion is what I've always desired out of my acoustics).

The reverbs are good, as is the delay or delay + reverb. They are the reason to own this doohicky.

Why do I scorn the Tremolo Delay? Good question - what could be wrong with a nice trem along with some delay? Because the trem/vibrato (it's actually a combo of both) is applied TO THE DELAY ITSELF. You ever hear a clean electric guitar recorded with a delay that warbles all over the map but no actual tremolo on the basic guitar signal? Me neither. What they were thinking is a mystery that I plan on getting to the bottom of. There's a section in the user manual named Updating Firmware and Software. It's BLANK.

The "Leslie" effect is not quite so poor but way off. For one thing the slowest speed (parameter set to 0) is at least 4x faster than a real leslie or any good rotary sim (I've owned several). Still, it's a passable chorus to which you can add reverb for a cool ambient sound. It's never my go-to when using this unit.

I've only used the auto-wah (envelope filter) briefly, and it's a nope too. Just makes no sense with acoustic but I guess they decided to throw it in just for the heck of it.

We won't speak of the overdrive. If you get the urge to do Purple Haze on your Martin, go for it.

They built in dual notch filters to kill feedback, a very cool touch, as is the separate gain and volume controls for each effect. Memory capabilities are excellent, you can save multiple FX settings and well as separate guitar profiles.

Background (as in, why get it?): I'm an old guy who spent his first 30 or 40 years picking electric exclusively, to the point where I sold off my best-of-bunch Martin D-28 that I bought when I worked at the local music store for barely more than the $350 I paid for it with case. That was dealer cost in '71. And I'm an admitted reverb junkie.

Now I play mostly acoustic, partly because my bass gig dried up and there's no outlet for playing electric other than home. Luckily I've fallen in with a great bunch of local acoustic pickers here in NW GA and keep my fingers quite busy.

[ruger9]

I am impressed by the reverb sounds I've heard. If they made a cheaper, reverb-only model, I would try it. But I'm not spending that much money on something I'm only going to use 10% of.

[rmp]

I've had one for about a year.

I have no regrets, it's a nice little tool to use.

I agree with Jerry, I have no use at all for any of the other effects besides the reverb and reverb delay effects.. Those sound really good.

4 of my acoustics have been fitted with the x-brace.

To further this thread, expanding a bit on what jerry mentions, wrt multiple guitars using a TWA..

Each guitar can be setup for use with the TWA as each pickup system in guitars respond a little differently. The global settings -> master gain takes care of adjusting for these variances.

The TWA allows for 5 different profiles/guitars.

Since you can save up to 10 presets of each effect, those can also be fine tuned to work right for each guitar you'd use.

I set effect presets to match what guitar I have made saved presets for in the global settings (for the guitar profile)

for Guitar #1, I will set the TWA effects on that same slot. so guitar #1 will use Effect #1 for a particular effect guitar #2, Effect 2, and so on. That works good for me.

Also agree that it takes a bit of time to sort it all out, master gain, notch filters, effect settings, but once it's done, it's done for ever.

Just one thing to draw some attention to the x-brace and where the activator will sit on the back of the guitar..

They do not really put quite enough emphasis on this in the user guide when one is installing the x-brace in a guitar to be mindful of where the guitars back braces are.

If the activator (that little rubber cup on the underside of the amp) is positioned directly under a cross brace, it does not work well at all.

The magnetic strip is long enough so that you have quite a bit of room to move the amp back and forth to ensure it's clear of any braces and still make solid contact with the x-brace magnet inside the guitar.

Something to keep in mind when doing the initial install.

[JMFingerstyle]

Originally Posted by negriljerry

We won't speak of the overdrive. If you get the urge to do Purple Haze on your Martin, go for it.

There's an update to the TWA available for download from their website that replaces Overdrive with Chorus (which is a lot more useful).

If you haven't seen them, Tonewood produced a series of videos that demonstrate how the various parameters work for each effect. The playlist is called "Tonewood for Strummies", and it's worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...v0Ytj7QeQs9WxS

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Once I saw how thing attached to my guitar was enough for me to say "No sound enhancement is worth that!"

[rmp]

Originally Posted by DjFuzzyMcPickle

Once I saw how thing attached to my guitar was enough for me to say "No sound enhancement is worth that!"

Hey I am not trying to change your mindset, but I can assure you it does no damage to the guitar, inside or out.

The x-brace is very light, and the tape they use holds to the inside back quite securely.

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Originally Posted by rmp

Hey I am not trying to change your mindset, but I can assure you it does no damage to the guitar, inside or out.

The x-brace is very light, and the tape they use holds to the inside back quite securely.

No worries...I'm not worried about anyone changing my mindset. It was just a general comment that for ME, I'm perfectly content with the set up, DI and amps I'm using. I'm not a fan of too much on the way of pedals, effects etc. So for ME, I just have nodesire to have some magnet and both sides of my back going through this or stuck to each other

[negriljerry]

Originally Posted by nickv6

Trem delay is great. If you set the predelay at zero the effect becomes trem from the very beginning of the note.
Autowah is also great. If you set the sensitivity carefully you can play with no effect then dig in for a single note run (for instance) and the wah really holds the interest.
Lots of playing around with the settings is needed to get the best of it.
I'm with you on the distortion though..what on earth is that doing on there?
Nick

As suggested, I updated and replaced the overdrive with (ok, not great) chorus.

But Nick - there is no predelay parameter in Trem-delay. The params are rate, depth and delay. I tried setting the delay at zero thinking maybe typo? but that negates the effect totally. No biggie but logic would dictate a simple trem + reverb or trem + actual echo, discrete from trem.

Glad you enjoy the envelope filter (autowah). I'll mess with it more this week when I'm camping, after some herbal inspiration - which I do confess is the reason I spent so much on this somewhat looney fx toy to begin with - I love to play by the lake/river/woods wherever, and a little ambience is sometimes fun.