#1
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Do I need an Acoustic Guitar Amp for home?
As the title says, do I need one for home playing. I have a Yamaha THR10 that has an acoustic setting and was playing around with it last night and it was fun! Made me wonder if I should pick up (see what I did there) an inexpensive acoustic amp. What say you all?
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#2
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From one gear collector to a potential other, gear comes and goes. What would it hurt? But then you're gonna need a mic, a mic cable, and a mic stand too.
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As my username suggests, huge fan of Yamaha products. Own many acoustic-electric models from 2009-present and a couple electric. Lots of PA too. |
#3
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What you really need is a good acoustic guitar that doesn't need an amp. But.....you can get a decent acoustic amp for a few hundred bucks, and a *good* acoustic guitar will likely cost more.
I have a very nice gigworthy amp, a Carvin AG300. I also have a couple nice acoustic guitars, some really good mandolins, some great custom instruments and a real good Martin HD-28. I have installed pickups in almost all my instruments. I never plug them in at home. |
#4
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In other words, if you're trying to just listen to yourself there are other options besides an acoustic guitar amp.
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Patrick 2012 Martin HD-28V 1984 Martin Shenandoah D-2832 2018 Gretsch G5420TG Oscar Schmidt Autoharp, unknown vintage ToneDexter Bugera V22 Infinium |
#5
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I have some very nice acoustic guitar amps, and just as many very nice acoustic guitars, with some very nice pickups in them. In all the years that I've been playing, I've never plugged an acoustic guitar into one of my amps just to have fun around the house. The only time I plug-in, in my house, is when I have to try out a piece of equipment out before a gig, or to program some FX.
But I can see people that don't do it for a living maybe wanting to use a nice small acoustic amp to perform for their family, or to practice for the occasional small coffee shop style gig. Or maybe for a small church performance. And for someone that isn't out there playing all the time, practicing with a little amp at home will make it easier to do those things. And it might make it fun to hear their guitar in a different light. And singing on a mic is fun too! |
#6
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I think amp is more important for having gig. Since many product already covered your personal needs. Also, we need to consider neighbor if we live in a flat. However, if you have gig at coffee shop or so, an amp can be used as your monitor as well as PA speaker.
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Leviora A1 Fan Fret Martin OMC28BLJ ArchAngels Wings (Dreadnought) Grace Felix L.R.Baggs Mixpro Zoom A3 Trace Elliot TA40CR Henriksen the Bud ten |
#7
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One thing I would recommend an acoustic amp or “PA-in-a-box” style setup for is practicing singing on mic at home if you’re not used to live performance. Mic technique is hugely important and something that takes practice to become habitually decent at. Getting used to your guitar’s plugged in tone and response is useful too. As good as many pickups are, a big part of playing live is “playing” the pickup, specifically adapting your right hand technique to the response and dynamic range of the pickup which is inevitably different to that of your acoustic guitar played unplugged in a room. If you don’t intend to perform live, I wouldn’t say you NEED an acoustic amp for home. Whether you WANT one is an entirely different thing though of course! If you’re curious, why not pick up a secondhand AER Compact 60 and see how you like it, and whether it’s useful to you. They’re terrific amps and always in demand-if you buy secondhand, you’ll have no trouble recovering your outlay on it if you decide it’s not for you and want to move it along.
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'67 Gibson J45 (K&K) ‘81 Eko Ranger IV (weird factory Electra pickup) '95 Gibson Dove (MagMic) ‘97 Martin D18GE (Sunrise) ‘01 Takamine EAN46C (Palathetic and CT4B) '02 Takamine EAN20C (Palathetic and CT4BII) '15 Gibson SJ200 Standard (Sunrise) ‘19 Vintage Paul Brett Viator VC Classical ‘20 Sigma CF-100 copy (Sunrise) Capos by G7th, amplification by AER. |
#8
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There is NEED (nope. not needed)
then there is WANT.. (YES! Whos to say right?) As Jinder says, two entirely different discussions.. I think they are fun to use at home when noodling. I have a Fishman LBA, and set the volume to just about where the acoustic un-amped volume of the guitar I'm playing has. Adding in some reverb and setting up the eq gives you a little bit of ambience and fullness. To me, just adds to the enjoyment of playing a fine acoustic. I also have a Tonewood amp and those are fun too. They can be a bit finicky to get set for the pickup system in each guitar you'll use it in, and you have to install the x brace which is easy and harmless. Really handy for long weekends away and vacations, (I always bring something to pluck around on.) If the Yamaha sounds good tho, and I have heard from a lot of ppl who use it just as you did, maybe 'd just go with that. |
#9
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If I didn't gig I wouldn't own an acoustic amp. For me the joy of an acoustic guitar is the simplicity of just picking it up and playing it. The organic beauty of the natural sound of the guitar. Plugging in just complicates matters when you're trying to relax with a guitar at home. But my perspective may be different from most since I have a very busy gigging schedule, I like the simplicity of it being just me and my guitar at home.
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'59 Gibson J-45 "Spot" '21 Gibson LG-2 - 50's Reissue '94 Taylor 710 '18 Martin 000-17E "Willie" ‘23 Taylor AD12e-SB '22 Taylor GTe Blacktop '15 Martin 000X1AE https://pandora.app.link/ysqc6ey22hb |
#10
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Come on guys you need to “represent”. This is the Acoustic Amplification sub forum............of course he needs an amp.
Geez what happened to all the enablers that use to hang out here Last edited by DownUpDave; 04-13-2021 at 05:07 PM. |
#11
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I think it depends on what you want to get from the amp. Are you looking to play around with effects like chorus or reverb?
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2021 Fender Telecaster (Player Series) 2014 Yamaha FS700 2020 Rouge RD80 - sold 2014 Epiphone Les Paul Junior - sold |
#12
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There doesn't have to be a "need", a "want" is justification enough. It's really no different than wanting a guitar that's beyond your basic playable garden variety of instrument. As Marie Kando would say, "If it brings you joy...". I have a variety of instruments hanging around that I can grab and play out on the back porch or the living room easy chair, but I also love to do recording, and that necessitates SOMETHING to play back your recordings. Especially during Covid shut-in I've really enjoyed having my looper and a bass to have "instant" back up band / playing partners. (You've all seen my photo postings...) That would be difficult without an amp... My Cube EX set up that has very nice true stereo chorus and reverb that is great fun to use all by itself. It provides a different flavor than simply playing without it and gives me further inspiration and encouragement to play more, and that's always a good thing! |
#13
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If you are setting/using effects, then probably (at least from time to time). I set up an acoustic amp when I'm pulling new 'voices' for my ToneDexter so I can preview how they sound through an amp for stage use, and to see how the different versions and mics respond live in the room. My third use is Looping. Hard to practice looping without a monitor system of some sort. But for day-to-day play I do not pull out my amp. |
#14
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I know, right????
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#15
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I'll second what Larry says about using an amp with loop pedals. It's a ton of fun to create simple, basic loops through an amp and then play your own 'leads' over top of them. I find it's a great way to make practice fun, especially when you don't have others to play along with. It's also a useful tool if you ever do decide to start playing for parties or even small gigs at some point. There are many decent sounding small acoustic amps available nowadays that won't break the bank, I wouldn't hesitate to add one.
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TRW1 |