FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Acoustic Amplifiers

Question:
I'd like to learn some basics about acoustic guitar amplifiers. I already have a pickup & small belt preamp, so I want to learn about the amp side of things. The first requirement is avoiding feedback with adequate volume, and then good tone. How do acoustic guitar amps differ from regular electric guitar amps, what are the tube/solid state considerations (I like tube for electric), & anything else a layman/player should know? Any models you'd recommend? The music styles I'm interested in include rhythm guitar behind a rock group (eg, Tom Petty, Pretenders when they use an acoustic), fingerpicking blues & folk + slide guitar (eg, Keb Mo), country & folk rock, strummed or picked (eg, Dylan with amplified band). Assume a small- to medium-sized club or coffee house - or that there would be expert help if the venue was bigger.

Answer:
First, from what I understand, in general, acoustic amplifiers are like bass amplifiers; that is, they're both much like PAs - very clean and flat, without coloration, to reproduce the tone of the guitar clearly (and I'm aware some bass players, for instance, like to add overdrive, wah, etc., to the signal to do some funky stuff). That way, the tone of the acoustic or bass, in conjunction with the pickup system chosen for use with it, are reproduced (reasonably) optimally. For this purpose, solid-state has it big-time over tube, because 1) solid-state is revered for it's sterile nature, and 2) because tube, other than at low outputs, is GOING to colour the natural, open tone of the acoustic, considered a drawback, in this case. As for feedback, many acoustic amplifiers are built with notch filters, which allow you to dial up to the guitar's feedback frequency and cancel it - I believe you can also do this, to some degree of success, with an EQ (rack or pedal). So, your belt preamp would be reserved for use, presumably, for headphones, and an acoustic amp for performance. And many players mic the guitar, obliquely toward the soundhole with a dynamic mic and a condenser mic obliquely toward the twelfth fret, to capture its presence and shimmer, and then feed both signals directly into a PA or recording console, eliminating the amplifier altogether. The natural tone of the acoustic IS the fundamental consideration, in this case. And volume is somewhat secondary, since it's a simple matter to mic the output of your acoustic amp and increase its output through the house PA.