One amp for both electric and acoustic?
If I want to play blues on my Squire Strat, and then later mic up my acoustic for some boom chucka John Cash, then what one amp could I invest in? Something I could mic a Shure 57 to for the acoustic. I have read that not all modeling amps are good for mic'ing an acoustic too.
# 1
I have found it very difficult to get an acoustic to sound good through an electric guitar amp. Hopefully someone here will have solved the problem and can give you some good advice.
I haven't tried it in a few years, so possibly things have changed for the better.
I haven't tried it in a few years, so possibly things have changed for the better.
# 2
Like Jon said, the conundrum is real... Getting an organic sounding acoustic tone through an electric amp is tough. So, in that, it depends on what your expectations are of your electric guitar and acoustic guitar tones independently of each other.
I would scratch the idea of micing an acoustic into an electic guitar amp to start with. I would look at a soundhole pickup like the LR Baggs M-1 pickup. Can grab one for 100 bucks on MusiciansFriend.com... This will get your acoustic signal into an amp friendly signal path while still giving a good representation of your guitars tone.
The trick with going back and forth between an acoustic and an electric is controlling the volume levels between the two. The input levels are going to be drastically different so one channel won't suffice for both instruments. You would want something with either two channels or two inputs and independent volume controls for each channel/input. This will allow you to simply switch between the two by selecting a difference channel or input and the volume levels will remain in check.... This will also help control feedback.
As for an amp... a Vox AC15 comes to mind. It has a great capacity for clean tone but can get really dirty in the Top Boost input. You could run your acoustic through the Normal input and your electric through the Top Boost input and simply use an ABY pedal to select which input is active. Each input has a designated volume and the amp has a master volume.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
I would scratch the idea of micing an acoustic into an electic guitar amp to start with. I would look at a soundhole pickup like the LR Baggs M-1 pickup. Can grab one for 100 bucks on MusiciansFriend.com... This will get your acoustic signal into an amp friendly signal path while still giving a good representation of your guitars tone.
The trick with going back and forth between an acoustic and an electric is controlling the volume levels between the two. The input levels are going to be drastically different so one channel won't suffice for both instruments. You would want something with either two channels or two inputs and independent volume controls for each channel/input. This will allow you to simply switch between the two by selecting a difference channel or input and the volume levels will remain in check.... This will also help control feedback.
As for an amp... a Vox AC15 comes to mind. It has a great capacity for clean tone but can get really dirty in the Top Boost input. You could run your acoustic through the Normal input and your electric through the Top Boost input and simply use an ABY pedal to select which input is active. Each input has a designated volume and the amp has a master volume.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
# 3
With a creative approach I think you can make anything work. I have heard my acoustic through my Super Reverb sound great, and also plugged an electric into an acoustic sound and liked that sound too.
Jon is correct though, it can be tough to get one amp to do both sadly as the speakers and preamps are built differently to handle the characteristics of the instrument. I would not suggest micing an acoustic with an SM57. That's a dynamic mic that won't sound right.
Your best approach is to get a pickup in your acoustic, along with a feedback buster that fits in your sound hole to prevent any feedback. From there you can use one amp for both if you have too.
Good luck!
- Douglas
Jon is correct though, it can be tough to get one amp to do both sadly as the speakers and preamps are built differently to handle the characteristics of the instrument. I would not suggest micing an acoustic with an SM57. That's a dynamic mic that won't sound right.
Your best approach is to get a pickup in your acoustic, along with a feedback buster that fits in your sound hole to prevent any feedback. From there you can use one amp for both if you have too.
Good luck!
- Douglas
Douglas Showalter
# 4
