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Why buy an expensive acoustic amp?
Chiefbigeasy
New Orleans, LA✭✭✭ Dupont MDC 50; The Loar LH6, JWC Catania Swing; Ibanez AFC151-SRR Contemporary Archtop
After years of fussing with contact pick ups, attachable microphones and the like for playing small gigs in bars and restaurants, I have come to the conclusion that they are more trouble than they are worth. I see so many pros playing with a Peche or other magnetic pick up.
I have come to very much enjoy the Krivo gold slim. It has a very natural sound, and because it’s a humbucker, it doesn’t make the single coil hum noise in certain orientations with the amplifier.
As for the amp, I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of my Schertler David. It works well with contact or magnetic pick ups. It has the added bonus of being able to plug in a microphone for the singer in the band, so I don’t have to set up a separate PA speaker. The problem is, it has developed some noise and shorting out sounds that I have had to send to factory rep repair people to fix, and it’s still is having problems. I think I got a lemon, unfortunately.
I’ve been contemplating purchasing an AER Compact 60, but it occurs to me that since I am not using an acoustic pick up set up, why I pay all that money for an acoustic amp? I have a nice Fender Superchamp 2 with amp emulation including a Roland jazz amp. It sounds great with my electric solid and jazz guitars, so why wouldn’t my acoustic guitar with a magnetic pick up sound just as good? The only downside upfront is the fact that it does not have a separate channel for a microphone input, so I would lose that versatility for my plugging in my singer’s mic.
Anyone have experience with plugging into a regular amp with a Peche or Krivo or other magnetic pickup? Seems like Django’s Peche and electric amp set up was exactly that.
Comments
I have a Peche and plug it into the Boss Street Cube II. It sounds fantastic. The sims are very editable as well, if you want to get close to a vintage overdriven sound. It also can take a microphone (I've never done it so can't comment on the sound quality) and it can run on BATTERIES which last a surprisingly long time. It has it's single coil funkiness, but if I start gigging with it and can't turn a certain way, I'll likely get a hum reducing pedal. In either case, it seems to me that the Peche is just like running a single-coil electric guitar. Plug it in and rock it out!
The one reason I have used an AT sound hole mic/AER combo for gigs is because you can easily DI right to the board. I have a 5w Fender amp and Kleio (also with a Hum Debugger, great pedal), which sound IMMENSE together, but most of my gigs have some sort of PA and no time/equipment to mic the amp and push the stage volume.
That being said, the Kleio into the AER still sounds pretty good, and I've used that setup to fight feedback and it works. I think Josh Kaye from Stephane Wrembel's band will do that at gigs as well and his tone always sounds great. I bought a Fairfield Barbershop pedal that I was hoping would make the Kleio/AER combo sound more tube-like, but that didn't really work. But into the Fender, it sounds fantastic. Hopefully someday I'll have a gig where I can make that work.
I haven’t gigged this way, just playing around at bedroom volumes to figure out the setup. I have an Ischell and a Kleio for pickups, and a fishman loudbox and tweed Princeton clone (like a 5w champ with a tone control) for amps. I played around with every permutation. I found that I could run the electric pickup though the acoustic amp in a pinch, but it’s not nearly as satisfying as running it through the tweed amp. Of course that is a specific sound and may not fit the vibe you are going for. I definitely see the appeal of the easiest setup. If you are not wanting to spend as much money, have you considered the Bugera AER clone?
It sounds great with my electric solid and jazz guitars, so why wouldn’t my acoustic guitar with a magnetic pick up sound just as good?
It will sound just as good with the Krivo. As others have mentioned, an acoustic voiced amp will not be as satisfying sound with that setup.
@JSanta with your tube amp combo, you can always supply your own mic and a stand so the sound tech only needs to run a cable into the board. That doesn't add a lot of complexity for you and makes it quick for the tech.
Totally appreciate that rationale - but often times I'm also the tech and trying to manage band stand volume and PA volume drives my anxiety up the wall. At least in my case, it's just easier to use the AER. And since I only gig on rhythm, the AT clip-on/AER combo usually works. Thankfully the Fender sounds pretty darn good at low volumes, but not as nice when you can push some actual volume. I had an outdoor gig in the fall, and it was freaking great getting to mic the Fender and push some air.
I use the Peche and Kleio with a Vintage 47 VA-185g tube amp. It works very well and can do the broken up 50's Django thing if you're able to push the amp hard enough (it can get loud).
I have the Bugera AER clone and it can be a little bright/harsh with those pickups IMO. Adding a preamp pedal between the guitar and amp can make it work though.
Interesting thread. Like @JSanta I only gig on rhythm, but usually run a dpa4099 into a headway eb2 preamp into my aer or acoustic image. I carry around a Krivo for emergency moments when there are drums or the volume needs are too high and risk feedback - then I will use the krivo into what I brought. I have an Ampeg at home that needs some work; but loved the sound of the Krivo into that when it was working perfectly. Having said this- My usual gigging amp these days is the aer compact60/2 as it is quite light and I can take it on the subways easier then anything else I own.
If I could find a tube amp with great sound and enough power/volume and light enough for the subway- I'd use it.
For the occasional duo gig where I might need more then one sound - I've brought rather too much gear; but would love one guitar and two amps for that - one aer or acoustic image (depending on if I drive/uber or take the subway!) and the ampeg! Working on that with my new guitar from @paulmcevoy75 - trying to find the right magnetic pickup (currently thinking a benedetto a6) and wire it up hopefully soon.
I haven't used it much with my Selmerish guitars but I just feel like anyone not buying a Boss Katana 100 is making a mistake. The onboard amps sound really good I think. But currently I'm plugging my HX Stomp into the power amp input on the back so just getting a loudspeaker.
I need to experiment with piezos and preamps and stuff but I feel fairly certain it will do most things well at a crazy good price. You can also add bluetooth capability to it and make changes with your phone.
I will report back at some point when I've done more with it but it seems like the perfect swiss army knife. I am getting the best "jazz" tone I've ever gotten from an amp.
As far as something to plug a Peche or a Krivo into, I think it would be great.
My son has a katana and I’ve played with it some. Using the native sounds I dialed in a “tweed” type setting and it was great with the Kleio. I’ve also used it as you described to amplify my Hx stomp and that works even better. If you have that you can use the Gibson EH-185/Charlie Christian amp which works even better than the fender tweed style.
yeah additionally I think there will be pedals soon that run .nam files and it seems easy enough to profile and share any amp with that. @DoubleWhisky is on this case. But you could put the pedal into the power amp section and be running a profile of something very old and cool.
It's a very useful swiss army knife, as far as I can tell. Again, I haven't used it for all that much, but having a power amp section seems super powerful (the power amp is just running whatever you input without any color or processing).
By the same token, I think HX Stomp makes pure poweramps but I think the Katana amps and effects are a really good backup and useful in their own right, so it seems superior to me.