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Post subject: Running an acoustic guitar through a Silverface amplifier
Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 12:25 pm
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I saw a couple of artists such as Kurt Cobain and Ani DiFranco playing their acoustic guitars through Fender electric guitar amplifiers.


I like the Silverface amps a lot and I'm not sure if it's possible to use an acoustic guitar with a conventional electric guitar amplifier, though I know that Fender produces Acoustasonic acoustic guitar amplifiers.

I don't care much for acoustic guitar amplification and prefer to use my old Yammy FG dreadnought acoustic with a good ol' silverface Twin Reverb 135W from the late 1970s.

Which settings should I use to achieve an optimal result? (I opt for a nice warm clean acoustic sound with a subtle hint of boost and a slight amount of reverb).


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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 1:17 pm
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I've done this before for small shows where we didn't have enough monitors to run guitars through the PA and used a Princeton Reverb and a Hartke? guitar combo on the other player. Just know that unlike running it through a DI and a full-range PA, your guitar amp will be rolling off a lot of the highs from your acoustic, so it will sound less "sparkly."

Settings? Set to taste; you'll probably need to back off the treble a bit to keep it from being harsh, but see what you like. If it sounds good, it is good.

If you don't have one, get a rubber feedback stopper for the soundhole to eliminate low-end feedback. They're about $10-12 or less and well worth the money.

Today for the same show, I'd run the guitar into a Radial JDI direct box and then send a signal to the PA, and the thru connection to the guitar; mix to taste.

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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 3:30 pm
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Good advice from Nedorama!

I'd add to that using the amp's tone controls only sparingly and whatever you do, stay away from the "bright" switch. If you have a nice chorus pedal, they can provide a pleasing tone to an acoustic guitar when used in moderation.

HTH

Arjay


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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 5:40 pm
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Hi Chrome, I've used acoustic- electrics through an old Twin Reverb and a Band Master, with good results. I was able to get it loud enough to play with the drums. It doesn't reproduce all of the timbre and resonance of the acoustic, but I really like it for blues, country-rock, and faux jazz. And like the other guys said, a little tone tweaking on the amp goes along way. Art

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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 1:15 am
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Thanks for the advice.

Using a Twin Reverb with an acoustic guitar sounds fine, but I'd opt for an alternative solution to my problem.

Yet I'm looking for a good-sounding PA mixer, but built in the classic CBS-era silverface platform. Perhaps a PA-100 or a PA-135 is more suitable for my FG dreadnought. These silverface piggyback heads feature 4 separate channels with dual inputs and a 3-band EQ. They also got a huge silver faceplate with master volume and reverb!

Some PA-100/135s had a black aluminum grillcloth instead of the usual sparkling blue and Zodiac orange grilles found on many silverfaced amps of that era.

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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 1:30 pm
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I've heard that Jorma K. recorded Embroynic Journey thru a Deluxe Reverb.

I play my Taylor with KK Mini Western PU thru my DRRI and it sounds good. I also run thru my Carvin X-amp and the DDRI with a stereo chorus that sounds neat.

Whatever works!


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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:55 pm
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Man, you got me, I've never seen one of those PA 100-135 mixers. Can you tell me anything about how they're powered? Solid state or tube? Or both? The EQ knobs kind of indicate that they are the active type, like the Super Twin. Looks like a very cool option for the Yamaha. Art

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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:04 pm
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They were tube-powered, Art. Basically the output stage of a Twin Reverb or Dual Showman Reverb with 4 x 6L6's. They started out at 100 watts and ended up at 135 with the advent of the ultra-linear circuit. The tone stacks were passive -- pretty much like the guitar amps of the era. Here's the schematic......

http://www.schematicheaven.com/fenderamps/pa135.pdf

Arjay


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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 11:57 am
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Thanks Arjay. I wonder how they sound? It would be pretty hefty to haul around, though. Art

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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 12:45 pm
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To be honest, I've never actually heard one.

By the time these things were released, most everybody I knew (including my band) had graduated from the "Shure Vocal-Masher" era to the the new S/S pro stereo stuff from Peavey, Crown, Yamaha, etc.

I'm sure they're built well......but for the life of me I cannot see the merit or superiority of the design, given the then-contemporary competition.

Arjay


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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 6:02 am
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I'm not a fan of running acoustic guitars through conventional electric guitar amps. That doesn't mean I've never done it. When money was tight in the early days that's all we could afford to do but it didn't sound right to my ears and it was always a source of frustration for me. Running through the p/a is a very good option but that can also present issues if there's is not enough monitor for the player. The best solution I have found is to use a dedicated acoustic amp which serves the guitarist as both a personal monitor and tone shaping control and use the line out from the amp to feed signal to the mixing board. Not all acoustic amps are created equal though and some are truly nasty sounding so you don't want to buy the first one you see. I've tried every Fender acoustic amp made and while they are all fairly good and considerably better than some of the crappy ones they are still not the best. For acoustic tone purists the Ultrasound 250 Professional is an excellent choice. For people like me who want that same studio grade acoustic tone but also want the option to blend in just a touch of tube warmth and compression for live performances the Genz-Benz Shenandoah Pro LT is very hard to beat. That's what I use and it's the best rig I've come across yet for my purposes. When people ask me how it sounds I tell them it sounds like my guitar. The best compliment you can give an acoustic amp.

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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 9:02 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
To be honest, I've never actually heard one.


Never heard a PA-135?

Well, here's a cool YouTube video showing the silverface PA-135 in action!

The magic came from a Vox Custom 25 plugged directly into the channel 3 of the PA-135. Truly amazing clean single-coil Strat tone with a hint of reverb!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqjDsc1Kw3I


Last edited by chromeface on Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 9:08 pm
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spv0GxhBomQ


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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 9:40 pm
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Yes, very cool. Wonder how it might work for the acoustic-electric? Art

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