Small desktop amp for acoustic guitar?

Gear & Tools Talk 🔊 Amplification & Effects
8

Ok. Looks nice and very handy. I have been thinking about the yamaha Yamaha THR5A or something similar.

I have not decided on anything yet. Wanted to hear others opinion if its even worth the money with the amp. I might have to go into a shop and try one out.

9

Hej Trond,

I’m going to do you a big favour and save you from a lot of debating and soul-searching.

When I stumble across a heavily tatted dude with a beard that wouldn’t be out of place in a ZZ-Top line-up, playing REM and Eddie Vedder and sharing the latest Madrugada album, and he happens to mention “it looks like a lot of fun with an amp and some effects”-
Well, Mr. Moth, you might as well head straight into that light.
It will be ecstasy or hell, but we all know it is inevitable.
Guy’s goin’ electric! :sunglasses:
Yes, like Mr. Zimmerman, you should buy yourself an electric guitar too, something like a Yamaha Pacifica (or HB Fusion 3 like I did recently)
There are others here who are better placed to advise you on ideal armaments for the upcoming battles, but I would recommend avoiding the very cheap.
I have a THR desk amp and yes, it does more than I can understand, and I love it. (If you can afford it the wireless model gives a lot of flexibility.)
You will probably keep them and have fun, and if they are really not for you, you can still sell them on and will be richer for the experience.
There you go.
You’re welcome :smiley:
Mvh etc.

10

Hahahahahaha!!! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I am sold @brianlarsen i think i will go down that road and get an amp. You convinced me :rofl:

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11

I’ve been having a lot of fun plugging my acoustic into an old Roland MicroCube amp, leftover from a previous unsuccessful attempt to learn electric.

Can get surprisingly good electric crunch when practicing power chords, and will tide me over until I decide to dive back into electrics again.

And adding reverb, delay, chorus, etc to acoustic tones can really fill out your sound too.

12

Yep. Im pretty sure i would like an amp a lot.
But is it possible to use an regular amp designed for el. guitar with a acoustic guitar??

If so. Why bother buy one for acoustic guitar? Would be better to buy one you can use for both electrical and acoustic in case i choose to go for an el. Guitar further down the road.

13

Good call Tron.

I only use my amp for my electrics and then that connect to the PC for recording via my Audio Interface. If I want to record my acoustics the one with the onboard pre-amp gets plugged into the AI and the standard one gets a mic stuffed in front of it.

If I played my acoustics via the amp to the point the amp was louder, either the windows would get blown out or my missus would show me the door.

Go amp, go electric.

:sunglasses:

14

This is a bit too technical for me @TheMadman_tobyjenner :rofl:

So if i buy an amp that is designed for electrical guitar, i could also use my acoustic on the same amp?

If so, there is a nobrainer. Then i would buy an amp designed for electrical guitars and plug my acoustic in it. I will most likely get a electrical guitar at some point anyway.

15

Not Toby, but the answer is yes, you should be able to plug any acoustic equipped with a pickup and a preamp into an electric guitar amp, and it will work. (We are all assuming your acoustic has a pickup
if not, a mic is your only option).

I strongly suggest you take your guitar down to a music shop, and try some amps. You’ll know in a few minutes if it is worth pursuing.

But I expect you’re going to love it!

-Tom

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16

A couple of other points:

  1. Expect a LOT of feedback at first. You’ll need to learn how to mute strings
which is essential for electric playing anyway.

  2. I’d suggest a simple practice amp with built in digital effects. Something that has knobs for all the functions. Anything more complex could be really frustrating while you are learning.

  3. Ask about used gear
music stores often have trade-ins at good prices.

-Tom

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17

Thanks @Tbushell

Then the next stupid question comes to mind :grin:
Why do acoustic amps exist? Yes. Both my acoustics has preamps installed. So no worries there.
Yes. I guess i head down to a store and just try some out.

18

I get it
 internet searches does wonders sometime. As i understood it. Yes. You can easily use an electrical guitar amp on an acoustic guitar. But it will not sound as nice as an acoustic amp.

I think im going to aim for a easy to use acoustic desktop amp, its acoustic guitar i play after all :grin:

Thanks for all the advices :+1:

19

i’d encourage you to do that. My first acoustic amp was a significant disappointment. To the degree that I didn’t use it. Then I visited a friend with a better quality (much better) and was blown away at how good it sounded.

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20

First thing I think of:
A mobile cube for desktop or “everywhere” use or a street cube for busking
It has a decent delay or reverb and its tone control does alot for you.

21

Yep. Something along those lines i was thinking about as well. Yamaha has some that looks pretty neat.

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22

The main difference between electric guitar amps and acoustic guitar amps is how they colour the sound.

But an electric guitar amp will still work fine with an acoustic guitar.

Some desktop guitar amps, like the Yamaha THR series, have settings for Acoustic guitars as well as for electric.

Cheers,

Keith

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23

I just bought a portable Blackstar fly3 for use with both my semi acoustic and electric guitar and it is fantastic!! I wouldn’t need anything bigger and love that it runs on batteries too.

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24

@tRONd - did you settle on acoustic desktop amp? I’m curious 18 months on whether you’re happy with which ever route you went. I’m looking at similar options that would support two channels for an electro-acoustic guitar and a microphone. It would be ideal to also be able to hard wire to my Mac and have bluetooth connection to my mobile. (So far I’ve been digging out old threads to see who else has gone down a similar path!)

25

Hi @Sound_Bound

Yep. I did settle down with an amp
 i went for the Yamaha THR30II
I am super happy with it, its not an acoustic amp, but it has an acoustic channel on it so you can amp up your acoustic and get some effects out of it.
For an electrical it has almost endless settings and possibilitys


That said
 i never use it :rofl:

But my daughter use it everyday, and she knows it quite well by now. She can get some cool sounds and loud volumes out of it.
It is only used on electrical guitars these days, it also serves as her «stereo system» in her room.

The drawback on it is that there is not an output for a mic on it. Other than that it can be used to pretty much everything
. And it does not look too bad either.
I think there is a lot of «bang for the bucks» for this one, you can get in black as well. I would have chosen black if it was an option back then, but it was only in the beige version.

@brianlarsen has the same amp, and i am sure he knows more details avout it than i can give you. Pretty sure he can back me up in what i have said about it, dont think he has any complaints about it either


I did do some kind of review on it some time ago as well. Should be in the link below.

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26

The THR amps are great!
I have a THR5A which is their microphone modeling amp for acoustic and I use it with an SLG200s which is one of Yamaha’s Silent Guitar offerings.

27

For me I would rarely use an amp with an acoustic at home.

Perhaps occasionally if I want the acoustic vibe but with reverb or something.