|
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 34
Location: Germany | Talking to electric guitar players you always get more information than you like about how they make their personal sound. However, when I bought an electro-acoustic Ovation a few month ago, I hardly found any information about how players of EA guitars create their amplified sound. So, I just tried it out - that’s the way I do it now. I usually plug my Elite 6778 lx into the “bright” input of my H&K Montana Acoustic Amp using a Planet-Wave cord. This gives me a clear EA sound. Playing fingerpickings alone or accompanied with a blues harp I just press the pre shape button and add some bass and sometimes a little treble on the guitar EQ, that’s it. But the set up is more flexible – especially because of the semi parametric mids on the H&K Amp. Hence, playing with the band I always reduce the low mids a little what makes the whole band sound more clear since every one adds something in this frequency range. What I also always use is a little hall from the spring reverb build in the amp.
Well, this works fine for the Blues and Folk stuff that we do. But I can’t say, that I’m completely satisfied. Piezo pickups always tend to overstate the bright frequencies, create a lot of brittle tones with sharp edges. I’m really would like to reduce this – make a warmer softer sound.
I also don’t use other FX than the reverb so far. If some one has some good experiences with FX on acoustic guitars, I am very interested in trying them. I recently bought a Zoom504II Acoustic multi FX – but the low (16 bits) resolution ruins the sound to my ears so this goes to E-bay net time.
So, what I m interested in is: What kind of equipment do you like/use? How do you reduce the harsh sounds of the piezos? Do you prefer an acoustic amp or do you play directly (or via DI-Box) into the PA? Do you use the pre shape setting or do you create you personal sound with own 32 Band EQ settings? What kinds of Fx do you use for what kind of music?
Lets share the knowledge about good amplifying and sound making of electro-acoustic guitars. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 295
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Welcome to the OFC. I play into an acoustic amp, and the only effects I use are the ones built into the amp - a touch of reverb, and sometimes some chorus.
The other OFC members will probably tell you that you'll get a better A/E sound using a PA instead of an amp. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Massachusetts | I have a Balladeer S771 with the OP24. What is interesting about this guitar/preamp is that it is very bassy and mellow with the eq flat.
This is great because you can add more bass, take it away, tweek the highs, use the shape switch to scoop it, it is insanely flexible.
It does sound like a piezo though.
I bought(then returned) a 2001 Custom Legend because even with medium strings I could not eq in any bass, it was bright. Sure very acoustic like but if it's an Ovation it's got to be mellow out of the block then tweek.
I usually just run into a tube amp that for the most part I eq flat then eq the guitar if I want more bass etc.
I did for kicks run the O through a Boss GE-7 eq and I noticed if I tweeked just the high frequency fader I could add a little more highs so it sounded a tad more acoustic like. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | I have an Elite LX 6778 and use a purley acoustic amp made by Kustom. The feedback is less then when playing purely acoustic. I have it fine tuned and pretty much keep it set.
I want a purely electric someday but for now I am satisfied.
I wish there was a new "O" that was pure electric.....or is there one out there? :D |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | I go straight through my Makie Srm450's. I always get compliments on the sound. People always approach me after the shows with nothing but respect and admiration for the guitar and the overall performance.
I played through the baby blond...it had a great sound as well the strawberry blond amp. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | EliteLX
Haven't you heard of 70's Vipers, Breadwinners, Deacons, and UKII's, and other solid body Ovations that are fast becoming Legends of the solid body type? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 34
Location: Germany | Well, it seems that most of us playing acoustic guitars have not extensively used FX to increase the sound. As acoustic players we love the natural sound, but amplified we don’t get it just by not using electronic equipment, I guess. Well, don’t look at e-guitar FX-boards. Using distortions on an acoustic guitar will not increase the sound, I guess.
However, there are some FX that can be interesting and helpful. With noise gates you can reduce unpleasant sounds like e.g. bumping with a glass slide against the fretboard. This happened to me during a recording and was amplified by the piezo pu. The engineer was able to reduce the bumps just by figuring out what the bumping frequencies were and turning them down when they occur. Well, training of my hand not to bump against the fretboard will save the money. But noise gates also help you with feedbacks…
A compressor reduces the dynamic of your play. With it you can make your play more present e.g. helpful loud in rock songs. It reduces the already loud attack of down strokes, hence you can increase the volume what makes gentle parts of the tone louder, increase sustain... Carefully used you still have the dynamic you need but you are more present in the bands sound.
With a good equalizer you have more control over your sound. If you want, you can sound like an old radio witch is not only useful for “Wish you were here” but suits also well to Tom Waits related stuff. On the other hand, if you figure out what the unpleasant hash frequencies of the piezos are you can reduce them what makes your sound more soft and natural. Or playing together with other guitars you can increase only the typical frequencies of you instrument, which are indeed different in O compared to Taylors or others. Hence, the audience can follow your part easier because it is no longer obscured by another guitar.
Unfortunately I know this only in theory. I read a book called “mixing workshop” about running PAs and recording stuff (sorry German). But now I m looking for people who actually use such things and who would like to share their experience with us. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 234
Location: Phoenix, AZ | Originally posted by Elite LX:
I have an Elite LX 6778 and use a purley acoustic amp made by Kustom. The feedback is less then when playing purely acoustic.
I'm afraid I don't understand. You say you have less feedback when amplified than when not amplified. How can this be? Isn't feedback a result of the speaker cone picking up the acoustic sound of guitar, so the speaker is actually trying to broadcast both the acoustic sound picked up by the cone and the sound transmitted to the amp via the pickup and the cord? If so, how could you have any feedback when playing without the amp? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 580
Location: NW NJ | I run my O's through a Boss AD3 then into the amp or PA. Has some nice tone shaping ability to get rid of the piezo brittleness. Others here have also said that they like the AD5 as well, but I like the AD3 because it is a floor pedal and I can turn the chorus on or off easily without extra stuff, and it rund on batteries real well. My 2 cents. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Depends what your looking for in an amplified acoustic guitar sound. My own goal is to get as natural a sound as possible, with plenty headroom & no feedback. I'm a big fan of the Boss AD5, but lately I've been using Focusrite studio mic-pres/voice processors. They have class A preamps, photo-optical compression & parametric EQ plus they can supply phantom power to the Optima/Op50 Ovation preamps. It's a pretty expensive route, but I'm getting the cleanest, loudest most feedback-free live sound I've ever had. The only effect I use is a tiny amount of digital reverb, usually a plate simulation. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 53
Location: Canada | Everytime I speak to someone regarding my O they usually say "ya they only sound good plugged in". I have owned my O for about a year and only plugged it in twice! I love the way it sounds not plugged in. |
|
| |
Maybe we all can learn from this thread