BillFitzmaurice.info

Alright all you guitar players, my daughter has an acoustic/electric and I had bought her a cheap little practice amp a couple of years ago. She has progressed
quite a bit with her playing and is interested in a new amp. Building her one is not in the cards right now so I thought I would see what kind of recommendations
everyone has. I am not made of money so value is high on my list.
thanks ahead of time
Richard

Tough question, as tone is so subjective. Couple of questions to help narrow things down:

What style of music does she play? Not too many metallers use Fender Twins, conversely, you're unlikely to see a Soldano in a country blues band.

How much better are you looking to go? Is she going to be gigging with it, or is she looking for a better amp to practice with?

A

Mainly Christian music and some top 40 or pop music. She is a Young Life Christian group leader and they have gatherings with around 50 people or so.
She is playing a Seagull Acoustic/electric guitar

Buy an acoustic amp off Craig's List. Cheaper and faster than anything you can build.
Recommendations include Crate TAXI or Limo.
Roland AC33/AC 60
Fender Acoustisonic series.
Yes, I know these cost 200-400 new, but on CL you can get used stuff for < 1/2

I'm sure that I have left off many other good alternarives, as sure as other posters
will list them for us.

If you need more than that for 50 people, then you start moving into small PA land
where you need a small PA with 2 Jack-10's

A cheap powered mixer will set you back $150new (less on CL)

Moe wrote:Buy an acoustic amp off Craig's List. Cheaper and faster than anything you can build.

+1 on this. Trying to build/power one would just be a hassle for this purpose, really. For acoustic there's really no variation. Once you start getting into distortion and tubes, then there's plenty to pick from but very few that do exactly what you want. That's where building your own, modding, and spending over $1k for a head comes into play.

I just received my ZT Lunchbox LBG2 combo, see http://www.ztamplifiers.com and it is a little powerhouse. I'm no player, but in capable hands, I see it as a perfect acoustic/electric amp. Plus, if the audience gets a bit larger, there is an add-on speaker jack!

DJPhatman wrote:I just received my ZT Lunchbox LBG2 combo, see http://www.ztamplifiers.com and it is a little powerhouse. I'm no player, but in capable hands, I see it as a perfect acoustic/electric amp. Plus, if the audience gets a bit larger, there is an add-on speaker jack!

Neat little practice amp, but for acoustic - that's not a good fit.

There are a lot of good little acoustic amps out there that should fit her needs. All those mentioned plus the Genz Benz line.

Bruce Weldy wrote:

DJPhatman wrote:I just received my ZT Lunchbox LBG2 combo, see http://www.ztamplifiers.com and it is a little powerhouse. I'm no player, but in capable hands, I see it as a perfect acoustic/electric amp. Plus, if the audience gets a bit larger, there is an add-on speaker jack!

Neat little practice amp, but for acoustic - that's not a good fit.

There are a lot of good little acoustic amps out there that should fit her needs. All those mentioned plus the Genz Benz line.

If you go to the website, they offer an acoustic version. And, they are not just a practice amp! The 200 Watt rating may or may not be B.S., but it gets stupid loud with just a 6 1/2" driver. I'm seriously considering buying/building an XF210 for it, but I will never gig, so I try to keep my impulses in check!

Anyway, my point is they would work very well for what the OP, and his daughter, intend to use it for. I am merely recommending a combo brand I have experience with.

DJPhatman wrote:

Bruce Weldy wrote:

DJPhatman wrote:I just received my ZT Lunchbox LBG2 combo, see http://www.ztamplifiers.com and it is a little powerhouse. I'm no player, but in capable hands, I see it as a perfect acoustic/electric amp. Plus, if the audience gets a bit larger, there is an add-on speaker jack!

Neat little practice amp, but for acoustic - that's not a good fit.

There are a lot of good little acoustic amps out there that should fit her needs. All those mentioned plus the Genz Benz line.

If you go to the website, they offer an acoustic version. And, they are not just a practice amp! The 200 Watt rating may or may not be B.S., but it gets stupid loud with just a 6 1/2" driver. I'm seriously considering buying/building an XF210 for it, but I will never gig, so I try to keep my impulses in check!

Anyway, my point is they would work very well for what the OP, and his daughter, intend to use it for. I am merely recommending a combo brand I have experience with.

I just looked at the little combo. Different voicings for electric and acoustic guitar. For what she's going, I would certainly stick with an acoustic amp.....or heck, build her a little PA.

Thanks guys, I will poke around on CL since there is no rush and see what I find.

Hi,
I play Godin XTSA which is a tri-voiced guitar. Magnet, Peizo and indivual peizos per string to drive a synth. I don't use the synth part at the moment but I use the dual voice a lot. I've always been into rock and have been trying to make my setup and teardown as simple and quick as possible.

I plug mag/peizo into a Behringer AB switch I modified to be controlled by my Boss GT-10 on a per patch basis. The output goes into two Laney Audiohub 100s which multi-instrument amps so you can plug acoustics / keyboards whatever into them.

http://www.bernsdrums.co.uk/index.php?r ... uct_id=245

I got two of them off ebay for £80 plus delivery. They are excellent and there are smaller versions available. They have a kickback design which for me means I've never heard myself so well in years. They're not perfect for me but that's not the point.

The point I'm trying to make is to widen your search to include these type of amps as well as keyboard amps since they are essentially just mini PAs in a box. I actually used them as a make shift PA when I stood in for a someone at a gig and the band needed a really quick setup without much kit.

I'ts my opinion (and it's only my opinion) that there's an awful lot of overpriced stuff out there with a nice badge on it that's marketed very well indeed!

Hope this helps.

NTB
8o)