Acoustic Electric Guitars
Get
That Extra From Acoustic Electric Guitars When You Need
It
As you probably know, I love playing
the flat top six string but sometimes I need my music
amplified for larger areas. That's when acoustic electric
guitars really shine! Acoustic electric guitars are
not much different from your normal acoustic guitar. The
main difference is the addition of a pickup. In an acoustic
guitar, there is no built-in pickup. If you want to amplify
the signal, you need to either stick a pick up under the
bridge, or sit close to the microphone.
Less To Carry With You
With an aoustic electric guitar,
however, the pickup is built right into the guitar body.
This has obvious advantages. It makes it easier to amplify
signals since you can just plug in to a guitar cable. It
also means that you have less gear to carry around. You
don't have to keep an extra pick up on hand for playing a
gig.
Play The Acoustic Electric Guitar
With The Pickup Or By The Mike - The Choice Is
Yours
There are some people who do not like
using the amplifiers built into acoustic electric guitars.
They would rather sit near to a microphone and pick up the
guitar that way. This gives a dryer, sparser sort of sounds
more suitable to rhythmic playing. But I've always liked
acoustic electric guitars even when I want to amplify with a
normal microphone.
The reason is, having an acoustic
pickup built in doesn't stop you from using other means to
pick up the sound. You can still use a normal mic to record
the sound of your guitar. You simply have the option of
adding the onboard guitar pickup.
Get
Variable Sounds From The Acoustic Electric
Guitar
This is also nice if you like to
experiment with sounds. A lot of people I know who play
acoustic electric guitars like to mix sounds from different
sources. You can use a bridge pickup and mix it with a
microphone pickup, for example. Some guitarists even take it
a step further, adding contact mics on to the guitar body at
various points. Depending where you pick up a signal, you
will get all sorts of sounds from the guitar.
This allows you to tweak your sound,
getting just the right signal for whatever project you are
working on. It also gives your sound mixer more options when
you are playing a live show and trying to compensate for
whatever peculiarities the club has in its acoustic
performance.
Types Of Amps
When it comes to changing your
acoustic guitar to electric, you'll find many options. There
are full sized electric guitar amps, and then there are the
practice size. These vary greatly
in sound and capability, but you often want to start out
with the practice amp.
This is about a foot to a foot and a
half square, and has very few options on it. However, this
is perfect when someone starts out with the electric guitar.
These electric guitar amps are far less expensive than the
larger ones you would need for performance, but they do what
they need to do and they can do it well. Most keep one later
on for home use.
Buying Larger Electric Guitar
Amps
When it comes time to buy the larger
and performance based electric guitar amps, you have to take
some more time to see what you want to get. There are some
types of amps that are better than others, and there are
some brands that people prefer.
Each of the different brands of
electric guitar amps have their own unique sound. Some work
better with different types of music, and other times,
people just have a preference for a sound no matter what
type of music they play. So, you have to make the final
decision about the type amplifier and your current
needs.
Is Your Favorite Acoustic Guitar
Available As An Electric?
Only one drawback; sometimes you run
into problems of availability. Some high-quality models
simply aren't available as acoustic electric guitars.
Fortunately, portable pickups have gotten so good at this
doesn't have to be a big obstacle.
Changing Accoustic To Electric By
Installing Portable Pickups
You can simply stick a pick up under
the bridge and mix in the signal as if you were using a
factory unit. Of course, you won't have an onboard mixer
like acoustic electric guitars do, but you can always add a
mixer into your signal line. It may be a little bit less
convenient, but you can still get the sound you
like.
So, if you are into flat tops, but
need a boost in sound, you'll love the versatility of
carrying your acoustic electric guitar to your next show.
Get the sound you need and give your audience the volume
they want. Now, play something!
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