Acoustic guitar 'rig' for country player

[Jack]

Hi all,

 

Unusual request, just looking for some advice please. I've joined a jam band with an old friend and we're at the point where we're going to start shopping for gigs. Out of the 5 of us, 2 of us (me being one of them) have played in plenty of gigging bands before and we have hundreds if not thousands under our belts between us. The drummer and the singer haven't gigged before but they are sorted. The issue is with the acoustic guitarist. He's a nice fella and a great player but never left the bedroom. Currently they own a nice selection of acoustic guitars and that's it. No stage gear to speak of. I even had to show him how to plug into the amp at the rehearsal space, no joke he had the instrument cable from the guitar in the speaker output of the head.

 

Have any of you ever played acoustic guitar in a band or been in band with someone who has? Advice for what gear you need to be able to actually do that? I would lend him my Fishman Platinum Pro, but once I've done that once I'll be doing it at every gig and I don't want to start a precedent. 

 

We have a full pa setup so he could go ampless and then rely on the wedges I suppose. I get the impression that most acoustic guitar amps are relatively flat anyway? Or do nice-but-mid-range acoustics benefit from some tone sweetening? So is it just a plain DI box then to get the guitar into the mixer? I think that all of his guitars have built in preamps and tuners, so just a passive DI would work. But then wouldn't it be nice to have some eq and feedback fighting options on the floor? Or a better tuner? Do the inbuilt ones on guitars work on loud stages under bright lights? What's a good budget acoustic guitar amp? Or preamp pedal? I have seen the Sonicake ones that look alright but they don't have a tuner. Do multi effect pedals work well with acoustics? It occurs to me that something like a Mooer/NUX/Valeton 'hx-stomp-alike' might be a good solution to this? I don't even know how to ask an intelligent question on this as you might have guessed. I own an electro acoustic and if I had to play it live I'd just plug into the quad cortex or the aforementioned Fishman, but that's because I already own those solutions and I'm not an acoustic guitarist by trade. I'm trying to remember back to when I've shared a bill with acoustic guitarists or when we've worked weddings and I've had them through my desk and pa as the first acts. I think most of them have had some sort of pedalboard, mostly with looper pedals, but I guess that's not appropriate for a band.

 

I guess what I'm asking is: for a player who has been playing for a long time but who is brand new to playing live (and who is on a tight budget) should we go amp or pedal board? If so what are some good cheap options in those categories? Is there anything else here that I haven't thought of?

 

Thanks in advance. 

[casapete]

The Behringer AD121 pre amp/modeller is maybe an obvious choice for dipping your toe in the water. Useful bit of kit,

and worth the £22 new price for the DI capability alone. A friend uses one to bring his electro acoustic to life, and it works very well. Regarding amps, Fishman have a good range although if you keep a watch on the small ads you can find some tidy s/h Trace Elliot acoustic combos for not a lot of dosh. Lots of features and well made, as you’d expect from TE. 😊

 

[tauzero]

I play at several open mic nights where most of the guitars are acoustics with pickups. They get run straight into the mixer. Same for the singer's acoustic with my second band, which he just uses on a few songs.

 

It would be an idea to get a feedback blocker - a disc that fits into the soundhole and reduces feedback issues. https://sygnusguitars.com/best-acoustic-guitar-feedback-busters/

[pete.young]

A basic DI box  into the PA will get you going. The ADI 21 is a good way to try some tone shaping, but worth buying just as a DI box even if you don't turn it on.  If you have reasonable stage monitors, that's all you need. 

 

Depending on how loud you are, and if you don't have any on-stage monitoring from the PA, a small acoustic guitar combo might be worth considering. I have a Roland AC60 which is now discontinued but can be found second-hand. There's also a 30W version, the AC30. It has an anti-feedback filter and other effects such as reverb and chorus, and best of all it can be stuck on a speaker pole so it is at ear height and he'll be able to hear himself. 

[Matt P]

i play a fair amount of acoustic (i started as a guitarist) my go-to solution is a T-rex Soul mate acoustic, it gives me tuner, eq, chorus, reverb, delay and a looper in a single unit.  I mainly use the tuner and the reverb, it's also got feedback rejection and a boost function (very useful when swapping to fingerpicking from plectrum)

 

I do own a little trace acoustic cube for when i don't have foldback but I've not needed it much.

 

they're not a cheap item but i know that there is one for sale locally to you (and me) by a basschat member on facebook. I've lent mine out and they went out and bought one for themself.  I'm running a very nice guitar (£3.5k) into it with a good quality pickup and onboard preamp (AER) and the Di output from the t-rex is excellent. if you want  to try mine out let me know. I can PM you the sellers name if you can't find it.

 

Matt

 

Edit - ive just re-read your original post and i'd missed the part about budget, the t-rex will run you somewhere around the 300-350 mark, even used, I've also put together mini acoustic pedalboards for the guitarist to use in our band (we often both play acoustic at the same time). the Micro board is Tuner - eq - chorus - reverb - Di, mostly with tc electronic and ENO pedals and a radial Di at the end, I'll see if i can get a photo tonight. with some canny shopping around this should be a bit cheaper but possibly not that much cheaper when all the parts are taken into consideration, again i'd be happy enough to bring kit over for you (and the guitarist) to test and play with.

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Matt P
extra section added

[SimonK]

As others have said a basic DI into the PA is fine (and a sound hole cover isn't a bad idea to control feedback). Most guitars have a bit of onboard EQ that does the rest of the job, otherwise the desk can EQ it fine. As acoustic guitar amplification is more about amplifying the instrument itself (in comparison to say an electric guitar) I don't think a separate amp is needed if you have foldback. I've used this setup hundreds of times without any problems.

 

Of course if you want to start playing with toys adding a Fishman Platinum Pro and then a Strymon Cloudburst to make things more fun (as one of the other guitarists I play with has), although I would go for pedals before getting an amp every time if expanding.

Edited 3 hours ago by SimonK

[lemmywinks]

Fishman Platinum Stage or Pro, probably more economical to grab a used Pro given the current prices and you can nick it for bass if he loses interest due to the switchable eq. They're basically Swiss army knives for guitars (both 6 string and proper ones) and have an especially useful feature set for acoustics. Can DI to the PA and/or go straight into a powered cab.