Electro acoustic guitar or acoustic with pre-amp
The electro acoustic guitar is a popular choice at the moment, but if you’re not sure what they are or don’t know how they work, you may find this next guitar blog a useful introduction.
An electro acoustic guitar is an acoustic guitar with a pre-amp fitted (usually on the top bout of the guitar), normally powered by a PP3 9V battery. Volume and EQ controls are provided by the pre-amp. The guitar also has one (or more) pickups fitted; these can be small microphones inside the sound box, or single coils at the top of the neck, on the sound board or under saddle/ bridge piezo pickups.
There are a couple of basic issues with an electro acoustic guitar which should be noted before we go on. Firstly, they can sound completely different when put through an amp, to the acoustic tone. This is due to the depth of the sound box and the quality of the on-board pre-amp and pickups. Secondly, when plugged in, an electro acoustic guitar can feedback quickly. There are several solutions to this problem; a feedback buster which fits neatly into the sound-hole certainly works well. Many pre-amps also have a great feature which is a reverse phase. This changes the ‘shape’ of the sound and overcomes a lot of the feedback problem.
Although you can buy kits to fit pre-amps into your existing purely acoustic guitar, this might involve some drilling to the sound box which may cause changes in the tonal quality of the guitar. Manufacturers now offer pre-amp controls that fit neatly in the sound hole negating the need to drill or cut the acoustic guitar to fit a pre-amp. It really depends on your ability and, to a certain degree, confidence in working on your guitar.
Another method is to fit either a transducer pickup to the soundboard which attaches with a blob of blue-tack like material or a pickup which straddles the sound-hole. The straddle pickup is in my opinion, the better way to go. It often has at least a volume control on the pickup itself. However, transducers have the benefit that they work with nylon strings and will fit to a large variety of instruments. Of course, you can always just mic up your acoustic guitar too!
A purpose-built electro acoustic guitar has been made to deliver a consistent sound so, if you’re in the market for an electro acoustic guitar, I would recommend this option.
Shadow, L. R. Baggs and Fishman make some of the best pre-amps on the market you can find fitted to an electro acoustic guitar and readily available, of course there are other fine makes too.
I personally prefer a guitar that sounds very similar whether plugged (dry) or unplugged. Inserting effects then comes down to taste but it’s great to have that confidence that your guitar still sounds good ‘round the campfire’ or in a gig situation.
It makes a big difference what you plug into as well. Most amp manufacturers produce an acoustic amp option, some with in-built feedback busting circuits, as well as stereo options (with a balanced XLR socket on your guitar), and effects.
Bottom-line is that you can get a reasonable sound on your electro acoustic guitar if you select the clean channel on your electric guitar amp.
Price wise, an entry level electro acoustic guitar (of any reasonable quality) start at around £150. Look out for ones with a chromatic tuner built into the pre-amp for this price. You may want to spend £1,000-3,000 on a premier example. If that’s the case you probably know what you’re looking for.
An electro acoustic guitar adds great texture to just about any genre of music whether recording or live and add a tonally rich counterpoint to overdriven electric guitars.
I hope this has helped. Remember as with most things nowadays, you don’t need to spend more than a few hundred pounds to have a professional quality electro acoustic guitar.
For more questions and answers on acoustic, electro acoustic and electric guitars, apply to join the BBZ Guitar Fix Group on Facebook – new members welcome. Click here for more information on BBZ guitar repair and set up services near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire . I look forward to hearing from you soon.
