Amp Help

[UrbanJesus]

I am in need of an Acoustic Combo amp for rehearsals/gigging and I need something loud enough.

 

My little 15W Pro Junior works for electric for pretty much most of the gigs we are playing now. When I need the kick, I either mic it or I break out my AC15.

 

I was wondering if anyone knew about what that 15W of tube may translate to in standard watt output.

 

I recently got the LR Baggs Core 1 after months of waiting and waiting, because it was advertised as a 200W amp on musiciansfriend, and was small and compact.

 

This is not the case. It is not loud at all, and isnt even good enough for rehearsal. And we are playing pretty clean folk rock.

 

I talked to the LR Baggs people and an exact quote was "I dont know how to say this without sounding silly, but we kindof overestimated the overall output of the amp".

 

So needless to say, I am interested in finding something else.

 

Is 100W a pretty good start?

 

I dont want to break the bank buying something 200W+ if I dont need to.

 

Any feedback, etc?

[beenthere]

I'm assuming that the Core 1 is a solid state amp? Yeah, solid state amps of a certain wattage, for reasons I couldn't explain, are less loud than tube amps of the same wattage. There's also a difference between Class A amps (like the Vox) and Class A/B amps (like the Fender) in that Class A amps at a certain wattage are louder than Class A/B amps of the same wattage. I guess the best way to describe it would be:

 

Class A>>Class A/B>>Soild State

 

Have you thought about just micing the Core amp? Or, if you're looking for a super-clean folk amp, maybe get a higher wattage Fender amp. Those things tend to have a lot of clean headroom.

[UrbanJesus]

Yeah I already know that tube watts translates to much more power then the equivalent solid state wattage.

 

I guess what I am looking for is how much solid state wattage I would need to match my 15W of tube.

 

Cause my Pro Junior is certainly loud enough for rehearsals/gigging, but its not something I would use for an acoustic guitar, or vocals.

 

The Core 1 has a DI out which would be cool to use, but my goal in getting a combo amp is to make my band completely self sufficient for venues that do no have PA's etc. etc.

[beenthere]

If memory serves me correctly, approximately 4 watts of solid state should equal 1 watt of tube. By that reasoning, you would need a 60 W solid state amp. May as well bump it up to 100 watts in that case. The SWR California Blonde is ~200 W (Jeff Tweedy used one for a while on stage), and SWR's Strawberry Blonde runs 90W. Fishman makes an acoustic amp that goes up to 130 W (the Loudbox Performer, I think). You could go with a Roland JC120, that is supposed to offer lots of clean headroom.

[UrbanJesus]

That is good news, cause I am really hoping about 100W would cut it.

 

Anything over that starts to get a bit pricy.

 

The Fishman Loudbox is pretty affordable though.

 

I just cant believe how disappointing the LR Baggs Combo Amp is. Specifically because I have always loved LR Baggs products.

[ginandcigarettes]

I'm kind of skeptical when it comes to a lot of stuff thrown around about amps and watts (Why would tube watts measure something different that solid state watts? Is it that you are perceiving the distortion and compression of a tube amp as sound intensity? Why do people think that watts measure sound pressure level? Why do people spend hundreds of dollars on bigger amps when an EQ would help just as much? Why do people think that the Vox AC30 is a class A amp and not a class A/B? Why do manufacturers encourage voodoo? Oh wait, I know the answer to that one.).

 

Still, it's really no matter if you're not getting the sound you want, which is the real problem here.

 

If you're looking for an all-in-one solution, why not just invest in a good PA system and go direct? You would be set in venues without PA and in your practice space. You might consider getting a pair of JBL Eons (which are powered speakers). They're not so cumbersome and they're pretty uncolored. You can use it as a amp for your guitar and (with a small mixer) a PA for your whole band. If you get two, then you can expand and contract as it suits the gig. In venues where they have a good PA, you can use it as a monitor. It lacks more than a rudimentary EQ, but it might be worth looking into.

[Kalle]

I can tell you from I use (I run my Martin 000-15 w/ LR Baggs Element through my Fender Blues Deville 4x10) and I have a Pro Junior (I don't use this for acoustic playing primarily but it has been done) but I usually use my Deville for all the shows we play. This thing is blistering loud as you would expect and serves all of my purposes. I have invested in a really good DI (a Radial) and plugged into a PA for larger shows and to me that's what you should be looking at rather than an amp.

 

Really if I were you SWR's are awesome awesome amps and the California Blonde would be everything you're looking for and it does have mic inputs etc I believe. But really investing in a PA and a good DI for your guitar, to me, would solve all of your problems in one shot.

[UrbanJesus]

Yeah I suppose looking into getting a good PA is an option I havent thought about.

 

I just really like being somewhat portable when we have to be.

 

Especially since most places that dont have their own PAs are pretty small places to begin with.

 

I really like the California Blonde, but I talked to a couple people about it and they said they were not fans of the tone.

 

I also wish it didnt weigh in at 50+ lbs.

[Golden Smoghead]

I'd say a lot of it depends on what kind of pickup / acoustic guitar you have too, but I kinda agree that dollar-for-dollar I'm inclined towards low-end PAs for acoustic guitar line-outs. I have a 65W fender (solid state obviously) and my acoustic sounds like crap through it compared to my 100w Alesis PA.

 

Agree that PAs can be pretty lug-a-riffic tho.

[UrbanJesus]

Update:

 

So I went to a local music shop (Watermelon Music in Davis, CA) and played through a bunch of Acoustic combos.

 

I ended up getting the SWR Cali Blonde, plus the guy sold it to me at cost. Score.

 

I really like it. It is pretty fuckin heavy, but its also much louder then anything else I played through.

 

It seems to have more potential for the tone I am looking for with my band too, cause I play with a trio and my acoustic guitar is very low ended, so it often gets lost in the mix. This amp gives it a little more bite, so I think it will work out great.

 

We have rehearsal on Sunday so I will find out then how it goes.

[In a little rowboat]

Update:

 

So I went to a local music shop (Watermelon Music in Davis, CA) and played through a bunch of Acoustic combos.

 

I ended up getting the SWR Cali Blonde, plus the guy sold it to me at cost. Score.

 

I really like it. It is pretty fuckin heavy, but its also much louder then anything else I played through.

 

It seems to have more potential for the tone I am looking for with my band too, cause I play with a trio and my acoustic guitar is very low ended, so it often gets lost in the mix. This amp gives it a little more bite, so I think it will work out great.

 

We have rehearsal on Sunday so I will find out then how it goes.

 

Got here late for the discussion...but

 

good choice on the amp!

 

 

 

j