guitar fender image
Tina
I know you physically CAN play any type of guitar in an amp, for example gibson guitar/fender amp...but my question is, will if affect the sound? Does it even matter?
Answer
1. some guitars are set up for amps. Some aren't. Some guitars have a pre-amp built in, as well as equalization. Some just have a pickup. There are many different types of pickups:
Coil - the type of pickup you see on electric guitars.
Transducer - usually placed underneath the bridge of an acoustic electric guitar
Condenser type mike - Not a pickup at all, but a microphone that usually includes some feedback canceling protection
Piezo-electric
etc.
Where you place the pickup affects the sound as well. some guitars use a combination of pickups, multiple pickups, or even a combination of a pickup and an internal microphone to mix the sound.
the type of signal you feed into the amp matters. You want the most signal with the least amount of noise you can get. You have to decide whether you want the sound of the string, or the sound of the guitar. You also have to decide whether you want to feed the raw or processed sound into the amplifier.
The amplifier is the next stage in the equation. You have so many options that I can't begin to get into them here, but here are a few. Warm analog tube sound, precise controlled transistor sound, digital effects, springs capacitors and old fashioned analog effects. Straight signal, processed signal, pre-amped signal, so many choices that you just have to try a few and make your own call. The last step is the speaker. Sometimes that choice is included with the amp, and sometimes you are running through a public address system, or are running through a "head," which is an amplifier that does not contain a speaker. In that case, you can get a cabinet, seperate woofer, tweeter and midrange (even on stage) or a "Bose type system that has baffles inside the cabinet to process the sound and make it sound fuller and more three dimensional.
If the guitar has no pickup in it, you can have one installed, put in a detachable pickup, or just mike the guitar. If you mike the guitar, you have to be prepared for feedback issues. Sometimes it can be solved by plugging up the sound hole,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/TaylorSwift4.jpg
and sometimes you can solve the problem by using special mikes and filters. It is an issue that you definitely want to think about in advance however.
I hope that this addresses most of your questions and gives you a direction to go in to find the solution to the rest of them. I use an Ovation Adamas with special holes cut into the upper bout of the guitar instead of under the strings. It has a three band EQ and preamp that is powered by a 9 volt battery.
http://www.adamasguitars.com/#
I also use an old Yamaha FG-75 that has a transducer placed under the bridge, with the plug built into the endpin. It has no preamp, so I have to process the signal when I amplify it. It's an old friend, and spent many years on my back, so it deserves a place at my side as long as I'm around. My kids are already fighting over it. I round it all out with an East German Classical nylon string, a Gibson ES335 (jet black) and several house guitars for my various experiments (five string guitar tuned in fifths, etc.)
I use a Yamaha CG 40 and CG101 at school, along with a Yamaha strat copy and a Les Paul copy that Best Buy was selling for $99 bucks during a back to Christmas sale. It's an inexpensive guitar and I wish I could replace the bridge, but I haven't gotten around to it. My students like it though, and it gives us something to demonstrate with.
1. some guitars are set up for amps. Some aren't. Some guitars have a pre-amp built in, as well as equalization. Some just have a pickup. There are many different types of pickups:
Coil - the type of pickup you see on electric guitars.
Transducer - usually placed underneath the bridge of an acoustic electric guitar
Condenser type mike - Not a pickup at all, but a microphone that usually includes some feedback canceling protection
Piezo-electric
etc.
Where you place the pickup affects the sound as well. some guitars use a combination of pickups, multiple pickups, or even a combination of a pickup and an internal microphone to mix the sound.
the type of signal you feed into the amp matters. You want the most signal with the least amount of noise you can get. You have to decide whether you want the sound of the string, or the sound of the guitar. You also have to decide whether you want to feed the raw or processed sound into the amplifier.
The amplifier is the next stage in the equation. You have so many options that I can't begin to get into them here, but here are a few. Warm analog tube sound, precise controlled transistor sound, digital effects, springs capacitors and old fashioned analog effects. Straight signal, processed signal, pre-amped signal, so many choices that you just have to try a few and make your own call. The last step is the speaker. Sometimes that choice is included with the amp, and sometimes you are running through a public address system, or are running through a "head," which is an amplifier that does not contain a speaker. In that case, you can get a cabinet, seperate woofer, tweeter and midrange (even on stage) or a "Bose type system that has baffles inside the cabinet to process the sound and make it sound fuller and more three dimensional.
If the guitar has no pickup in it, you can have one installed, put in a detachable pickup, or just mike the guitar. If you mike the guitar, you have to be prepared for feedback issues. Sometimes it can be solved by plugging up the sound hole,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/TaylorSwift4.jpg
and sometimes you can solve the problem by using special mikes and filters. It is an issue that you definitely want to think about in advance however.
I hope that this addresses most of your questions and gives you a direction to go in to find the solution to the rest of them. I use an Ovation Adamas with special holes cut into the upper bout of the guitar instead of under the strings. It has a three band EQ and preamp that is powered by a 9 volt battery.
http://www.adamasguitars.com/#
I also use an old Yamaha FG-75 that has a transducer placed under the bridge, with the plug built into the endpin. It has no preamp, so I have to process the signal when I amplify it. It's an old friend, and spent many years on my back, so it deserves a place at my side as long as I'm around. My kids are already fighting over it. I round it all out with an East German Classical nylon string, a Gibson ES335 (jet black) and several house guitars for my various experiments (five string guitar tuned in fifths, etc.)
I use a Yamaha CG 40 and CG101 at school, along with a Yamaha strat copy and a Les Paul copy that Best Buy was selling for $99 bucks during a back to Christmas sale. It's an inexpensive guitar and I wish I could replace the bridge, but I haven't gotten around to it. My students like it though, and it gives us something to demonstrate with.
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