Epi AJ 220 SCE

[MarkB]

I have the same set up on my Faith, I sounds much better than my Tak TBH. It has a lot more output and a fuller sound, the phase button is very useful too.

 

[Alty]

How does the pickup sound? If you have any experience with others that is

TBH if gofguitarkp has only tried it with a 'guitar' amp then hard to get a full view of the sound as there will be a loss of the middle and bass.

 

[gofguitarkp]

TBH if gofguitarkp has only tried it with a 'guitar' amp then hard to get a full view of the sound as there will be a loss of the middle and bass.

True! Im just comparing with my Tak both going through the same amp!

As for a more "absolute" opinion, I regularly play my friend Martin CPA4... Wich I consider a nice playing and sounding guitar. I still was convinced enough by the epi to buy it. Im not saying they are the same, and I would rather have the Martin, no doubt. Just saying the sound striked me as "good for the money" even knowing and playing superior instruments regularly, if you know what I mean.

 

[gofguitarkp]

I have the same set up on my Faith, I sounds much better than my Tak TBH. It has a lot more output and a fuller sound, the phase button is very useful too.

Yes it is a nice feature. My Tak doesnt have phase switch...

 

[hornrocker]

You know, the two guitars typically have much different EQ - sometimes it's not the volume that causes the feedback, try tweaking your EQ (bass, mids, treble) a bit on the amp.

 

[Alty]

True! Im just comparing with my Tak both going through the same amp!

As for a more "absolute" opinion, I regularly play my friend Martin CPA4... Wich I consider a nice playing and sounding guitar. I still was convinced enough by the epi to buy it. Im not saying they are the same, and I would rather have the Martin, no doubt. Just saying the sound striked me as "good for the money" even knowing and playing superior instruments regularly, if you know what I mean.

My reference to the sound was more aimed at it being plugged in, even the Martin wouldn't sound as good as it should if plugged into a 'guitar' amp (Or straight to mixer), unplugged of course it's a different story.... although the last Martin I tried it wasn't very nice to me but it was one of the newer ones with the 'laminated' neck and felt too clincal, didn't like it at all.

 

[gofguitarkp]

My reference to the sound was more aimed at it being plugged in, even the Martin wouldn't sound as good as it should if plugged into a 'guitar' amp (Or straight to mixer), unplugged of course it's a different story.... although the last Martin I tried it wasn't very nice to me but it was one of the newer ones with the 'laminated' neck and felt too clincal, didn't like it at all.

Alty, how would you describe the benefits of a acoustic guitar amp over a "guitar" amp?

I've never played through one of those, always direct to PA...

 

[Alty]

Alty, how would you describe the benefits of a acoustic guitar amp over a "guitar" amp?

I've never played through one of those, always direct to PA...

I'll let someone with over 20yrs experience explain better than I could.

Apart from microphones, the main reason that many Professional guitarists use acoustic amps or ‘black box’ preamps
is because they deliver the full spectrum of sound from top (treble) to bottom (bass).

To test this out, a simple experiment can be performed at your music shop, just:

a) Take an acoustic guitar and plug it into an Electric Guitar Amp with the EQ at the mid-point = level then play the guitar and listen to the sound. Next ………

b) unplug the guitar and now put it through an Acoustic Guitar Amp with the EQ at the mid-point level. Play the guitar again and listen to the difference.

What you will notice is that there is a loss of the middle and bass when playing through the Electric Guitar Amp.
This problem will also occur on a PA system – even if it goes through a mixing desk. I have had many people – for example people that play in churches – who only rely on a mixing desk for their sound. This is wrong, because no matter how much the mids and lows are pushed up & the treble lowered, it won’t compensate for using the proper equipment with an impedance match.

There are other factors, such as speaker doping, that give different ‘characters’ to the sound but the bottom line is the sound has to be matched!

Most Transducers want 1 meg Ohms impedance (that is 1000 times 1000) so is it any wonder that the body of the sound is lost when plugging into the wrong impedance!

For example:
i) Peavey Escort 2000 PA System Input Impedance: Mic: 2k ohms, Line: 12k ohms
ii) Peavey Bandit 112 Electric Guitar amp Input Impedance 470k ohms

The Answer:
Plugging into these will give a thin sound, which has no mid or low end, whereas the acoustic amp gives the full sound. The PA system is, as the name suggests, a Public Address system and the microphone is the instrument it was designed for. The most common mistake is for the guitar to be plugged straight into the mixing desk of the PA. The same result occurs with the guitar amp. The only way to resolve this is to put the sound either through an Acoustic Amp and use the ‘line out’ to the mixing desk or to use a Preamp like the LR Baggs/Fishman/Session to match the impedance and harness the full sound.

The advantage of an ‘acoustic amp is that it can be used as a ‘fold-back’ or ‘monitor’ on stage and the ‘line out’ at the back of the amp goes to the PA to faithfully reproduce the sound, depending on your soundman!

And just to add:

"Because the fact is that once you plug in an acoustic guitar, your amplification gear is as much a part of the instrument as its body, bridge and pickup. Furthermore, the gear that is the actual source of your sound often matters more than the guitar and/or the pickup system.

Today we’re going to take a look at the loudspeakers.

You’ve usually got three basic systems going here: the PA main speakers, your monitor speaker(s) and perhaps an “acoustic” amplifier. To produce an amplified sound that will approximate that of an acoustic guitar, you need wide-range speakers with very low distortion--just the opposite of what most electric guitarists would choose.

These speakers must be more like studio monitors in that you’ll need fairly flat response, from about 50Hz on up to as high as 15 or 20kHz. This requires using at least a two-way system with woofer and tweeter, or maybe a three-way system with an additional dedicated mid-range driver.

These are now standard for PA mains and monitor cabinets, and multi-driver speaker systems have really become the norm for dedicated acoustic amps. These acoustic amps are in many ways like mini PA systems in and of themselves, with two or even more channels, instruments and mic inputs, effects loops, tuner outputs and XLR direct outputs for connection to a PA.

Your “acoustic amp” speakers need to be capable of handling a wide dynamic range…much wider, in fact, than typical electric guitar speakers handling a greatly compressed signal."

You could try a Bass amp as well and see the difference in sound from the 'guitar' amp.

Finally – a note of warning!
Cheap magnetic and acoustic transducers will sound cheap and nasty. When manufacturers have spent lots of time and research to deliver a good system they have to recoup their costs on the product and this means they can be expensive.

On the other hand, just to make you cautious, not everything expensive is the best sounding – it’s for the customer to listen and hear what they like the best before choosing what to purchase.