# How loud? acoustic amplification



## kebbs (May 15, 2008)

Hey everyone,

I tried searching this topic, but found nothing. Perhaps some of you can help me out.

I play a nylon-string, which I must amplify for a small, one-person gig. I have one question:

I don't need to be loud - I want people to be able to converse while I play. I just want to bring out the nuances (artificial harmonics, left hand vibrato, light percussive hits, reverb!! etc). I hope to have the amp compliment the guitar sound, and not completely drown it. 

For a room that sits about thirty people, would 20 watts do the job?

What do you think about Ibanez Troubadour models?

Oops, that's two questions! :smile:

cheers,
kebbs


----------



## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

No go with 50 watts as your minimum.


----------



## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

Accoustic stringed instruments are the hardest to reproduce live (next to a swing whistle), especially if you want to keep it true to the original sound of the instrument.

Quiet and laid back is really not my thing when it comes to sound gigs, but I've done my share of recitals and conservatory showcase type gigs.

I assume that you have some sort of pickup or mic integratyed into your accoustic.

For what you are describing, I think 20 watts will do you - but you will need a compressor or an amp with built in compression. A compressor with an Expander would be ideal.

Here is what I would do:

Play the guitar accoustically in the room, the louder passages don't sound like they need amplification from what you are describing, you only want to amplify the quieter passages and the nuance stuff, so get your baseline from the room.

Plug into the compressor/amp and get a sound that you like. Set the compressor open (so it does not compress) at this point. You should be more concerned about how the quieter stuff sounds than the louder passages.

Once you have the quiet sound you like, play a louder passage and set the compressor threshold to clamp down on it so that it limits the louder stuff (high ratio), but lets the quieter passges through without compression.

Once that is done, re-adjust the volume of the amp so that the louder passages are quieter than the acooustic in the room. You want to drown out the louder passages from the amp with your accoustic.

Put the amp behind you 10 - 15 feet if possible. Pointing it into a hard (brick wall) corner works well to take the single source focus out of the speaker.

I've seen accoustic players use volume pedals to do the same thing, so if that is easier for you, go for it - just turn down the volume when you play the louder passages and turn up the quieter ones.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I think more power is better for this application.

You want it clean and uncoloured. To me, that means throw lots of power at it and let the amp loaf.

Unless you want some nice smooth distortion, I'd leave the 20 watter at home and go with a minimum of 100 watts.


Just my opinion of course.


----------



## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

More power is allways good, but the OP states that he doesn't want to drown out the accoustic with the amp.

If he compresses the snot out of loud passages, then all he needs is to amplify the quiet passages and not at any great volume or the dynamics would be way out of wack.

When ever I've done these types of functions, everyone seemed happiest when the PA was hardly even on, and they allways leave me wondering why I didn't bring two little speakers on popsicle sticks rather than a truck load of gear.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Hamm Guitars said:


> More power is allways good, but the OP states that he doesn't want to drown out the accoustic with the amp.
> 
> If he compresses the snot out of loud passages, then all he needs is to amplify the quiet passages and not at any great volume or the dynamics would be way out of wack.
> 
> When ever I've done these types of functions, everyone seemed happiest when the PA was hardly even on, and they allways leave me wondering why I didn't bring two little speakers on popsicle sticks rather than a truck load of gear.


Well I really don't like compression on acoustic instruments because I find it takes a lot of the "music" (dynamics) out of the sound. I agree that you don't need much to amplify a nylon string in a room with twenty people.

I still think having a 100 watt amp barely on is better than having a twenty watter turned up a bit.


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Headroom, lots of headroom for acoustic amplification. My minimum is a Traynor AM150.

Peace, Mooh.


----------



## kebbs (May 15, 2008)

Thanks everyone! I will try to go for something way above 20 watts. I also agree that having lots of headroom can never be bad.

Cheers.


----------

