hi guys, lately im kinda interested in buying an electro-acoustic guitar but i dunno much bout them so here come the questions.

are electro acoustics really that good? or wud i be better off with an acoustic?
do u need any specific amp or can u use an electric guitar amp?
what brands make good value electro-acoustics.

A good brand would be Washbrun

I have an Ovation Tangent, i love it.

Is it better to buy one that's already equipped with a pickup, or buy a regular acoustic and put a pickup in it? I'm interested in this topic as well.

Taylor makes some AMAZING acoustic/electrics if you're willing to drop no less than $1,500. Other than that I've liked most Ovation's i've played, and this one Washburn D10e I played sounded and felt great and was only $200 (I had to search around to find it though). Its still my opinion though, that acoustic guitars sound better mic'd than they do with pick-ups.

acoustic electric guitars work with any amp. I highly recommend takamine. There quality is amazing even on there lower priced models.

Give a look at Taylor T5, and Tom Anderson Crowdster a look at!!!

Taylor: http://www.taylorguitars.com/Guitars/Electric/T5-Custom/

Tom Anderson: http://www.andersonguitars.com/productinfo.html








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"Without music, life would be an error." -Nietzsche

Look at Alvarez and Seagull.

Most seagulls have a pickup and a built in mic inside the sound hole to pick up a cleaner more wooden acoustic sound. I like it alot.

IMO I have not found an ovation that has a sound I like, or is comfortable to play, or doesnt have a weird feeling neck.

The only thing I could add is make sure it's an active!

My first electro-acoustic was a passive piezo bridge pick up and I thought it was OK... Until my daughter as a toddler broke the headstock off and my nice insurance company gave me the money to buy the one I've got now!

With actives, you get greater control over parametric eq and generally a presence control.

i really like my taylor 414ce, u can always run a mic on the soundhole and direct thru the board at the same time for sound blending your track or pick which sounds better......"its better to have and not need ,then to need and not have" im sure u dont have to go w/ taylor , there is all types of brands and price ranges......go to a store and try the hell out of em.








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"in search of the ultimate tone"

I have pretty low end Takamine. I like it. I bought an electric-acoustic just so it would be easier to record with to get ideas down on tape. I've used it on my amp at shows, it's not the best, but not too bad. I used my dad's Gibson Hummingbird in the studio. If your in a good studio with a good engineer and a good regular acoustic, they can mic it and make it sound how it's supposed to sound. I also have no input on aftermarcket acoustic pickups. My Takamine (around the $240 range) does the job for me, but I'd prefer something better. I'm not really an acoustic player though, so take my advise for what it's worth. I put more into my electrics.








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John-O

It all depends on what you are planning to use the guitar for. If it is to play around the house or campfire and record it might be best to get a guitar without a pickup but if you need an acoustic for live performance then you have to check out a number of guitars from various companies...(Taylor, Breedlove, Alvarez, Takamine, Martin, Larivee, Washburn, Ovation, etc) and let your ears and budget guide you.








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I SAID A FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It depends.

Taylor is really good, high end, but can really break the bank. I think EQ'ing an acoustic guitar kind of goes against the whole concept of an acoustic guitar, so I'd say just get a pickup and drop it in the soundhole of the guitar, or what a lot of other people have suggested, just mic it.

Acoustic guitar is natural.

So keep the sound natural.

you need an amp designed for acoustic guitars.

a bass amp will be a better choice to use with an acoustic guitar than an amp made for electric guitars.

but spend the bucks, and get the correct amp for your needs. it WILL make a big diference.








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"That is not dead which can eternal lie
.... Yet with strange aeons even death may die"


proud member of G.A.U.P , and C.G.A.A

hmm I have to disagree with some people here:

1) Most acoustic-electrics sound really bad coming out of an amp, sometimes even if the amp was designed for acoustics. Only use an amp for acoustic-electrics if you have no other option.
2) I have never known Washburn to make high quality instruments
3) I have played a lot of Ovations, but I haven't sound any that I really like, and the plastic bowl on the back looks and sounds cheesy, and makes it hard to hold when you aren't standing up.
4) Taylor, Martin, and Gibson make good guitars, but they know they do too, so you will probably pay a few hundred dollars too much if you get them.

The proper way to use an acoustic-electric on stage is to run a guitar cable to a direct box and then you run an XLR cable from the direct box to the mixing board.

If you are looking for a better sound, you should really just mic the guitar with something like an Shure SM57 and run from there into the mixer. The big disadvantage to this is that you can't move around at all.

But I must reiterate: DO NOT GET AN AMP. The sound is much worse the vast majority of the time, and if you were going to use an amp, you would have to mic that amp get it in the PA anyway, so why not just mic the guitar and go straight to the PA?