Newbie onboard - Gear guidance needed

suds

New member
Hi Fellow Musicmen and Guitarists,

I have a Epiphone acoustic/electric guitar. Just starting on the basic/barre chords at the moment and strumming but want to really be good at it. Hopefully, to evolve doing that singer-songwriter. My love of music is vast. I appreciate all kinds of genres from pop, rock, hard/slow, blues (love it), rock n roll, retro, jazz and more.

1) I like to know what is a simple, good but affordable amp ... if it has effects great, to get. (I know nuts about effects or need a pedal board blah blah blah)

2) What gear can I use to practice during the night without my neighbours calling the cops?

Any guitar gurus out there that can be my Obi Wan Kenobi ... to just show me the right way ... that'll be great. :) (can you feel there is a disturbance in the force... :p)

I'm open to 2nd hand gear too.
 
What kind of acoustic electric are you refering to

For standard acoustic guitars with a preamp there is really no need for an amp as your guitar is meant to be resonant on its own. these guitars are not designed to be used with distortion type of effects as it is prone to feedback and the pickups are there just to amplify the clean sound so that it can be used in a gig etc

if you are referring to the type of hollow bodied electric guitar then yup those can utilise distortion effects and a proper electric guitar amp
 
cool bro. i'd tell you (from personal experience) that an amp would inspire you to play differently. or at least revise your enthusiasm because for me, my acoustic guitar had been projecting sound to the audience so the amp in front of me helps me hear myself better. the projection (volume) would also mean that you can hear yourself better, more attuned to the idiosyncrasies of your playing.

another plus of having your playing amplified is the use of the chorus effect- this, IMO, is rather essential to making yourself sound 'good'. however, if you choose to be effect-free (because you love it that way), by all means do so. i'd say you check out the small, practice amps out there, preferably one with in-built chorus. this might be a good start (Ibanez T10):

T10.png
 
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Thanks Bro! Appreciate it will look into this amp ... btw, how about not disturbing the neighbours while practicing? I'm sure everyone here has practiced at night. I live in HDB flat la! :D
 
just turn the volume down. either that, headphones would be helpful. i live in the hole-in-the-wall HDB apartment as well & this is my amp:

kramer+jvm+distortion.JPG
 
i think another alternative is checking out the Zoom A2.1u acoustic guitar multi effect pedal

You have all the effects you will need for an acoustic guitar e.g. compressor, equalizer, chorus delays revrbs etc if i am not wrong

They allow you to output to a headphone so you can practice "silently" at night. im sure the acoustic volume of your acoustic will still be loud enough to annoy the neighbours if you dont close the windows etc haha

A bonus feature you get is that this pedal can be used as a soundcard for recording too with its usb port. So if you wanna record pristine quality acoustic guitar stuff you've got it right there

This unit is not expensive ard 100-200 bucks depending on used to new but i am not sure if you can still find it nowadays

If you want it amplified you can even plug it into your "decent quality" computer speakers or if you can afford it studio monitors.

Hope it helps :D check out youtube demos of the pedal and see if its what you like. I havent used it before but i have used the g2.1u which is for electric guitars and it was really awesome for the price
 
Alternative is get a USB audio interface for computer, or even one of those iPhone interfaces. You can then use a ton of free software effects and also use headphones etc
 
To All Bros,

Thanks for your kind and valuable inputs. What do you guys think of Vox Amplug?

@carboxymoron ... my acoustics guitar sounds quite sweet with new strings now... but its way too noisy while practicing at night.

Sorry, do you mean to plug a cable to a USB audio interface to computer? I've got an iPhone too. What brand/model of this product?

@mightboy88 ... thanks... I'll look at multi effect pedals when I'm better in the basics, chord progression, some music theory and after I can play a few songs. If I can do these classic licks, I'll be the happiest fella in this side of the hemisphere ... intro to Eagle's Hotel California, intro the Clapton's Layla, intro to Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, intro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven & Beatles solo to Something, Santana's intro to Black magic woman & anything Queen!
 
Unless you use a sound hole cover thingy.(not sure about the name haha.) to cover the hole of your acoustic, that will soften the sound by alot.
 
@carboxymoron ... I can understand the physics of the issue here... guess its just light playing and close all windows and doors.

@joshuanick ... Thanks. interesting. A sound hold cover thingy. I look and see if it can help. Ohh! Vox AC30CC2 niceeeeee :D
 
I think for an acoustic electric guitar there really isnt a need to use amplification yet

It seems that you are more inclined towards electric guitar, why buy an acoustic in the first place haha
 
For me, the beauty of an acoustic is in it's tone... Personally I think all acoustic centered pedals colours the tone too much for comfort. And like another bro said... For acoustic guitars, why do you need an Amp to play at night? Just busk in the natural tone
 
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