Technically, you can play anything you want the way you want to. Can you Play Electric Guitar Through an Acoustic Amp? In many cases, live bands with both acoustic and electric songs will plug acoustic guitars directly into mixing boards and PA systems.Īcoustic guitar amps are usually fully solid-state, although there are some rare examples featuring vacuum tubes in the preamp section circuits. They’re usually not that popular but are mostly used by solo performers and bands who have exclusively acoustic sets.Įspecially if we’re talking about small club performances where there’s no need for an additional PA system. There are often graphic equalizers and additional effects on acoustic amps, but the essence of the guitar’s tone remains the same.
They’ll often alter the tone more than the guitar itself.Īcoustic amps, on the other hand, are designed to work with an acoustic guitars natural tone without altering it too much.
Tonal DifferencesĬomparing the frequency response of an acoustic amp vs electric amp, electric guitar amps tend to have more or less pronounced mid-range. Their tone is “flatter” across the spectrum and they tend to give more of that hi-fi quality, mostly because they feature additional tweeters for high-end tones.Īcoustic amps also have an additional input for microphones that can either be used for vocals or for mic’d-up acoustic guitars. They’re used for acoustic guitars that have piezo pickups, most often accompanied with active electronics. Acoustic AmplifiersĪcoustic amplifiers are somewhat closer to average PA systems. We’ve also seen the rise of digital modeling amps, which are often expensive but do a great job of replicating any other type of amp. They’re often more expensive and require special maintenance. Tube amps are often praised for their “organic” and warm tone, as well as their dynamic response. There are different types of guitar amps, like solid-state that rely on transistors, or tube amps that rely on vacuum tubes. Amplifier Type: Tube, Solid-State, Hybrids
In larger live settings, like arenas and open-air venues, they’re either mic’d-up or directly plugged into the PA system through a special separate output jack. They can further enhance the tone by adding distortion to it, the well-known and easily recognizable effect that we can hear a lot in modern music.Įlectric guitar amps are used both for live performances and studio recordings. This means that they’ll often focus on the mid-range tones. Their tone varies, but it’s supposed to enhance the spectrum that the instrument covers. These regular electric guitar amps are designed to work with an electric guitar signal. Their main function is to pick up the signal from electric guitar pickups, amplify it, and further enhance it with different tonal properties.