Adding overdrive to an acoustic

[edenfield99]

I played a gig last night with my acoustic duo but I forgot my effects board (which is Aphex Punch Factory – LR Baggs Para DI with Diamond Trem & El Capistan in the DI’s effects loop). This meant I had no DI to go into the PA. I considered micing my acoustic but it really wasn’t the venue to do this so I plugged straight into a Vox Valvetronic amp that one of the other bands were using.

The amp was set to a moderately dirty AC15 sound and it really sounded good; we’re a blues band so a bit of dirt just gave us a bit of that old delta blues recording sound. I didn’t use that sound on all the songs as some of the jazzier numbers we do require a cleaner sound but I’m thinking it might be nice as an added flavour for some songs on further gigs.

The question is what is the best way to achieve this….I don’t want to take an amp to every gig on top of the PA we already use and I want to keep the same effects available as above. Would an overdrive pedal or something like a TECH21 character pedal be the best option? If its overdrive any recommendation for one which works well with an acoustic. Whichever option is best would it go between the Aphex and the Para DI or will I need to rearrange my board?

I play a Guild GAD series guitar with a Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pick-up although I might look to use my resonator which has an archtop type pickup stuck to the body as well.

Any ideas?

[monquixote]

The Tech21 would be a good choice because it also includes a speaker simulator.
An OD into an acoustic PA might sound a bit fizzy.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that you will have to be careful about feedback!

[edenfield99]

There was a bit of feedback last night...carefully used at the end of some songs it made me feel all rock & roll

[monquixote]

There was a bit of feedback last night...carefully used at the end of some songs it made me feel all rock & roll

You might want to invest in a soundhole cover if it gets to be a problem (Or stuff your guitar with socks like they did in the 70's!)

[ICBM]

The Tech21 would be a good choice because it also includes a speaker simulator.
An OD into an acoustic PA might sound a bit fizzy.

Horrible, actually!

You might want to invest in a soundhole cover if it gets to be a problem

Unfortunately not compatible with a soundhole pickup.

And you do definitely want to stick to magnetic soundhole pickups if you can - piezos don't really sound good with distortion, and any form of bridge or body-mounted pickup is far worse for feedback.

I used a Taylor 312CE with a Rare Earth added, for distortion - it improved the clean acoustic sound as well, but really came into its own with dirt. I usually used a Mesa amp, or a V-Twin pedal into the PA - occasionally with pedals in front as well. Oddly enough, fuzz pedals seemed to work better than overdrives or distortions - I think because fuzz is actually lower-gain and less compressed, even though it's obviously "dirtier".

[bobsbobbackwards]

I always think John Butler has a nice overdriven acoustic sound:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9gAqvttwq8

Says here how he gets it. You jut need a Boss Bass overdrive and a Marshall super lead

http://www.guitartoneoverload.com/20...f-john-butler/

[zenzeypher]

I would of thought a nice overdrive pedal would of done it, just play light with the settings.

[richardhomer]

Richard Thompson got some really interesting overdriven acoustic tones on his 'Mirror Blue' album. It came out in the mid-nineties. I read and interview at the time and IIRC it was he Lowden with some kind of sound-hole magetic into a cranked Deluxe Reverb. The 'magnetic' aspect is certainly audible on the recording. Great sound...

[ICBM]

Richard Thompson got some really interesting overdriven acoustic tones on his 'Mirror Blue' album. It came out in the mid-nineties. I read and interview at the time and IIRC it was he Lowden with some kind of sound-hole magetic into a cranked Deluxe Reverb. The 'magnetic' aspect is certainly audible on the recording. Great sound...

I'd assume for that he must have had the guitar isolated from the amp. I did some recording like that with the Taylor and the Mesa, and it worked great, but when I tried to reproduce it on stage it just fed back uncontrollably at anything like the same volume level - even with both hands on the strings! I had to reduce the gain drastically and keep the volume down to way quieter than a cranked Deluxe would be.

[danomess]

Funny I was watching the Anderton s you tube video on the new Yamaha TH5 a amp and there a setting for overdriven acoustics on that. The amp is the cheaper of the bunch about £170 IIRC and its tiny.

http://youtu.be/i56OQ8-fXG8