What Pick Up and Amp for my Nylon string????

I recently found and restored an old Nylon Classical guitar and posted the story on Guitar tricks forum seen here

The Youtube video of the restoration runs for 3 minutes and can be seen here

I would like to experiment further with this guitar I restored and go ahead and put a Pickup on it. I am aware that unfortunately, a pickup won't make me a better player and therefore I don't want to spend lots of money. I will also need an Amp (my first pic up and amp)

So, I am looking for recommendations for a Pickup and Amp for my restored classical guitar.

I call my self an upper-level beginner with a repertoire of 41 songs.

Thanks in advance

Anthony

Originally Posted by: anthm

So, I am looking for recommendations for a Pickup and Amp for my restored classical guitar.

I've never used one, but I hear good things about this one designed specifically for nylon string classical guitars. It's cheap & non-invasive to install.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NG1--kna-ng-1-detachable-nylon-string-guitar-pickup

There are a wide variety available!

https://www.sweetwater.com/c985--Acoustic_Guitar_Pickups

I think these Fishman amps are some of the best sounding & priced I've heard for acoustic guitar.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LoudboxMiniBT--fishman-loudbox-mini-with-bluetooth-60-watt-1x6.5-inch-acoustic-combo

The most important thing is to make sure you get one that is voiced for acoustic guitar. Amps voiced for electric guitar do not treat the treble side of the EQ spectrum the same way, which can results in a dull, boxy midrange sound.

Again, there are many available!

https://www.sweetwater.com/c980--Acoustic_Guitar_Amps

Have fun gear hunting! Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel[quote=anthm]

The most important thing is to make sure you get one that is voiced for acoustic guitar. Amps voiced for electric guitar do not treat the treble side of the EQ spectrum the same way, which can results in a dull, boxy midrange sound.

Hi Christopher,

What about the opposite scenario. Plugging an electric into an Acoustic Amp. Does that have any effect on sound?

Recently I've been shopping around for amps for my electric and looking into the modelling amps. Some of them have an Acoustic setting. Are these more of a "simulated" acoustic sound or are they really designed to plug an acoustic into them and bring out their natural clean voicing? Boss Katana, Progressive Spark, Peavy Vyper and Fender Mustang are ones I'm specifically referencing that make that claim. I prefer to keep things simple and easy. Don't really want to surround myself with gear so would like to find a small practice amp that can do it all, if there is such a thing.

Moe

Originally Posted by: mjgodin

What about the opposite scenario. Plugging an electric into an Acoustic Amp. Does that have any effect on sound?

[/quote]

I guess that depends on your situation & goals. It's not optimal, but it's not bad per se. If that's all you have, then it's great. :)

In my experience when you want to add any gain or drive (via the amp or a pedal, or even just volume) it gets way too fizzy in the top end quickly. And the midrange sounds nothing like I normally expect when playing a solid body electric. The low end bass doesn't suffer, but it sounds strangely clear & full instead of tight & punchy.

When a guitar & amp doesn't respond to my playing the way I expect, then I immediately find myself adjusting my playing, looking for a way to adjust the tone to make it respond more effectively, even second guessing what, how or if I will play a certain chord voicing or line a certain way.

So, it's fine if you are expecting to play super clean acoustic sounding material. But that's not an optimal way to play electric guitar.

[quote=mjgodin]Recently I've been shopping around for amps for my electric and looking into the modelling amps. Some of them have an Acoustic setting. Are these more of a "simulated" acoustic sound or are they really designed to plug an acoustic into them and bring out their natural clean voicing?

I think the intention there is the option to plug an acoustic guitar into the amp. But they sort of simulate the acoustic EQ response even with an electric.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, Chris and MjGodin, Interesting discussion on amps, you may want to weigh in further with my question at the bottom here.

Definitely, lots to choose from with the PickUps, thanks Chris. I think that the picup for the Nylon String were by the strings Tie to the PickUp isn't going to work on mine, I would have to make my Bridge saddle higher for it to work and that would increase the action way too much.

So with that in mind, I think a soundhole Pick Up is what I am going to go for. I figure I can spend a few more dollars because I can always take it off one guitar and add it to another.

Interesting talk on Amps and I will research further.

What about the question of Session DI and Pre Amp? are these the same things? are they built into some amps? Are they built into the pickups? Clearly, I don't understand fully what these two things do exactly.

thanks again

Regards

Anthony

Originally Posted by: anthm

What about the question of Session DI and Pre Amp? are these the same things? are they built into some amps? Are they built into the pickups? Clearly, I don't understand fully what these two things do exactly.

thanks again

Regards

Anthony

Thats over my pay grade so I'll defer to the master:) Christopher thanks for the previous feedback.

moe