Acoustic Simulator

Georgie

I have recently bought an second hand AC2 off of Ebay.

It is in good condition and it works although when you switch it on it makes a small pop which means you wouldn't be able to switch on part way through a song, has anyone got any advice on whether this is normal?

Richardj

It shouldn't pop so the switch could be either dirty or needs replacing.  You could also consider cleaning the jack sockets in case the connections aren't clean enough. 

Without talking down the AC-2 I had one and had trouble getting a decent tone with some of my amps.  I have since got an AC-3 and it is a huge improvement.  To my ears it has a very acceptable acoustic like tone and works better with more amps.  The line out to a dedicated mixer or acoustic amp is cool too.

ICBM

Definitely not normal. It won't be the switch, the switch itself is not part of the signal path in a Boss pedal - it will be something in the electronic circuitry. If you bought it recently I would return it as faulty, since it will probably cost almost as much as it's worth to pay a tech to fix it.

Richardj is also right - although I still don't think the AC-3 is that great, it's much better than the AC-2.

Richardj

Cheers @ICBM, obviously don't know the ins and outs of these. Have to disagree slightly on the sound though, through my '68 Custom Twin the AC-3 is close enough if you need an odd bit of acoustic fill, certainly close enough to my Taylor 114 with a DTar UST that I didn't feel the need to swap guitars. It's never going to sound like a properly miked acoustic, but it isn't bad all things considered.

ICBM

I agree, they do work well enough in a mix to be useful - you probably wouldn't want to listen to the sound on its own though. (Or at least I don't!) On the other hand I don't think any pickup system sounds like a properly mic'ed acoustic either .

Something to try if you haven't already is to run the Taylor through it into the Twin! I know that's pretty much the opposite of what they're intended for, but for some reason it works very well if you need to amplify an electro-acoustic and going through the PA or an acoustic amp isn't an option for some reason. You get the warmth of the valves but with less of the 'bad electric guitar' sound than you do if you plug the guitar in directly.