Taylor T5 and Ampworks ... festival acoustic secret weapons

Danny1969

Did 2 gigs on 2 different stages at the huge Victorious festival yesterday which was nice but the spec was no drums and no amps on the acoustic stages. So by chance a good friend had just brought the new Taylor T5 which looks like an acoustic but is a full on electric. Then to get over the no amp thing I borrowed a Korg Ampworks and viola, a workable  rockabilly  sound straight into PA without so much as needing a  single power socket



The Taylor T5 plays like a very well set up electric, action is superb, you can't tell in this vid but there's some great full on acoustic sounds in the guitar too

maltingsaudio

Cool  as but what did the fiddle sound like ?
Danny1969 said:

I borrowed a Korg Ampworks and viola, 

ICBM

lol

Cool .

I always wanted to like the T5 - when they came out I was using a 312CE so I assumed there would be a 'family likeness' of sorts - and one of my favourite musicians, Heather Nova, has used one sometimes - but I've hated the ones I've tried. I found both the neck and the body uncomfortably wide and thin, and I couldn't get any sound I liked out of them either through an electric amp, and acoustic amp or a PA.

To be honest I don't like the sound you're getting there either, but you're playing it really well and I'm sure it went down just fine! (And it may have as much to do with the Korg as the guitar, possibly.) Sorry .

Danny1969

Well the thing is I can't really play acoustic guitars. I don't own one and haven't really got the strength to play a normal one. It's a more physical way of playing I guess. But that Taylor has a low action and the kind of action you would get on an electric so perfect for me. 

The ampworks cost about £30 2nd hand but I actually prefer it to the drive sounds in a GT10

ICBM

Sorry, reading that back it seems a little harsh .

I can see where you're coming from with it playing like an electric - although for me the neck was a deal-breaker because I hated the shape of it.

I was having the 'tone' conversation with a friend the other day - he's just got a cheap passive soundhole pickup for his acoustic. He had been thinking about an expensive pickup system solution but in the end decided he was just happier with no batteries and other junk in the guitar. He realised he doesn't really care what it sounds like - as far as the audience are concerned if it sounds like "a guitar" and it isn't obviously painfully scratchy or shrill then it will be fine for most gigs.

Oddly enough one of the best "acoustic" sounds I've got for this sort of thing is just to DI my Rickenbacker. I can also do it with the stereo outputs so the neck pickup goes straight to the PA and the bridge goes via an amp simulator pedal with a bit of overdrive, and the mix of the two is fantastic. It *shouldn't* sound any good, but it does...