Home amp for Taylor T5

mags

Hi Guys.  So I'm purely a home player with a few acoustic electrics which I play through a Roland AC33.  I have just bought an old Taylor T5 to play with while I have all this downtime due to the lockdown for "the virus".  I realise that the Roland won't really do for the electric side of things.  The guy online at GuitarGuitar suggested a Fender Blues Junior IV which is perhaps a bit on the pricey side for playing around at home (around £550).  Someone else said a Fender Champion (around £120) would do the job just as well.  I'm looking to spend the next few weeks learning basic jazz so looking for something that would work for this.  I really won't be thumping out heavy rock sounds.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated?  Stay safe.

ICBM

If you’re playing at home, the Roland will actually work fine for electric as long as you use a preamp pedal with guitar amp and speaker emulation. Something like one of the Tech21 SansAmp pedals (or cheaper copies of them) would be the simplest, and would mean that you could very easily switch between the two quickly, without swapping amps - just turn on the pedal when you select the electric sound on the guitar.

mags

ICBM said:

If you’re playing at home, the Roland will actually work fine for electric as long as you use a preamp pedal with guitar amp and speaker emulation. Something like one of the Tech21 SansAmp pedals (or cheaper copies of them) would be the simplest, and would mean that you could very easily switch between the two quickly, without swapping amps - just turn on the pedal when you select the electric sound on the guitar.

Ok.  That's food for thought.  I really don't need two amps in the house and that could solve the problem. I know very little about amps, being an acoustic player advice is really appreciated.  I been told the valves in the Fender Blues Junior are supposed to give a really warm sound but really I think that is going beyond what I need, nice as it sounds.  

Sassafras

What ICBM said.
You certainly don't want a Blues Junior.

andy1839

A Yamaha THR has electric and acoustic amps in it.  

I use mine for electric, acoustic and bass.
The clean tone is decent enough if it's just practicing. 

mags

Sassafras said:

What ICBM said.
You certainly don't want a Blues Junior.

Thanks for taking the time.  If this can save me getting a second amp then that would be great.  Not entirely sure about how the whole pedal thing works but I'm sure GuitarGuitar guy online can talk me through it and sell me a preamp pedal !  ICBM suggested Tech 21 Sansamp pedal.  Would that be your choice too?

mags

andy1839 said:

A Yamaha THR has electric and acoustic amps in it.  

I use mine for electric, acoustic and bass.
The clean tone is decent enough if it's just practicing. 

Thanks for your thoughts on this.  Didn't know such a thing existed but I think if I can get away with buying a preamp pedal rather than a whole new amp, I'll explore that route first.  

Dominic

What ICBM said although there are some good alternatives to the Sansamp

Sassafras

mags said:

Sassafras said:

What ICBM said.
You certainly don't want a Blues Junior.

Thanks for taking the time.  If this can save me getting a second amp then that would be great.  Not entirely sure about how the whole pedal thing works but I'm sure GuitarGuitar guy online can talk me through it and sell me a preamp pedal !  ICBM suggested Tech 21 Sansamp pedal.  Would that be your choice too?

Yes, the Sansamps are great but my personal favourite is the AMT F1 preamp for a nice clean Fender sound although a lot of people don't rate the speaker emulation on it but I think it's fine.

mags

Dominic said:

What ICBM said although there are some good alternatives to the Sansamp

Hi Dominic. Thanks for response.  What would your suggestion be?

mags

Sassafras said:

mags said:

Sassafras said:

What ICBM said.
You certainly don't want a Blues Junior.

Thanks for taking the time.  If this can save me getting a second amp then that would be great.  Not entirely sure about how the whole pedal thing works but I'm sure GuitarGuitar guy online can talk me through it and sell me a preamp pedal !  ICBM suggested Tech 21 Sansamp pedal.  Would that be your choice too?

Yes, the Sansamps are great but my personal favourite is the AMT F1 preamp for a nice clean Fender sound although a lot of people don't rate the speaker emulation on it but I think it's fine.

Ok.  Thanks Sassafras.  I'll look up prices of the various suggestions people have made.

ICBM

There are a lot of different AMT models as well, plus the various Joyo ‘*** Sound‘ pedals, depending on what type of amp you want to emulate.

There are also various digital modelling pedals, older ones like the Boss GP-20 or the Line 6 AM4, or more modern ones... which I have lost track of .

Trude

I’m selling a Tech21 Liverpool pedal if that could work for you?

mags

Trude said:

I’m selling a Tech21 Liverpool pedal if that could work for you?

Thanks Trude.  Thing is that at the moment I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for 

mags

ICBM said:

There are a lot of different AMT models as well, plus the various Joyo ‘*** Sound‘ pedals, depending on what type of amp you want to emulate.

There are also various digital modelling pedals, older ones like the Boss GP-20 or the Line 6 AM4, or more modern ones... which I have lost track of .

Hi ICBM.  Apparently I'm wanting to emulate a valve amp.  I'm looking for a blues / jazz sound and thats why GuitarGuitar had suggested the Fender Blues Junior IV initially.  Getting to information overload with a topic that I know very little about.

ICBM

I honestly don’t think you need a new amp - although a salesman is always going to try to sell you one . While the Blues Junior is popular and does have a ‘warm’ (AKA middy/muddy) sound, you could get something very similar through the Roland with a ‘Fender tweed amp’ emulating pedal.

Bearing in mind that even on the most ‘electric’ setting, the T5 does not have a specific classic electric guitar voicing, in my opinion there’s little point in using a traditional valve amp - you will get more flexibility with a pedal/preamp that’s designed for a full-range amp. Although it’s not a PA, the Roland is closer to full range than a guitar amp.

mags

ICBM said:

I honestly don’t think you need a new amp - although a salesman is always going to try to sell you one . While the Blues Junior is popular and does have a ‘warm’ (AKA middy/muddy) sound, you could get something very similar through the Roland with a ‘Fender tweed amp’ emulating pedal.

Bearing in mind that even on the most ‘electric’ setting, the T5 does not have a specific classic electric guitar voicing, in my opinion there’s little point in using a traditional valve amp - you will get more flexibility with a pedal/preamp that’s designed for a full-range amp. Although it’s not a PA, the Roland is closer to full range than a guitar amp.

Thanks again for constantly responding to me.  So if I’m looking for a Fender Tweed amp emulating pedal is there a specific one or are there different companies doing them. Basically just tell me specifically what to go on line and order

ICBM

Not necessarily just a Fender Tweed - I would actually get something with more than one voicing in case you find you prefer something else. With the T5 not being a classic Strat/Tele/Les Paul/335 or whatever, you might need to experiment a bit.

If I had to pick somewhere to start I’d probably get something like a SansAmp GT2 - they’re still available new, but they’ve been out for decades and aren’t hard to find second hand for a good price. It has Tweed, British (Marshall) and California (Mesa/Boogie) settings and various gain options.

menamestom

This would do the trick for a cheap option.  

https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-JF-14-american-sound-effect-pedal

 

Sassafras

The Palmer Pocket amp does a similar thing to the Sansamps GT 2 and it's also got a headphone out.
I think it's cheaper than the GT 2.

mags

So an update.  ICBM - thank you for initially suggesting a pre amp pedal to use with my Roland AC33 acoustic amp. It's been absolutely the right way for me to go since I'm just playing for me at home.  Sassafras - thanks for the suggestion of the Palmer Pocket amp which makes things even easier in that I can plug my headphones directly into the pedal. Pedal arrived yesterday and the fun level is immense !   Guys thank you all for supporting me through this learning curve - it's much appreciated having so much wisdom and advice on tap.  Stay safe.