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Magnetics sounds better as do soundboard or bridgeplate transducers.
Then we get to the soundman. He’s got quite a lot to deal with. EQing the sound to fit in a mix with voices and other instruments. The guitar was built to give a balanced frequency response at room volume. The Fletcher Munson effect means that the balance isn’t there at 500w, and has to be EQd back in. Selected frequencies and their harmonics may need cutting to avoid feedback. Many simple desks cut out wider frequency bands than you’d like. The soundman may well use compression to try to keep the guitar volume consistent. Maybe keeping the bite of the attack, but reducing the sustain to contain bass boom.
I think it's something inherent with acoustic guitars which others will be able to explain better I'm sure. But I also think it's how they are played. In person in a quiet environment it's much more likely that you'll pay with bigger dynamics and more deftness of touch. In a loud room is much harder to hear yourself doing that so people tend to bash it out with more strumming on the beat and then bashing it even louder between singing lines.
Also I findi don't like the kinds of acoustic performers that largely play in pubs and clubs or in beer garden type events. Mostly they are people who use the guitar as tuned percussion and therefore put very little musical interest into their playing, and largely don't know how to make the instrument itself sound any better.
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It's a different instrument.
Same thing with bass: just because you can play an electric guitar, you are not god and don't think you can play a bass, a cello, or an acoustic guitar without actually studying it and spending the time it takes to get a good sound.
Acoustic guitars can and do sound fantastic live. But it takes work. And a good sound engineer who actually understands the instrument.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
I spent 4 months in Lanzarote this winter, playing and singing in several hotel complexes and got many compliments on my guitar sound. I was using an L R Baggs sound hole pickup plugged directly into the house PA on every occasion. A sound engineer set things up once for each venue, I took a photo of the desk settings and replicated them each time.
I'm old enough to remember when all we had to work with was an SM57 for the guitar and an SM58 for the vocal, things are so much easier now.
An SM57 - or even a 58 - in front of the guitar still sounds better than almost any pickup system. The problem is needing to keep very still when playing.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
as mrs bert would say "SM58, the landrover of mics "
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
If you had the money, you could go down to London and buy such guitars but most couldn't afford it.
Eko made a perfectly good acoustic IIRC. But today there's so much choice.
Sorry, just wandering down Memory Lane
If you look at some old Eagles videos they often had mics on the vocal mic stand set much lower to pick up the acoustic guitar and banjo. As they were tied to the mic for vocals this worked ok. Certainly worth trying with on quieter stages.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I do agree that the audience doesn't really care though - although a badly EQ'd piezo pickup can actually make a good number of them wince .
I know both these things from practical experience .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein