Best Eq For Acoustic Guitar (2024 Updated)

When I buy something that does so much but I don’t need to read any manuals to operate it I know I’ve made the right choice. Sounds are fantastic, my favourite amp so far is the boutique, it feels very natural, not boomy like my previous desktop type amp.

The effects are great, particularly the reverbs. I find myself taking it out of our little ‘work from home office’ while my wife or the kids are in there and noodling in the living room or the kitchen with it because I haven’t had to faff around with power cables 🙂 It has a flat setting so I use that when I’m playing around with modeller settings for gigs rather than dragging out my powercab at home.

The app is really easy to use and opens up a nice compressor plus cab options etc. The clincher for me over the smaller units is the 1/4 inch line outs, I can chuck it in the car and it’s there as a back up incase my gigging amp packs up.

I’m no bass player but I play a bit at home and this sounds way better than going into a guitar amp or using a bass amp on amplitube on my pc. This is easily the best music purchase I’ve made in recent years and I’m playing more music because of it :).

Great item. Works well with the 4 point conection system for the 1/4″ guitar cable. Gives much better contanuity and much less chance of it shorting out and having adjustable conectors makes it easy to keep the fit of the male end of th cord to have a tight fit.

Cant do that with the new style inclosed 1/4″ output Jacks. Great product.

after trying these? i’ll never go back to switchcraft again. just plain a superior design, and bulletproof. works great, no slop, better connection equals way better tone. easy to adapt, and a way better jack for any guitar or bass that uses open jacks.

not for if you need stereo. as in an active system. but an improvement for most other instruments. i am installing these on every new build i make now, and retrofitting the rest of the stable. just buy one and try it.

you won’t be disappointed.

I bought my first set of these elsewhere and recently came to eBay for more. Excellent product. The better mechanical connection is obvious and nice feeling. The redundant contact points should reduce crackle down the road which I’d already started having a slight issue with on the Switchcraft I used previously.

The Pure Tone seemed like an obvious improvement over the standard open frame design from 1878. Pure Tone claims a bunch of stuff* about increased signal and better tone. I didn’t buy it for or because of that.

Mechanically it made sense to me, it was inexpensive, and it felt like a quality part, so why not try it? I’d planned on swapping capacitors anyway, so when I discovered these it wasn’t a huge extra project.

*more accurately bull**** Compared to the standard that is Switchcraft, the Pure Tone is easily as good if not better. When I pulled the Switchcraft from my guitar it actually felt a little cheap compared to the Pure Tone.

The insulation wafers on the Pure Tone look thicker to my eyes and the plating seems nicer. I’m not knocking Switchcraft in the slightest, the new jack just seems nicer. EDIT: The price has gotten ridiculous on some sites.

Last year, I bought a half dozen for a couple bones each. As long as they’re priced competitively with Switchcraft you’re doing OK.

******BUYER BEWARE****** I read a lot of reviews before selecting the Super Snark product. Most were good but some reviews mentioned the product not staying on the instrument securely and breaking where the stem meets the ball joint.

Not even a month or two later of very careful and light use, it has done exactly what others have experienced. Contacted the seller and explained what happened only to be told they would not offer a refund or replacement stating they have a 45 day policy (the Snark Company has a 12 month limited warranty).

The seller assumed that the device was broken because of user error but hadn’t asked for any pictures or proof before making this assumption. I highly suggested you look elsewhere for a better return policy and take note that of you buy from this seller and this happens, you will be out of luck.

You’re better off buying one that is a stand alone that doesn’t attach to the instrument you are playing.

While digital emulations are far, far better than they were even a couple of years ago, every musician should know what it feels like to play through a discrete analog circuit. Tech21’s PSA 2. 0 scores high marks for tone, feel, and programmability.

Please read Guitar Player Magazine’s review, where they really put the unit through its paces. In a word: “Cons: none. ” Personally, the PSA 2. 0 is the heart of my MIDI-fied pedalboard. The speaker simulation is so good I don’t even bother hooking up my IR loader.

Although, as the picture below attests, there is room for it should I change my mind. Also note that I have an XLR out to either an FRFR or the house mix. When you’re in a band and you need to set up and tear down quickly, or if you play on silent stages or take part in musical theater orchestras, this is your best bet.

Yamaha produce some great products at a favourable price point and the THR 5 is no exception to this. A portable and aesthetically pleasing solution for practicing or recording in a small room environment.

An array of useable tones and effects are possible with the added ability to plug in your external audio device enabling you to play along to your favourite tracks and have some fun along the way! A USB provides connection to an external recording set up you may have or are considering in the future.

Nothing is perfect in this world of ours, so if I’m being super critical I feel this would benefit from longer battery life and a volume and tone control on the aux in. Sound and tone are subjective and everybody has there own ideas on this.

I personally think this is hard to be beat for the positive reasons that I have mentioned. I originally purchased one when they first appeared and sold it on in my search for perfection. Here I am approximately ten years later buying exactly the same item again.

The pros far outweigh the cons for me.

Simply incredible sound and reasonable to install. The output is pretty strong and it works with acoustic preamps so it is flexible enough to count on and seeing as there is no active component, you don’t have batteries to worry about.

– The tone is very much like the unamplified sound of the instrument and this may actually throw you off for a while as it is hard to tell if the sound is coming directly from the guitar or the PA – String to string balance is very good and the tone is warm across the spectrum as opposed to sterile, thin or brittle – Dynamics are very good and the sound stays cohesive across the dynamic range so that loud and soft notes all speak clearly – Installation is a little anxious until you get the first transducer placed and then it feels comfortable, use a web cam or your phone inside the guitar body linked to a spare monitor to watch the process in real time.

As a professional luthier/guitar technician, I have installed several of these amazing transducers, and am continually astounded by their performance, which has a natural warmth and tonal range heretofore unheard in this type of unit.

I highly recommend this pickup for ALL acoustic guitars which can accommodate one. It isn’t the easiest to install, and will most likely require the help of a tech like myself; but the results are BEYOND EXCELLENT; take my word for it.

Additionally, this passive pickup does not require a battery-powered on-board preamp, though it works with outside preamps, EQs and direct boxes equally well (it doesn’t need them for sufficient volume).

This basic model does not include a volume control, but K&K Audio makes a model which uses one, as well as preamp-equipped versions. Thank you, K&K–ROCK ON!.

I have gone through over 20 amps in the last few years. The only one I’ve kept is my Yamaha THR10 (love the THR). I don’t gig or play out too much anymore but wanted to find something that I could enjoy playing at home and take to play out if the opportunity presented itself.

I play classic rock and blues and an amp that makes gain easy to dial in at reasonable volume is crucial for me. Tubes sound great when cranked but even a 5 watt is crazy loud at home. I’ve tried everything from Fender, Marshall and Vox.

While I liked a lot of those amps, for home use they weren’t practical and I never played them. After hearing endless positive reviews and videos on the Boss Katana I decided I would give it a try. I went to GC and within seconds I knew that wasn’t the tone(s) I was looking for.

The tone was sterile and lifeless. I had never tried an Orange amp before and it was righ next to the Katana so I plugged into it. Right away something drew me to it. It wasn’t perfect but the tone had something to it.

I went back home and did my research. I found a couple negative reviews but the majority were overwhelmingly positive. Lots of people have this amp! I went back the next day and bought it. As soon as I got it home I knew I was goi g to keep it.

The tone is t perfect it is a little fizzy and fuzzy but it can be dialed in and it is a blast to play! I can get great tone easily at room volume and it is built like a tank. For the price and build quality you owe it to yourself to grab one before they stop making this model.

The reverb sounds great and the clean is very cool and responsive. I think being a solid state is the difference vs an all digital modeling amp. I’m very happy and finally found a keeper!.

This his EQ/DI is the perfect device for my acoustic guitars. I’d originally purchased one for a D35 Martin with a FRAP pickup and it was great for getting the sound zeroed in and zapping pesky feedback.

A very short time later my Fishman Platnum DI/preamp I was using for my Collings D decided to just die. I purchased another LRBaggs and it works really well for the Collings (with LRBaggs pickup system).

It also has a much smaller footprint than the bulky Fishman. One other small thing: The LRBaggs comes with a nice, concise set of very helpful instructions with interesting tips. It’s also powered by Phantom power or battery.

No 9V DC input. I can definitely live without that.

I Love this box! I bought used one here on GC as i needed preamp/DI to plug straight into the board of a singer/guitarist I started playing with. I had read a lot of reviews and watched a lot of videos of all the acoustic preamps available and decided on this one for my Martin GPC-15ME.

The Martin has a built in Fishman preamp, but the LR Baggs allows me to get a strong clear sound without distortion and without having to max the Martin preamp. The Para acoustic can be powered off battery or phantom.

If phantom power is lost, battery automatically kicks in. Unit automatically turns on when jack plugged into input when on battery power. Fits nicely sideways on a pedaltrain Nano+ along with a Harmonist PS-6 and BBE mini sonic stomp with room to spare.

I replaced my trusty and awesome T. C. Electronic Nova System which so faithfully served me on my pedal board for more than 10 years and 100’s of shows, with this beast of a machine. I’m loving the HX Stomp as the effects brain on my board.

And would recommend it for any musician who wants to do more with less and downsize their effects pedal board. Now while this is a fantastic amp modeler and IR box, I’m using with my Marshall Jubilee 2525H and Marshall 1960A 4×12 cab with V30’s.

This mostly serves as my effects machine, but every so often I do run a preamp amp into my FX loop to get the Fender, Vox, Friedman BE or Soldano preamp sound thru my Marshall’s power section, keeping tubes in the mix.

In the future I plan to use the modeler + IR config for anything theater-based or in a touring rig where I have limits to weight and size when traveling.

Just bought this unit after having played it at 4 of my local stores for 3 months. I played at least 12 other guitars and kept coming back to this one. UNBELIEVABLE high tones and deep belly to low strings.

I haven’t even played it AMPed up because the raw natural sounds are so resonant. Only issue I had was that at every store the Input Jacks were always loose. Must be a shipping or design thing. Anyway, great design by Epiphone! I can only imagine what the Gibson SJ-200 must sound like, if that’s the inspiration for this unit.

However, at a fraction of the price I’m happy with this version Even if you never played it once it looks super cool in any collection :-).

I bought this guitar this weekend and played all night. I took it to church on Sunday morning and plugged it in to my direct box. I had been using a Breedlove passport and a semi-hollow Epiphone, this blew them both away by miles.

I have rediscovered a love for playing for fun after only playing to lead worship and practice for the past 4-5 years. The tone and playability are beyond anything I have ever owned, the cost was relatively low for something that sounds and looks so beautiful.

I’m looking forward to playing this thing for a long time. I almost want to name it ole yeller because no matter how much I know I need to, I can’t find the strength to put it down. The only downsides I have for it so far are how quickly it picks up dust and fingerprints and that it doesn’t come with a case.

Yamaha AG03 review for Adorama: I use the AG03 to podcast on the go connecting it to my iPad and even to capture my audio for my Sony A7iii recordings while feeding the audio directly into my camera and it works great! You?ll get nice clean sound with the ability to use effects and other useful options.

I would highly recommend grabbing one while they?re in stock. This device was sold out everywhere after the pandemic first hit for months and prices were double what they retail on sites where you can buy from private sellers which was one of the only places to find one, though they were coming all the way from Japan.

Hope this helps you!.

In 1981 I had three guitars, two of them acoustics, and one of those was an Ovation Country Artist–a nylon-string guitar with a 14 fret, comparatively narrow neck. It was my first good guitar, but when I left for grad school, I kept only a Martin OO-18, and sold the Ovation.

In the 30 years since, I have been trying to find a replacement, I tried various Ibanez and Yamaha guitars, but they didn’t have what it took. Then, a couple of months ago, needing a brain break, I left work and took myself to the acoustic room at Sam Ash.

There was another guy in there playing, so I looked for a quiet instrument, and took this one down off the wall. Immediately, I knew that it was special. The clarity of the tone, and the richness of the bass, it was all there.

The other guy liked the sound too, and soon we were jamming and telling stories. Both of us tried other neoclassical guitars, and agreed that this one was best. I loved the guitar at first note, but when I looked at the price tag, I knew I could never own it.

So I bought (online) a similar guitar, but it lacked the feel and sound of this one. My wife heard me playing, asked what I thought about the similar guitar I’d bought, and I explained that it wasn’t the same.

Then she told me to buy this one. So I did, And I have been playing it daily since then. The OO-18 is still with me and still gets some time, but right now my fingers itch to play and hear this one. Did it replace my long-gone Country Artist? Not exactly–this Takamine is significantly superiod to the Country Artist in all respects.

Even if I don’t play it plugged in :-).

Owning two other high-end Takamines (TF360 SBG and P3 DC-12 string); I have always been amazed by Takamine’s hand-made guitars. I was not in the market for another 6-stringer, but when a P6-JC BSB came up in an open-box warehouse sale, I jumped on it.

The first owner put the wrong strings on it (medium) and the action was way off. No biggy. My guitar tech put on the correct strings (light), shaved the saddles, and adjusted the neck. WOW! The P6-JC really sings.

Easy chording on the fast neck. Overall balanced sound; with solid mid-range, shimmering highs, and a clear low-end that is not “boomy”. Smooth harmonics and way crazy sustain. Really nice complement to lower register singing.

Moreover, this is a lovely guitar with the maple back and sides and sunburst gloss finish. Oh, and it is LOUD if you want it to be. And of course, plugging in the Cool Tube 3 pre-amp takes the P6 to a whole other amplified dimension.

Some truly sweet compression going on here. These are not inexpensive guitars. However, Takamine builds awesome instruments that hold their value and sound better and better as time goes by. Quality solid case included.

You will not be disappointed.

I have 2 Epiphone AJ 220S guitars and an Epiphone Hummingbird Pro. HA, yes I love Epi’s. My experience with both of the AJ 220S guitars is that when they are brand new the wood sounded just slightly tight.

After a month of playing however they both opened up beautifully. Obviously they are well made because they are Epiphone’s. Both arrived with a sticker on back of headstock indicating a factory setup which was flawless and the sound they deliver is phenomenal.

Now the AJ 220S compared to the Hummingbird Pro. That would all come down to individual taste. The lows seem to be better in the Hummingbird despite it’s somewhat smaller size, but the harmonics sound better in the AJ 220S.

Let me be clear. I am a novice. When I say harmonics it is my attempt to describe the sound you hear when you strum a chord. When you strum the AJ 220S it sounds as though the strings are in perfect harmony, yet you seem to also be able to hear the tone of each individual string better than on the Hummingbird.

Anyway if you are looking at buying one of those two guitars, the Hummingbird costs more. If you want to plug in, that will make a difference because the Hummingbird has excellent Shadow Electronics on board.

If you are looking for that pure acoustic experience though, I actually feel like the AJ 220S edges the Hummingbird out. They are both great.

The Xotic SP Compressor is without a doubt a 5 Star product! For many years I used a 1953 Gibson ES 175 or 1966 Telecaster plugged into a MXR Dyna Comp and grew to appreciate the warm squash this device had to offer as I lost the taste for most all distortion devices on the market.

The Dyna Comp was a simple two knob device that squeezed my signal rather nicely to which I still have 3 of them floating about the house. I also have the more expanded version, MXR Limiter dating from the early 80s that also does a nice job modifying my signal.

The only initial down side to the Dyna Comp was a little bit of noise. However the real down side to the old Dyna Comp was sometime in the early 90s, after Dunlop acquired ownership of the MXR Product, decided to reduce the cost of production by having all the jacks, pots, and switch connected directly to the PC Board via solder bath.

Not only did this process of assembly affect the durability of this classic old compressor, it also compromised the tone and performance of a one great pedal. The vintage Dyna Comps wired point to point are far superior product.

If you have one, keep it! In the wake of the cheapening of the Dyna Comp came the Keeley Compressor. I bought a Keeler Compressor somewhere around 10 years ago a noticed an improvement in performance over my old Dyna Comps with less noise.

And with going into great detail, every guitar, from my old 1951 L5 to any of my old Fender sound great through this compressor. So now a new and somewhat revolutionary compressor has hit in the market by way of the Xotic SP.

These guys are making some of the best pedals that I?ve run across in years. By the time I got my SP I was already the proud owner of an EP Booster and SL Drive. To later I have to say it is the only distortion that has come out in the last 30 years with a decent sounding tone that does not narrow the bandwidth of your signal path.

Not to mention these pedals just happen to be the cutest looking signal devices on the market. What really makes the SP Compressor outstanding is the 3 position Hi/Mid/Low switch. The versatility to this pedal via of this switch is just amazing.

In the Hi mode I can match the performance of my Keeley and Dyna Comp compressors for Jazz applications. However, I have taken using the Mid position for a great Blues/Rock tone. In this position the pedal allows me to play over the top of the compressor for soaring highs.

This works in great combination with my 1960 Telecaster with Barden pickups. Anyway, I highly recommend the Xotic SP Compressor with its advantage in versatility over other compressors on the market.

And here?s the bonus, this pedal is priced about $100 less than the Keeley. My hat?s off to you folks at Xotic for manufacturing a fantastic compressor at an affordable price that will thousands of guitar players sound better and better.

Now if you can reinvent the Sola Sound Tone Bender in one of these small bud boxes, that would be fantastic!.

I’m coming to this review as a Wampler fan but for 100% honesty I will tell you what’s great and what’s not great. 1st it sounds fantastic! Very clean and clear sounding distortion. No midrange hump.

It’s takes the sound of your guitar and slams the front end of the amp. Very touch sensitive at lower gain levels and gets more slippery and smooth at max gain. The gain doesn’t flub out at the highest levels either.

No fizz no fuzzy low end. It’s a tight modern distortion pedal. The negative is the amount of white noise added to the signal chain. With your guitar’s volume all the way off the hiss is still rather obnoxious.

But who buys a pedal to run with the volume off??? Not an amp in a box. If you already dislike your sound this won’t cover up a bad sounding rig. It’s gives you your rig X 10. Worth it.

I received this pedal as a gift from my bro for my 50th birthday last year and to say it was exactly what I wanted, is a total understatement. I had recently purchased a Fender Blues Jr. III amp that I use live but as you may (or may not know) the overdrive in a FBJR is a tad on the bluesy side (well, duh!).

Because the band I’m in runs the gamut of rock tunes, I require slightly bluesy overdrive to more 80s metal sounds and everything in between. I went on a quest to find the right overdrive/distortion pedal and nothing was cutting if.

I finally settled on something else when Wampler’s Sovereign Distortion Pedal literally Dues Ex Machina’d the whole thing and saved my sound! Yes, it’s on the expensive side but it’s a boutique pedal, so you know what you’re getting into price wise.

The fact that I didn’t have to pay for it, was a blessing certainly, but now knowing how good it is, I would have bought one anyway had I been able to try one out. Trust me, I tried a ton of pedals (on rental at my local pro shop and went back every couple of days saying “Nope, what else you got?”) looking for that right one and was always close, but not close enough.

The pedal is well made, features a satisfying crunchy engaging click and has enough knobs to dial in a multitude of sounds. If you’ve got a bright guitar, there’s a switch for that, if you’ve got a not so bright guitar, there’s a switch for that! The Mid Behaviour control allows you to subtly arrive at just the right tone – and you really have to see the difference it makes shifting a bit to the right or left.

It’s touchy but in a good way. Same goes for the Tone control. Crank the Gain all the way and you’ll be at that satisfying 80s hard rock / metal sound. Bright, punchy and cutting. Watch some videos on it and see if it’s the pedal you’re looking for.

Worked wonders for me!.

Revamping a stage rig, second Wampler product I’ve bought in a few weeks. Very pleased with construction, control layout and sound. Using the Ego to add a little sweet sustain to an analog to Fender amp signal chain,used for variety pop – rock, funk, jazz, country, whatever.

With attack and blend almost all the way down and sustain and tone dialed relatively high I get a very natural attack from Gibson and D’Angelico hums and Strat single coils, while adding a long tail sustain with some nice sparkle.

I leave it on most of the time now for anything except fingerstyle jazz when I need a more percussive sound. Works great with the blend turned way up into a heavy squash for funk rhythm and country chicken-pickin’.

Can’t speak to longevity, I’ve only had it on three gigs and one session so far, but it seems solid. Not noisy, no tone-suck unless you dial it in that way.

Although I was happy with my much smaller and compact amp I tried this out because of all the great reviews. Upon opening the box I was thrilled with this amps sexy good looks. It also seems to be vey well built.

When plugging in my numerous guitars I became less thrilled. I have about 6 different electric systems on my various acoustic guitars. Not one of my guitars sounded better through this amp them my current small 10 watt amp.

The highs seemed very compressed and shrill. The base on this amp is very prominent. I even like the effects on my current 10 watt amp better. Vocals sounded good through this amp but I just could not see adding all this weight and bulk when I can just use a small mic mechanic for vocals, my small 4 pound guitar amp going to two small powered speakers.

Also, the current system can get much more volume since both powered speakers are 1000 watts. I sent this amp back because the sound quality just pales compared to my small 10 watt amplifier. Still, I miss this amps appearance.

It is very sharp. I just wasn’t sold on the tone and 35 pound bulk.