Distortion Effects thru Acoustic Amp?

[sacrifice]

I have a question. My only amp is a Marshall AS50R which is made for
acoustic. It has two channels: Acoustic, and "PA" which can be used
for mics, keyboards, etc...

I am wondering if playing one a distortion pedal stomp box or even something like the new POD Live would sound good through either channel.

The reason I ask is because I have a Digitech RP-1 (Yes, the 1st one
from the 90s!) which sounds good through an electric amp, but sounds
like crap through the Marshall AS50R, especially the distortion
sounds. Is this just the nature of the beast? Do I have to buy an
electric guitar amp or is there a way to run a decent distorion sound
through this amp? Ideally, I want a classic/southern rock Blues Driver
kind of sound.

[CAFeathers]

I have the same amp and I could not get any FX to sound good through it either. I think it is the way the amp is made.

[sacrifice]

Dang. That's what I was afraid of. I'm looking into these inexpensive VOX modelling amps like the ad30vt. Any thoughts or experience with those?

[CAFeathers]

No experience with the VOX modeling amps, I do however have a ZOOM Fire 30 with all the built-in ZOOM FX. I really don't care for it and it is for sale. I'm not much of an FX person. I had a tried a bunch of them and ended up selling them all.

[Steelpriest]

Sacrifice, take a look at the digitech distortion stomp boxes I mentioned in the gear review board. These little and affordable devices offer nice tone, and what is more important, they have a cabinet simulation output. I guess when you connect one of those to the so called PA input of your acoustic amp you should get an amazing electric sound. I played electric (with heavy distortion) directly into the mixing console. I was impressed. Also check out the Digitech website, there are soundsamples. P.S.: I guess every multi FX box or preamp like the POD should sound good with the PA input of the amp as long as it has cabinet simulation, which cuts off the undesired frequencies when it comes to electric guitar ampflification.

[dgassie]

"I had a tried a bunch of them and ended up selling them all".

Same story with me. I thought they were real deals since they included all kinds of effects, but sadly... all I got was noise, not tone.

Now I use tubes, a compressor and an overdrive. Of course I want to try a bunch more compressors and overdrives! ;D

It's all about tone

[sacrifice]

Steelpriest: Dude! If you are right about this, it would save me a bundle and let me use my beloved amp for some southern rock sounds too.

I never thought about that before. The cabinet emulation might be the answer to my problems. Which pedal would you suggest for me to try out a Blues Driver type sound on the AS50R?

[Steelpriest]

Well, Sacrifice, I think I should be right about this. What does your amp do, or better what was it intended to do... reproduce the sound of an acoustic guitar, and the PA input of this amp should be even more lineal. The built in speaker should also be desigend for this. More a speaker like the ones to be found in smaller PA enclosures or like a hifi-speaker. What does an electric guitar amp do? It is absolutely non-linear, same with it´s speakers. A cabinet simulation simulates this effect more or less realisticly. Some better, some not so good. The Digitech speaker simulation is very convincing. When I connected the Digitech overdrive to our mixing console I only lowered the mids a little and left bass and treble linear. The tone controls of the overdrive are very nice and you can adjust the desirable sound there. You can use the Digitech overdrive and distortion pedals either with a normal amp and use their output 1 for this, or in your case with the "cabinet emulating" output 2. So they are quite versatile. Maybe use your old RP1 and connect a cabinet simulating D.I. Box between it and the amp. Maybe some of your buddies or bandmates has a Hughes and Kettner Red Box, check it out. But if you are willing to try one of the new Digitechs I would recommend the "Bad Monkey" or the "Screaming Blues" pedal. Go to the thread in the gear reviews ( epifriends.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=gearreviews&action=display&thread=1097646701 )and to the website of digitech. Listen to the soundsamples and make your decision. Maybe a local store has them available, carry your amp and check them personally. Or maybe you have a nice local dealer that let´s you borrow them before purchasing, like in my case. Again: I believe my theory is right.

[ZacAttack]

I hope the stomp box thing works for you bro. But take it from me, down the road you will want a good ol electric guitar amp. So now that you see the need for one, start saving your ones and fives. Once you get the cash to get a good amp, save some more and get a powerhouse of an amp. Its not more than you need, just more than you are used to.

p.s. You can always turn it down. ;D

[mandough]

I've tried the modeling amp from Vox and it is excellent. It has a very low powered tube power amp in it that makes all of the tones that then get added onto by the modeler. Randall came out with something similar a few years ago. Power amp tube distortion is the smoothest, and with one in there, even though it's a modeler, it sounds good.
I think the only way to get good tones from the acoustic amp is to use a POD or something similar in the PA input like Steel has suggested.
Then again, if you're really into Duane, Dickie, and Gary Rossington, there's no substitute for a Lester and a Marshall... ;D

[sacrifice]

Reply to comments:
Hey guys. Thanks for all your input. I really think the stomp box thing will work, but I also think I need to get a good electric amp anyway. Thanks, ZacAttack for bringing that up.

I sold this old Crate amp I had after most of my playing turned to the acoustic side. I'm getting back into electric now, and I'm really going to seriously look at buying the Vox ad30vt. I've heard the new PODxt Live online and to tell you the truth, I didn't like anything I heard on there. To me, the VOX, at least from online samples, is way better. So, mandough, I'm going to Guitar Center tomorrow to play this bad boy. They even said on the phone they will match the price I found online and musicians friend.

But Steelpriest's idea still intrigues me. I think I might eventually try out and pick up the screamin blues or bad monkey anyway. Just so I have the option of using my acoustic amp for electric, too.

I guess the solution to my dilemma is a both/and. I've got $200 bucks saved up and I hope to get paid on Monday, so I think $300 bucks otta do it for the VOX 30 watt version. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm getting excited. This will be my FIRST GOOD electric amp!

Some questions:
mandough, can you run the VOX straight into a mixer, too? Is there a line out? It should have cab emulation, too, right? Also, can you use stompbox effects infront of the Vox if you wanted to use your own pedals?

[sacrifice]

Alright!

I just ordered my VOX ad30vt from Musician's Friend! Got a killer deal via a scratch and dent special, too. Including the footswitch. It'll be here in 4 days. Can't wait!!! :-)

[mandough]

Congrats ! !
I'm not sure about the line out, but it should have one with all the other bells and whistles it has on it.
I think you'll have no problem at all running your stomp boxes into it, but if you save annother $400, you can have the Vox Tone Lab. It has a tube to get the OD tones, and has speaker and cabinet simulations built in and is made to be the perfect companion to the amplifier.