the recording side can wait a bit. Want to make some noise and get into dynamics a little more and I think plugging in will be tons of fun and will help me get there.

I'm going to go with a Fishman Loudbox. The question is to get the 100 watt or the 130 watt. They're only a few hundred apart. It's not the wattage that I"m considering. I've heard that the sound quality on the 130 is stronger across the midrange and that it has a more pronounced base.

Does anyone have an opinion on this. I'll see if I can find a comparision review on the internet tomorrow. I thought perhaps someone might have worked through this decision.

Weight is obviously a factor. And the 100 watt is sigificantly lighter (13 lbs or something like that as I recall). But sound is the key. Would I really notice the difference. I think so, but I don't know for sure.

thanks,

Stuart

Stuart

Loudbox Performer. Best value for the dollar in the Fishman line.

Colled up Fishman today. The discussion was about sound. Why buy an expensive guitar and shirk on the sound side. Performer it is.

Mids and Base apparently disernably better quality. Not that the 100 is a slouch. The performer is simply stronger.

Thanks Stephen,

Stuart

The Loudbox Performer is my favorite acoustic guitar amp under $800, give or take. Well thought out features and very decent sound. Quite the value.

Go dual source on the pickup side. Check out Doug Young's site for samples of many choices. Narrow choices down to what sounds good to you, and report back.

http://www.dougyoungguitar.com/pickuptest.htm

Thanks,

Will do that.

I was going to simply go with K&K pure western mini.

I'll visit the site.

Stuart

I visited the site.

Wow! Thanks for that site link.

This fellow has really gone out of his way to provide some great information, not that the speakers attached to my computer do the recordings justice. My speakers are nice, but there are degrees in this case that come into play.

Regardless, you've got me thinking again, which is both fortunate and unfortunate.

I'd love to have the solution in hand, but if I don't like the end product in terms of sound, where am I?

It might be that none of them satisfy me.

I went to an acoustic concernt last night. Four players. The most recognizable player was a gentleman named Dylan Foster - touring from wales as I recall. He plays sort of a gypsy archtop, looked like a shorter scale - huge soundhole with flat side to it, guitar. It was steele stringed, but I've never heard a steele stringed guitar sound more like nylon before.

Anyway, if you're into fine playing, check his music out. He does all kinds of stuff, including some hungarian influenced songs that are mind blowing.

The interesting thing was that two of three of the main players didn't plug there guitars in. They used mics. If I have a loudbox, I presume that one option is to plug a mic into it and use it that way.

But I'm going to take more time to go through that site in greater detail. I listened to many of the different pickups etc., I wish the K&K example used a Collings. Anyway, great information, though I worry a bit that I won't like the end product sound.

Will go over them again and give you some feedback and you can let me know if you came to similar conclusions.

Best,

Stuart

The sound of pickups recorded (as they are on Doug Young's site) is rather different than the sound of pickups through an acoustic amp or PA.

Of limited use then, I presume.

Especially since you have some reasonable controls on the loudbox. I found a place in Canada that sells them for $900 Canadian. All of the US sites sell them for identical prices, but in Canada, most places sell them for $1000, which is a bit silly. If you take the US price, add the exchange, add the tax, add the shipping it comes to just under $900 Canadian. So I was glad to find this store, which ships for free.

Just debating the purchase until I am certain I will use it. Hate it when I buy something and regret it.

Stuart

Yeah, decisions decisions. You simply won't do better than the Loudbox, overall, until you get north of $1,000, some would say well north of $1,000. Still, it's a great amp, great value and sounds very very good.

It's also capable of handling just about any pickup or dual source setup you care to throw at it.

I didn't mean to imply that Doug Young's samples were not usable. They are the best comparative samples available and are very useful. It's just that the long list of samples (not the special eq'd samples) are direct with no eq. When you run pickups through an amp, you get the color and characteristics of the amp added to the sound as well as the capabilites to change the sound with eq, effects, volume and speaker placement. That's what I meant by different.

It's all good.