amplification

[fingerpicker]

I believe the best results come from using a condensor microphone going through a PA. The sweet spot (for me) seems to be 6-8" and slightly forward of the sound hole.

[joel oporto]

Amplification or not is not so much an issue today, well not as much as a decade ago.
You see opera singers perform all the time with microphones a few feet away and believe me, they are a lot louder than any of our acoustic guitars. So if they are allowed to perform with mics, why shouldn't guitarists be allowed?
The key is that more and more times, artist/guitarists have to perform in less than perfect venues with audiences that are noisier than what was otherwise allowed previously. Amplification then becomes an important thing.
For practice purposes, amplification is probably ill-advised except for those times when you want to get used to playing with amplification. This is especially true with guitars that have on-board electronics. Although recent developments of these electronics have given us guitars that sound as authentic and natural as they can get. You do have to get used to them because at certain types of playing they do sound amplified(electric) and not the natural warm nylon sound.

I have 8 guitars, a fender telecaster, a Gibson SG, an Ibanez F-hole steel string acoustic/electric, 2 locally made steel string guitars, a yamaha AEN electric nylon guitar, a local nylon guitar and a Dominguez Javier 6-string and 8-string nylon classical.
All except the Javier guitars have amplification options.
In the studio, and among the nylons, the yamaha gets most of the work because I don't have to use headphones and go inside the recording room. I do have to take care that they don't sound amplified because at stronger playing techniques, the amplification shows, so a conscious adjustment in my playing is required.
The question of amplification is then not if amplification is ethical or not, it is a question of when and where do you need it.

[runestone]

Anytime the sound from your guitar is converted to an electronic signal there is some filtration of that sound, which means there is some loss of detail. This loss is unavoidable because the electronic components inside any electronic device operate within certain physical limits. The signal that comes out of an amplifier is always an approximation of the signal that goes in.

So, Vesuvio is right to be concerned about dynamics with the amplification in your CG.

There are many issues with amplification, such as amplitude limiting, gain distortion, feedback, selective tonal filtration, artificial sustain etc. In addition, the digitization of sounds will mute out many of the higher particles (those higher frequencies that cannot be represented in a discrete data stream given a certain system clock rate).

At home, for small audiences and in theatres with good acoustics, I recommend that you keep the natural sound of your guitar because the qualities that can be heard in the natural sound are distinctive and irreproducible (in some respect they are the priceless attributes of your guitar sound). Listening to an orchestra live is always more vibrant than what you can hear from a CD.

[Heiko]

It seems to be modern to build acoustic guitars with integrated piezo-systems, I saw a lot of them in a shop recently.
I don’t know if the sound can be good if one uses ONLY a piezo-system ? I ask the question because I am thinking to buy one which can be fixed at my guitar when I play in bigger rooms, together with a very small amplifier. Seems to be a cheap solution (?)
Heiko

[joel oporto]

There are many ways today of CG guitar amplification.

The most common is a small condenser microphone.
There are also kits that can be installed in your guitar, from the simplest button piezo that you tape on the soundboard to the preamp with equalizer and undersaddle pickup that you have to have a luthier install.

Yamaha uses a combination of an undersaddle pickup and an internal microphone blended together in most of their amplified CG guitars.
This is probably the best type, but don't take my word for it, you have to listen to it.
Undoubtedly, the most natural would be a condenser mic, but it is not the most convenient either.

This is what I have:
1) I have a traditional CG with no amplification that is my main CG and only use a microphone with it.
2) I also have a normal-bodied CG with internal preamp/equalizer and plug-in.
3) I also have a Yamaha AEN electric nylon thin-bodied guitar which I use for quick studio work and when playing with bands.

In the end you have to try out which of the choices fit your style of playing

[Heiko]

Thank you very much for this overview. I think the best in my situation is to buy a good microphone – even if it is not very practical, since I will not use it very often it seems to be the best solution, and I can use it also to make good recordings at home… I like the natural sound like it is.

[ebneth]

I followed this thread in the hopes of getting some ideas for purchasing a small acoustic guitar amplifier suitable for nylon strings. I recently purchased a Takamine TH90 and tried to run it through a small Traynor electric guitar amp, but it didn't do the guitar justice. There are many amp choices out there, but I believe that most of them might be more suitable to a steel string acoustic. So, if anyone has recently purchased an acoustic guitar amp that they believe works well for them with a classical instrument, I'd appreciate their advice. Thanks.

Chris Ebneth

[avoz]

I am playing a few Concerts per year (mostly once a Month) in Classical Music and a few with Music of Hand Eisler & Bert Brecht and - because of my Religion and my Tradition - I am working to make an Archive of Klezmer Music available.

Thorsten, Your tradition has made huge contributions to the arts, sciences and general wellbeing of humanity, in inverse proportion to its treatment by (in)humans of other traditions such as my own, and this is particularly true of music composers & performers - a list of their names would be very extensive; in the world of the guitar the name of Castelnuovo-Tedesco could be mentioned along with many others. I enjoy playing the the exquisite settings of 'Siete Canciones Sefarades & Danza Hebrea' by Oscar Roberto Casares, the arrangement of 'Eili-Eili' by Laurindo Almeida and the (difficult) suite 'A Sephardic Life' by Michael White. For my wife's enjoyment I have made simple arrangements of some Klezmer melodies, usually the preserve of the clarinet/violin, but I assume your own arrangements will be for group rather than solo playing?

[Norman Spencer]

If the goal is to increase the sound that you hear when practicing, have you considered that holes in your guitar may provide exactly what you are looking for?

Check out "sound ports", you may change your mind.
http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25414&p=260591&hilit=sound+port#p260591

[Rocket88]

I followed this thread in the hopes of getting some ideas for purchasing a small acoustic guitar amplifier suitable for nylon strings. I recently purchased a Takamine TH90 and tried to run it through a small Traynor electric guitar amp, but it didn't do the guitar justice. There are many amp choices out there, but I believe that most of them might be more suitable to a steel string acoustic. So, if anyone has recently purchased an acoustic guitar amp that they believe works well for them with a classical instrument, I'd appreciate their advice. Thanks.

Chris Ebneth

As I said earlier, SWR and Genz Benz acoustic amps are good. If you are looking for something smaller and less expensive the 30watt Ultrasound looks interesting, but I have not tried one.

[Freddie]

As far as amps go I've tried the ones from SWR and they didn't sound natural to my ears, I have also tried some from fishman and roland that I thought were much better. The best I tried was a unit form bose but it was very expensive. When I need amplification for church events I just use a P.A. all amps and pick ups color your sound some what, so it depends on what you are going for. I just want to be heard and want as transparent a sound as I can get. FYI I use a "D-Tar" pickup in my old guitar, it was cheap and easy to use. Mics take more time to set-up etc. I prefer to play without amplification when possible.