How 2 Make My Electric Guitar Sound Sort Of Acoustic?

[tochiro]

Hi,

 

I have a Telecaster and I need it to sound as close as possible to an acoustic guitar.  How would you do that?  Thanks a lot.

 

Cheers

[utubebenscott]

No amp sim/cab sim

 

Boost Comp pre the "amp", 83% comp, 50/50 Bass/Treble

 

Add some reverb post the "amp" 

 

Then i'd try out a whole load of EQ's and keep tweaking

 

You want the tone of your guitar to come out, the resonance, wood, etc… 

 

Just keep tweaking until you get a sort of "woody" tone

 

Probably best if you have your guitar set on the neck pickup too

 

Also what strings you are using can make a difference, i generally use Elixir strings because they don't rust, they sound very bright without an EQ, if your just running a flat signal, if you use a light set or super light set, this might help too.

[medbad5150]

Obvious question, but have you tried any of the acoustic patches? I use mine with the Variax acoustic setting ( I know you can't do this on normal electric) and sounds superb.

[Rewolf48]

You could try the above, and get acceptable results (depending on how important it is to really sound acoustic), but to get closer you need one of the following:

 

1) If you have stage space, then an electro acoustic guitar and a stage stand - like many pros have used over the years (including the other guitarist in my band)

 

2) If you can live with the body style not being a Tele, then a JTV variax (like me) and you also get several bodies including 12 strings and real-time alternative tunings

 

3) Piezo pickups such as used by players like Alex Lifeson when he needs electric and acoustic in the same song. http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/ghost/ghost-pickups---guitar

[NinoScholz]

I use benscotts method posted above. No amp, just comnpression for volume control, some chorus maybe, reverb ,etc, Works well - I use for our "No Excuses" cover 

[kmoed]

Hi,

 

I have a Telecaster and I need it to sound as close as possible to an acoustic guitar.  How would you do that?  Thanks a lot.

 

Cheers

 

Outside of installing a piezo pickup , Check out the patches already in the HD500,

 

DI DREADNAUGHT

Piezo Acoustic

Wet Acoustic

Solo Acoustic

Direct Acoustic

Steel Strings

Nylon Strings

Acoustic EQ

Bright Acoustic

Wide Acoustic

Solo Acoustic 2

 

These are all under the Bass/ACO/Vocal Set list in the POD. They are not perfect, but will probably get you close to what your after so you can tweak from there.

[clay-man]

It's incredibly hard to impossible to get a decent acoustic sound out of an electric magnetic pickup guitar imo.

I've tried stuff like a BOSS AC-3 and even that sounded horrible, and it was specifically designed to make your electric sound like an acoustic.

 

You can try if you want, but it won't sound anywhere near as good as a piezo setup imo. Too much of the highs and other tonal frequencies are lost in the sound of your magnetic pickups. You can't add back frequencies that are cut out completely, it's impossible.

 

You can try EQ settings like people said, but it'll require a lot of tweaking to sound anything relative to an acoustic.

[medbad5150]

True, only Variax sounds decent, and thats on acoustic setting, my VG strat sounded terrible funnily enough my split coil JB sounded okay on single coil setting, maybe thats the answer.

[kmoed]

You can't go wrong with a piezo set-up,