HX Effects Acoustic Simulator

[mtkroeger]

Good morning all.  I wanted to get some feedback on getting a decent acoustic guitar sound from my setup.  I play in a cover band that plays mostly rock but has some songs that would sound best with an acoustic guitar.  My setup currently is various electric guitars into my pedalboard (which has an HX Effects) into a Budda Superdrive 18 into a 2x12.  I purchased some 3Sigma acoustic guitar IRs to use with the HX Effects. I tried creating an acoustic setting with those, but the sound was way too trebley in a live situation and I haven't taken the time to tinker more with the settings. Here's what I think are my options, and I would like to get your feedback on what will get a good acoustic sound:

 

1. Keep the same setup and spend more time to get a better acoustic simulation. Does anyone have some suggestions for settings to get a good acoustic sound from an electric guitar.

2. Bring my A/E guitar (PRS Angelus) and plug that into my current setup. That means more gear to bring, and still ultimately plugging an acoustic guitar into an electric amp.

3. Bring my A/E guitar and plug directly into the mixer. This eliminates any effects I can use, so I think this is out of the question.

4. Buy an acoustic amp and an AB pedal to add to my board. More gear to buy, carry and try to fit onto a small stage.

 

Thanks for the help!

[cruisinon2]

1 hour ago, mtkroeger said:

Good morning all.  I wanted to get some feedback on getting a decent acoustic guitar sound from my setup.  I play in a cover band that plays mostly rock but has some songs that would sound best with an acoustic guitar.  My setup currently is various electric guitars into my pedalboard (which has an HX Effects) into a Budda Superdrive 18 into a 2x12.  I purchased some 3Sigma acoustic guitar IRs to use with the HX Effects. I tried creating an acoustic setting with those, but the sound was way too trebley in a live situation and I haven't taken the time to tinker more with the settings. Here's what I think are my options, and I would like to get your feedback on what will get a good acoustic sound:

 

You're not gonna like this, but you'll never (ever) get a convincing acoustic tone from a traditional guitar cabinet. They simply lack the much wider frequency response required to make an acoustic guitar sound like what it is. Acoustic IR's will not help much either, because it's the way you're monitoring that's the problem. You could plug an actual acoustic guitar into your rig and through your 2x12, and it'll just sound like a clean electric. 

 

Now if you want to really plunge right into the deep end of the modeling world, you could ditch your pedalboard and amp altogether, and invest in a Variax, an amp modeler, and FRFR speaker(s). It's the ultimate in versatility, and allows for the seamless transition from very convincing acoustic tones to electric, without dragging 10 tons of gear and multiple guitars to a gig.

 

 

 

[mtkroeger]

Thanks for the response. That's what I was fearing.  I guess it was just wishful thinking that someone had a viable secret formula to getting acoustic tones from an electric setup.  Thanks!

[Cody_smith]

If you are not using the fx loops you can run one of those to a DI box and plug into FOH and still use some effects on the  real acoustic or fake acoustic sound. You can maybe get an okay-ish sounding fake acoustic sound out of an electric. The way I've done it is using the IR into a mic pre, which I don't think is on the HX FX, you might be able to use something else to boost the signal a bit, into some reverb, a cali graphic EQ into a LA studio compressor. I do some hi and low cuts on the IR and do some more EQing with cali. 

If you decide to go down the FRFR path, but you also like Amp in the room, look into power cab, it kinda does both, so you could have it playing an amp cabinet sound then switch it to FRFR mode for acoustic sounds. 

[mtkroeger]

Those are great tips. Thank you! I will try those out.

[soundog]

...or get a Variax electric geetar with acoustic guitar models. Especially useful if you need alternate tunings.