Spark amp and passive acoustic pickups suggestion
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Just want to offer a tip to acoustic players who have a guitar without an active pickup or on-board battery-powered EQ. I have an old Martin D-28 with an L.R. Baggs passive pickup that I installed 15 years age. So when I plugged it into the Spark amp the volume was so low I wasn't sure the pickup still worked, even cranking settings all the way up. But when I routed the guitar through my Baggs Para Acoustic DI (basically a preamp) to the Spark it came alive. With just a bit of tweaking I had excellent tone, presence and abundant volume. Much cheaper than buying a $3,000 Taylor. :-)
There are cheaper DIs / preamps on the market that I imagine would accomplish much the same thing, but one thing the Baggs does really well is combat feedback via its gain, notch and channel controls. The thin top and bracing on my Martin is very susceptible to the dreaded howl so that's a key feature, and the DI eliminates the need for a soundhole cover.
I got so excited I threw on a fresh set of strings and sat down for a serious session of app amp and pedal tweaks until I had a really nice, full-bodied preset. Gotta tell ya, it had me smiling.
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@thermality One of my 4 presets is my acoustic one I play my Taylor through. People are missing out if they are not using this as an acoustic amp. I'd gig this thing in a solo or duet small gig thing anyday.
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I agree, I'll definitely be building some acoustic presets. I just started and already getting some good stuff, I'm excited about adding acoustic tracks to recordings.
I'd like to have a Taylor, the Expression system is excellent. Had my eye on the 714ce for a long time. And their 12-string is the smoothest playing I've ever picked up.
