Looking for any input on a decent amp for an electric cello. From my nascent research it seems a keyboard amp might be a better choice than a guitar amp.
I had a crazy idea that we might try amplifying the cello wirelessly via a bluetooth transmitter to a decent sized bluetooth enabled speaker. Initial research seems to indicate a significant number of complaints that there is delay/lag in the transmission which is putting a wet blanket on my idea.
What say you, teeming millions?
Guitar amps distort the sound in a way that sounds good for guitars. It’s not such a great sound for other types of instruments. A keyboard amplifier gives a truer sound and would work better for a cello. How much power do you need? Is this for stage work or is it a home practice amp?
There’s plenty of decent keyboard and bass amps out there that will do the job (bass amps usually don’t distort either, though some of them are focused more on low end frequencies and wouldn’t be so good for a cello). Your best bet may be to take your cello into a local music shop and plug it into different amplifiers and see which one gives it a sound you like. If you are on a budget, a use amp is probably your best bet.
I personally like Fender amps, and they make quite a few keyboard amps that will fit your needs. There are a lot of good Peavey amps out there too that will do the job too.
I don’t have any experience with bluetooth for a musical instrument, but my gut says it’s a bad idea. Someone with actual experience can probably give you better advice though.
Are you discussing guitar amps purpose-built for acoustic guitars?
I haven’t done the research, but there are tones out there now that are supposed to sound very different vs. electric guitar amps.
I googled “acoustic guitar amps” and got a bazillion responses - demos on YouTube, listings at big / online chains and small shops. Behringer, Fender, Fishman and tons of other brands.
I also googled “acoustic cello amps” and found discussions about ways to amplify hem cleanly vs. to get a cool electric guitar type tonality.
Lots out there to read up on…
Will bluetooth offer the frequency range you want for a cello? My only experience with BT is with phone earpieces and that’s just voice range which is fairly narrow band.
Hmm, I would avoid the bluetooth at all costs. If you want to go wireless, there are many wireless setups purpose-built for musical instruments. But, I must ask: why go wireless? You can’t really run around the stage while playing a cello, can you?
As far as an amp goes, I would also advise trying out a bass or keyboard amp rather than a guitar amp. The prices will usually be a bit higher, but they will most likely have a sound that is more hi-fi, and have an eq that will be useful for a cello. At the same time, lots of bass amps have enough gain that you can engage in cello distortion and feeback, should you so desire. There are lots of bass guitarists that use the same amp for their guitars and their upright basses.
How loud are the instruments you’re playing with? Provided you’re not up against a couple of guys with Marshall stacks, you can probably do well with an inexpensive bass combo.
It’s for a teen who’s played acoustic for a few years and wants to dip into the electric/loop space.
I was thinking BlueTooth because it seems like if we got a portable speaker type device as an ‘amp’ it could do double duty as a wireless speaker for portable devices.
I found an intolerable lag when trying to use Bluetooth on the Ipad with ThumbJam. Lag is probably inherent with BT.
Well, any bass or keyboard practice amp would probably suffice if they’re loud enough already with just the acoustic instrument.
Bluetooth is always going to have a higher latency than an instrument cable. A great deal of practice amps have a line level or even adjustable auxiliary input, so you could kludge it the other way, and use it as a wired speaker for portable devices.
The Acoustic B30 would probably get them started, and would probably be more than enough until they started playing with a drummer. If they do plan to play with one, they’re likely to want more amp than that.
Audio engineer here. Get an upright bass pickup such as this. It will work great and will clip onto the strings below the bridge, just as on an upright bass. Don’t sweat the differing frequency response, i’ve used this model just as well on banjo and viola, cello should be no problem.
For real tone, you will need a preamp or an acoustic amp that contains one. For a preamp, I’d suggest either Fishman or LR Baggs.
For an amp, try one of these or most any small bass combo amp.
Maybe you can’t, but maybe you can. (ELO live in 1978).
I’d get whatever these guys are using: One - Apocalyptica - YouTube
There are amps made for acoustic guitars [Solid State Fishman Acoustic Combo Guitar Amplifiers | Musician's Friend]. If you could run one through a 1 x 15 cab, you’d be golden, IMHO.
Well, I’ll be damned. Mobile cellos, 2 of them. They apparently have tons of real estate to mount the wireless transmitter to, as well.
See, that’s why you have to ask these things. 