My acoustic guitar is well loved but old, with a bit of fret buzz, and has a hole in the back.
Since I need a pickup for the gig anyway, I thought I’d get an electro acoustic guitar.
My price range is not huge, so can anyone recommend a guitar at the lower end of the market that will provide a good acoustic sound, as well as decent transfer into an amp?
Takamine’s and Yamaha’s are decent in the few-hundred US$$ range and often come equipped with decent acoustic pickups for amplification purposes.
As for an amp - do you really need one? Does the gig involve a PA system where you might be able to plug straight into that? Acoustic amps (and be sure you get one that is for acoustic guitars - electric guitar amps are different) can be had for reasonably cheap, to my knowledge…
Thanks for your advice WordMan. In the end I got this, a Tanglewood small-body with solid mahogany back and solid cedar front, and a cutaway. It’s absolutely gorgeous and a really lovely tone acoustically, and a good reproduction via an amp. And it has a built-in tuner, which I didn’t expect!