leading from electric?

[Mike Darley]

About the best sound I've heard with one guitar with both and acoustic and electric sound is from a Carvin AE 185. I used to use it exclusively for the acoustic sound and had a ton of praise for it. It has two separate jacks so one can go direct out into the system, and the other to an amp. I got mine new for like $1100. If any of you guys are thinking about a new guitar you might want to look into it.

[hefdaddy42]

The best solution for the "acoustic AND electric sound from one guitar" problem is an electric with a Piezo pickup, like the Ernie Ball John Petrucci signature model, or the aforementioned Carvin.

[Mike Darley]

I've also seen the Taylor T5, which looks pretty sweet, but the Carvin is right around 1/3 the price.

[hefdaddy42]

I've also seen the Taylor T5, which looks pretty sweet, but the Carvin is right around 1/3 the price.

I haven't seen that Taylor model. I will check it out.

[Mike Darley]

You can check out some demos on youtube. It looks nice, but there would really be no reason for me to get it since I have the Carvin. I really don't play it much, though. I have a pretty nice Breedlove acoustic, which I lead from. I need a new amp before there's much reason for me to use the Carvin again. My old amp died on me.

[Mark Jaffrey]

I think it's better, if you need an acoustic sound, to use an acoustic guitar. Unless you're just hacking away, you will surely miss the dynamics and response of the real instrument under your fingers, let alone the loss of tone, timbre, harmonics etc.

I love leading on my electric. I mostly use my maple strat and I use the out of phase sound between the bridge and middle pickups for my base clean sound. It strums well, you can add in a little compression to dig in on riffs and licks which boosts the sound so it cuts through the mix a little, and it will give you a good rich clean sound without being overpowering like a full humbucker sometimes can be.

I have four patches set up that allow me to progressively increase the gain and drive as a song builds so that the sound thickens up where appropriate, from grit through crunch, leading up to a full-on searing lead sound.

The other reason I like leading on electric is the range of textures I can produce to complement the rest of the band - tremolo, spacey delays, dotted eighths - with the right combo of effects it really gives you a huge flexibility to get creative and fit your sound to wherever you feel the worship needs to go.

[Mike Darley]

Mark,

Have you ever tried a Carvin AE185? I was pretty skeptical until I tried it. I mean, it doesn't feel like an acoustic, but it does sound like an acoustic. I broke it out the other night at practice and I'm telling you, you'd be hard pressed to hear a difference. The reason I like it is because you don't have to go through all the trouble of switching guitars, you just twist a knob. I'm getting a new amp soon, so I'll be using it again for worship.

[Tim.Crook]

I lead with electric most of the time. I only switch to acoustic for certain slow songs like Captivate Us and Knees To The Earth, both by WaterDeep. We even use alot of drive. Everybody seems to like it ok. I think it all depends on if you set it all up right. Good tone and such.

[Tim.Crook]

I've also seen the Taylor T5, which looks pretty sweet, but the Carvin is right around 1/3 the price.

I have't played the T5 yet, but I've seen it in action some. It's stinkin awesome!!!!

Ibanez has come out with one too called the Montage, but I haven't seen or heard it in real life. Only in a NAMM video on youtube.

[Mark Jaffrey]

@Stevie Nature,

I might have to look one up when I go back to the UK in August. They just aren't available here. In fact we have precious little gear in the three or four music stores, and as electric guitar isn't a popular instrument in Egypt, you can only find budget models from the big names - Fender, Gibson, Yamaha etc.