Would you like your electric guitar to sound like an acoustic guitar? Well, you are in luck, because there are definitely a few ways through which you can make electric guitar sound acoustic. Although we don’t promise you 100% results, we can definitely promise that you will feel a huge difference.
So let’s see how you can make electric guitar sound acoustic by using these tips:
Get an Acoustic Simulator Pedal
An acoustic simulator pedal is probably your best bet to make your electric guitar sound like an acoustic guitar. An acoustic simulator pedal basically connects to your guitar and the amp to change how the tone comes out. You can easily find an acoustic simulator pedal at any guitar shop since they are manufactured by most of the leading brands and come in various models.
A simulator pedal will basically copy the same frequencies that an acoustic guitar produces. It alters the mids, treble, and bass to copy acoustic frequencies. These pedals have built-in controls like a reverb control to help you produce the perfect tone.
If you are an amateur who has not used pedals before, you may be wondering how you can set them up with your guitar. Instead of connecting your guitar and amp to each other as you would normally, you will have to use the pedals in between the guitar and the amp. First, connect the pedal to your guitar and then connect it to the amp, connecting the three parts together. Make sure your amp and the guitar are not connected to each other directly.
If your pedals do not have their own power supply, connect them to a nearby power supply. You won’t have to connect all pedals individually. Just connect the pedalboard, and it will do the trick.
Configure Your Amp Settings
Another way to make your guitar sound acoustic is to just play with your amp settings. Making a few tweaks to your amp’s settings would do the trick for you, but you shouldn’t expect the sound to be 100% like acoustic because this method totally depends on the models of your guitar and your amp.
Here’s what amp settings you will need to change:
Treble
The treble settings of your amp have to do with the high-frequency sound that comes out of your amp. Although we can’t tell you about an exact setting for your treble as it totally depends on the model, you can try setting your treble at six and then increasing it to find the perfect setting.
Clean Channel
If you want your guitar to sound acoustic, you should not use gain when setting your amp settings. But some amps will need a small amount of gain to produce a sound. So set your gain to the minimum and increase the volume.
Bass
The bass settings of your amp have to do with the low-frequency sound that your amp produces. The higher your bass setting, the deeper the tone will be. But don’t keep it too high otherwise, your tone will not sound truly acoustic. Test with a bass setting of 4 and then increase according to the sound.
Mids
The mids in your amp have to do with the mid-frequency sound that your amp produces. For an acoustic sound, we recommend setting your mids to a very low setting, say 3, as lower mids produce a scooped tone.
Presence
While not all amps come with a presence control, it does help if they do because this setting proves effective in producing an acoustic sound. Keep your presence setting higher to produce an acoustic sound.
Reverb
Just like presence, not all amps come with a reverb setting either. If you turn this setting up, the tone will sound more acoustic because the reverb creates an echo effect. But don’t set the reverb setting too high otherwise, it won’t sound authentic.
Adjust Your Guitar Settings
Another way to make your electric guitar sound acoustic is to play with your guitar settings. In addition to changing your amp settings, making a few tweaks to your guitar settings can also produce an acoustic tone.
Here’s what guitar settings you will need to change:
Pickup Settings
A typical electric guitar has three pickup setting options—one for the neck pickup, one for the bridge pickup, and one for both. The neck pickup is for high bass and low treble, and the bridge pickup is for low bass and high treble.
To produce an acoustic sound, you will either have to use the neck pickup or both pickups. Don’t use the bridge pickup alone. The neck pickup will produce a less artificial sound and dull out your tone, which is just what we need to produce an acoustic sound.
Tone Control
The tone control setting in your guitar has to do with the clarity and sharpness of the sound. For a more acoustic sound, you will need to roll back your tone control as it will create a blended sound.
Volume Control
In addition to rolling your tone control back, you should also roll back your volume control to create an acoustic sound. The lower volume control will make your guitar sound smoother. You can make up for this by increasing your amp’s volume a bit.
Final Thoughts
So now that you know how to make electric guitar sound acoustic, go ahead and play with your amp and guitar settings to produce an acoustic sound. Or even better, buy an acoustic simulator pedal!