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What is a good amp for cbg. and question about through neck.

I am about to build my first cbg. It will be a three string with duel piezo pickups. First question is what is a good watt amp to give a good sound without blowing everyone out of the house? Second question should the neck touch the box lid or is it better to be below the lid so the surface vibrates better? HELP!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Tom

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 20, 2011 at 8:00am

Wes,

Muahahahahaha! That is a suuuwwweeeet collection! Yer gonna need another coupla racks...

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Permalink Reply by Tom Dosch on December 20, 2011 at 11:45am

Wow! This is a great forum. Thanks to all the ideas and suggestions. A lot of food for thought. Now it's time to digest it all and start building. Thanks again to everyone and if you have anymore comments, let em fly.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Tom

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Permalink Reply by John Moffit on June 9, 2014 at 12:34am

Small Cheap amps are actually really good for CBG's. A lot a people even mod old Transistor radio's and get some really nice tones. It's actually really easy.

For actually Amps I use the following. My CBG has a Mini Humbucker, with Vol/Tone. Usually I play in Open G or Open E.

Pignose 7-100 (Import)

I got my for $60 used. I really like it, very portable and very responsive. It's like a really good Fuzz pedal with a speaker. I just turn amp volume all the way up. Then use the Vol/Tone on my CBG to get a Clean, Muddy, or Fuzz/Crunch sound. You can get a lot of tones on this little Amp. No need for pedals.

Vox Mini 5 Rhythm.

This little amp it perfect for CBG. I usually keep it on the Clean Models, maybe with a little Compression for Rock/Blues. For Country/Bluegrass again clean model with some Reverb. It also has a nice selection of Rhythm Loops and best off all it has a Mic in with Trim and effects. Very solid Practice Amp and is my Favorite for Features and Sound. You can adjust the wattage to down to .5 or something and still get the Over driven tones at a normal room volume.

Vox AD50VT

Decent All Purpose Modelling Amp, 50 Watts, but you can adjust it down, so still good for practice. Really this is my main practice amp for regular Guitar. I actually like the Pignose and Mini5 better for the CBG. I only paid $100 for it (Neighbor was going to Pawn it, I gave him $10 more). I wouldn't pay full price there are better Amps in this range. It sounds great when Dialed in, but it has a lot bad sounds as well. The presets are Rubbish.

Honeytone is also good and cheap. I owned one years back, but sadly wasn't playing a CBG at the time.

I highly recommend getting a Line 6 Pocket Pod Express (The one with just Knobs, No LED Display or Preset buttons) . I got it for $35 on Ebay, It great for extra effects and for Headphone practice. Sadly its discontinued but you should find one on Ebay or other used gear boards.