If you’ve ever played live, you know just how hard it is to get your acoustic guitar to sound great when it’s coming through an amplifier or sound system.
If you don’t have a pickup installed in your acoustic, you’ll often end up playing into a microphone, and that means no freedom of movement. Or, you end up with that hollow boom that comes from an unequalized internal microphone in your guitar.
Either way, getting an acoustic to sound great amplified is a big challenge when you’re on stage. That’s where a preamp comes in. The best onboard preamp for acoustic guitar let you fine-tune the sound you love into something an audience can appreciate as well.
Different Kinds of Preamps
There are two kinds of preamps you can get for acoustic guitars. We’re going to be talking primarily about onboard preamps, but there’s also another option you should consider.
An alternative for an onboard preamp is a preamp pedal. You’ll run the cable from your installed acoustic microphone output and plug it into a preamp pedal, and you can fine-tune your sound that way.
While that’s something to consider, this article will focus on the best onboard preamp for acoustic guitar. These will be built into the body of your guitar. They’re going to be much smaller than pedal preamps, so they might not do as much in some cases.
But what they do allow is for you to work with the sound of your guitar without having to lean down and deal with a pedal. All the sound manipulation you need is right there on the guitar. For many players, that ease of use is a big selling point.
Our Recommendation of Best Onboard Preamps for Your Acoustic Guitar
Now that you understand what preamps are and the kinds you can get a hold of, let’s get right into a few of our favourite onboard acoustic guitar preamps.
1. Jiayouy Guitar 4-Band EQ-7545R
This 4-Band EQ-7545R Preamp, Equalizer, Tuner for your acoustic guitar can give you what you need in modifying and creating the best sound possible from your instrument.
The four bands include bass, middle, treble, and presence, so you have complete control over the frequency of your notes.
It includes a built-in battery holder for a 9-volt battery and sports an LED battery light to let you know when to change the battery. In addition, this Jiayouy Guitar 4-Band EQ-7454 Preamp, Equalizer is prewired, so you can install this quickly and get you playing in no time.
It comes with all the supplies you need to mount it to your acoustic guitar in minimal time and uses a standard connecting wire with a 2.5mm plug. For an affordable option that is easy to install, this equalizer from Jiayouy is an excellent choice.
2. Plastic 301 Acoustic Guitar Preamp Pickup
We think you’ll love the Plastic onboard preamp as well, just for all of the great things that come included in the package.
The microphone is on the body of the preamp, which will make installation a bit easier, and once it’s installed, there’s an easy-to-reach battery compartment, so upkeep is a breeze.
And once it’s installed, you can control your guitar’s bass, midrange, and treble just like every other preamp.
But the Plastic also has a volume function, and a tuner built right in, which comes in incredibly handy.
It also has a notch function, which will allow you to filter out specific frequencies. This can be a massive help if you’re getting feedback in a particular range. The notch filter will let you get rid of the troubling frequency and cut out the feedback.
It also has a mic blend function which will allow you to blend the sound from any internal pickups and the mic on the preamp.
Finally, it also has a phase function that you can use to invert the electrical signal coming from your preamp. This can help you with feedback, which is a typical acoustic problem.
It’s affordable as well, despite all the bells and whistles that come with it.
3. Tbest F-5T
The F-5T Preamplifier from Tbest is a terrific option for an acoustic or electric guitar. It is popular with many musicians because of the high quality and affordability it offers.
The modern design of the Tbest F-5T Guitar Preamp Equalizer, Digital Tuner, fits nicely on your instrument without the need for soldering. Alternatively, it does have a slight curve for the best possible fit.
It has a soft backlight that ensures clear visibility in any lighting condition. The three indicator lights let you know if your string is flat, sharp, or in tune, with an accuracy within 10 cents. Your guitar will have the best sound with the five bands, including bass, middle, treble, presence, and blend.
The built-in tuner is more sleek and convenient than adding a clip-on tuner to your guitar, especially when background noises can interfere with proper tuning. In addition, you can set its note function on manual mode for string tuning or on automatic for detecting which string you tune.
4. An-do-er G-Tone GT-6
Finally, we have the An-Do-Er G-Tome preamp, an elegant preamp with all kinds of bells and whistles.
It does take a batter, but once it’s installed, you can do all kinds of things with this preamp. You can control your bass, treble, and midrange, and yes, it does have an LCD.
But you also get a tuning function, which we’ve come to love in our onboard preamps. And to take this one to the next level, the An-do-er includes a delay and a chorus function to give your acoustic that deep, rich, and warm sound that only a bit of delay and a chorus pedal can add.
This preamp is the most expensive on our list, but if you’re looking to add depth to your acoustic sound without having to stomp a pedal, this is the preamp for you.
What’s Next?
We hope we’ve given you a few excellent options to choose from our list of the best onboard preamp for your acoustic guitar. Consider adding one of these onboard preamps to your acoustic gear list.
And as we said, we’re big fans of an onboard preamp because it makes playing with your sound a bit easier.
And as the electronics get smaller and smaller, the list of what these babies can do will likely get larger and larger. The sky’s the limit on onboard preamps.
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