Not every guitarist out there has the money for buying an electric one besides the acoustic guitar they already know and love. For them, the ToneWoodAmp may be the perfect solution, as it adds digital effects to acoustic guitars at a fraction of the price of an electric instrument.
Ofer Webman, who along with his wife Helene developed the ToneWoodAmp, pointed out in an interview with Gizmag that “Before the ToneWoodAmp, acoustic guitarists who wanted to experience the sound of their guitar with the benefits of added effects had to own, carry and connect their instrument to external amplifiers or sound boards. There was no other way for guitarists to just grab his/her guitar and play a song with effects. This dependency on external equipment hindered the natural mobility of the acoustic guitar.”
Twamp’s inventor explained how this smartphone-sized guitar accessory is supposed to work: “To get its source sound, the ToneWoodAmp requires some sort of pickup installed. The most recommended types are magnetic or under saddle piezo pickups. You don’t have to own a guitar with a pre-amp installed in order to supply a signal to the ToneWoodAmp and any decent static sound hole pickup will work just fine.”
The acoustic guitar’s natural sound gets combined with the digital effects to augment the sound dramatically: “The overall sound result which you hear is a combined sound of the natural guitar sound plus the ToneWoodAmp effects vibrating through the guitar’s body. Our sound philosophy is based on the idea that the natural guitar sound is at the front, and in the lead, while the ToneWoodAmp effects are supplementing it. This concept makes sure that a rich natural guitar sound is always at the core.”
When Webman showcased Twamp at a festival, the demand was extraordinary: “When we presented the ToneWoodAmp at the Summer NAMM 2014, we couldn’t predict that so many professional musicians would want it as a stage instrument. Almost everyone who tested it fell in love with the device, and asked for some sort of output to PA. This is going to be one of the main changes that we will apply to the device.”
Here’s a video showing how acoustic guitars sound like when the ToneWoodAmp is attached to the body:
ToneWoodAmp will cost $180 when it gets launched in the summer of 2015, but can be pre-ordered now at a discounted price.
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