Acoustic IRs are a great way do get studio acoustic sounds in a live environment. Depending on your use case, you can improve an existing acoustic sound, get a piezo sound to sound like a mic’d acoustic, or even use magnetic pickups on an electric guitar to simulate an acoustic. Here are some of the best solutions on the market.
1) Fishman Aura Spectrum DI
The original grand daddy of acoustic IRs, Fishman have a wide spectrum of images to download using their free software. It works best with an acoustic guitar or electric guitar with a piezo pickup, but can produce a wide range of tons from their built in models. It also has a tuner, compressor and built in EQ.
2) Hotone Omni AC
If you don’t have much room on your pedalboard, the Hotone Omni AC is a great solution. It has several built in models, and has a mode where it can work with electric guitar pickups. Best results are achieved with an acoustic guitar or piezo though.
3) Nux Optima Air
Another affordable solution, the Optima Air has a similar design to the Fishman Aura, but has built in reverb, which may be appealing to some.
4) LR Baggs Voiceprint DI
The LR Baggs strips a DI to the most fundamental features. This may appeal to some, but may be lacking in features to others.
5) Zoom AC-2/AC-3/A3
Zoom have packed in almost every possible feature into their AC-3 Acoustic Creator. It also includes source guitar/target guitar controls to try and best map the input to the desired output tone.
6) Donner APL Acoustic Preamp
A relative newcomer to the acoustic DI market, the Donner APL packs a lot of features in to an affordable package.
7) Audio Sprockets ToneDexter
A bit like a Kemper for your acoustic, the Tone Dexter “captures” the full setup of a mic’d acoustic guitar, and allows you to replicate that in a live context.
8) Downloadable Acoustic IRs
Finally if you don’t want to buy a dedicate preamp or DI, you can get some very good acoustic sound using a multi effects process that supports DIs. You can find free IRs online, or purchase professional produces ones. Result may vary, and best results may be achieved transforming a piezo pickup than electric guitar pickups.
