Martin Simpson has been on a never-ending search for beautiful guitar tone since the beginning of his career. This has lead him to develop friendships with some of the most innovative masters of guitar building in the world, and has given him the opportunity to play custom-built instruments which deliver unparalled sound.

The challenge has always been to find amplification systems which deliver a sound which is the equal of Martin's technique and instruments.

The process of acoustic guitar amplification can be thought of as a 'chain' of events which begins, naturally, with the instrument and the hands of the player.

The role of the player's hands is, arguably, one of the most critical links in the sound production and amplification chain. Talking about it means talking about everything which we call "technique", and has a lot to do with aesthetic judgement and inspiration. Martin talks about all of this in the several teaching videos he has made for Homespun Tapes and Alfred Publishing.

Strings and accessories like capos and slides also play a major role in an artist's sound. Martin currently uses Shubb capos and the custom-made Martin Simpson Signature Slide which you can order from the Watershed Arts Accessories page. His strings of choice are D'Addario phosphor-bronze mediums with an .015 top string.

The next stage in the chain is the electronic device used to convert the sound energy of the guitar into electrical energy. This device is sometimes a microphone, but more and more commonly it is some kind of 'pickup'. Pickups generally function as members of one of two broad families - the magnetic family and the transducer family.

Magnetic pickups use the movement of metal strings within the magnetic field created by the magnets inside the pickup to produce a weak electronic signal. They are usually mounted in the sound hole, right under the strings. Magnetic pickups produce the strongest signal with strings which are made of alloys which repond well to magnetism, i.e. nickel or steel. Bronze is a less magnetic alloy, and bronze strings work less well with magnetic pickups as a result. Transducer pickups are made of a unique material, called a peizo-electric material, which produces a weak electronic signal when vibrated. Transducer pickups are installed into the guitar so as to put them into direct, intimate physical contact with the area where the vibrations are the most robust, usually at or near the bridge.

After years of experimentation with all kinds of pickups, Martin Simpson settled on one transducer pickup for all of his instruments. It is the pickup made by Highlander Musical Audio Products. Martin says: "What can I say, I've tried everything, and I have Highlanders in all of my guitars." The Highlander pickup system is readily available in most guitar stores. Visit their site and let them describe it in detail, if you're interested.

Some innovative luthiers have been working for years to develop unique instruments which are specially designed to give a natural acoustic tone during amplified performance. These are instruments designed with the pickup in mind, and are constructed to maximize the richness and complexity of the amplified sound of the instrument. Martin Simpson's friends Eric Aceto and Dan Hoffman at Ithaca Stringed Instruments in central New York are prime examples. They build stunningly beautiful violins, mandolins, cellos, basses, and guitars which produce unrivaled amplified sound.

Another ingenious and original instrument maker who has been on the cutting edge of the acoustic amplification question for many years is Rick Turner. His Renaissance series amplified acoustic guitars have created an enormous buzz in the industry, and are used by Martin Simpson, Lindsey Buckingham, and many others. Doug Robinson, Martin Simpson's bass player, plays a Turner Renaissance fretless bass. No serious inquiry into the art of acoustic instrument amplification would be complete without a look at Rick Turner's instruments.

The next link in the sound production/amplification chain is an electronic device called a 'preamp'. This device takes the weak electronic signal produced by the pickup and amplifies it a small amount. In most cases the preamp has tone control and volume knobs on it, allowing the player to make subtle changes in the quality of the signal coming from the guitar.

Preamps are very common devices, and have been manufactured for years by many companies. Since the late 1980's, preamps specifically designed to bring out the complex sonic richness of amplified acoustic instruments have been available. Martin currently owns more than one of these special preamps. Preamps that we think very highly of are made by Pendulum, Rane, Raven Labs and Fishman.

For a large percentage of his performances Martin uses a preamp called the "Blender", made by Fishman. He plugs the wire from the Highlander pickup inside his guitar into the Fishman 'Blender', and sends the signal by another wire from the 'Blender' into the House PA (the name given to the sound reinforcement system belonging to the concert hall or club), where it is amplified into a signal powerful enough to generate sound in the house PA loudspeakers.

The House PA contains examples of the final links in the sound production/amplification chain, the power amplifier, the loudspeaker, and the sound engineer.

Power amplifiers are one of the most common pieces of audio equipment. They are manufactured in a huge range of quality and price by hundreds of different companies. They do the real 'work' of the amplification process, enlarging the small signal coming from a preamp a thousandfold into a signal strong enough to vibrate the paper cone in a loudspeaker. Some of our favorite power amps are made by Hafler, Crown, Stewart, Crest, and Carvin, to name a few.

Since the late '80s, loudspeaker systems that are specially engineered to enhance the sound of amplified acoustic instruments have become available. We use the term "loudspeaker system" because the rich sound these units produce is the result of the interaction between the physical cabinet, the loudspeakers inside (there are usually several small speakers) and electronic crossover components inside the cabinet which divide the signal from the power amp into low, middle and high frequencies and send each frequency group to the appropriate loudspeaker.

Decent House PAs use high-quality power amps and speaker systems, which are usually controlled during a performance by a sound engineer. In the context of the House PA, one could say that the engineer is the last link in the acoustic amplification chain. It is the sound engineer's job to make the performer sound wonderful, and the performer is completely at the engineer's mercy. Most performers can tell you stories about a great PA that sounded terrible because of an insensitive (deaf) engineer and also stories about a beautiful sound coaxed from old dusty equipment by a brilliant engineer.

Individual performers sometimes use loudspeaker systems in their personal amplification rigs on stage. Doug Robinson is an enthusiastic user of the high quality speaker cabinets made by Daedalus Music., a company that makes loudspeakers for House PAs and individual performers. Doug uses them for upright and electric bass, acoustic guitar and vocal work at the varied performing situations he finds himself in. (Check out the Doug Robinson Bass Gear page on this site) Many critics think that Daedalus cabinets are the best in the industry, and the 'buzz' is that they are a great value, given what you get.

As in the world of electric guitar, bass and home stereo gear, preamps, power amplifiers and loudspeakers are sometimes manufactured all together inside one box, in a format called a 'combo'. Preamps, power amplifiers and loudspeakers can also be purchased as separate 'mix and match' pieces, depending on the exact needs of the performer.

On the rare occasion when Martin Simpson needs to use a combo amplifier on stage, his current choice is an 80-watt acoustic guitar amp made by SWR called 'The Strawberry Blonde', which is a smaller version of an amp that Martin also occasionally uses, the 100-watt 'California Blonde'.