Nay Sayers Bah! Hey guys this "is" a good idea and I should mention that as Twizzle
said; Exactly! That is what I did. I had an old completely useless acoustic guitar
which I cut up to make the "DragonStick"
Part of the idea was to get the whole thing in one; amp, instrument, no cords, no fuss.
Just sit down and play. Perfect for a busker or for playing at the kitchen table, front porch, at the park etc. It is heavy though and large somewhat defeating that purpose. I am still working on pefecting the design and a completely new design that addresses the weight issue.

The other big problem with this is what turns out to be the obvious conclusion that Ray brought up:

This first one that I made is built in. You can't take the Stick out, it is not detachable. But
the Stick is not cut or modified except for a few screws where the belt hook goes and on the side for stability.
So making it work that way, "detachable" I call it "plugging it in" is on the design frontier.

But pertinent to the thread this is "semi" acoustic. It has a Roland Micro Cube built in.
So you have effects reverb, delay and you can dial it in for a number of different
kinds of playing. There is also a "record out" so that you can get the same sound
going to a larger amp (this is mono) . Or you can go stereo out of the Stickup
to your normal rig.

The Sound? I should save that for another post but if you keep in mind that the intention
was/is to have an acoustic guitar like sound, not much louder than that, then it sounds great. There is a limitation to what the Micro Cube can handle bass wise. I am curious
to see how the new one handles it since it was designed for bass.

Getting some sound clips up would be a good idea.
Best.

jrj

(Hey Justin, they say the sound is all in the fingers...).
Seriously though, the Stick really seems to sound good through almost every amp, although my friend's Gorilla practice amp from the 80's is a notable exception!

Just a note on Crate amps - they're now made in China by "Loud Technologies". Oddly enough they have stopped making the 30W Taxi, which was arguably the most widely used busking amp in history. On the positive side, the amps are smaller and made of wood again - the new Limo is about the same size as the Taxi (if not identical). I saw a banjo/ bass banjo duo from the UK using a Limo at the busking festival last week, and it was loud!

Cheers,
Andy

Ah JRJ it was you! Sorry ... I forgot who did it ... had a senior moment!
I think your Dragon Stick looks beautiful! I really like the whole concept. Not to hyjack the thread but I hope SE is still trying to create a marketable acoustick. Talking about small amps for acoustic level playing really brings home the fact there is a market for the acoustick. ...... I know I'd be saving up for one right now if it were available! (Boy my wife would kill me if she heard me say that!)

Hey Andy,

Speaking of busking, which I know very little about, has anyone ever experimented with using a great amp like the Coda III but powering it with some kind of Battery Power supply and a DC/AC converter?

Perhaps like a power box attached to a travel wheeled device with the Coda on top of it all.

Just thinking.

-Curtis

Hi Curtis,

Street musicians who use synths, rack gear, keyboards etc. often carry their own power source. The ideal is a "deep cycle" marine battery connected to a good quality inverter with power outlets. Car batteries and so called "power packs" are ok but less suitable, and many inverters are not designed to run audio equipment. I've also seen people use generators, which tends to be illegal in most places! Honda makes a really quiet range, and you could run an entire house on some of them (expensive, but very handy to have around for general purpose use). If you just want to use a small amp and a few pedals, you can use a 12V sealed lead acid battery, which is what's in the Crate amps.

Personally I would be hesitant to use something like an AI amp on the street for several reasons; the "high end" audio factor tends to get somewhat lost in this setting, and the street is not always the safest place to bring your expensive gear. The busking amp solution works for me because my setup is very simple.

Cheers,
Andy

I figured the area had already been explored thanks for the input.

Are you saying busking with your Coda about a half mile away from the local pawn shop could do allot to help enhance the local economy at your expense?

-Curtis

I've tred this amp. It is much better than the small cubes. There is more bass than I thought, and the volume goes pretty loud. The built in reverb was handy too.

Thanks, most of the feedback I've heard on this amp is along these lines.

I recently had about 25 minutes to kill while waiting for a train and decided to set up and play (why not?) - there's a popular busking spot near the Casino, Hyatt Hotel and Central Station in Adelaide. As a result, I sold a few CDs and made an extra $50 to take home. I realised how great it would be to have an ultra-portable setup for what I call "ambush-busking" i.e. just setting up ANYWHERE, ANYTIME and playing for short periods of time.

Cheers
Andy