acoustic guitar & amp questions

[Errant Tiger]

So I'm thinking about a Vega V445. Dates back to '77, has a pickup installed and was owned by the luthier of the shop that's selling it. Plays well, sounds good (similar to my Guild D46, which is a plus) both plugged and un. Asking price is $600 and there probably isn't much room to budge, but I'll trade in my JC-120 for part of it. I have two questions:

1. Anyone have experience with or knowledge of these guitars? I know Martin owned them in the late 70s but that's about it.

2. Can anyone recommend a good acoustic amp for around $300? I would enjoy using some pedals with it.

Thanks!

[popvulture]

What kind of pickup—soundhole or bridge piezo?

Actually that JC120 would probably be great for acoustic, albeit a bit overkill in terms of power—maybe keep it, or are you wanting to ditch for something smaller? Most acoustic amps are solid state, so it falls right in line. The one thing acoustic amps typically have that the JC won't is a notch filter, but you can also get one of those via a preamp pedal. The Baggs Parametric DI is fucking great, highly recommended.

[Errant Tiger]

Well, it was a bridge piezo. However, I have decided against it in favor of an old Ibanez, of all things. A friend plays one and it sounds surprisingly awesome, so I ordered one off Reverb.com.

The Roland does pretty well with acoustics but is crazy loud. Too loud. And takes up a little more space than I'd like, to boot. I'm kind of hot on this Trace Elliott...

Thanks!