Electricity & Music

Note the offending amplifier
Findlay Market plans to more stringently enforce it's ban on amplified music performed by artists. Currently Delbert Williams (pictured above) uses a small amp for his acoustic guitar. He doesn't really nead it to be heard but it gives the guitar a different sound. It's more "blusey".
The issue should not be how the instrument makes sound but how loud it is. It would be pointless to play an electric guitar or keyboard without amplification & through amplification one can add numerous effects like reverb, wah, distortion & such. It seems insane that I could not take a keyboard, laptop & small amp down to the market & play at a volume lower than the din of shoppers. I wouldn't necessarily need my MG100DFX to power my SG down there but with the master volume control I can play super distorto overdrive madness at the volume of a whisper. Of course, if I were to play in public I would probably want something lighter so I could get away quicker when people started throwing crap at me anyway.
Historical Findlay Market may be Ohio's oldest continuously operated public market but it's the 20th century. Electronic instruments, like refrigeration are here to stay. The market's and, for that matter, the city's policies prohibiting electronic music on the streets is obsolete & needs to be changed.

Fishwrap story here.