Accoustic Amp vs. Electric amp?

I haven't played guitar in a long time. I recently bought an Ovation accoustic guitar (the Pinnacle) which has pickups built in and can be used with an amp.
I thought an accoustic guitar would be easy for me to casually pick up and play every once in a while, but I considered a mexican Fender Strat with a small 15 watt Marshall amp. It would have cost about the same as the Ovation by itself.

I was going to return the Ovation and buy the Fender but now I'm thinking of buying the Fender strat in addition. I've noticed though that they sell amps specifically for accoustic guitars. If I buy the Marshall amp for the electric guitar will it work okay with the Ovation? Any issues with doing this? I certainly don't want to buy two amps.

This all started out as just an attempt to get away from the computer and have another hobby. I don't want to spend a lot of money.

Good stuff, and I agree. When I have played pickup-equipped acoustic through my Fender Princeton SC, I get excellent results, but I admit it does sound best through a dedicated acoustic amp.

One other idea: A dab (and I do mean just a "dab" of chorus really makes ampified acoustic tone blossom on any amp. Chorus pedals are not expensive (my amp has chorus built in - many others do, too). But if you want a dual-duty amp, go for one that is famous for it's "clean" tone (almost any Fender, to name one brand). I don't think a Marshall would be a good choice for amplified acoustic, though I'm sure there are folks that get good results that way.

About a year ago I really wanted 2 guitar items. I had never owned a proper amp or an acoustic guitar. I bought a Marshall AVT50 to play my electric through and also bought a Washburn acoustic the same day. I even joked with the salesman "I'm not intending to use them together,
HA HA." The Washburn had a pickup so on a whim I plugged it into the
Marshall. To my suprise it sounded fantastic through the clean channel!

I would recommend checking out standard electric guitar amps and take your Ovation along to see which one bridges the gap the best.

I can. Because it sounds great. I have an Acoustasonic 30 that I use as a practice amp at home and I love it. I play three different Martins through it and the sound is great. I like the way a little chorus and reverb enhances the beautiful sound of a good acoustic guitar. I still like playing unplugged too but sometimes it's a lot of fun to play through the
Acoustasonic.

Because I want the sound of an acoustic with chorus and reverb, not an electric. It's a very different sound. I love playing acoustic through an amp, especially an amp designed for acoustic guitar. I used to have an old
Peavy tube amp that was kind of similar to a Fender Twin Reverb - I don't remember now what model it was. I got a Digitech effects unit and used to have a lot of fun screwing around with effects and an acoustic guitar which at the time was a Martin D-1 with a Martin thinline under the saddle pickup.
In the end though, the only effects I used seriously with it were reverb and chorus and it sounded really good. I thought it was just me who liked this kind of sound until I became aware of the Acoustasonic amps and saw that they come with reverb and chorus effects. It was interesting to find I wasn't the only one who thinks an acoustic with chorus sounds really good.

I'm very happy with my Acoustasonic and I think it enhances the sound of my guitars very nicely when I use it. Want me to take that Jr. off your hands?

I may be wrong on this, but I don't see any reason to have an accoustic guitar plugged into an amp UNLESS you're playing in a gig/band where you want the amplification....

An accoustic guitar amp till few years ago was expected to "only amplify the sound without modifying/destorting it" .. I think only Fender came up with these Accoustasonic amps (Jr and the bigger one) which allow a alot of reverb etc ...

If you want the effects, why use accoustic guitar anyway ?

(Incidentally, I did buy accoustasonic Jr when I started learning .. just because
I found it easier to follow what i was playing when it came from a distance..
I didn't use it much and is just sitting idle ... and I've a cool Les Paul and an electric amp)