Thanks for the advice, both of you. Problem is that I'm a finger-picker with a light touch, not a strummer (otherwise I would lose the amp). The idea is to use the amp to fill out the sound a tad, so that people barely notice it's there (I hate the electronic sound of an amp trying to reproduce an acoustic guitar).

For a laugh I played a finger-style song, just acoustic, in London a couple years ago and I couldn't even hear MYSELF. People around probably wondered why this fellow on the street was miming.