AER vs Schertler vs Fishman

[Woodstock School Of Music]

Originally Posted by Mr Blues

The Fishman loudbox sounds beautiful on guitar but not too great on vocals.I have never tried the Schertler or Genz benz but I love my AER Compact 60/3.
Supurb for acoustic singer/songwriters

Agree. I auditioned a Shertler and a Fishman side by side and there's no contest the Shertler sounded much better on vocals

[Mr Blues]

Hi Dman
Which Schertler do you have the Jam 100 or 150?

I am not sure if there any UK dealers . Eventually I might get one.

Dave

[Woodstock School Of Music]

Originally Posted by Mr Blues

Hi Dman
Which Schertler do you have the Jam 100 or 150?

I am not sure if there any UK dealers . Eventually I might get one.

Dave

I don't own one but the store I teach at carries both so I've heard them many times and I've done side by side comparisons. If you value your vocal sound I'd highly recommend the Shertler or the AER

[Karel]

Dilbert, for what it is worth. I tested both the Schertler and the AER a few years ago and finally went for the AER compact 60. The Schertler was certainly class 1 but in the end I preferred the AER because it was just a tiny bit more natural. And man it makes me still so happy!! Fyi I play with K&K minis in all my guitars. To get the best EQ-result I use a K&K pure XLR pre-amp in between, but there are many other good pre-amps.

[TJNies]

Originally Posted by jseth

Sounds like a great price, as the Compact goes for ~$1050 here in the States; I got mine (gently used) for $600 and felt it was close to a steal of a deal...

I LOVE my AER Compact 60/2! It is truly an amazing little piece of kit; I still have to laugh each time I use it for a gig, as it is SO light and small, has only ONE 8" speaker (?!?) and just 60 solid state watts of power...

Yet, it handles my acoustic guitar and vocals easily in a fairly large room (40'x40'x30') without even being turned up to halfway on the Master volume!
AND, it sounds stellar!

The Compact has the remarkable ability to s p r e a d sound around a room, once it's turned up to performing levels in a decent-sized venue... quite similar to my Bose rig actually; once I have the volume up a bit, it ceases to be sound coming from a little box and becomes one of those "where's that coming from?" type of things...

Enjoy your new amp! Congratulations...

Sounds like a great price, but given the thread is nine years old, prices may have changed.

[fenderball]

i really like my AER Compact 60/2...never played a Schertler...

[aknow]

My biased opinion/ get it? I have an AER C 60 and a Schertler Jam150.
In addition to acoustics, I use these amps with a PRS P-22 piezo loaded, electric acoustic guitar.
With acoustic guitars only- I prefer the sound of the AER
With piezo equipped PRS, the Schertler sounds like it has far better fidelity, clarity, and lack of quack, and also sounds great with microphone(s).
In the real world I live in, the AER gets 10X the use of the Schertler.
Summary: there is no bad choice here, but try to audition all of them. The AER sounds completely different from different distances and angles, just usually better and better.
Good Luck!

[Andy Howell]

Originally Posted by aknow

My biased opinion/ get it? I have an AER C 60 and a Schertler Jam150.
In addition to acoustics, I use these amps with a PRS P-22 piezo loaded, electric acoustic guitar.
With acoustic guitars only- I prefer the sound of the AER
With piezo equipped PRS, the Schertler sounds like it has far better fidelity, clarity, and lack of quack, and also sounds great with microphone(s).
In the real world I live in, the AER gets 10X the use of the Schertler.
Summary: there is no bad choice here, but try to audition all of them. The AER sounds completely different from different distances and angles, just usually better and better.
Good Luck!

I regularly use a Bose L system which is great. But the best sound in real environments I get is with AER - fabulous vocal sound.

[apf120]

I have all three amps and I will make it short
#1. AER compact 60 is the winner over all as it is clean, clear and sounds exactly like the guitar you are playing.
#2. Also a great amp. Somewhat more powerful and very clean sounding, but #2 out of the three, but more channels to use.
#3 Fishman Artist has plenty of power, but does color the sound. Great amp, but not natural, but the price tag allow you to buy a pre- amp that can help.

AER is a bit pricier, but if your looking for a keeper, that's the winner. Will work in a crowd of say 70 people where the Shertler will do 125, but I use the AER as my monitor and put it out to the house. All of the engineers run the aer flat and say the same thing. All replies are "Great Amp".

[dcopper]

I own the AER 60/3 and Fishman Loudbox Performer and LB Artist. I have played the Schertler David and Unico. I agree that the AER is the most "true" acoustic amp and that you get out of it what you put into it. It does not color your sound. That being said, it is a bit unforgiving in that respect. Like Eric said above, it really depends what guitar and what pickup system you are using.
For my Taylor T5, T5z and my Custom GA with ES (2012 version), the LB amps sound better and are easier to get good solid acoustic tone. Those guitars tend to sound "thin" with the AER since the T5s are in fact "thin".
For the money and bang for the buck, the LB series are I think, a really good deal. In fact, I just picked up an Artist to have something a bit smaller to use on solo gigs.
With my K&K installed Taylors and with sound hole pickups like the Sunrise, the AER is a very true sounding and excellent amp. The one complaint I have is that I wish that both channels had the combo input and that the vocal channel had three band eq.
To a solo artist, the vocal channel really matters. You can get very good tone out of the vocal channel but three band eq would have been nice.
The LB series also gives you individual control of the effects. That is a really nice option and allows you to get away without carrying pedals, etc.
You really need to see and hear those amps and I understand some folks do not have accessibility so that is a problem.
You can't go wrong with an AER if you realize you need to understand your whole signal chain. It is truly a fine amp.
I find myself leaning on the LB amps more for ease of use and flexibility.
The schertlers are very good amps and more in the line of AER cost. I liked them but the David was a bit low on power although is good for most small to medium venues.
So that is my experience and hope it helps.
davids

[apf120]

I have the compct 60, scertler Unico, and the Fishman Artist.

If you afford to go the extra mile, your face will really smile with the

#1. AER crisp, clean, amazing, lot of power for 60 Watts 17 lbs
#2. Scertler, clean, more bottom end, more channels. 30 lbs
#3 Good amp, but out classed by both of the above, but as I said nice amp.

After 50 years of playing, I would go with the aer compact 60. You won't be sorry.

[Txmiller]

I recently went thru the same analysis and selected the AER. Get the compact 60!

[CaptNemo]

Difficult to argue with the logic favoring the AER Compact 60. That said, has anyone had experience with the Schertler David "Deluxe" and, if so, does the "Deluxe" affect the comparative analysis?

[jomaynor]

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Three very fine amps, I have compared AER and Fishman but have never heard Schertler, reports are they are excellent.

That being said I am going to throw a monkey wrench into the mix as you obviously are only looking at high end amps, which should also include Rivera and Genz Benz.

I am a lifetime musician, got my union card in the early 70's and am totally blown away by the Genz Benz Shenandoan Pro. It is an amazing acoustic amp; 200 watts, 12" neodymium speaker, very smooth compression bullet tweeter, isolated/suspended electronics in the cabinet configuration, fan with on/off switch, blendable tube-FET preamp sections both channels, Alesis effects split between vocal and acoustic effects and independent for each channel, parrametric mid EQ, channel phase, pre-post gain, ported cabinet, separate tweeter volume control, XLR phantom power both channels, non cancelling XLR-1/4" inputs both channels, rocker switch to add external cabinets at speaker level volume, and the input/output options looks like a mixer on the back.

AER and Fishman are excellent, but my money went to the Genz Benz for the larger 12" driver, which voices so well with guitar, and there is no comparison in features. Plus it just sounded a little bit if not more "better". If you can audition one and let your ears decide....that's what I did.

Good Luck in you search...............

(Nevermind - I just realized that this is an old thread. Genz-Benz amps were still in production when Rich made this post.)

[vercarsen]

I am using Schertler JAM wood for 1 year and I am very satisfied. Clear natural tone really reproducing my guitar. You have 3 channels, good power and some effects and very nice design.

It was recommended by my seller that AER is not so good as Schertler is. AER is used by Tommy Emmanuel though... I have a slovak Dowina guitar and TREX acoustic soulmate effect. Another buy will be a Maton guitar (M.Fix probably.