Anyone use the baggs A-Ref?

ohwell · #1 09-29-2008, 08:10 PM

Not a lot of reviews out there for this amp. Anybody using these for performing? Especially wondering how it handles vocals.

Side Man · #2 09-30-2008, 11:58 AM

From what I've heard, there aren't a lot of 'em out there... no knock against 'em, but with all the hype when it was first announced (as the Core 1), you would've thought it was going to be much more of a contender in the acoustic market. But who knows? Perhaps it will be some day. Either that or a collector's item...

davidl13 · #3 09-30-2008, 08:38 PM

I bought one when they came out. did not handle vocals or my guitar as well as i would have liked so i returned it. if you do a sedarch on this site i gave an fairly extensive review.

BuleriaChk · #4 09-30-2008, 08:50 PM

I have one, and for my nylon string Flamenco application, it is absolutely gorgeous..... vocal is fine, IMO...

ohwell · #5 09-30-2008, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidl13

I bought one when they came out. did not handle vocals or my guitar as well as i would have liked so i returned it. if you do a sedarch on this site i gave an fairly extensive review.

I believe I read that one. I did a google search for a-ref reviews and a couple of the very limited links came back here.

There's only 3 reviews on harmony central for the amp and I think one of them was done by a member here. Not a lot of stuff out there for an amp that was so highly anticipated a year ago.

makikogi · #6 09-30-2008, 09:55 PM

I recently got my hands on one.....I agree that it didn't handle vocals that great....but in terms of a guitar amp, it's the best amp I've heard. Owned a roland ac-60 and marshall as50r, granted not uppper end amps, but I also auditioned genz benz amps, many fishman amps, swr cali blonde, swr strawberry, crate, and others that I can't recall off hand. The LR Baggs was the only amp that made me shout a profanity beacuse of the richness, depth and clarity it had.

Bluewyatt · #7 09-30-2008, 10:10 PM

i also returned my a-ref. i actually preferred my roland ac60 $ for $. i'm still looking for more power and have a soloamp on the way. we'll see...
i do agree with the previous post that the a-ref is one heck of a acoustic guitar amp.

Irreverent · #8 10-01-2008, 05:07 PM

I frickin' LOVE my Baggs A-Ref. Absolutely incredible sound. Like anything else, there is some taste/subjectivity involved, but I had NEVER before heard an acoustic amp that sounded exactly like my guitars unplugged, just louder. Well, this one does. I was jaw-droppingly floored.

I was playing my McPherson thru my A-ref the other evening, and when I had it at a lower volume, I wasn't at first sure it was on, because it sounded exactly like the guitar unplugged. I turned up the voume a bit to make sure it was on. It was. Incredibly accurate sound.

BuleriaChk · #9 10-02-2008, 09:05 AM

That was probably me. I haven't had many issues with the vocal aspect, since I do mostly solo (nylon string). But I found that for clarity, articulation, etc. the A-Ref is the best I have ever heard. Most of the others I played for my particular configuration sounded harsh to me by comparison (California Blonde, Trace Elliot, Fender Acoustasonic, etc.), which is maybe what you want for steel string....

But for Flamenco's changing dynamics (hard strumming, picado, ligado, etc), the A-Ref was the best at preserving the dynamics and tone of falsetas, rasgueo, etc.

I should add though, that progress for me also depended greatly on the pickups involved, and preamps I sometimes use (signal processors)... I fought for 30 years to get a sound I'm happy with - and the Takamine TH5C, though not a Flamenco guitar) is a great companion to it....

But I'm 68 now, and AOL just informed us that they are removing all out Web sites on Oct. 31, so I and my Flamenco contributions (such as they are) will vanish into the ether shortly anyway....:-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohwell

There's only 3 reviews on harmony central for the amp and I think one of them was done by a member here. Not a lot of stuff out there for an amp that was so highly anticipated a year ago.