Should I sell my AC60?

Cue Zephyr · #1 11-27-2014, 04:36 PM

Howdy folks,

For some reason, my ES-T equipped Taylor guitars don't seem to pair particularly well with the AC60. I got it a while back for it's features, and I've done a few band gigs with it using it as personal monitor which worked a charm.

I was visiting a music shop to check out a guitar with somebody, but I took my GS Mini to check out some amps while we were there. There was an amp room full of acoustic amps and small PA systems. I tried the AC60 that was there against a:

LoudBox Mini (Fishman)
AGA70 (Vox)
JAM 100 (Schertler)

Those are from lowest to highest price. The Fishman was great, not as harsh in the mids that the ES-T seems to have a lot of. It also seemed more capable of dialing out those mids which I somehow can't achieve on the AC60. The AGA70 kind of seemed to have the samething going on, ending up somewhere between the Fishman and the Roland. The Schertler? That basically sounded like a studio monitor, in a more than positive way. It almost seems as if it's something like one of the KRK RP6 monitors I have, just with a mixer on top.

I always shied away from Schertler as their stuff was more expensive than I actually needed, but this JAM 100 actually comes closer in terms of pricing. What else is there? The Acus One 6, which supposedly is a Schertler copy (I've heard one, they're nice also).

What else is gonna go through the amp? Probably mandolin, banjo (which doesn't even have a pick-up right now) and a mic at some point. It would probably work a charm as a portable music player also, but that wouldn't be it's main purpose of course.

What's I to do?

CZ

swsman · #2 11-27-2014, 05:50 PM

Hello Cue,

May I suggest small mixer (6 channel) with a powered speaker. As much as I love the sound of my Trace Eliott TA100r I think this will be direction to take. More flexible setup that works with variety of instruments. At present I keep researching, readimg up on Yamaha DBR10 series that just came out, new JBL Eon 615 and QSC K10.
Being broke allows me to read up as much as I can. Food for thought.

jonfields45 · #3 11-27-2014, 09:16 PM

I recently switched from a K10 to a DBR10 and think they both do about the same job, but the Yamaha is lighter and cheaper. Jon

Cue Zephyr · #4 11-28-2014, 10:01 AM

Cheers! That would actually be a slightly cheaper option than the Schertler. Besides that, a DBR10 will be more powerful than all of those amps combined! Portability might become a little bit of an issue as a powered speaker is about twice as large as an acoustic amp.

What mixers do you use with your DBR10?

RustyAxe · #5 11-28-2014, 05:44 PM

It was a happy day I sold my AC60 ... despite the fact I took a $200 bath on it.

krisls · #6 11-28-2014, 08:29 PM

Been using my AC 60 very happily for some time now in smallish cafe/restaurant type things. Up on a small Sp stand it works very well and looks neat. Space is often a problem.

That said, if yours no longer does what you need then perhaps it is time to look elsewhere. The compact powered sp like the DBR w' a Zed 10 fx would do the job I suspect, try and see what you like and can afford.

Kris

dcopper · #7 11-29-2014, 09:40 AM

I have the AC90 and my Fishman LB Artist sounds better by far. The Ac 90 has far more to offer than the AC 60. Another option is to add a good preamp like the RedEye preamp and try that to tame the ES-T.
Davidc

Cue Zephyr · #8 11-29-2014, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcopper

I have the AC90 and my Fishman LB Artist sounds better by far. The Ac 90 has far more to offer than the AC 60. Another option is to add a good preamp like the RedEye preamp and try that to tame the ES-T.
Davidc

Now you mention it, I have a Para DI lying around that is perfectly capable of taming the ES-T. The AC60 has 48V phantom power so I wouldn't even need to power the Para. Unless I wanted to sing, then I'd have to use the jack output instead of the XLR. Not even a bad idea, thanks!

The ZED-10FX is pretty cool, wouldn't make it much more expensive than the Schertler. Portability still remains a bit of a thing, though.

About the LB Artist - I thought the LB Mini sounded better than the AC60 also, and that one is actually lower priced. The shop didn't have the Artist model though.