Fishman Loudbox Mini or Fender Acoustic 100?

[fpuhan]

I'm still trying to find a way of using my $500 Guitar Center gift cards (rather than selling them; I don't sell gifts). My guitar room is packed to the gills with gear, cases, gig bags, strings, cloths, humidifiers, heaters, amps, tools, and what have you. So, I've been thinking the one thing I don't really have is an acoustic guitar amp. I've been using a Line6 AMPLIFi 30 and a Positive Grid Spark MINI fairly successfully, but both of them require a phone app to get full use out of them (otherwise, it's just "run clean").

So, with $$ to spare, I see guitar center has the Fishman Loudbox Mini 60W 1x6.5 Acoustic Guitar Combo at $399.95 and the Fender Acoustic 100 100W 1x8 Acoustic Guitar Combo at $399.99. The price is the same, but the specs vary considerably, and on paper (screen?) the Fender would seem to edge out the Fishman.

But Fishman is a "house brand" pretty much everywhere on can plug in an acoustic guitar. Fender's history with electric guitar amps is long and varied, with mostly hits, but some misses. I don't know anything about their acoustic amps, but their acoustic guitars don't get a lot of love here.

Not given many stars by owners, GC also has the Orange Amplifiers Crush Acoustic 30 30W 1x8" at $399.00. It has the largest speaker, the lowest power rating, and is the lightest in weight of the three.

If it were you, what would be your preference? The only deal-killer is it can't be more than $500.

[GoPappy]

I tested out a used Fender Acoustic 100 recently, and I was NOT impressed at all with the volume. In fact, the power was so anemic that I wonder if something may have been wrong with it. So, if you pick that one, be sure to test it out before plunking down your gift card.

The Fender is definitely the better looking of the two, if that's a factor to you.

If it was me, I'd probably pick the Fishman on the premise that there's probably reason they are the "house brand" at so many places. It sounds plenty good to my ears, and there are a lot of users on this forum that seem to be satisfied with them.

[foleyone]

I have a Loudbox Mini and a Fender Acousticisonic 40 (not sure how it compares to the 100). I can say between the two that I have, the Fishman sounds far nicer. It has more clarity, and the effects just seem more natural. Vocals sound great through the Fishman as well.

In terms of volume, both amps have plenty of volume for playing at home. The Fishman seems to be able to get louder before introducing a soft noise to the speaker. If volume is your only consideration, Fender likely wins that battle, but for playing at home I've never needed to go too crazy with the volume.

Even the dials/knobs feel better on the Fishman. Just sturdier and higher quality.

My only regret is that I often think I should have paid a little more for the larger Fishman (the artist or performer) for added versatility if I were ever to need it.

The comparisons between the Loudbox Mini and the 100 may be different, so if you have a chance to try both first that would be best.

[Goat Mick]

I gigged an Acoustic 100 for over a year and was really happy with the clarity and the effects. It honestly sounds better than my Loudbox amps, but it doesn’t have a lot of muscle. I would choose the Acoustic 100 over the Loudbox mini but be aware that the pretty wood cabinet doesn’t hold up well to heavy gigging. Now I would choose the Loudbox Artist over the Acoustic 100 all day, every day.

[Rudy4]

The only experience I can relay is my friend's Fender acoustic amp developed an annoying buzz which turned out to be an internal baffle that had a glue joint failure. Fender fixed it under warranty.

[fpuhan]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. The (admittedly small) sampling suggests the Fishman is the way to go. I may roll on over to a GC (none are really close to me) and see if they have both in stock (yay, Interweb!) and try them both.