What is the loudest acoustic amp?

[Chris189]

Quality and sound reproduction are also important. I'm looking for an acoustic guitar amp that can be heard with a full band(no pa mix) that sounds good. My father used to have a Fender Acoustasonic SFX. I've found one locally for sale but have heard mixed reviews. Has anyone ever ran a california blonde with the extension speaker? I've heard good things about that as well. I'm also open to other suggestions. Just keep in mind that volume and quality are my main factors. Thanks!

[[email protected]]

Bose Compact or L1 with a nice little acoustic processor like the Zoom A2. The Acoustasonic is a pretty good amp, and fairly loud, but cutting through a band means you need to have the speakers up high, which is difficult unless the amp is designed to go on a stand.

[machz]

I have a Rivera Sedona lite, that sounds great and they make a 55 and 100 model of the amp aswell.

[Chris189]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

Bose Compact or L1 with a nice little acoustic processor like the Zoom A2. The Acoustasonic is a pretty good amp, and fairly loud, but cutting through a band means you need to have the speakers up high, which is difficult unless the amp is designed to go on a stand.

What do you think a fair price for a used acoustasonic sfx would be?

[Chris189]

Originally Posted by machz

I have a Rivera Sedona lite, that sounds great and they make a 55 and 100 model of the amp aswell.

Ive heard great things about the Riveras, but I think they're a little out of my price range at the moment. Thanks anyways!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Chris189

...I'm looking for an acoustic guitar amp that can be heard with a full band(no pa mix) that sounds good.

Hi Chris…

So you will be wearing ear plugs then?

My gigging partner has an SWR with the 12'' two way system, and I suppose with an extra cabinet it would produce tons of volume - if you could get far enough away from it or situate it so it didn't feed back at high volumes.

The UltraSound 250 is a beast as are several of the Fishman LoudBox amps, and the larger GenzBenz.

The Bose single tower units will throw a ton of volume but again, if you are standing in the vicinity you need ear protection and you will be wrestling with feedback.

Once the volume barrier is broken the real issue is the tone of the instrument at those volumes, and that is really different when comparing amps. Extreme volumes emphasize certain frequencies differently which is a source of much displeasure if you are in the audience and a stray high frequency is overpumped.

[jalbert]

The Fishman Loudbox Pro was discontinued, but it sported 600 watts. I wonder if it came with a trailer hitch as an option?

[lschwart]

I use a Genz Benz Pro LT for rehearsals and small, non-PA gigs with a loud, big-sounding semi electric band (4 vocals, two hand percussionists, accordion, clarinet, upright bass, electric guitar, and my acoustic). It puts of 175 watts using just the internal speaker (12" woofer and a tweeter), and it can also send 150 watts each to that internal speaker and an extension cab at the same time, for a few more dbs and better dispersion. Even without the extension cab it can get very, very loud and puts out a very big, full sound that easily competes in the context I've described. I have never turned the master volume up higher than just shy of 10:00. If we have to be louder than that at a gig, we use our PA.

The amp is big, but only weighs 37 lbs and has a lot of nice features, including two preamps that allow you to blend a tube signal in with a solid state signal, independent effects processing for both channels, sweepable mids and both XLR and 1/4" inputs for both channels (and these can be blended), 3 DI outs (channel 1 pre EQ, channel 2 pre eq, and channels 1&2 post eq and effects), etc....

I know others who use the smaller and lighter 150 LT for such situations and it also seems to have enough power (and it has the advantage of not only weighing only 26 pounds, but of coming with a pole mount that allows you to put it up on a speaker stand). My sense is that, if you don't want the extra headroom and particular tone coloration options offered by the Pro LT, the 150 LT will do the trick. Genz Benz also makes two compact amps that put out the same amount of power as the Pro LT, but from a much smaller and lighter package, using smaller speakers (the Compak 300 10T and 8T). The 10" version weighs only 19 lbs and the 8" 16.5 lbs. They give up a few features, but add terrific portability and flexibility (including the possibility of removing the amp section itself from the combo unit to use as a head or small mixer with whatever cab or speaker system you like or even just as a DI). To my ears the smaller speakers in these don't have the fullness and force of the 12" speakers in the Pro LT and the 150 LT, especially for lead vocals--and that's half of what I do in the band--but your mileage may vary. I can't report on how these smaller amps really work in the band context, since I've only tried them in stores. I'd say they were worth a try along with the other usual suspects.

I've used the SWR with the band, too, and it also has the force to compete, but it's much heavier than all of the above. I'm sure the Ultrasound 250 will also do the trick, although I've only used the smaller DS-4. That was OK until we added the electric guitar to the band. That's when I upgraded to the Pro LT.

Louis

[Chris189]

Originally Posted by lschwart

I use a Genz Benz Pro LT for rehearsals and small, non-PA gigs with a loud, big-sounding semi electric band (4 vocals, two hand percussionists, accordion, clarinet, upright bass, electric guitar, and my acoustic). It puts of 175 watts using just the internal speaker (12" woofer and a tweeter), and it can also send 150 watts each to that internal speaker and an extension cab at the same time, for a few more dbs and better dispersion. Even without the extension cab it can get very, very loud and puts out a very big, full sound that easily competes in the context I've described. I have never turned the master volume up higher than just shy of 10:00. If we have to be louder than that at a gig, we use our PA.

The amp is big, but only weighs 37 lbs and has a lot of nice features, including two preamps that allow you to blend a tube signal in with a solid state signal, independent effects processing for both channels, sweepable mids and both XLR and 1/4" inputs for both channels (and these can be blended), 3 DI outs (channel 1 pre EQ, channel 2 pre eq, and channels 1&2 post eq and effects), etc....

I know others who use the smaller and lighter 150 LT for such situations and it also seems to have enough power (and it has the advantage of not only weighing only 26 pounds, but of coming with a pole mount that allows you to put it up on a speaker stand). My sense is that, if you don't want the extra headroom and particular tone coloration options offered by the Pro LT, the 150 LT will do the trick. Genz Benz also makes two compact amps that put out the same amount of power as the Pro LT, but from a much smaller and lighter package, using smaller speakers (the Compak 300 10T and 8T). The 10" version weighs only 19 lbs and the 8" 16.5 lbs. They give up a few features, but add terrific portability and flexibility (including the possibility of removing the amp section itself from the combo unit to use as a head or small mixer with whatever cab or speaker system you like or even just as a DI). To my ears the smaller speakers in these don't have the fullness and force of the 12" speakers in the Pro LT and the 150 LT, especially for lead vocals--and that's half of what I do in the band--but your mileage may vary. I can't report on how these smaller amps really work in the band context, since I've only tried them in stores. I'd say they were worth a try along with the other usual suspects.

I've used the SWR with the band, too, and it also has the force to compete, but it's much heavier than all of the above. I'm sure the Ultrasound 250 will also do the trick, although I've only used the smaller DS-4. That was OK until we added the electric guitar to the band. That's when I upgraded to the Pro LT.

Louis

Thanks for the thorough review. It's funny you mention these amps. There just happens to be a genz benz 150lt at the guitar center around the corner. I may bring my guitar down and see how it sounds. Would you say the 150lt is comparable to the lt pro in volume and power? Obviously it has some more features. Thanks again.

[lschwart]

Originally Posted by Chris189

Thanks for the thorough review. It's funny you mention these amps. There just happens to be a genz benz 150lt at the guitar center around the corner. I may bring my guitar down and see how it sounds. Would you say the 150lt is comparable to the lt pro in volume and power? Obviously it has some more features. Thanks again.

The power amp of the 150 LT puts out 150 watts to its internal speaker, and when you hook up an 8 ohm extension cab, it sends 200 (100 to each speaker). The Pro LT sends 175 to its internal speaker and 300 with the extension cab (so 150 to each speaker). So, in other words, there's a difference in wattage, but it's not huge.

However, Jeff Genzler told me in an email when I was considering the purchase and asking lots of questions, that the speakers in the two amps are not the same. I was asking if I could use the ext cab they make for the 150 as an ext. for the Pro, and he said I could, but it would not be the same as a twin ext cab made for the Pro itself. The Pro's speaker is designed to handle a little more power, but mostly it's also, apparently, more efficient, so the Pro can out do the 150 LT by a wider margin than the wattage difference alone might make you assume. I also think it sounds better, and maybe that's because of the bit of extra headroom or the larger cabinet, not to mention the tube pre, but it's not a huge difference in terms of tone with the tube pre mixed completely out.

The pole mount on the 150 is a very important feature, however. I can put my Pro up on an amp stand to get it a foot or two off the floor, but it's too big to pole mount.

The ext. cab would be pole-mountable, but I couldn't afford that on top of the $1100 I paid for the amp! They don't make the ext for the Pro anymore, although Mr Genzler said they could make one as a custom item if I wanted. The thing is so loud as it is, though, that I've never needed to use one. As an experiement I've hooked up other 8 ohm speakers to the amp and it sounds great that way, too, but these are my PA speakers anyway, so if I want to use them, I just use the PA. I have been using the preamps, and lately the reverb too, on the Pro going into the PA's powered mixer at band gigs (with the amp providing a little stage monitoring as well). It's unweildy, but I like the sound of the preamps for both my guitar and my vocal mics.

The customer service from Genz Benz is first rate, by the way.

Louis

[olrocker]

Originally Posted by Chris189

Ive heard great things about the Riveras, but I think they're a little out of my price range at the moment. Thanks anyways!

I got my Rivera new used from Craigslist with 30 hours of use on it, for cheap! Like one third of new! Don't give up searching for one! The Sedona will go as loud as you need to go. Tone from this tube amp can't be beat. You won't be sorry you held out.

[methodinsane]

The SR Technology Jam 400 puts out 400 watts and sounds great - two 8" speakers and a 1" tweeter. It features an 8 channel mixer plus builtin effects effects and other things like aux loop, line in, line out and sub switch for use when pairing with a sub.

Bob Brozman's version is the same amp with some eq changes for Reso guitars.

[guitom]

Originally Posted by Chris189

Has anyone ever ran a california blonde with the extension speaker?

I do. I like it and it has plently of volume. I assume, I never go over 2.

[hflsmg17317]

get a good PA speaker.

[GrownManNaked]

Originally Posted by jalbert

The Fishman Loudbox Pro was discontinued, but it sported 600 watts. I wonder if it came with a trailer hitch as an option?

I had this amp for awhile. I can't imagine anything louder and it sounded great, with the usual Fishman transparency. I sold it due to weight (88 lbs or something) and realizing I wasn't playing stadiums.