I bought a Fender SFX Acoustic amp....

[Yamaha Man]

I got a deal on my credit card that knocks $100 off the price of the amp....So I ended up getting it for $799....I really wasn't going to buy it, but after listening to the demo's again, the effects, and comparing it to other amps in that price range,,,the Fender came out on top. I looked at lots of amps but none had any quality demo's like the Fender had....I grew to like the compact size of it, as it would be easy to carry around and not take up too much room in my already crowded living room. The light weight of it would be okay for my bad back. I justified the cost by adding up what it would cost to replace just the studio quality effects. The Fender's reverb, delay, and Vibratone are excellent sounding effects. I'm not crazy about the chorus but maybe I can change the settings to more of my liking. A nice clean sounding amp and it's XLR output would be perfect for a recording amp....the demo's I heard all sounded very sweet, and would be an improvement over my current rig....

I opened up a new CC account at Bank of America and the $100 off was the incentive they offered on any purchase over $500 within 3 months of opening the account....pretty sweet deal....

I checked the price at most of the usual music stores and ended up at Musician's Friend, because they have it in stock and ready to ship, where many of the other stores had a 14-30 day waiting list....everybody had the same $899 price...I compared it to an AER for $899 and the Fender won out.

So when it gets here, I'll give my review...

[steelvibe]

Looking forward to that MM. I think you are going to like it- they are pricey though

[Yamaha Man]

Ya I know they're pricey but what are you gonna do ?? Quality amps just cost that much now days....the reverb is to die for....the speaker layout is different from any other amp out there. If it really does put out audiophile quality sound, it'll be worth it. The demo's I heard sound great. I'm hoping I really like it. My guitars should sound great thru it...

[Yamaha Man]

I just got my shipping notification...don't have a delivery date yet though...too soon...

I also ordered a XLR cable to connect the Fender amp directly to my Session DI's XLR output. This way I can use my pedal board with both amps without switching cables around....

[Yamaha Man]

In my amp shopping I was looking at the AER Alpha Acoustic amp, priced at $899 for a comparable...this is a 40 watt amp vrs 160 watt, no effects, just an 8" inch speaker...the Fender has so many more features, plus I could hear a demo of it...the Fender won out....I felt as I needed to upgrade my amp as my Marshall is a 15 year old model, the Fender is brand new technology....here's a link to the AER I was looking at for a comparable price....

http://www.djangobooks.com/Item/aer_...g1caApDz8P8HAQ

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by Martin Maniac

I got a deal on my credit card that knocks $100 off the price of the amp....So I ended up getting it for $799....I really wasn't going to buy it, but after listening to the demo's again, the effects, and comparing it to other amps in that price range,,,the Fender came out on top. I looked at lots of amps but none had any quality demo's like the Fender had....I grew to like the compact size of it, as it would be easy to carry around and not take up too much room in my already crowded living room. The light weight of it would be okay for my bad back. I justified the cost by adding up what it would cost to replace just the studio quality effects. The Fender's reverb, delay, and Vibratone are excellent sounding effects. I'm not crazy about the chorus but maybe I can change the settings to more of my liking. A nice clean sounding amp and it's XLR output would be perfect for a recording amp....the demo's I heard all sounded very sweet, and would be an improvement over my current rig....

I opened up a new CC account at Bank of America and the $100 off was the incentive they offered on any purchase over $500 within 3 months of opening the account....pretty sweet deal....

I checked the price at most of the usual music stores and ended up at Musician's Friend, because they have it in stock and ready to ship, where many of the other stores had a 14-30 day waiting list....everybody had the same $899 price...I compared it to an AER for $899 and the Fender won out.

So when it gets here, I'll give my review...

I had the older version Acoustasonic that I thought was pretty versatile. I used it a lot. Then, I sold it and bought a Fishman SA220 and haven't looked back. The various FX on the panel of the SFX were fun to mess with but the reality of it was I didn't seriously use them. My typical method is to put a notch of reverb on the the vocal mic and leave the other channel (guitar) dry. The SA220 gives me that with a lot more power. Still, I think you'll enjoy the Acoustasonic a lot. Congrats.

[Yamaha Man]

I didn't get the Acousticsonic, I got the SFX Acoustic Pro...big difference. Big difference in price too. I will use the effects. I'd feel lost without them. From the demo's I heard they sound like studio quality effects which would be great for recording...a great sounding reverb is a great sounding reverb...a crappy sounding reverb is a crappy sounding reverb...I've had enough of crappy sounding reverbs, and that's one of the reasons I decided to splurge on this amp....

[Yamaha Man]

Here's the video demo that sold me on the SFX....I think it sounds awesome....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5tN1mMMWQ

[Yamaha Man]

Delivery is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) by the end of the day...yay !!

One nice thing about buying from Musician's Friend is that I have 45 days to return it if I don't like it. I'm hoping I like it.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Martin Maniac

Here's the video demo that sold me on the SFX....I think it sounds awesome....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5tN1mMMWQ

Did you see the Andy McKee video?

[Yamaha Man]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Did you see the Andy McKee video?

Yes I did and was also impressed with the sound. The zZounds video is what got me going because of the multiple guitars. If the amp sounds anything like these two video's. I'll be very happy with it. I also saw a couple more short video's in my travels on You Tube.

I also saw a few video's of the Fender Acousticsonic 150 amp...I didn't like that one at all. In fact that was one of the reason I decided to step up to the SFX amp...you get what you pay for.

I also looked at the video of the Fender Hot Rod amp. That's a nice amp for an electric guitar sound, but that's not what I wanted...I wanted a clean sounding acoustic guitar amp of good quality.

I looked at many different amplifiers but didn't find video demo's of them available. My experience with amps is that many advertise having an onboard reverb, but they usually are terrible sounding. The SFX's reverb sounds really sweet.

[Yamaha Man]

I didn't buy this amp on a whim, I spent a lot of time listening to the demo video's over and over, listening for every detail I could find. I downloaded and read the owner's manual, read over all the sales literature I could find...I really do feel as though I did my due diligence on this amp. I looked at many different amps and read up about them, but here again, demo video's were simply not available.

I wanted an amp that would work in my living room as that's where it'll spend most of it's time....I may bring it out to my weekly jam sessions on occasion. It'll work as a great amp at the senior centers or nursing homes if I decide to start playing there.

I like the fact that it's two 80 watt channels. That's 160 watts vrs the 50 watts of my current Marshall AS50R. That's more than triple the wattage. I like the side mounted speaker, that'll add a different dimension to the sound that you won't get with conventional front mounted speaker amps.

I really didn't want to spend so much money, but after getting a good feel for the amplifier market, I didn't want to go halfway and get an amp I wouldn't be happy with. The $100 credit card deal made it much more doable. I'll make 4 monthly payments of $200 and have it paid off by February. So it's not that bad.

[Yamaha Man]

I liked the sound of that zZounds demo video so much I want to duplicate the recording by using the same mic they did...they used a Blue Baby Bottle mic...I searched e-bay and found one that was sitting in a showcase all it's life in perfect condition for $259...regular price is about $399 new. So I feel I did okay...this mic will be permanently set up in front of the Fender amp for spur of the moment recordings.

I listened to a few demo's of the Baby Bottle mic and one vrs a Shure SM7b and liked the Baby Bottle better. I also read a few very positive reviews on it. It's rated 4.9 out of 5 stars on 20 reviews on Musician's Friend's website.......

Good news they shipped it already and should get it Monday or Tuesday....

UPDATE...the mic is now scheduled for delivery this Saturday !! yay !!

[Yamaha Man]

I tried listening to the zZounds demo and the Andy McKee demo thru headphones.....very dreamy....I noticed that the guitars were perfectly eq'd to a natural acoustic tone....this must be because of the three tone controls on each channel....low, mid and high vrs the low and high on my Marshall amp. Definitely another step up there.

All totaled I found a bunch of demo video's on You Tube,.... zZounds, Andy McKee's video's, Musician's Friend demo, Guitar Center demo, and Sam Ash demo .....all sounded very good...I'm really liking the delay effects....the VIB sounds interesting as well....

[Yamaha Man]

I just checked my Bank of America account, and they have already added the $100 reward to my pending rewards balance....yay !!!!