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  #1  
Old 03-01-2016, 08:35 PM
Muffinhead Muffinhead is offline
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Default "Acoustic" brand amps

Musician's Friend and Guitar Center both carry a brand of amplifier called Acoustic. They are very inexpensive and I was wondering if they are any good.
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Old 03-01-2016, 09:18 PM
Mr Blues Mr Blues is offline
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I would go with a reputable name like Fishman. They are very good for the price the Loudbox mini. Or if you are willing to spend a bit more money. the AER Compact 40 or compact 60 .

Tanglewood do an acoustic amp the T6 or Roland Street cube or street Ex.
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Old 03-01-2016, 09:24 PM
jseth jseth is offline
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The brand has been around since the 70's, as I recall; possibly the late 60's, although, being from Southern California, THE amplifier of choice was always a Fender tube amp, and Acoustic was one of the early solid-state brands...

They've never gotten a lot of respect from electric guitarist/afficionados, BUT they have always had a solid cadre of owners who LOVED them and swore by them that they were fantastic amps...

If you are looking into acoustic amplifiers, I have to remind you that "most times" you are gonna get what you pay for... somehow, "okay" sounding amps for electric guitars can be useful, but acoustic amps seem to be a whole 'nother critter.

Now, I am speaking from a standpoint of being a performing musician, and I'm well aware that a person who wants an amp for their living room or bedroom does not need to be spending $1,000 on a nice, small amp.

My best recommendation would be to take YOUR guitar to a store and play through the amp you want to buy, and then trust your ears to decide... I have no idea how reliable Acoustic amps are, as far as problems breaking down go... a lot of these inexpensive items these days seem to cost MORE to repair than to buy a new one (an attitude I personally abhor!).

Hopefully, someone will chime in who has more "hands on" knowledge of the amp you're considering...
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Old 03-01-2016, 09:48 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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There's been a recent and pretty extreme price change on the A20 - it used to sell for 119-129 and now is 169. As for how it performs, I recently bought one and can answer from some experience.

It's an interesting amp because it has a few features that you don't typically find on smaller combo's in this price range. First is the addition of a second XLR dual plugged vocal channel. The notch filter is the second star of that show and works very well. A coaxial 8 inch driver, a full featured DI out and the second chorus FX option are all almost never found on the lower end of the market.

It is physically a fairly large amp compared to its competition but it's not what I'd call large. It's about the same overall size as a Fishman Loudbox Artist. It's bigger than the Loudbox Mini but not by a lot. It's not in close to the same place as these two amps are in sound though.

The amp section is rated at 20 watts and it has a final, in the field, level output that's in the same ballpark as a Roland KC110. That's loud enough for most people playing coffeeshops and other small rooms for 20 or less I would say. It doesn't compress on the top end as hard the Roland does and so, for me,it's a better choice.

The reverb and chorus start off, for the first 10 hours or so, sounding very digital and harsh. There's a top end 4k and up boost on the reverb that is very sibilant and is what I'd call garish in the beginning. Thankfully, that slowly tames itself under use. If you like to use reverb and chorus, you might want to be critically suspect of the FX built into this but do give them some time to break in.

I bought this A20 as an emergency stand-in for my Loudbox Mini, which had stopped working and required some warranty service. The A20 did the job though it was pretty obvious by how far I was pushing it, that I really wasn't being fair in what I was demanding it do well.

It sounds fairly warm and inviting in use, without too much reverb that is, and it gives more gain before feeding back than I was expecting (The notch filter is a great feature that works very well ). It is a perfectly good solution for small settings but it isn't nearly as powerful/solid sounding or as loud as the far more expensive amp I'm used to. It sounds very much like my Ashdown Acoustic Cube does. It's what I'd call a more forward amplified tone that's less blooming flowers and big air (The Loudbox Mini and, to some extent, the Roland KC110 tend toward this bigger/warmer sound) and more PA like in its directness.

The A20's reputation for having a high noise floor (a hiss that you'd hear when you turn the volume up to max, even without an instrument plugged in) is either something that only applied to earlier versions of the amp or an urban legend. I've listened closely to four of these, including the one I now own and they have less self noise/hiss than my Loudbox mini does. The Mini does not have a reputation as being a noisy amp.

There are a few amps you might want to compare this with before you buy it (Some of the Ibanez Troubadour amps, the Crate Acoustic series come to mind), though you are at the very bottom end of the price market in acoustic amps and there aren't many things out there that are as well equipt as the A20 is.
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Old 03-01-2016, 10:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Muffinhead View Post
Musician's Friend and Guitar Center both carry a brand of amplifier called Acoustic. They are very inexpensive and I was wondering if they are any good.
I have a little AG-15 model that I've owned for 8 years that is bulletproof. I use it as a practice amp or mic it into a system. Quality is very high, I've had no issues. Rarely I've used it in small rooms (clubs, coffee houses) and it sounds fine (although normally I use a Kustom for that purpose). Of course, it doesn't match up against a Marshall stack lol, but it works hard and carries its weight. Here it is:

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Old 03-01-2016, 11:26 PM
dannyg1 dannyg1 is offline
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One other amp for you to look into that I forgot to add is the TC Helicon VoiceSolo. I've never heard this but there are a few people here who swear that this amp bests the Loudbox Mini. It costs right in between the A20 ($169) and the Mini ($329) at $249 new.
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Old 03-02-2016, 12:14 PM
Mcirish Mcirish is offline
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I have had the AG60 for the last couple years and I also have a Loudbox Performer. The Acoustic AG60 is a pretty nice sounding amp. I've used it extensively. For the money, it's hard to beat. I actually have had two. The first one stopped working due to a bad master volume pot. Disassembly of the amp and getting replacement parts is pretty much impossible. Fortunately for me, GC took it back and gave me a new one. I would still be using it as my main amp but I just can't get the stage volume I need from it. It's loud, but I play in a very loud band and I just couldn't get the volume required. Also, the midrange control doesn't do as much as you would think it should. It almost seems broken, but it isn't. I feel like they made some odd component choices which limited the usefulness of the midrange controls. The speakers sound great and are very smooth and natural. Having four inputs was very useful for a small gig where I didn't want to drag out a PA.

One major note: There are two companies that use the Acoustic brand name. One is still USA based and made. The Other is owned by GC and is made in China. The AG60 series is from China. The American made Acoustic amps are pretty bullet-proof and were used a lot by bass players. The Chinese amps function well but the components, especially the pots are very cheap. There's no way to make the amp great at the price point they were shooting for. If it is going to be treated gently, I think its a good low price choice.

BTW: I have only used the Loudbox Performer in rehearsals and one show. I'm not sure on it's build quality yet either. The Acoustic has a bit sweeter sound than the LB but the LB can cut through a band better.

Hope this helps someone else.
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Old 03-02-2016, 05:02 PM
xtremekustomz xtremekustomz is offline
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I had a AG120S. I personally didn't like the way it sounded. Not enough adjustment for my k&k equipped guitars. Midrange was always too much.
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