Acoustic amp choice

[bobbyg67]

What acoustic amp would you choose for vocal and guitar quality for small to medium venues. Larger venues would be able to line out to a powered speaker. Looking for best quality acoustic amp with PA capabilities for small tomedium venues.

[Methos1979]

Elite Acoustics EAE D6-8 PRO. Or some variation of that model. (Several configurations.)

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

Elite Acoustics EAE D6-8 PRO. Or some variation of that model. (Several configurations.)

That is my recommendation as well.

[Odedi]

The fishman loudbox mini is pretty nice for acoustic!

[Jinder]

You’ll get a LOT of answers to this question, as there is no “one size fits all”. It’s an interesting world, though.

I own an AER Compact 60/4 and a Hughes & Kettner Era 2. Both are excellent but are distinctly different beasts. The AER is more detailed tonally and the H&K has more bottom end, and can also be used as a bass combo. Both are excellent vocal amps. I particularly love singing through the AER.

For reference I am a light tenor and have a voice which is perhaps a little louder than usual when giving it the beans. I play largely Sunrise equipped guitars through a Boss AD10 pre into the amp, and sing through either a modern AKG D7 or a late ‘70s Electro-Voice RE11.

Other amps I have owned:

AER Domino 3 - I liked this a LOT but it had a faulty channel and had to be returned. First AER fault I have ever heard about! It was the only one available at the time so the dealer couldn’t replace it without a three month wait, sadly.

AER Compact XL - This was sent to me as a replacement for the Domino. Sounded good for guitar, but had some odd crossover frequencies for vocals, which I can only attribute to being a two way amp rather than going through a dual concentric speaker as other AERs do to great effect.

Schertler Roy - I was seduced by the versatility and the love this amp gets. Maybe I got a bad one, but I wasn’t impressed with mine. It was hissy at volume, and even with the gain turned all the way down, singing through it with any mic made the channel in question clip and the FX weren’t as good as I expected. It was also obscenely heavy, far heavier than any powered PA speaker I have ever picked up. An absolute bear to move about, even for a 6’7’, 240lb gym enthusiast such as myself. They do get a lot of love, though, so maybe I got a duff one.

Mesa/Boogie Rosette 1:10 - Very well built and attractive, good feature set and FX. I didn’t particularly love the sound though-it didn’t handle anything other than relatively meek vocals and the guitar sound was somewhat “hard” and cold. I didn’t keep it for more than a couple of days and was disappointed on the whole.

Marshall AS50D - I owned this many years ago, probably 2001. Was sort of okay but would cut out halfway through a gig due to a faulty thermal overload cutout circuit. Not great for vocals by any stretch of the imagination but was passable. Not bad for guitar.

Fishman Loudbox Performer - I had three of these, all of which suffered op amp or speaker failure. A real shame as they sound great and are very portable, but clearly have a design issue. The Tolex covering was very thin and after just a few shows, before and after which they were stored in their Fishman slipcases, they started to look a bit scruffy.

Fishman Loudbox Artist - I borrowed this whilst my Performers went back for warranty repair. Sweeter sounding than the Performer and even more portable. I liked the Artist a lot, good for vocals too. The reliability issues I had with the Performers made me wary of buying one, but my experience as a lend was positive.

Mark Acoustic AC1010-H - These almost sound good but require a lot of front end work to get a useable live tone. My first one died onstage after nine months of ownership, and I was sent a brand new replacement under warranty which was dead on arrival, wouldn’t even switch on. Clearly some poor QC going on.

[hotroad]

Elite Acoustics has it all over the other ones.

[buzzardwhiskey]

My Schertler Unico is THE best acoustic tool I've purchased. It does it all and hasn't skipped a beat in over ten years of crazy use. Very musical vocals and guitar.

That said, it's easy to justify a good powered PA speaker and a smallish mixer.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by bobbyg67

What acoustic amp would you choose for vocal and guitar quality for small to medium venues. Larger venues would be able to line out to a powered speaker. Looking for best quality acoustic amp with PA capabilities for small tomedium venues.

I would suggest you re-phrase your question to include what features you need (or ask, as a preliminary question, what features the membership would suggest for your intended venues/audiences.)

Something like this:

What features are important in an acoustic amp for small to medium venues and (for larger venues) would be able to line out to a powered speaker?

I tend to favor the Fishman Loudbox Performer (partly because I own one) or Artist because they have separate D.I. outputs for each channel as well as the mixed channels (unlike the Mini which only has D.I. for the mix). In this way, I could drive a powered speaker as well as send outputs to a venue's house sound system to be controlled by a good operator. (Edited to correct my misconception that the Artist did not have separate DI outputs for mix, channel 1 and channel 2)

Any two-channel acoustic amp with the 3 separate outputs would do.

I note that BOSS has a nice acoustic amp that also enables harmonies for the vocals AND a looper as well. Nice little package.

Anyhow, determine the features you want and narrow down your choices to those amps having those features. Make that list. Then try them out with your guitar to see how each one sounds and how you like the control panel.

[Goat Mick]

I really don't think you can get much better than a Loudbox Artist for a versatile all in one amp with DI out capabilities. I've used mine in just about every configuration you can imagine and it has performed very nicely. Some do sound better but for all around utility the Artist is a great amp.

[douglasfan1]

Originally Posted by bobbyg67

What acoustic amp would you choose for vocal and guitar quality for small to medium venues. Larger venues would be able to line out to a powered speaker. Looking for best quality acoustic amp with PA capabilities for small tomedium venues.

It's difficult to beat Henriksen the bud if you care both quality and convenient. The bud six is only 9X9X9 inch with just over 13 lbs. 120 watts can handle small to medium venues. They also got a better size "Bud Ten" and "Bud Twelve". The signature 5 EQ adjustment require some practice but really help modify the tone. It got line out and headphone out, also a speaker out.

I got a Henriksen the bud ten. The sound is very nice. Since I sometimes play with a bassist, I choose the bud with 10" speaker for handling the bass better. I've tried it with keyboard, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, archtop guitar and bass. All with excellent result.

[hotroad]

Put whatever you choose on a pole mount to get the sound above the audience. If they are going to stand, the height has to be even higher than if they were sitting. Having the amp on a pole also keeps it from blasting the first row or two of people. The sound goes over their head but they will still get a good bit of it.

[SongwriterFan]

I'm a huge fan of the Bose towers (even the L1 Compact). These are capable of filling a room of 100 people in my experience.

I'm sure other similar towers by other makers are also very good at this.

Being able to hear exactly what the audience is hearing is a huge benefit of this type of setup.

[Spenceroo]

Check out the Genzler amps. Not only do they sound great, they are built with an upward slant if you put it on the floor, and the controls are on the front making it simple to change settings if you put it on a pole. I'm not a fan of controls on the top. Too hard to see or get to, in certain situations.

[penrithrdstudio]

You don't say how much you can spend, but if looking at the lower end of the market I can recommend the Marshall AS50D. It's a bit bulky and heavy but if correctly EQ'd sounds great to my ears for both guitar and vocals. It has twin 8'' speakers which give it a bigger, warmer sound than for example a Loudbox Mini.

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Originally Posted by Spenceroo

Check out the Genzler amps. Not only do they sound great, they are built with an upward slant if you put it on the floor, and the controls are on the front making it simple to change settings if you put it on a pole. I'm not a fan of controls on the top. Too hard to see or get to, in certain situations.

X 10000


Best sound. Built. Functionality, etc. Best amp on the market IMHO. And I've played them all.