Marshall AS50R vs Loudbox Performer vs Roland AC90

[Andy_Ay]

Hi all,

To save you reading all the way to the bottom; I preferred the sound of, and pulled the trigger on, a Loudbox. Yay. Interested? Feel free to read on.

My main setup is a Fishman SA220 stuck on a Behringer Eurolive B1200pro sub, flanked by a Marshall AS50R (the old mechanical reverb type) with a (wonderful!)Zoom A2.1u, a Boss VE500 vocal performer and an EH mel9. This all gives me the perfect arsenal for the stuff I do; Beatles, Eagles, middle of the road /rock/pop. I really love the full sound I get, and it's fine for anything from coffee shops to small halls.

However. When I use the AS50R on its own it's really quite boxy and buzzy, with my Taylor 214ce dlx with es2 (my main gigging guitar) and also with my other acoustics (Gibson Dove and Taylor K24ce x brace). Whilst this boxy nature probably helps fill in the sound between the bass bin and the fishstick, on its own I really can't bear it.

Anyway, I thought "Christmas is coming; time for some self gratification", so I took my 214 into town and tried out the Roland AC90 and the Fishman Loudbox Performer.

I was very impressed by the clean yet warm tone on both the new amps, but to me the Performer just edged it. I would have liked to have the auto feedback pedal of the Roland, but not at the expense of the better sound in the Fishman. Also, I'm so attuned to the boxy sound of my Marshall that I could close my eyes while strumming through the Roland and just hear that boxyness that I dislike. Both amps were so much less buzzy than my Marshall.

I guess it's unfair to slate my old Marshall as it's half the price of the other two, and it is warm with a very nice chorus, but I'm so glad I tried something different. Hope it gets delivered in time for my Christmas Eve gig.

Anyway I hope this information is useful to the forum, as I spent a lot of time greedily digesting the reviews on here before I decided on my shortlist.

[hotroad]

Go with the Fishman for great acoustic tone.