What's your favorite amp for guitar only?

[jklotz]

What's your favorite amp for acoustic guitar only? Seems like every time this comes up, it seems to be more related to an amp to use with guitar and vocals.

[6L6]

Acoustic: Fishman Performer amp.

Electric: '66 Fender Super Reverb

[MaurysMusic]

Originally Posted by jklotz

What's your favorite amp for acoustic guitar only? Seems like every time this comes up, it seems to be more related to an amp to use with guitar and vocals.

Literally amp = Mesa/Boogie Rosette 1x10. Not literally? Bose L1.

[Yamaha Man]

Fender SFX

[Jinder]

I love the way my guitar sounds through my AERs, but if I was pushed to pick one of the many acoustic amps I’ve tried for guitar only, it would probably be edged by just a touch by the Mesa/Boogie Rosette 300 1:10. Immensely versatile tone shaping platform and very good tone. It didn’t work for me for vocals, but different strokes etc.

[Gpsman]

I love my ( bought used)Fender Acoustsonic Jr. for my acoustics. The grill was a mess so I recovered it from material ( matched original)picked up at StewMac. Also had some electronics redone. Not bad for $40

I have a ( bought used)Fender stage lead for my electric.

Both have good sound, flexibility and power.

[ruger9]

Just popping in to ask- id the new stuff... AER, mesa, etc... that much better than some of the older (but great sounding) acoustic amps? Like the Genz Benz Shenandoah series? Those things sounded great.

[SprintBob]

Super happy with my Henrickson Bud.

[Jinder]

Originally Posted by ruger9

Just popping in to ask- id the new stuff... AER, mesa, etc... that much better than some of the older (but great sounding) acoustic amps? Like the Genz Benz Shenandoah series? Those things sounded great.

Good tone is good tone, but I think the key thing with, for example, AER is that they have been around for close to thirty years, but have kept refining and evolving their gear. The original Acousticube and Bingo (now called Compact 60) amps were superb-revolutionary, even-reference quality amplifiers, and rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, AER have stuck with the basic form factor and have subtly refined them over the years as technology and testing has allowed.

I don’t necessarily think that tone of acoustic amps has changed massively in the 28yrs that I’ve been playing guitar, but I remember using amps early on such as Trace Elliot and early Fender acoustic amps which were big, heavy things that sounded good but lacked ergonomics and convenience. Something like my Compact 60/4 is so much lighter, smaller and louder too.

One big change has been in the efficacy of amps as an all-in-one “PA in a box” solution. My overriding memory of using acoustic amps in the ‘90s was that they didn’t have the spread or dispersion of a PA system, and generally didn’t cut it in quite the same way for vocals. A lot of that has changed now-there are plenty of acoustic amps out there now that absolutely shine for vocal reproduction and will fill a decent sized room with hi fidelity sound. Particular stars in that department seem to be the Genzler Acoustic Array, the Elite Acoustics D6-58 and much of AER’s output. I’d sing through my C60 over any small venue FOH system I’ve ever experienced, which are a great many.

It all comes down to what you want and/or like…if a Shenandoah works for your setup and stage, it’s still a high quality amp with a great reputation. Form is temporary, class is permanent as they say.

[Cuki79]

I don’t agree the AER compact 60 is revolutionary. It sounds way better than Old Fender and Marshall « electric-like pseudo acoustic amps » but It barely evolved since it’s creation. If you look into it, it is just a cheap integrated circuit amplifier used by the car industry and a $50 dual cone speaker Italian made speaker. However it does sound great with guitar, and it is for sure in the top list of acoustic amps (none are revolutionary anyway).
https://sound-au.com/project169.htm

My favourite acoustic amps for guitar only would be HK era 1, Schertler Jam, Acus 8 and AER compact 60 with no specific order.

If you are really into AER, try the Udo Roesner Da Capo 75 or Michael Eisenmann’s HK era 1.

Both are recent designs from original AER people.

[YamahaGuy]

No amp; rather, a full-range, capable PA system complete with a mixer with at least two onboard effects, a sweepable midrange, and a dedicated subwoofer in addition to full range top speakers.

[leew3]

Originally Posted by YamahaGuy

No amp; rather, a full-range, capable PA system complete with a mixer with at least two onboard effects, a sweepable midrange, and a dedicated subwoofer in addition to full range top speakers.

evidently the OP asked the wrong question

[YamahaGuy]

Originally Posted by leew3

evidently the OP asked the wrong question

I have a way of answering others' questions by circumventing the question and rephrasing it.

I guess I assumed the question was, "what device do you prefer to reproduce the tone of your acoustic-electric guitar." And, for me, it happens to be a PA.

[varmonter]

Of the ones i've owned
The aer c60-3 was great
for guitar only. The fishman loydbox mini was nice as well.
Neither worked for vocals.
Which is not what you asked.
Ive also have owned 2 made
by elite acoustics.
Both eae models were stellar
sounding with both guitar
and vocal. If you only want a guitar
amp and not one that sounds
good also with vocals.
then the aer and the lb mini
are good choices.
if you want one good for
both..even if you dont sing.
than look at eae.
That being said ive sold all those and
now use a board and qsc FRFR speaker.
And a small sub. Pretty happy with this.

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by varmonter

Of the ones i've owned
The aer c60-3 was great
for guitar only. The fishman loydbox mini was nice as well.
Neither worked for vocals.
Which is not what you asked.
Ive also have owned 2 made
by elite acoustics.
Both eae models were stellar
sounding with both guitar
and vocal. If you only want a guitar
amp and not one that sounds
good also with vocals.
then the aer and the lb mini
are good choices.
if you want one good for
both..even if you dont sing.
than look at eae.
That being said ive sold all those and
now use a board and qsc FRFR speaker.
And a small sub. Pretty happy with this.

Varmonter and Yamaha are right. Nothing beats a good PA speaker as long as you have a preamp somewhere in the signal chain (mixer, preamp pedal...) and you know about gain staging and EQ.

Acoustic amps are usually not transparent or flat sounding. They are usually designed to make an undersaddle pickup sound good. As a result, vocals sounds poor to average.

PA speaker are meant to reproduce any sound so the good ones are transparent.
However it will faithfully reproduce the sound of a bad pickup....

An acoustic amplification signal chain needs to be thought as a whole.
- Pickup
- preamp (onboard or outboard)
- amp/PA (amplification and loudspeaker)
- room and audience (size, noise, loudness...)

...And budget of course