Is the AER Compact 60 a big step up from Roland AC 90?

[tayloralf]

Hi everyone!

I am considering selling my Roland AC90 or trade it up for an AER Compact 60. I am attracted by the lighter weight and small size of the AER. For those who have experience with both amps, can you comment and share your opinions as to whether the AER is a big improvement over the Roland? I use the amp mainly for medium rooms, with guitar and vocals.

Thanks in advance!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by tayloralf

Hi everyone!

I am considering selling my Roland AC90 or trade it up for an AER Compact 60. I am attracted by the lighter weight and small size of the AER. For those who have experience with both amps, can you comment and share your opinions as to whether the AER is a big improvement over the Roland? I use the amp mainly for medium rooms, with guitar and vocals.

Thanks in advance!

Hi taylor alf...

It is to my ear. If there is a retirement amp I'd like to own, it may just be the AER Compact 60. When I've tested out amps, it is the best in the price range, and anything else short of $2000.

While only sporting a single 8'' two way speaker, I like the tone and 'guts' of it better. Having said that, I think it would be worth side-by-side comparison if you can to see how your rig sounds through them.

And I'd call it a step up not a huge step up. I actually like my UltraSound AG-50 better than the Roland amps (both 60 and 90). More push, and guts, and cut through the stage noise power. The Rolands don't cut through well.






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[pieterh]

I agree. In my job as sound guy we see a lot of AERs on stage at the theatre, great acoustic amps well liked by professional guitarists in Sweden. I even gigged with a bass player last weekend who was using an AER bass amp and I was hit by BaAS (bass amp aquisiton syndrome)!

Nothing against the Roland but the AER will be a keeper and any sound engineers you encounter will be happy too!

[tayloralf]

Thank you both for your informative reply...I am trying to simplify my rig and ideally i'd like move to a situation where i can just go from guitar to amp to PA without fussing with my pedal board in between. I am not a huge effects guy to begin with. For those who have used the AER, can you comment on the quality of the effects?

Most likely for smaller applications i will be using the amp for both guitar and vocals. I have read some reviews that seem to suggest the AER does not handle vocals well. Any experience on that?

Again, many thanks!

[Sage97]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

It is to my ear.

Mine as well. I think it performs very well for solo guitar plus vocals. This may depend on venue and other instruments going on. The effects are fine especially if you don't need a whole of it. It also does pedals well.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by tayloralf

...I have read some reviews that seem to suggest the AER does not handle vocals well. Any experience on that?

Hi alf...

The Compact 60 handles solo vocals just fine. No phantom power, but an SM-58 or other dynamic ball mic works great.

I think the UltraSound AG-50 handles them better as it has dual 8'' two way speakers, but the difference is minimal. I'm often surprised when someone fires up the AER how much sound comes out of that little thing!

[localguitarist]

easy question. Yes. and yes the FX are pretty good. Not studio grade, but very usable.

[Bobby1note]

Originally Posted by tayloralf

Thank you both for your informative reply...I am trying to simplify my rig and ideally i'd like move to a situation where i can just go from guitar to amp to PA without fussing with my pedal board in between. I am not a huge effects guy to begin with. For those who have used the AER, can you comment on the quality of the effects?

Most likely for smaller applications i will be using the amp for both guitar and vocals. I have read some reviews that seem to suggest the AER does not handle vocals well. Any experience on that?

Again, many thanks!

The AER Compact 60/2, is a very subtle amplifier in my opinion. As far as FX are concerned, they are VERY usable,,,nothing is overdone. For those who are looking for FX with wild saturation swings,,, this is not the amp for you.

You have to think of the AER, in terms of what it will NOT do for you; for example, there's no noise,,,,no hiss,,,, no scratchy pots,,, just pure pristine sound. Vocals especially, can be stunning through this amp

[tayloralf]

Thanks everyone! It certainly sounds like I cannot possibly go wrong with the AER. I am curious about one more thing: everything I have read before about acoustic amplification says it is better to have a separate tweeter to cover the full sonic range of the acoustic guitar and vocals. The AER compact 60 has a single 8", while the Roland has TWO 8" PLUS a tweeter. Technically speaking, how does AER manage to out perform the Roland?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by tayloralf

...Technically speaking, how does AER manage to out perform the Roland?

Talf...

Fairy dust and elves - well that's what I'd tell our 4 sons when I knew something to be 'so' and didn't know a technical answer that suited the occasion.

Speaker/amp designs are like guitars. It's not always about the size of the container, but the designer and builder that makes a difference.

AER amps compare favorably with boutique or small factory model guitars. First time I heard an AER I was blown away. Didn't shock me when I heard the price tag (which at the time was only about t$650).

The most recent time I saw one in action was a couple years back when Pete Huttlinger came to Cheyenne. He played the concert with a full PA, and used the AER for his stage monitor.

The next day he taught a workshop with about 35 guitarists in a large basement with just the AER and it carried the room with ease. Didn't sound 'pushed' or ampy - just his guitar only bigger. Reconfirmed my perception from previous encounters with them.

[leftycajun]

Originally Posted by tayloralf

I am trying to simplify my rig and ideally i'd like move to a situation where i can just go from guitar to amp to PA without fussing with my pedal board in between. I am not a huge effects guy to begin with.

that's why I got my AER Alpha. It's basically my stage monitor and my DI. It's easy to use and sounds good, but I'm not thrilled about the amps eq frequencies. They don't really seem suited to acoustic guitar. For example, I tried to roll back the lows sunday morning using the "low" freq knob and it didn't do anything (i was getting too much boomy low E-G). The low e frequency point actually seems to be on the mid knob, which effectively only gives me two usable bands of eq adjustment, mid and hi. I really like the amp, it does it's job well and is super portable. My wife and I used it a couple weeks ago for a vocal/ guitar duo and it handled her vocals through the mic channel very well. At this point I'll probably just run the amp flat and pick up some form of eq (dtar equinox or something) to handle tone shaping. Not as simple or portable a setup as I had planned, but still pretty good.

[Passrossi46]

Have found that all of these acoustic amps are saget what you pay for kind of proposition. If your looking for a primary sound source for a medium Venus then a Roland will have a fuller range and bigger sound picture than the set alone.
As others have stated, doesn’t have good articulation like aer.
If you can afford aer buy it, it’s the best as a monitor through a full system to get the range covered, myself use a small 10” ev powered sub with it and it sounds great vocals are very good as well, found its best to run guitar effects kind of dry and voscals wet.

[jseth]

To my ears, the AER Compact 60 is FAR AND AWAY a better sound and "feel" than either the Roland products or the Fishman Loudbox amps...

I don't think I played the Roland AC-90 next to the AER I bought; I think it was an AC-60? In any case, the Roland sounded cheap and "fizzy" compared to the AER...

I picked up a used Compact 60/2 for a nice price, and I couldn't be happier with it! I've used it in venues where I thought it would be a real stretch to cover with that little amp, and was flabbergasted to discover that it not only "cut it", but it sounded so good that the folks there would come up to me and ask if I were using some huge speakers that a DJ rig had in the ceiling... and the fellow who ran the event wanted to just play the rest of the night through my amp!

As someone said, the effects are very usable, nothing extravagant or unnecessary; on mine, there's a short reverb, a large hall reverb and a couple of combos with a chorus and reverb... each of them are very solid, musical and unobtrusive effects.

I use mine for both vocal and guitar (6 and 12 string acoustic); I was really quite shocked to hear how marvelous the vocals sound through it... ONE 8" speaker!!!

Although I've played some very sizeable rooms with it, I've yet to have the master volume up past 40%... and this, in a room that was 30' x 100' with 30' ceilings! (plus, a LOT of folks, drinking and talking... you know, a BAR!)

I don't know how to quantify how big a step up the AER would be from the Roland; I just know that if I hadn't gotten that AER, I would not have bought either a Roland or a Fishman amp... I would have just used my Bose L1 rig and dealt with it...

I think you will be VERY happy with the AER. One thing to realize is, it will "bloom" if you give it a bit of space between player and amp.... the sound spreads very nicely (similar to the Bose but not as good) in a decent sized space...

[hotroad]

The only other amp that is equal to the AER is the Shertler David, not the Unico. Very different beasts. The Shertler David is so so loud, plays what you play into it in such sharp clear tone that its scary, has three channels with full eq on each, has line out, is light, small, costs about $1000.

[Andy Howell]

Yes a big step up. A great amp and I find brilliant for vocals as well.