MARSHALL THOUGHTS

[Denandannie]

Anyone have thoughts on the Marshal AS50?

[shufflebeat]

I used the as50r for a few years with a Tak ef360s and various other piezo fitted instruments. My usual MO was to jam a small passive DI under the handle then run a short jack to jack to the amp. The DI XLR went to the PA. I would usually have either a Fishman Aura blender or a Yamaha AG Stomp in front of the amp. At other times I would rearrange these elements but it was always something along those lines.

The amp was a little mid-heavy so a sprinkling of top and bottom on the amp EQ was good and the notch filter was always set to take some hi-mid harshness out rather than the job it was designed for, suppressing feedback at lower frequencies.

I never used the reverb which is good because it packed up within 6 months.

The sound was always useful rather than beautiful which might sound like a negative criticism but is, in fact, one of the most important things you can get in an amp. There is absolutely no point in getting a great sound at home and finding it totally impractical at a gig.

At higher volumes I found the amp would compress and break up slightly which is not something we tend to look for in an acoustic amp but it was so musical that I saw it as an asset rather than a problem.

I haven't used it for a year or so but that's because I've taken to using IEMs and the amp is superfluous.

There are many options to fill this role so try before you buy but certainly don't discount the as50.

[Goat Mick]

I've heard a couple of local performers here use them and they did sound pretty good. I think a Loudbox Mini or Artist would be a bit better though.

[penrithrdstudio]

I use an AS50D all the time. Great amp both for guitar and vocals. It's been loud enough for any situation I've used it in. It also sounds good with an electric guitar for clean tones.
I've not been able to compare it directly to anything else, but from YouTube videos it seems that it has a warmer, rounder sound than the Fishman Loudbox Mini. It is also supposed to be better for vocals, and wouldn't surprise me if it sounds better cranked right up, given that it has 2 8" speakers compared to the Fishman's single 6.5". I think the twin speakers give it a really unique, characterful sound, in the same way as a Vox AC30 does for electric guitar for example.
Really it comes down to whether you can handle the weight and size, but if you can it's worth it IMO.

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Well I never liked to leave these kind of reviews especially wouldn't somebody is potentially looking at buying a product. I wanted to like the ASD 50, I really did. Course being that I've Loved Marshall amps for years along with there line of electric amp Stacks being some of the best in the industry. The ASD 100 I found to be a pretty decent amplifier even fairly good. But in comparison to just about every other amp that I've ever used for an acoustic amp I just felt the sd50 was really really thin in a lot of areas.. and I'm not a fan of the newer Fender acoustasonic amps although I definitely like the older series like late 90s early 2000. Personally after playing just about every acoustic amp out there the last 5 to 10 years I would have to say it truly fell to the absolute bottom for me of all the ones I've ever played. Sadly because it was a marshall I had such high expectations and no matter which guitar played through it whether it was at Guitar Center or the friend of mine's house who had one all I could ever think was "man for a company like this with this much history you think they put a little more quality overall into their acoustic line". Personally for me even if I was on a limited budget I would prefer to buy a better quality amp even if it meant I bought a used one over buying that particular ASD 50. And I tried I really really wanted to buy one of those. But in the end every amp I ever played I felt had better sound better features better functionality all the way around. For me it was a huge disappointment.