Favourite Acoustic Amps

[SalFromChatham]

I’ve owned a Loudbox Mini, Artist, SA220, SA330, Bose L1 compact, and YAmmie THR. I still have the Mini and THR. All were/are awesome except the THR, which is quiet and frankly not very useful to me. That’s the only one I wouldn’t recommend.

Fishman customer service is first rate FYI, should you ever need it.

[dnf777]

Udo Amps da Capo 75 bumped Genz-Benz from top spot. (Still love my Loudbox too!)

[Marty C]

I purchased a Nux AC50 a few months ago. Came with a Bluetooth foot controller for turning on/off reverb and chorus for both vocal and guitar channel.

Good
- Great guitar tone
- great reverb and chorus
- iPhone app gives the ability to further adjust reverb and chorus
- Good vocal channel. One of the few amps that had a mid adjustment on the vocal channel.
- Good reverb for vocal (surprised by this)
- line out works well for additional reach using my Bose
- Guitar channel has a mid scope button that helps scoop the midrange without taking any bass away
- Foot pedal to turn on/off effects
- Looper

Bad
- Don’t see a reason for chorus on vocal. Would rather have delay.
- There is a drum machine and a looper but if I start the drums and try to loop, it’s almost impossible to get the timing right
- Could use a little more power
- there is an effects loop, but the effect is applied the same to vocal and guitar channel (might be okay for delay)

Most of these things Nux solved with the next amp version, which I learned about after my purchase. More effects options and more control as well as battery powered.

All in all, great amp which I actually prefer to my LB Mini. Mainly because the vocal channel is much better.

[JWJ915]

Hands down, the Genzler Acoustic Array Pro.

[MrDB]

Questions like these are hard to answer without knowing how you are going to use it.

Are you solo? Play in a duo? Play in a band with a drummer?

Do you play in less noisy places or in bars?

What size venues?

Are you using the amp by itself or does your setup also include a PA?

And of course the all important question how much do you want to spend?

I play in a band, 2 guitars, bass, drums, sax/harmonica. Of course we have a PA. We play in bars. I wanted to stay around $500 or less and ended up with a Boss Acoustic Singer Live. It's a great little amp, I'm happy with the acoustic tone I get. It's 60 watts so I run out the back into the mixer. I don't think it would cut it by itself in a bar or an outdoor venue of any size. It was less than $500 from Sweetwater.

Obviously AER, Henrickson, Hughes&Kettner, Mesa and others in the higher price ranges are likely better sounding and more powerful amps so comparing amps costing $1000 plus to something much less expensive is apples/oranges. If you do the same thing I do the Boss or one of the Fishmans would work well. I've not liked any of the Fenders I've tried but that's likely just me as there are lots of players that love them.

Good luck with your search, I hope I've been a little helpful.

[Yamaha Man]

I'm going to be playing at the local senior center with about 8-12 other musicians. We have audiences up to 80 people. Some of the players just play acoustically, while others use amps. We have a small P.A for vocals.

So right now I have the option to use either the Fishman Artist or the Fender SFX, or just play acoustically. I like having options.

[Guitaress]

Ever since I began playing guitar I’ve disliked the sound of an acoustic guitar with a pickup! They always sound……. well just wrong somehow. So I’ve always placed an sm57 in front of the twelfth fret and stayed as still as I can either sitting on a stool or standing. If you want a decent guitar sound that’s the way to do it. Totally impractical within a band especially if competing with electric guitar bass and drums and heaven knows what else. So, the compromise: I’ve gone through the lot over the years. The solution for me was twofold. An LR Baggs Anthem fitted to my HD28. A Martin OM28ev both into an AER compact 60 With the HD28 you need a good sound engineer who listens to your preferences regarding tone. With my OM 28 most engineers shrug and smile approval and so do I! The only other plugged in acoustic guitar sound I’ve liked was a Takamine that had a built in preamp that used an ax7 valve. Best acoustic sound to my ear I’ve heard. However the guitar tone of the takamine not plugged in just plain irritated me. I can’t perform on a guitar I don’t do my practice on. Just my opinion of course.

[poopsidoo]

Originally Posted by JWJ915

Hands down, the Genzler Acoustic Array Pro.

I ditto that. I love mine. Can input 2 inputs on each of the two channels. Great EQ. Pole mount

[ruger9]

No AERs yet??

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by ruger9

No AERs yet??

My experience is that they sound wonderful on guitar, and can handle a way bigger room than you would expect for their small size due to their honest wattage rating and heavy duty speaker system. They also have a pleasing sound on vocals.

My problem with them is that their dual cone design doesn't really reproduce the sibilant consonants well and that drives me nuts. I do humorous story songs and people understanding the words is really important. I also have high frequency hearing loss, so I struggle to hear those parts of words anyway.

[Br1ck]

IMHO, AERs need a performance sized room. In other words what they are designed for. In a bedroom, they do nothing for me. In a club they sound really good.

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

IMHO, AERs need a performance sized room. In other words what they are designed for. In a bedroom, they do nothing for me. In a club they sound really good.

Interesting. I don't perform solo acoustic, but I would love a small amp to run my acoustics into, for pretty much 2 things: more volume, just because I love it when a tone I love envelopes me, and reverb. I thought about trying the Tonewood, but my gut tells me it's a novelty. And it eats batteries.

IDK if I want to spend $$$ on an El Capo.... but does anyone have any recommendations for a smaller, really nice sounding acoustic amp w/reverb, just for my own pleasure? (I have a Microcube, and while it's great for some things, it does NOT do this).

[Jinder]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

IMHO, AERs need a performance sized room. In other words what they are designed for. In a bedroom, they do nothing for me. In a club they sound really good.

This is very true. My AERs are marvellous performance tools and sound incredible in a performance space. They need to be at least four or five feet behind the performer and turned up to around 10 o’clock on the master volume to really bring out their best. Tone and dispersion are literally incredible for a single source unit, I am surprised all over again every time I plug in at a gig!

[Stuball48]

Genz Benz Shenandoah series

[rmp]

Only own a few to compare with.

Loudbox Aritst
Fender Acoustasonic JR (The first gen)
Bose S1 Pro

out of the three, the Loudbox is my fav..