Acoustic Amps

[tnvolfan5]

I have the Fishman SA220 and to me it really does sound very good with both acoustic guitar and vocals. With the rolling bag, a backpack and my guitar case I can do the load-in in one trip and not get tired. Takes no more than 10 minutes to set up without rushing. And because the Fishman is recommended to sit behind you and either to the left or right, dialing in a good mix is easy too. IMHO, it's the perfect amp/PA for a solo acoustic set.

Visually, when setting up the Fish Stick it gives the appearance that I know what I'm doing......

[MrErikJ]

I have a Fishman Mini Charge and it’s good, for the size particularly. Has anyone tried the Blackstar Sonnet yet? I’m curious if it lives up to the hype.

[stringbound]

Originally Posted by Per Burström

I have the SA330X, and I also think it's a great unit which don't get the praise it deserves. Besides the two great main inputs it also has both a monitor in and an AUX in, so using an external mixer or pre-amp you get 4 channels... I have tried that method using a bass pre-amp. It also has a great bass response despite only having 4" woofers (I have the sub as well, but I don't know when I would ever need it?!?).

/Per

Yes, the Fishman SA330x is a incredibly good amp. I have the whole package, with the Xpand and the Sub. I need three channels for vocals, my guitar and an instrument mic. Being able to turn the reverb on and off with a footswitch is a feature that comes in very handy. The other amp I have is the Acus One For Street, great for busking.

[Hoyt]

Originally Posted by MrErikJ

I have a Fishman Mini Charge and it’s good, for the size particularly. Has anyone tried the Blackstar Sonnet yet? I’m curious if it lives up to the hype.

I'm interested in that one too. Hopefully some folks will provide an opinion.

[fazool]

I had a Fender Acoustasonic and was unimpressed.

An acquaintance basically gave me an Ibanez Troubador. Its "OK" but I'm not really impressed either.

Those AER's are pricy.

I always wish I could find a basic acoustic amp with just one channel, no mic input, no looper, etc.

[varmonter]

I agree the mixer /powered speaker
Is the way to go. But the amps like
The d68 have their place.
Small intimate gigs they sound great.
Anywhere battery power is needed.
The only issue with them is the mixer
Is on the box. Requiring me to get
Up off my duff to do any adjustments.
Another plus for the mixer/frfr combo.

[pf400]

Keyboard amps plus pedals have never failed me. Some of the most-recommended amps did not do it for me tone-wise. Best to try out before buying. Some electric guitar amps ie a Vox and a Roland were great for steel or nylon string guitars for me.

[birdmove]

Do you use keyboard amps for acoustic/electric guitars? I've seen some comment that they work okay for acoustic guitars.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Villamarzia

I had Fender, Schertler, Fishman, AER.. Schertler was the best (I had three, Giulia, David and Unico). Now I use a Daedalus cabinet S-82 (25yrs old) which I bought on Reverb powered by a little 300W Bose poweramp (installed inside the cabinet). It’s heavy but pretty portable, not that expensive at the end, beautiful to look at and especially I have never found any better musical amp than this. It makes AER&co sound like a cheap radio.

And this is why I LOVE this forum....

I had just the opposite experience, I heavily auditioned Daedulus speaker cabs with the highly recommended Hafler power amps, using my Grace preamp as the front end. I really loved the way the cabs looked, and they sounded alright, but I came away thinking my Schertler Jam 400 sounded far superior. Not the the JAM 400 is any lighter though.

As for AER I've heard some people get some great tones out of them but never with vocals.

[penrithrdstudio]

Originally Posted by birdmove

Do you use keyboard amps for acoustic/electric guitars? I've seen some comment that they work okay for acoustic guitars.

My experience of keyboard amps is that they don't reproduce the ultra-high frequencies of an acoustic guitar very well, and can therefore sound a bit more 'electric' than an acoustic amp or a decent PA speaker. Mind you, I was using a magnetic pickup; they may work better with undersaddle systems.

[Heroditus]

Ultrasound. 50W. I’m not sure if they’re still around but mine is a pretty good amp. I don’t play amplified a lot but when I do this one serves me well.