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January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | I've been playing my acoustic guitars through decent amps, but none of which are acoustic guitar amps. I'm planning to break down and purchase a quality acoustic amp, but which, I have no idea. I know the range is from Trace Elliots (expensive) to Crates, not as expensive. I need to fill a hall, but not too loud as I am the only one playing. Anyone have any recomendations on acoustic anps? Do tube amps in this arena make a differance? What's the best for the buck?
Tommy |
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February 2004
Posts: 2487
| Tommy there are some posts already here I think it is titled "Plugging in" few days back? Last week?
I bought a Peavey EFX -110 $400 new. If you find one at a shop try it out it has pretty good bang for the buck. And Peavey is well known for holding up well through constant moving and banging around in a van. Etc. You will find lots of good suggestions through this list, many decades of musicians here! Randy |
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February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | I've got a Genz Benz Shenandoah 100 coming soon, which will be available for purchase. Email me if you are interested.
I think these are superb sounding acoustic amps, especially for the money. Maybe Tony Calman will add a comment as to how his sounds. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Tommy, If you want a "quality" amp it should generally cost about the same as what would be considered reasonable for a "quality" guitar. It amazes me that people will spend decent money on guitars but think a similar figure is too much for an amp or outboard gear that will make the guitar sound good amplified. When it comes to plugging-in the amplification is at least as important, if not more important than the guitar & pickup system. Either way acoustic amplifiers are generally not "hall fillers" that should be left to a main PA system. Most acoustic amplifiers are designed to be, and work best as personal monitors, or if you like "amplified direct boxes" Take a look at Genz Benz, AER, Ashdown, SWR, Ultrasound, Daedalus or Schertler. These are all high-quality amps, though none are cheap. If you fancy spending a couple of grand the new Bose "personal PA system" could be the ultimate acoustic amp. The current Gibson-made Trace acoustic amps are a pale imitation of the original UK-made versions, but if you can find an older Brit-made version they do a good job, just avoid the low-powered versions. Because of their distortion characteristics tubes are generally considered not to be an essential part of the signal chain in an acoustic amp or PA system. |
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Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | Paul
I guess your right. You can't go on the cheap with an acoustic amp and get away with it. That's what I did by using my electric guitar amps for my acoustics. It just doesn't work. I checked out a few of your recomendations, they're in the price range of a quality guitar. I didn't know Gibson produced the Trace line. Hey, how's your friend Don doing. We had fun at the tour last month. Give him my regards.
Tommy |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Trace's history has been pretty up & down. Their bass gear was incredibly popular in the UK & Europe. They were independant for a long time, then Kaman were involved for a while. Then Gibson aquired them for the tube guitar amps (the Velocettes & Goldtones) which were pretty damn good but they were UK-made so the US prices were silly. Now it's gone the other way, the Gibson-made amps are a reasonable price in the US, ridiculous over here and don't sound anywhere near like they used to. The Ashdown company, who make great acoustic amps are Ex-Trace guys. Don's doin' fine, he said to say hi. |
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Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | I bought a Genz Benz Shenandoah 200 Stereo about 6 months ago. It is awesome as a personal amplier for voice and guitar. There was a good comment about people having an expensive guitar and making a cheap amp decision. The other part of this is that if you plan to play out and sing. The voice amplification is probably more important than the guitar. GB is very good at the voice and gives you a lot of very good effects that can be seperately focused there. It is not compact or light but I keeps you from having to set up a lot of stuff if you go the personal PA route.
Steve |
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May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | Nobody has mentioned AER.
I have a Compact 60.
Made in Germany, very well designed and sounds absolutely brilliant. |
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January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | MF has Fender Acousasonic 30's (close out, non-DSP version) for $249. Thats a decent deal. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | AER were among those I suggested to Tommy, they're superb, but because they're German by the time they get to the US they end up more expensive than a comparable US-made amp. Because of their exceptional clean headroom AER are becoming popular in the States for pedal steel.
The Fender Acoustasonics, even the so called "pro" model are OK, nothing more. The 30's break up way too early to work as a respectable acoustic amp for anything other than low volume applications. I believe the best acoustic amps are made by either those that specialise in that type of amplifier, or by those such as Ashdown, SWR and to a lesser degree Peavey, whose background in bass amplificaton or sound reinforcement means that they know how to make amplifiers which have lots of headroom and stay clean. I think companies such as Marshall, Fender, Crate and others whose primary product is electric guitar amps produce acoustic amps because feel they have to, not because they are necesarily any good at it, and most of them seem to me like an afterthought.
I had a chance to try the new Fishman "loudbox" recently. Very impressive. Absolutely clean & uncoloured. Not cheap. |
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December 2003
Posts: 85
Location: Taichung, Taiwan | I have a friend who is suggesting I get a Roland KC300. I'm not even sure what it is! He loves his though. Is it worth looking at or am I better off finding a nice way to avoid it? |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | It's a keyboard combo, but Roland market them as a general purpose amp. Most keyboard combos can do a respectable job for acoustic guitar, particularly those with an HF horn (the Roland has one) They are usually cheaper than acoustic amps, especially used, but the downside is that they generally have limited EQ and can be bulky.
It's probably worth investigating. |
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Acoustic Amplifier