Whats a GOOD amp for LIVE acoustic guitar / vocals gig?

[Fmmahoganyrush]

OK guys, I need some input. I'm looking to simplify my life. I'm thinking about giging again in some small venues (50 - 150 people in close proximity to the stage area), and I'm thinking about bagging the PA route and going with just an amp. I would need an XLR for the mic input, and one or two 1/4" jacks, two or three seperate channels, with some balls so I can use just the amp on-stage for the whole deal (Tube preferrably - Not solid state) Any Ideas??? Thanx, Tom.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Hardwoodrush:

I have this Roland KC500 keyboard/stage amp. Brand new. Sits in my studio. Has XLR spikes/two of them,plus all other sorts of ins/outs and controls.

You can check the trade magazines and see if this might suit your purposes.

The amp is a bit too heavy for me to lug around to gigs. If you're interested you can post me via E-mail. I'll give you a good price, but you have to pick up shipping. Or, have someone in this area pick up the amp and forward it to you.

The amp hasn't burned 5 hours.

E-mail is in my profile & set up on BBS site.

Green Hornet

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Yo Yellow + Blue Stingy Thing, I sent off an e-mail to you. I'll keep you posted... Thanx, Tom.

[TexRoadkill]

JBL has a cool line of PA speakers with XLR inputs. They are their large plastic cased ones and they have a powered version. They have 10 and 12" woofers I believe. I used 2 of the 12" for keyboard gigs and they worked great.

[PhilMckracken]

Anyone ever use those motion amps and, if so, which model and how did you like it?

[DigitMus]

Try the Fender Acoustisonic, the large stereo one, not the Junior. It has a mic pre-amp on one of the channels, built in reverb/FX, and uses a really wild mid-side stereo speaker configuration. No kidding, the bottom speaker is mounted sideways and interacts with the forward firing top speaker to kind of surround you in a stereo field. If that's overkill for you the Junior is smaller (& mono), but still has a mic pre and reverb (not sure about FX).

Scott

[MiXit-G]

A friend of mine bought one of those ENGEL (i think thats how its spelled?) amps for his acoustic (nylon) sound awesome, i think its dual rectifier too

[philboyd studge]

I've used a 37lb Carvin unit for a few years now with good sucess, I think it's called an AG 1000. 3 channels with an xlr for vocals and decent effects. I use it for small casuals away from my main gig and it's held up well except for the effects. Sometimes at poolside situations in the summer here in the desert it can be in the sun and at temps above 150 degrees which seems to fry the effects and they don't work as well as they used to. The amp holds up well however though it will lose a little volume in extreme heat. It's got 100 watts and plenty of input/output options.

[chessrock]

Strawberry Blonde.

[Fangar]

Hands Down, The trace elliot Ta100R will smoke anything on the market. Such a great amp, but pricey. I have the 50 watt version and it is Great. Has 2 channels. One 1/4" for Guitar and the other has both XLR and 1/4" for Vocals. Can't say enough about it. The 100 is the same as the 50 but has 4 x 5" speakers (and is 100 watts of course). It may be out the targeted price range though. Good luck,

It's not tube, but trust me you won't miss it at all.

Fangar

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Thanx for all the great suggestions, now all I need is the time to be able to check out all of these (which I most definitely do). It'll take some time to kick all of the tires, but I do intend on doing just that because I really want to be happy with what I end up getting. Keep 'em coming! Tom.

[Fangar]

Trace Elliot! =)

Fangar

[STEVEZ]

I perform constantly solo, with guitar and vocal and when I was looking for an all in one acoustic gtr. vocal amp, I tried everything including the highly touted Trace Elliot and SWR stuff. The best by far is the Crate ca125, particularly the one with the two speakers as opposed to the ones with the 1 12. They have built in effects which are very useable, a warm sound, EQ flexibility, Line out for PA's. I have used it for Nylon string, steel string, and currently a hollow body electric guitar for a mellow, "jazzy tone" and it works great for all. However, it does not have tubes, so I use a Mesa Boogie "V-Twin" as a preamp to fatten it up a little. This helps. This amp is a real nice sounding workhorse.

[Fangar]

I agree that the Crate CA125D is a great little amp, though it is a far cry from the TRACE in my opinion. For the money though, you can't go wrong with it. (About half of the Trace). I used one of the Crates for a couple of weddings that I did and was very pleased with it. But I like my 50 watt trace better soundwise. I also noticed that the Crate was a little Hissy sometimes.

Fangar

[Treeline]

Hey, I know you were thinking about bagging the PA route, but before you do, how about taking one of the new Passport 250s for a spin? I haven't seen one of the new ones up close, but the idea is they put a little R&D into the speaker system and it supposedly made a difference. Neat concept; multiple XLRs & 1/4" inputs, basic EQ and so forth. It's about $850.


DigitMus Sez:

Try the Fender Acoustisonic, the large stereo one, not the Junior. It has a mic pre-amp on one of the channels, built in reverb/FX, and uses a really wild mid-side stereo speaker configuration.

Hey, maybe we can talk LISlim into bringing his with him to the jam fest in August. It's a particularly nice unit.

[Slater]

Might want to check out the Shenandoah Acoustic 85 by Genz Benz Enclosures.
They're out of Costa Mesa AZ I think.
I use this with my Taylor 614CE and a Shure 58 for small gigs when I don't
feel like lugging around the big system.

Looks something like this:
85 Watts
Single 12 with a horn
Dual channels (XLR and 1/4 on each )
Sweepable mids
3 DI's (Pre EQ channel 1, Pre EQ channel 2, Post EQ channel 1&2)
Alesis effects unit on board ( about 15 presets)
Has a mounting hole in the bottom for a tripod stand

This amp has a very natural sound to it with guitar and vocal.
I use an ART tube pre with the guitar to fatten and warm it a bit.
Vocals come through nice and clean with the Shure 58.

Got mine for about 450.00

Good Luck

Slater

[windowman]

I don't think anyone who ever played through an SWR would ever want to part with it. They really are amazing and a little better than Trace Elliot I think. (those tiny Trace speakers just don't cut it like the 12" in the SWR. I'd like to hear a Trace through a better speaker enclosure though cause I think they'd be awesome through a bigger speaker.) I used a Guild Aspen for a couple of years. Not much of an amp really but the price was right. I had good success with a Roland keyboard amp too. If you go that route get one with the biggest speaker you can that isn't too heavy for ya. I just picked up a Carvin AG100. I haven't had time to mess with it much but it's a darn good unit and lightweight. I think I'm gonna be happy with it. It's got that problem though in that Carvin insists on you sending them the amp if it needs a Carvin specific part. They won't send the part, plain and simple. What a drag. This Alesis crappy way of doing business seems to be spreading. Anyhow I traded for it and got a good deal so I can't complain.

Has anybody heard this new Roland acoustic guitar tri-amp? I haven't yet but I have a buddy who says it just may be better than even an SWR.

[GEORGE BARRY]

I own an SWR Strawberry blonde and they really are better than any of the Crates, Trace Elliot's. I havent heard the Carvin's yet.
SWR makes a version of the SBlonde called the California Blonde. Its a little more watts a tad bigger and has an in just for vocals. The sound is awesome.
The crates sound good, but have a false high end. I actually dont hate it..but it makes acoustic guitars sound like plastic, in a way. (btw: I like that sound sometimes..but it AINT natural). But more than that the Crate 60 and 125 watt acoustic amps have alot of Hiss...check it out yourself. Also: They often need repairs..Ive seen lots of em in for repairs.
The Trace didnt have the low end. Nice try..and compact..but it wasn't a real low-end. Not warm, very restrained.
I think in a head to head SWR would win against almost anything.
-GtrGeorge

[Fangar]

Originally posted by GEORGE BARRY
I own an SWR Strawberry blonde and they really are better than any of the Crates, Trace Elliot's. I havent heard the Carvin's yet.
SWR makes a version of the SBlonde called the California Blonde. Its a little more watts a tad bigger and has an in just for vocals. The sound is awesome.
The crates sound good, but have a false high end. I actually dont hate it..but it makes acoustic guitars sound like plastic, in a way. (btw: I like that sound sometimes..but it AINT natural). But more than that the Crate 60 and 125 watt acoustic amps have alot of Hiss...check it out yourself. Also: They often need repairs..Ive seen lots of em in for repairs.
The Trace didnt have the low end. Nice try..and compact..but it wasn't a real low-end. Not warm, very restrained.
I think in a head to head SWR would win against almost anything.
-GtrGeorge

Hey George,

What kind of Guitar do you play?

Fangar

[windowman]

Yeah George, I agree with all that and I've only played the Calofornia Blonde model myself but I hear The Strawberry Blonde is almost as good. In fairness to Trace though, I musty say they do sound very good also and I have to wonder if they wouldn't sound as good and maybe even better than the SWR if the Trace was run through a good PA speaker cab with 12" or bigger speakers to bring out the low end more. I've played through the Crate and Fender models too and they just are no where close to SWR and Trace. I'd really like to hear that new Roland model but so far nothing has beat an SWR IMHO.

Having said all that I my current setup involves using a Sunrise in the soundhole and an LR Baggs under the saddle. Both pickups go through a Boss AD-5 preamp w/ a DBX 160XT compressor and a Boomerang sampler in the effects loop. From there I go through the PA and there's nothing that can compare with going through a good full range PA. It's nice to have something smaller for solo gigs though.

The Sunrise/LR Baggs combo through the Boss unit sounds so good I could even record with it in a pinch. I mean not as good as a mic but it's very close. Here's a couple of 30-second samples of just me and my drummer doing some simple Flash intros for my web design bus. Just straight to the board from the Boss. This is why everybody raves about those Sunrise pickups. There's nothing like em. I only use the Baggs to bring out a tad bit of high end and the 5th fret harmonic.

http://swoopie.com/a_perc_5.mp3

http://swoopie.com/a_perc_1.mp3

[Fangar]

Sounds good. I know that this is not the MP3 clinic, but there are some timing issues between you and your drummer.

Fangar

[windowman]

Ha! Tell me about it! Actually the one you're referring to was my fault. I spliced two drum segments together trying to get a backing for something I wanted for a flash intro and they just didn't quite match up right. I'm glad you mentioned it because I wasn't sure if anybody would notice it or not. Sometimes you get a little too involved with a recording to see it objectively. I knew it was off but I wasn't sure if it was bad enough for others to notice. Oh well, one for the scrap pile.

[windowman]

Just so you don't think I'm totally lame if you surf over to my Flash design site (not that I'm expecting you to but I'm trying to save face here )you'll see a music page there with a dozen or so samples. This is the only one that's out of time.

http://swoopie.com

You can also see the Flash file it ended up on here:

http://swoopie.com/nod1.html

Where those two drum parts come together was a nightmare to try and correct my playing to. I kinda got em to come together again toward the end but it was the best I could do with it. I'm thinking that maybe I can bury the "joined" spot under some electric noise (ebowed stuff maybe.) You know something real disonant. Like Brian Setzer used to say, "If you play a wrong note or something, just hit it a couple of more times so people will think you did it on purpose and were trying to be disonant or something." Best musical advice I ever got!

See ya.

[Treeline]

Ah, Windowman.....

I just put your web page into my favorites; I intend to do quite a bit of listening. Nice stuff...

[windowman]

Awe schucks.