Acoustic (not the brand) guitar amps

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YeshuasFan

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I'm planning for my next gear acquisition to be an acoustic guitar amp. I'd welcome any advice on what to look/listen for when shopping. I've got some ideas, but I'd like to hear what others have experienced, good or bad, in units they've tried/purchased.
 
I am very pleased with my Fender Super Champ XD... yeah, I know, it's not an acoustic guitar amp, but read on.

The amp has 16 "voices," including one that is sampled or patterened on the Fender Acoustosonic. Playing my Martin D16SPD with Fishman piezo bridge saddle pup thru almost anything else returned sterile, very un-acoustic-like sounds. But played thru the SCXD on the acoustic voice made all the difference in the world.

So, if 18 watts is enough for you and you want to have one amp you can use for acoustic and electric, consider the SCXD. Otherwise, you might want to consider the Acoustosonics- they probably sound even better.
 
IMHO, the best acoustic amps out there are AER.

http://www.aer-amps.info/

Not cheap but very, very good. On my list of things to get.

A less expensive, but a very good option is Ultrasound (now owned by Dean Markley). I have an older Ultrasound 50 watt amp that sounds great. Newer ones have more features.

http://www.ultrasoundamps.com/

Fender of course also makes one as does Marshall, and all the usual guitar and guitar amp manufacturers. Fishman also makes one.

You should probably look at features first - for example, do you need a separate microphone input, stereo, effects, how much power, etc. -- and then go and play some.
 
Are you doing a singer/songwriter kind of thing, or are you playing acoustic in a full band setup? Will you need to plug a microphone into it along with an acoustic guitar?

Genz-Benz is a good brand of acoustic amp. I have a Trace Acoustic that I really like, although I'm not so sure that they're still in production. Fender has a pretty good variety of acoustic amps although I can't speak for their quality myself. Even Behringer has a line of acoustic amps that I've never heard but they're definitely affordable.

As far as features, you'll need an XLR input with phantom power if you're planning on either micing your guitar or singing along with it. EQ options are good to have, more than bass/mid/treble. Either sweepable mids or a full-on graphic EQ are desirable. And a notch filter is a must-have. This allows you to dial in a frequency to be heavily attenuated to fight feedback problems at any resonant frequencies of your instrument or the room you're in.

Other than that, built-in reverb is a good thing to have since it really sweetens and softens your guitar and/or voice.
 
I have a Fender Acoustasonic (the big one), which I got about 10 years ago and have gotten a lot of good use out of it. You can definitely get the sound you want. And it does have a separate channel for a vocal mic. However, if I was getting one today, I would probably go with this:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/...PSL1-Acoustic-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=483301#new

On the other hand, if you are using it only to amplify the acoustic as a member of a band, I would stick with an Acoustasonic junior or one of the others that have been recommended. Marshall, believe it or not, also makes an excellent acoustic guitar amp.
 
Tadpui,
Thanks for the advice. I tried a Genz-Benz at Guitar Source in OP (I'm about an hour north of the KC area) and I was very impressed with the sound. I'll really be having to save my pennies, nickels, dimes if I go with that one. I also tried a Hartke they had in stock. It also had a very "natural" sound that I was impressed with. I'm not really needing mic inputs since I have a small PA system for the occasions when I gig, but I did find the 5-band EQ on the Hartke to be a plus.
 
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