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A friend might sell me his ACS450 so he can upgrade..he does a single with it, singing and playing a 12-string with the amp on a high speaker stand behind him...it sounded fine to me for what he was doing.
I really like the idea of having a separate channel I can sing through without sharing effects and with the guitar. I don't want anything heavier than about 20 lbs. The idea is to use with my duo, singing a few songs but mostly playing.
But I wonder if the 8" speaker is really going to work with my jazz box, or is it really meant for acoustic guitar? It seems like all the acoustic amps are built with an 8" speaker.
Anyone?
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03-18-2012 07:16 PM
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Hm, - Behringer has not the best reputation and 45 watt is not much.
If you are on a budget you might look at the Fishman Loudbox Mini.
I have one of these (60 watt / 8" speaker + tweeter). It´s a good sounding amp and some steps up in quality compared to Behringer (both build and sound)
I use it in a jazz quintet (drums, bass, sax, guitar and voc) to play latin-jazz on my nylonstringguitar. The 60 watts can keep up to the band and the amp sounds fine. Has an instrument and mic. input and DI out for connecting to a PA. 60 watts will do coffeshop gigs. If you play in bigger places you´ll need a bigger amp or connect to a PA-system.
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Not sure what your budget is, but you could also check out the Phil Jones AG150 Cub II. Great amp with a smaller form factor and light weight. Fishman amps seem great, too, based on having played them in a store. Don't own one......yet.
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I am using a Kustom Sienna 65 Acoustic amp for comp and vocal mic. There is a separate channel for the mic, and you can cut the effects in or out for the mic and/or guitar. This is a heavy amp, 12" spkr, and the 65w is more than plenty for me in a church auditorium that holds 200 people. They make a 35w, 10" spkr version as well, and it has a separate mic channel also.
The "high fidelity" sound that you get through an acoustic guitar amplifier insures a very clean guitar tone.....
I find it very helpful to run both my mic and guitar through my single amp....it gives me all the control over the mix, and the auditorium is not so big that I have run it all through the PA system, which has its own problems.....
I met someone playing jazz guitar through an Acoustic amp, the sound was very good, mellow. These amps seem to be unfairly ignored, but if you picture the single p/u jazz box as an amplified acoustic rather than a hollow body electric, you can see how the Acoustic [and acoustic amps] can fit right in.
Here is a you tube demo of Chris Walsh of Danielson, CT playing through an Acoustic amp, I think it was a 50 or 60w unit w/ a 12" spkr. [I bought the sister of this guitar from him last week, will post a NGD! later....]
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Originally Posted by offhand35
Thanks...will check this and the Kustoms out, and the Phil Jones. It's kinda funny that going the acoustic route is the only way to get the two separate channels with effects, but it's definitely a different kind of gig.
....hmmm, well I am not seeing the same features at the same price point as the Behringer. So Behringer has a bad name? unreliable? I searched here but am not finding much.Last edited by CarolM; 03-19-2012 at 11:58 AM.
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Try Harmony Central guitar and amp reviews for Behringer stuff.
Find the latest User Reviews | Harmony Central
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CarolM....what guitar was Walsh playing? I couldn't make out the name, if he spoke it.
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It is a Walsh! He is the builder.....He lives about 110 miles from me on the far eastern end of Connecticut.....he has been building hand carved archtops in his home for approx. 15 yrs. on a "hobby" basis [no deadlines to meet] The one in the you tube is one of 3 maple laminated 2 1/4" deep, short scale [23 3/4"] archtops that he built, 2 left handed, one right handed. He had it listed on ebay for a price or best offer, so I offered him his asking price if he would set it up with a new nut and bridge strung right handed, as I play right hand stringing left handed.....he thought it was a joke until I showed him...... He has 2 full sized carved archtops in process right now with about 250hrs into each one, plus one listed on ebay right now.
I will be posting about my New Guitar Day soon.......
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Man that's a nice looking guitar......just searched eBay and got a lot of Joe Walsh swag LOL.
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I play through an SWR California Blonde acoustic amp. It has a good feature set, including a second channel with both unbalanced and XLR inputs - just right for your mic. I am not a great player (to put it mildly
) but I know the tone I like, and I really like the tone of the Blonde. For a jazz tone with my archtop, IMO the Blonde rivals my Mesa Boogie - and that to me is saying something! However, both these amps have 12" speakers, both are in the 45-50 pound range, and fwiw, both benefit from a front end EQ peddle too.
You might look into the Blonde or some of the Genz Benz 2 channel acoustic amps - the 27 pound Shenendoah 150 or the 37 pound, tube preamped Shen ProLT. (There is also a Genz Benz Shen Compak (CPK), but no one on this forum seems to have experience with it.)
Good luck whatever way you go!
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I recently bought a Marshall AS50D acoustic amp. This is proabably not the first amp you woud think of for jazz, as it was designed more for the singer-songwriter with acoustic guitar and mic than for a jazz instrumentalist, but it has some specific features that work for my purposes. I'll first say why I chose the Marshall and then what I have learned along the way.
I specificallly wanted a two channel amp that could take a piezo pickup on one channel (hence the acoustic amp) and had a second input into which I could run a magnetic pickup from the same guitar. The idea was to be able to blend the two pickups to get some different tones. The feature that sold me the Marshall is that it has an effects loop, which applies to both channels but also has a balance control, so that the effect (e.g. delay) in the loop could be applied to channel 1 only, channel 2 only, or any mixture in between. The same knob controls the balance of the reverb between the 2 channels. This is good for me as I intend to run the two signals with a delay between them and this balance control helps me go from channel 1 lagging channel 2 to the other way round, on the fly and with a single delay pedal. I'm still experimenting with this arrangement, so don't ask me how it sounds yet.
However, here are some things I've learnt that may be relevant to the OP. The first concerns input impedance. On acoustic amps it is normal for the impedance of the acoustic guitar channel to be quite high in order to match the impedance of piezo pickups. Depending on the model, the impedance could be as high as 4 or 5 MOhm. In my experience this has the effect of making a magnetic pickup sound brighter than through a non-acoustic guitar amp. On the other hand, the 2nd input (usually the mic channel) can be as low as 1 kOhm. This will have the opposite effect and will cut the treble from a magnetic pickup. Some may find this inadvertently gives them the jazz tone they seek, but I think it is advisable to put a buffered high impedance pedal in line before plugging a guitar into channel 2, you can then adjust the EQ to taste.
For those used to tube amps, both channels on an acoustic amp will have much less compression than a tube amp, which may or may not be to taste. There are ways of rectifying this. I have found that a Behringer (yes, a Behringer) ADI21 acoustic pre-amp is quite useful (and incredibly good value for money), in that it has a parametric EQ and a "blend control" to introduce some tube-like compression to the signal. It runs equally well into channel 1 or 2 or following either a piezo or magnetic pickup.
Finally, I was surprised that the 2 x 8" speakers have sufficient oomph to satisfy my needs, which I admit do not yet include perforamce outside my practice room. I am surprised, as the other 8" and 10" (non-acoustic) amps I have are definitely lacking in something.
In summary, I think my experience with the Marshall and the other acoustic amps I have recently tested, leads me to believe that they can be far more transparent and flexible than a conventional guitar amp, but need some understanding of how they are different in order to get the best out of them.Last edited by newsense; 03-20-2012 at 02:15 PM.
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Newsense: that Marshall model was on my short list of possible amps to buy. Your report is very interesting and confirms my positive impressions of it. I ended up going with a Phil Jones AG150, but some of your observations may be helpful to me as I start dialing in the Phil Jones.
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Newsense, thanks. That Marshall looks interesting, but since I would be singing through the xlr channel, the other channel may be too bright for me.
Seems like, for weight, features & price, I'm back to the Behringer.
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Fender Acoustasonic Junior has separate instrument and vocal inputs, separate effects for each channel and separate controls for volumes. It's 40 lbs though.
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I have a Genz benz Shenandoan 85 with a 12" driver and a tweeter. Two discrete channels, XLR, and Alesis effects for each channel.
Sound quality for both archtop and vocals is very good.
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Behringer products are produced in China and are very low priced. For the price you pay, you get an awful lot for the money. But of course the quality can't be compared with top quality "pro" gear. From my limited experience with Behringer, I'd say that the sound is OK - not devine but it'll more than pass. Behringer products are almost all plastic, so they are not the most roadworthy you can get. Originally Posted by CarolM
I have a small Behringer B205D powered PA speaker which cost me around $110. It sounds OK and with a preamp/EQ pedal in front it can fill in for an amp in a pinch. I also sometimes use it to bring to play MP3 music through - very light, very compact - and loud for the size, not unlike the Lunchbox amp.
I also once used a Behringer V-amp modeller/effects unit. It was also OK with a huge range of effects for very little money. Due to the all plastic construction, I wouldn't trust it for professinal gigs.
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Olddane, I'm using the same powered monitor with a multi effects/modeling peddle between my guitar and the monitor. It works great for my living room and doesn't take up much room. I dumped my Blues Jr since it was too big and kind of boxy sounding.
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Originally Posted by bborzell
sorry, just saw this. I am considering the Shenandoahs (can't find the 85) but was put off by the fact that "all input signals mix together."
Doesn't that mean that both guitar and voice would be subject to the same effects and volume mix? That's the problem I have with my current practice amp, which is otherwise okay.
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Not with mine. There are two discrete channels; each with its own EQ and volume. The effects circuit is shared by each channel. But, each channel has an independent effects level adjustment and there is also a master effects knob. So, if you have the effects circuit set to hall reverb, it will affect both channels to the degree that each channel's effect knob is all on, all off or somewhere in between. You cannot run a delay to one channel and for example, a chorus to the other. Only one effect at a time. Originally Posted by CarolM
The 85 was replaced by the 100 or some incremental name several years ago. As far as I know, the basic design of the 100 is the same, just a few more watts.
EDIT: I just went back and read my manual spec sheet to try to understand the notion of "all input signals mix together". Actually, that statement only applies within each channel. There are both balanced and unbalanced inputs for each channel and both are active. If you use both (XLR and 1/4") for a single channel, they will be summed. But, the two channels operate seperatly. You can't sum all four inputs; only two per channel.Last edited by bborzell; 03-29-2012 at 05:55 PM.
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