Fender Acoustasonic

[AeroG33k]

Im looking for a good amp that can handle both acoustic sound from my piezo equipped classical and from my semi-hollow electric. I found the acoustasonic series from Fender and it seems to suit my purpose well (especially with the seperate mic input!), however two things are making me wonder:

I heard it's not very reliable and required a lot of repair from reviews and friends, and, more importantly, no built-in distortion (am I right on this?). When I use the semi-hollow electric I'll want some sort of distortion/overdrive. I have a Boss SD-1 Overdrive, but how compatible would that be with an acoustic amp? Another option might be to couple it with my smaller peavy amp which has a very tube-like overdrive, but I never really heard of anyone using fundamentally different amps in series for a certain effect. Any problems with this? Any other suggestion ons the Fender or similar amps?

 

EDIT: I just realized my small practice amp has no output , only a headphones output. Would that work to string it with another amp?

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

I can't tell you much about that amp in particular, only about amps in general. Episphone and others (Marshall?) make amps for aocustic players. Many of these usually have a mic input, too. (three inputs, I think, is not unusual.)

 

In my experience, I don't know that they sound any better than a clean amp. There are also combo PA amps that might do as good of a job. None of them sound particularly like an acoustic to me, so I continue to use my old reliable Roland Cube 30... which has an overdrive channel.

 

If I wanted overdrive in any clean amp, I'd just stick an overdrive pedal on the floor. That would work just fine.

 

Now, in terms of the comments that you have read about the Fender.... if it gets such bad reviews, don't buy it. Look for another brand with higher reliability.

 

Bill

[AeroG33k]

Thanks for the advice. The peavy amp I have right now sounds pretty good for its small size on the electric and has a nice clean channel, but the piezo sounds good only on lower volumes. Maybe that's just because the amp isn't gig-sized. Do you think one of those small external acoustic pre-amps (looking at the LR Baggs Gigpri) would be a better way to go then? I'm looking for a bigger amp anyway (if not a dedicated acoustic amp, Im looking at the Crate XT120R).

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

I have the 160 watt version of the Fender Acoustasonic. Believe me, it's much better for an Acoustic guitar than trying to use the clean channel of a regular guitar amp. This amp sounds GREAT with an acoustic guitar, you just have to tweak in the right settings. There are 3 or 4 versions of the Acoustasonic from 30 watts up to 160 watts. The 30 watt and 80 watt versions are good for small venues, but don't really have much punch for the vocals. It does have a great-sounding reverb. It also has flange and chorus, but I never really use that.

 

I use mine as a PA. I use a Behringer 10 channel mini mixer and then run straight into Channel 2 balanced. That way I can mix down multiple mics and guitars (sometimes I mic nylon string guitars). It has enough power for small to medium venues, but it will run out of power in larger settings....about like a 150 watt PA. However, in larger settings, you can always mic the amp through the house PA, or just bring a bigger PA and mic through it.

 

It's not really worth a darn for running an electric guitar through. I have a 100 Watt Marshall for that. I don't think your really going to find one amp that's going to do both things well.

[AeroG33k]

Any amps that can handle both acoustics and electrics? Im going to play at smaller settings like coffee shops etc. As far as the fender goes though, upon further research the Ultrasound acoustic amps seem FAR more appealing. But probably not for electric :-/

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

Originally posted by AeroGeek:

Any amps that can handle both acoustics and electrics? Im going to play at smaller settings like coffee shops etc. As far as the fender goes though, upon further research the Ultrasound acoustic amps seem FAR more appealing. But probably not for electric :-/

The Rivera Sedona....if you want to pay a couple grand.

[MILLO]

Ultrasound definitelyNOT for eletric. I have one and it's very transparent, not particularly loud, but has a great tone and it's very quiet. I plugged my electric once to give a lesson and it couldn't handle the electric.

[Green657]

Roland Jazz Chorus 120 - a little pricey, but GREAT for acoustic and electric. I was not too impressed with it's distortion, but it handled pedals great. The SD-1 shouls sound fine through it.

 

If 6 or 7 bills is too much cash, they have the JC-90 and JC-77. I'm not sure if both are still being made.

[MILLO]

I think one of the Pizarelli's used Ultrasound for a while. Just the AG100DS3, not the AG50DS2 (which I have). So it's fine for a jazz box, but usually soildbodies have higher output pups than hollowbodies. Semihollows I think will also have higher output pups.

 

Yeah, the JC's are classic. Maybe you can try Polytone?

 

Rivera makes the Sedona for both acoustic AND electric. Anything Rivera is pricey.