Accoustic amps

[Chief]

I've been looking at the Roland AC 60 and 90's accoustic amps.I play fiddle, mandolin and electric mandolin in a couple of groups. Presently use a Kustom accoustic, but it seems under-powered. Does anyone have experience with these Roland amps. They aren't cheap, but are small and light,and apparently pack a good pucnch for their size.

[surfandstrum]

Acoustic Guitar Forum has a couple up for sale in the classifieds I think...They might have sold, because they tend to get jumped on pretty quick...

[Mr. Loar]

I have a Marshall AS50R that's the cat's nutz.

[mandroid]

AC-60 seems OK, power isn't huge, but nether is the box.
Will let you run a power amp off it's preamp, and some monster speakers off that if you wish.
or as a monitor / DI with 2 channels to the main house board

sources with more gain, like line level inputs, are brought out much more loudly.
really cranks the CD player for outdoor parties.

Has a socket in the bottom for a speaker stand to get it up
a ways so it can function as a PA.

[Patrick Sylvest]

I've played a couple of duo gigs with my AC 60, gathered around one condenser (AKG C3000B) and it worked beautifully. I've also had occasion to plug my dobro into it and then to the board and it works great for that too.

It's a nice versatile little amp. I got mine used for $350....a bargain. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dave Reiner]

You might look at KC-60 or KC-150 also. Nominally, they're keyboard amps, but that means they don't color the tone. Reasonable punch, built in multi-channel mixer, stand mountable, seems reliable. We occasionally do 3 piece small gigs with just this for keyboard, guitar, vocal, mando/fiddle.

Dave

[Tim2723]

I've checked out the Rolands, and I think they're really nice. #But in my experience a 60 watt amp is a 60 watt amp when it comes to power. #Some have more 'punch', sure, but twenty feet into the crowd that often fades quickly. #If you're not loud enough with your existing amp, you'll probably need to up the ante in power. #At least that's all that's worked for me. #I find that I only get to use about half the rated output before things sound off to my ear.

[Ted Eschliman]

The Roland acoustic amps are good. That said, in A/B comparision the Utrasound Amps (http://ultrasoundamps.com/gallery1.htm) trump them in quality and cost. If you're looking for as "natural" an acoustic sound as you can get, these are strongly worthy of consideration. They haven't received much face time yet, but after recently acquired by Dean Markley, I suspect they will have greater visibility and be a force for competitive product to contend with.

[Doug Hoople]

Totally different price category, but the Schertler Unico is the bomb. The acoustic mandolin is a notoriously difficult instrument to amplify, with a tendency toward a piercing, screeching, thin sound. Options that work well for guitar may not be as good for mandolin. The Unico's pretty sweet (if money's no object).

[mandroid]

Yea as mains it would be a bit weak for a big room of drunks, er partiers,
then a stage monitor is what you got and the feeds off the back are what the mains would get.

Specs sheet suggest the 45 x 45 watt version is bigger , but not much heavier, adds 5 or so, pounds .

[Chief]

Ted- the deal I had on a Roland AC 90 on E-bay fell through. For the same price, I can get an Ultra Sound CP 100 from a well known large dealer with free shipping and some rebate from Ultra Sound. Are you familiar with this model? Apparently it's new. 100 watts would be nice. I'm interested in Ultra Sounds after reading your glowing review. They seem to be quite light(which is a big plus for me).

[Ted Eschliman]

Chief--prepare to be very impressed!

[UnityGain]

100 watts seems to also be the minimum for playing with a loud band too. Even if you don't plan on doing it regularly, jams happen. Its really frustrating to have your amp cranked to the max and not be loud enough to hear over electric guitars and drums.

Also, be careful when people say that certian acoustic amps are more "true" or something like that. This usually means the degree of coloration the amp gives. Now if you have a great sounding pickup, this is good. If your pickup aint that great, this may not be good. When I had a little stick on peizo, it sounded horrid through the rolands and the fishman. But it sounded much nicer through a fender amp that "colored" the sound a little more. Decided to wait to buy an amp untill I got a new pickup, a radius. Try the amps again, total opposite. The coloration just made it sound muddy and the "true"ness sounded great. I ended up with a fishman loudbox100.

[Chief]

I actually do have good pick-ups. My Breedlove has a factory installed Schertler. My Mann electric has whatever Jon Mann puts in- it sounds great. The Mando Blaster, well- blasts. I also have a new Skyinbow 5 string fiddle that cooks. I've really been upgrading my sound. And the amp is the final piece. Ted's expertise went a long way in steering me towards the Ultra Sound. Have read other good things about them. 100 watts seems to be the way to go. Will make my final decision soon.

[Ted Eschliman]

Ben does make a good point about the cheap pickups; in that situation volume is certainly the goal, and not necessarily CD quality tone. With my NewMad A5 I'm using a Schertler p/u also (through an Ultrasound DIplus usually), which is also a very convenient piece if you've got a good monitor system (features phantom power and/or battery, notch filter, minimal EQ tweaking).

[Snakebeard Jackson]

I agree you got to have at least 100 watts or more to play with a drummer.

[mandroid]

Unless you have a mature [jazz] drummer, happy with only Brushes.

[Tim2723]

Well, that's kind of my point about 60 watts being 60 watts. You need that amp that goes to 11. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[mandroid]

..then the 300 watt power amp is brought out.
[Bridged and driving the Selenium 15" Co-Ax speaker]
(facing away from my punished enough ears)

[Chief]

Actually my groups are fairly tame. The drummer is very sensative. It's the lead player you have to watch out for. He used to play an accoustic, but has now moved on to the Fender route. I need the 100 watts to be heard.

[Tim2723]

Chief, you just changed the game. I don't know if this is your problem, but it sounds like it:

Years ago my church choir had a classic 'Bellowing Bertha', a soprano with a beautiful, powerful voice who thought she needed to perform everything as an opera. Ruined the choir until we got her to throttle back.

In your original post I thought you meant you didn't have enough power to cover your venue. That's entirley different. From your comment I gather that the amplified acoustic guitar was fine. If your guitarist with his new Fender is the problem, you need to get him back in line with the band, not the other way around. No degree of technology will ever substitute for working as a group. If you start battling amplifiers, everyone will loose eventually.

[Chief]

I probably overstated it a bit. Not just the lead player, but the whole band has gradually gotten louder. We started off as a 4 pc. accoustic group. And now play "power folk", complete with drums, electric bass, elect. guitar, etc. I moved from a Gold Tone with pick-up to a Blue Star Mando blaster, and now a Mann 5 string, and also an electric fiddle. The folk music assosiation, if there was one, would probably kick us out. But we have fun,make a few bucks, and isn't that what it's all about?
Back to the amp situation, I'm pretty sure I'm going with the Ultra Sound CP-100.It seems to be what I was looking for at a decent price. It's light and powerful and gets rave reviews. Anyone think differently? Thank you everyone for your input. It's the third time I've used this forum to ask about gear, and I've always had a good response.

[mandroid]

And get a bunch of HearO's an attenuating ear protector for Musicians.

[Mr. Loar]

You'd be surprised what you can do with a 25 or 30 watt amp with the right pick 'em up.

[UnityGain]

If your playing an electric through it the majority of the time I'd say look at a guitar amp, especially if your consittering distortion. There is a very good reason why electic guitar amps dont have tweeters. An acoustic amp is NOT going to give you acoustic tone out of an electric instrument. Its just going to give you a very faithful (PA-esque) reproduction of whatever you plug into it. Which is good for acoustic electric, and not so good with straight electic (magnetic) pickups. If your going to mostly be playing the 5 string and the fiddle (is it a solidbody?), you might want to reconsider going with an acoutstic amp. I would REALLY suggest lugging all your instruments down to the local music store and playing through all sorts of stuff. A multi-channel amp would also be smart -- chances are that all of your instruments will require a different EQ and gain settings. Your also a little stuck in that the schertler will require an XLR imput into the amp, so maybe acousitc is your only option.

[Ted Eschliman]

This is certainly going to sound odd, but one thing I've done to keep from having to haul two amps (lazy, I know...) is I've run a Presonus TubePre Processor (http://jazzmando.com/new/archives/000103.shtml) from e-mando into an acoustic amp (Trace Elliott) on the 2nd channel. That way I can run the acoustic mando through one and still get an electric "color" out of the emando, and the TubePre is 5 pounds, not 35 or 50!

http://www.presonus.com/media/images/productPhotos/tubePreBig.jpg

[Chief]

I guess I'm sold on accoustic amps. Have been playing a Kustom for years. I do play an amplified accoustic fiddle sometimes, and have been playing my Breedlove with the Schertler more- just got it a few months ago. I also play in a more accoustic trio and back up a singer songwriter. I've had good luck playing the electric mandos through an accoustic amp. I also use a Baggs Para Accoustic pre amp and an AB box, that allows me to use 1 cord, and switch to the B channel as I pull the cord and change instruments. It makes it a lot simpler than dealing with a bunch of cords.

[Chief]

Ted- is the Presonus still avaliable? The link on your website didn't go through. I've never heard of it, and never seen it in on a website.

[jefflester]

Ted- is the Presonus still avaliable? The link on your website didn't go through. I've never heard of it, and never seen it in on a website.
http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=16
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product....=184125 (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/PreSonus-TUBEPre-Microphone-Preamp?sku=184125)

[bnmartin54]

I've enjoyed reading this thread and hope that I'm not too late to the party. Tired of lugging a heavy Crate 125D amp around, I traded it for a Roland AC60. I should have done a more thorough "test drive". What I discovered was that the Roland was quite "bright" and had a very pronounced mid-range. To compensate I essentially turned the treble knob down to about the "10 o'clock" position and the mid knob down to about the "8 o'clock" position. Also, I was never satisfied with the built in effects. Actually, the chorus was okay but the reverb/delay options weren't what I liked. I would drag along an Alesis Nanoverb for any reverb I wished to use. I recently had the chance to "audition" an Ultrasound. I immediately bought it and sold the Roland. To my ears, the Ultrasound is a truer representation of my instrument's tone if only because I keep the tone knobs at the "12 o'clock" position. Both amps did a good job killing feedback and overall volume seems about the same for the Roland and 50W Ultrasound. And when I play out, I still take the Nanoverb as I prefer those reverbs to the built in ones on the Ultrasound. Well, that's my $0.02 worth.
//Bob

[Chief]

Well, I ordered an Ultra Sound Cp 100 today from a local music store. Unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock to try, but with the input I got in this forum, I feel confident I've made the right choice. I felt I needed the extra oomph from the 100wts. I almost ordered one from Musician's Friend, but they were on backorder. I contacted my local shop, and the agreed to match MF's price. I always would rather deal with local people when I can, and support them so they will always be there. Some of the stuff I get is a little obscure, so I need to hit the net. At Ted's reccomendation, I did order that tube pre-amp. So, next week I'll all kinds of fun playing with my new toys.

[Snakebeard Jackson]

I use a presonus tube preamp. It is not the same type as the one shown here but same company
it is the acustic q
great stuff.

[Snakebeard Jackson]

p.s. which is the model that cam before the one pictured.

[Chief]

Well, I got the Ultra Sound, and am very happy with it. It especially sounds great with the Breedlove w/Schertler and my barcus berry powered fiddle. With the elect. mando and fiddle I've found I need to add a little effects for coloration. It has 16 built in effects, and using a foot switch for on/off, this is easily done. I'm still experimenting. My Baggs para accoustic works great with it. After trying the Pre Sonus, I decided that it didn't really add anything to the mix, so I sent it back. I can't believe how small and light weight this thing is, yet it packs 100 wts. Will use it Sat. for its first public performance.