Behringer ACX Ultracoustic Combo

i demo-ed the acx1000 in auckland's rock shop. i've been doing my homework on acoustic amps for some time, having played only acoustic for the last 4 years and guitar for 15.
this LOOKED like the amp to deliver great sound, features, and value. sadly not to be...
i don't feel like i can rate the "features" as the following kinda negates that. what's the use of something loaded with features if it's unusable?

sounds, yes, well...
i play an all solid vega dreadnought, very martin-esque, with k&k pickups under the bridge.
this matters not though, as the amp itself hums, loudly.
that's all there is to it. i've read various reviews and it seems there are goodies and baddies out there. so i guess i got a baddie.
we plugged in, and channel one just buzzed away. and that's before the volume got to half way.
i hoped, (god i hoped), that the stores other branches around the country might have other behringers that were the not suffering from this.
they rang around and found four (4) other amps. they got staff to turn these amps on and test them.... all did the same!
i was really wanting this amp, on paper it reads perfect. but in reality there is something really wrong with the wiring or whatever is inside it.
to be fair, the tone i could hear from the acx was a lot nicer than the fender acoustisonic, and comparable to the marshallAS50R, which had the roundest/warmest sound.
but ultimately it is flawed in the worst way for an acoustic guitar player.

if behringer re-evaluate this amp and seriously address this buzz they will be the most reliable company in the world!
but until then the acx is a great amp yet to happen...

i am now looking at the AS80R from marshall, although it is discontinued it looks like a great amp. the AS50R has gorgeous tone and i want the extra headroom.
i've been playing only acoustic for the past 4 or 5 years, and have had some great guitars from gibson, martin, takamine, and yamaha in my hands over this time. i think i've developed some fairly astute ears, and am looking for THE amp to translate the sound i get acoustically.

My amp was made in 2004 and has a tonne of features for the price, which have already been listed on the rest of the reviews so I won't bore you with the details

The amp has a great clear sound. I use it for church services and 2 guitars are plugged into it. My guitar is a Washburn d10sce and it sounds great through the amp and so does the other guitarists.

The amp suits the music style that we play on it including choruses, hymns and modern semi acoustic rock. We only have the amp on 5 and have to turn our EQ's on our guitars down otherwise we drown out the other instruments.

The attack and warmth features help to increase the impact of the higher level sounds. The amp so far is generating very little noise at high levels in comparison to other amps in it's price range.

Although this amp doesn't have the same sound quality as an AER amp or a Yorkville Acoustic it is important to remeber that it costs a lot less and is only marginally lower quality in sound.

No problems yet, when we were looking at buying an acoustic amps we where showna variety of amps, one shop tried to sell us an Ashton Acoustic amp and when we asked to try it the sales guy couldnt even get the thing to turn on. This amp has given us no problems at all.

Havent had to deal with customer support yet, I got a 12 month warranty with the amp.

If this amp where stolen we would definatley buy it again. For the price this amp provides heaps more features than some more expensive amplifiers. It weighs a tonne. This amp looks like it's worth $2000 instead of the $700 we paid for it.

A great amp that suits almost any purpose

I picked up this amp from Musician's Friend in the spring of 2003. I paid about $299.99 for it. There are 99 presets that one can tweak and fiddle with ad infinitum. It is a two channel solid state amp that allows one to play two guitars, a guitar and a harmonica, a guitar and a keyboard, a guitar with miked vocals, and so on. A foot pedal allows one to change up to 4 settings (there is a slight delay when changing settings). As this is an acoustic amp, there are controls to deal with feedback, one can adjust the attack (nice for finger picking) and a tube emulator (which even if it doesn't sound all that tubelike does warm up the sound a bit). It has 2 8 inch speakers and a piezo tweeter. Nice. Will play in stereo. Could possible use another piezo tweeter (for better stereo).
It is a heavy combo amp (48 lbs) and would be smashing with wheels and a handle to pull it around. It serves my purposes well as a hobbyist, ex-pro performance artist, who may be coaxed up on stage once in a whilel.

I have 4 guitars. Two acoustic with Marverick Semour Duncan sound hole pick-ups--an Alvarez 12 string 5054 and a Yamaha FG-180 6 string. I have an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe Acoustic/Electric 6 string and an Ibanez JP-20 hollowbody electric.
I play folk, rock, jazz, blues, country and some classical. The amp works well with whatever I want to play although it is noisy on some channels (c'est la vie), but its not too distracting. It works well with all my guitars, except the Ibanez JP-20 (it's only okay with it). I think the Ibanez needs a different sort of amp to really fit its sound (something tube). The Ovation and the ACX1000 have an incrediable synergy! This is simply astonishing at how well they work together. Unamped the Ovation (268--deep body) is okay (but nothing all that special), but amped it comes alive and sounds fantastic. Jaw dropping fantastic at that. If one has an Ovation acoustic/electric, one really should give the ACX1000 a whirl. This is why I bought the amp (that and the decent price). I give it a 10 with the Ovation, an 8 with the Alvarez and the Yamaha acoustics with cheap sound hole pickup, and a 6 with the Ibanez (my best guitar, but not with the ACx). So overall, I'll give it a 10 as I did select it for my Ovation.

It's been over a year. No problems, except the feet on the sides tend to become lose and have to be tightened regularily (minor gripe). I don't gig with it all that often, so it doesn't get much wear and tear. The kids (4 1/2 and 18 months) do like to climb on it and the dog (black lab female) licks it every now and then.

I e-mailed the company once with a question. Never heard back from them. Decided that customer support is probably very spotty. This is annoying.

I've been playing guitar for about 33 years. I write music, have gigged as a performance artist and as a musician, and am always trying to learn more and improve my playing. If my ACX10000 were stolen, lost, or simply blewup, I'd most probably shell out some clams for another (good price, exxcellent features). I might possibly check out the competition in the acoustic amp realm and if I was willing to shell out more clams, upgrade. Still, one can't go wrong with the ACX1000. The only thing that disturbs me is that the company ignores customers (and that might tip the scales to the competition). I like its versitility, its features, its sound, and its good looks (it looks like a 1,000 dollar amp). I'm pretty happy with my ACX1000 and regard it as an excellent choice. The only reason why I can't give it a 10 is that I suspect Behringer is rather lame regarding customer service.

2004 amp. plenty of power-120 watts, effects, tube warmth simulator, 3 band eq.,attack, and 2 feedback controls.peizo tweeter and two 8" speakers.All the needed jacks mic ins and midi connectors (loaded).Tilt back legs

Pristine!some say it's hissy and noisy, "it's the tweeter" Duh.I compared it to fenders acousic amps and this one won! It has a footswitch with 4 pads for 4 independant settings. Reverb,delay,chorus,tremolo,and many others. Two 60 watt channels-good power

so far-Great!

No problems yet

Been playing 30 years (acousic 20 years). I would replace it if something happened to it. It has great sound and quality effects,the price was very reasonalable, it looks real cool, it has tilt back legs
Way Cool!

tons of features, 2 channels, effects, direct out, 60 watts

Playing an Ibanez Artwood 300 CENT direct to amp. The sound is way too thin and it peaks on 4. The signal to the sound board is way too strong.

Had to send back because legs came off and the amp blew. They sent me that one fixed but they broke the knobs shipping. They sent a new one but still the same problems. I just have to play softly (sucks). Was without an amp for 4 months.

The people at te U.S. office were very nice but way too slow responding.

I've been playing for over 20 years and I realy thought I would love this amp. I think I loved the pirce and features but they did not deliver. I would never buy this amp again. I get better sound playing through small portable PA with an EQ. Wish this amp had more power.

My Amp was built 2004 and I bought this for my exercising room.
This Amp has a lot of features inputs / outputs and effects.
From this point of view no problem, good execution.
After 200km car transport (on a smooth street), the left and right upright screw began to loose and fell inside...
This kind of construction is bad, I have to open the amp and look for the screws. Price 333,-- Euros

I own a 6 string Ovation Custom Legend and a 12 String Ovation Elite with piezopick ups, built 1992, and a Trace Elliot TA 200R and TA 50 R.
I play classic and rock guitar.
I'm playing guitar for 30 years.
The Behringer Amp sounds soapy and noisy with an increasing hiss, increasing loudness.
I never would buy this Amp again, it is far far away from my Trace Elliot Amps.
But you have to keep in mind tht the price of my TA 50 R was 800 Euros and for the TA 200R 2000 Euros
The ACX 1000 is something for a beginner, exercising in small rooms.
If you own guitars with piezo pick ups, try to find a Trace Elliot
in good condition anywhere. From my point of view this is still the
best Amp for acoustic guitars.

But for 333 Euros you can't expect more than the ACX 1000 offers.
Its a toy....

No problems till now, except the left and right upright screws, which
loosened by themself and fell inside.

Didn't need.

Like I said, its a toy for beginners,
you get enough value for the price.

A lot of features packed in this amp. Call it the ultimate acoustic amp is not an over statement. You can connnect acoutic guitar, classical guitar (nylon string), electric guitar (beautiful clean sound). You can plug in a microphone to sing. You can connect a CD player or a keyboard/drum machine too. And the price is good.

The sound is excellent below 4 on the volume dial. Very quiet (can be used in studio for recording!) I was able to get some of the BEST classical nylon string sound out. The best I've ever heard. Microphone amp is also pretty good and you can EQ to get a good sound out. The problme is that once pass 4 on the volume dial, noise and hiss start to be heard. I guess this could be due to the fan was not isolated well. Once the volume pass 6, the noise become really an issue in my quiet studio (may not be an issue in a bar). Besides noise issue at high volume, the amp sound great, full, clean. Even at volume of 4, the amp is plenty loud. I guess if they can have clean sound all the way up to 8 on the volume dial, I'll give them a 10 (but they might have to double the price on the amp).

Build very strong and heavy. I've been using it for a month and it's been working fine. I heard from my dealer that they had a lot of returns when the amp was first introduced but they now seem to have solved the quality control problems and they have few returns.

NA

Overall very good amp for the money. I sold my guitar amp, my keyboard amp, my microphone mixer and bought this amp and had money left over. It is great for gigs since you don't have to carry 2 amps. I wish they can improve the design and reduce the noise at higher volume. If they do, then they will have NO competition at all. I even use it with my electric guitar and all I had to do is to put a distortion peddle in its effect loop and I got one amp that does everything! For the price and features and sound, I rate this as 9. If they can furture reduce the noise, I'll rate this as 10.

see the behringer specifications

french luthier hand made jazz guitar with bartolini pick up, ovation elite T (piezo), gipsy guitar with bad piezo sticker
Microphone shure SM58
Perfect for jazz, and accoustic at low and medium volume. small problem with gipsy guitar (hiss) because of the level I presume.
clean all the time, that what i am looking for!
No problem on voice amplification.

it 's perfect amp to play jazz or accoustic

i played since 20 years. My usual configuration is a twin or a polytone or ampeg.
Best amp I try. forget all the small cube that dont sound!!!( no bass)

The features of this amp have been pretty well covered, so I won't list them. I will say, though, that this amp offers a lot for the money! No other amp comes close. Getting a good one seems to be the challenge. I love the fact that I can plug my drum machine into the aux-in and sing through one channel and play my guitar through the other. You can be a one man band!

You have to spend some time with this amp and your guitar to get a good sound, but once you are there, it sounds great. The effects are excellent and being able to switch them with the included footswitch is very convenient. I play my passive Ovation acoustic/electric through channel one and I sing through a mic attached to channel two. It's everything I hoped it would be.

The original amp I bought lasted a month. The second amp I got was better than the first one ever was and its better than the one my friend bought. Hmmmm, seems to be a little problem with quality control. I've been playing it regularly for the past 6 months and this second amp seems to be bulletproof.

The first amp I got worked great for a month, then channel one started making a continuous popping noise. Shortly thereafter, channel two crapped out. I returned it to Behringer in January, and it took them until May to replace it. They were very nice in dealing with me, but they kept telling me that my new amp would arrive in about a week. It never would and I would have to call them again. It was a painful process.

I would buy another one of these amps if I needed to replace my current one. However, I would play everyone they had at the store until I found a good one.

This is an update to my previous submission after having used the Ultracoustic for several months. The features are best available, including dual anti-feedback notches, pick attack and warmth controls, midi connections and digital effects.

I can adjust the tone of this amp to match my acoustic guitar exactly, or to enhance its sound. The only slightly negative comment is that the acoustic volume is not very loud since my guitar has no preamp in it.

This amp has worked flawlessly. But, I only use it at home, no gigs.

I sent Behringer an email asking about their support and giving them some comments. I received a prompt reply from their US headquarters, and a later reply from their German office! I am not sure why others are complaining about this. Maybe they expected immediate responses!

I wish they would have included some electric amp modeling with the effects so that I could use my electric guitar without having to use a separate amp modeler. For this price, it is hard to beat this amp. It looks great, sounds great, has lots of features and has worked well for me