Behringer ACX450 Ultracoustic

I expect it will prove to be very dependable for many years. Please read my overall rating

Very helpful folks at Behringer USA

I???ve never written a marathon review like this about any product, but Behringer company deserves it.

Although otherwise defined by Webster???s Dictionary, the word ???Cheap??? is often used to describe something of lesser quality and unfortunately Behringer products. The Behringer ACX 450 is low in price but there is nothing inferior about it. I don???t want this review to sound like others, the usual??? ???I???ve been playing for x-years etc; but I guess I must. I???m a solo guitarist, most often play the classical guitar for the past 45 years. I play modern classical music at weddings and other romantic occasions. I???m also a Graduate Engineer, no I don???t work for Behringer! Over the years as technology changed so did I. Prior to purchasing the Behringer, 14 months ago I purchased a Fender Acoustasonic SFX II, an excellent amp in every way. The SFX stereo expansion, and string dynamics features are nice. However, it has more watts than I need and weighs a ton. At the last wedding I performed at I couldn???t find a near parking spot so I had to lug the Fender a distance and then up a flight of stairs to the banquet hall. That was the deciding factor to purchase a smaller amp. I thought about buying a smaller Fender or other high end brand, I???ve played through many over the years and most were very good. But in the back of my mind was Behringer that I hadn???t tried. Behringer equipment is designed in Germany, ???very impressive??? and manufactured in Behringer City, China. Behringer does not have their products contract built, they own a manufacturing plant thus build their products. Therefore you pay less, furthermore thanks to Uli Behringer their products are not ridiculously priced 500 percent above cost like some brands. The Behringer mission is to provide high quality equipment at an affordable price. Go to Behringer.com and read their story. Before I write more about the amp as an Engineer I want to clear up a couple of myths. (1) Anything from China that is junk is because we required them to build it that way. Chinese folks do beautiful work. (2) I???ve read reviews stating some Behringer products are clones of other company designs. REALLY????.. Behringer products are designed in Germany by German Engineers therefore???.whom do you think is building clones? Perhaps that is the reason Behringer does not provide electrical schematics??? for their products.

The Behringer is built as pristine as it gets, and sounds beautiful, I like its sound better than my Fender. Paramount was that I not only purchase a great sounding amp but also reliable. At weddings I often solo for the bride and groom as they dance with an audience of usually 100-300 people. I DON???T WANT MY AMP TO FAIL! I spoke with the nice folks at Behringer USA. They affirm that their failure rate is less than one percent, and I believe that because??? I was curious to learn therefore I removed the amplifiers from both cabinets to compare. Because my major was electronic engineering does NOT mean I???m an audio amplification expert but I do have enough knowledge to judge certain fundamentals. The Fender is made in Mexico. Without schematics to refer to noticeable the Fender electronic architecture is excellent with quality components. The Behringer as I said is built in Behringer City manufacturing plant, China. It???s built just as commendable with better artistry, very detailed precise workmanship.

SOUND: I can???t pick out sound for you but what I look for is a silky acoustic nylon classical guitar timbre that???s mysteriously romantic. The only effect I use is reverb if not naturally present and sometimes compression/limiter. It doesn???t have a limiter or compression features. Other model Behringer amps do. I have never heard reverb as nice as the Behringer. Very spacious???it simulates the sound of the Fender SFX stereo expansion. It is very beautiful.

SUMMARY: I???m delighted in every way. Make no mistake

I have had this amp for about 5 months now and it has so far proved very good for my use, i play at home and also gig at some local venues. for my purpose it has plently of features, the effects are useful, the chorus sounds great, the reverb i find i can only turn to about 2 before it gets too much, wouldnt see any use it being at 7 or for example. the eq is useful, my guitar (maton em 425 12 string) has eq on it, but the more buttons the better in my opinion.
it would have been good to have headphone and line out, i thought they would be standard by now.
the foot pedal is good to have if your not using seperate fx pedals.

i used to play my acoustic through an electric guitar amp so this is definitely a massive improvement, as soon as i played through it at practice i was blown away, even using my cort 6 string, now i have a maton 12 string with an ap5 pickup that sounds amazing too. it doesnt colour the sound at all, just puts out what you put in which is great
it has very little noise even at higher volumes.
it can get very loud for its size with no distortion, in my situation i mic it anyways but its fine at practice competing with drums and a pa.
we mainly play rock covers, lots of chords, some solos, and it sound great, as long as theres isnt too much reverb put in there.
overall very nice sound.

i havent used it for a long time, though i do own quite a few behringer products and havent had any problems with them, for the price it is really good value.
i do use it playing out and will continue to do so.

i havent dealt with them before

overall, i am very happy with this amp, i would buy another one if i lost this one, the best thing i like is the clean sound with very little colouring. i did consider other products, but pretty much all the competing ones cost twice as much, so for this price and sound quality it made it an easy decision.
if i was professional i would buy something more expensive, but until then this will do!

This is an update to my review for this amp submitted last year.

So far this Amp has not missed a beat. I have gigged with it many times without an issue. My wife uses it to put the mp3 player through for her Dance School.

The guitar unput in hot and loud and the CD/mp3 player input is very useful.

Vocal line is great with the effects very usable.

Still sounds great. I would perhaps liked a little more warmth from my acousic guitar but with the 5 band eq and various effects it not hard to get a decent sound.

I have used my electric thru it via by effects box and it sounds nice too.

so far not a beat missed.

n/a

I was looking for an all purpose one box solution that you could put voice and an instrument though. An acoustic amp was the best compromise to do this. I looked as several amps, and each one had a drawback. The best amp featurewise was the ACX450. It has good eq, (5 band equaliser per channel) onboard effects, inputs for line level, mic pickup cd input even their fbq feedback detector circuits.. again independent for each channel. Not bad for something that is just over half the price of its closest rival.

I have only had the amp a very short while but in that time I have put an accoustic 6 string, 12 string through it (well its an acoustic amp... so it should do that) I have put a 6 and 12 string electric , a keyboard, a standard cd player (both through the dedicated input and through the line input... and oh yes i sang through it, as did my daughter and son. Because of the eq on it, and the variance of effects it did the lot without any issues whatsoever. It sounds good and clear, its not the best amp for an electric but it can hack it (if you want distortion use a pedal). I like the thing.

Yes I have read the reviews.... I have also bought Behringer stuff before. I cant say anything for this as i have only had it a short time, but I can say that the other gear from the same maker seems fine. I would use it when out and about. If I were a fully proffessional player I may go for something a bit tougher, but, for the money I'd see how this shaped up first. it certainly looks well made and if the footswitch supplied is anything to go by.. you could park a car on the thing and it'd still work.

In my searches for an amp, I spoke to Behringer tech support in Germany. They were quick to answer the phone and were more than willing to answer my queries regarding their gear. It was in fact Behringer tech support that suggested the best allrounder would be an acoustic amp. I have no reason to doubt their commitment to their customers.

I have been playing for over 30 years, and have a few of old tube amps (a sound city 100, a Carlsboro 60 watt from 1964, and a wem from who knows when) I have a few guitars and a load of other musical detritis gathered over the years. If this amp went walkabout I'd get another one.... trouble is nobody wanted to sell me one!

Made 2006

I play folk - pop - rock, original and cover tunes. I do a solo cafe act with drum/rhythm machine backing.

This amp is very versatile. 2 seperate channels and a CD input via RCA jacks on the back. Each channel has its own dedicated effect proccessor and 5 band EQ.

This is versatile enough to let me play my backing through the CD input and have a mic and guitar running through the 2 dedicated channels. I have not gigged with it yet.

I wish it had a headphone and or line out jack.

This amp is for home use mainly as an all round 'small' PA unit. I will use it for small gigs but have a Fender P250 that covers most gigging options. I will use this amp as a monitor. For small gigs in a confined space this amp would be sufficient but its not overlly grunty.

Its reasonably light but still feels solid and is compact and takes up little room which is a real bonus. When I had my PA set up in my music room it just took up too much space. The ACX450 sits in the corner ready to go with a flick of the on switch

Vey clean sound with no noise. I have read reviews of some of the Behringer acoustic amps having hiss at higher volume levels. This thing is dead quiet! The sound is basically what you put in. A good quality acoustic guitar would sing through this baby. I have a Fender J5 and it sound very nice through the ACX450. Clean and warm. I wasn't blown away by the 'acoustic' nature of the sound but then the pickup in my J5 are only good but not high end. I have played my electric through it and that sounded pretty good too. Very loud through the instrument input.

The Mic input sound quality is very good and I was able to turn the mic volume to full without any feedback.

There is an effect processor and 5 band EQ dedicated to each channel and they provide a variety of effects and sound shaping options. Some effects are useful some not so. The reverbs and modulations sound good and the delay is useful as a vocal echo but the effects are not very tweakable.

The CD input is useful and although the sound was not hi-fedility for a drum machine or rhythm backing track its quite adequate.

Overall I thought the sound quality was pretty good. Its loud enough without being a grunt machine. The guitar channel does seem to be louder than the CD or mic channel, so as a dedicated guitar amp this would cut it in a band situation.

Cannot comment as I have only had the amp for a week. I have heard of some QA probs with Behringer gear but this was bought though a dealer with 12 months warrenty.

Its feels solid.

Cannot comment

* 15 years mucical experience

* For the price I would defintely replace this. I might look at something with a bitmore power but for what I need this amp for the 45watts is plenty.

* I really like the compact nature and retro look. Dedicated channel effects and 5 band eq is a good feature as is the seperate CD input with dedicated volume knob.

* No line out or headphone jack is a mystery.

* I didn't do any head to head comparisons, this was a bit of an impulse buy but with the price tag being at least $200 cheaper than the competiton ... the was a big attraction.