Fender Acoustasonic 30

New Fender acoustisonic amp from Mars Music. Came with a free cable(YIPPIE). I like it quite a bit. Got chorus, spring reverb, independent mic channel. The reverb is kinda too much, not good for chords. Usually keep the reverb at 3 or 4 because it just sounds like you are in a huge empty room. If it was reverb with a hint of cheers from the crowd, it might be better! <g> Phase switch is a godsend.

I have a Fender DG-20CE with a great fishman pickup in it. I play stuff like dave matthews and my own band's stuff. Works really good for that stuff. Plenty of tonal range with the preamp in the guitar and the stuff on the amp, you can get anything from really twangy treb to deep growling bass.

This amp weighs in at a whopping 46 lbs. That is heavier than hell. I bet you could run it over wiht a truck(not that anybody would want to do that with a 300 buck amp). I am sure it would stand a gig. probably not big enough for a live band type gig but deffinitely solo coffee house style gig.

Gosh, I dont know how long I have been playing it, um, Its a nice amp, plenty of power for my little room. If it got stolen I owuld cry. I dont think I will ever buy another acoustic amp, just not worth it, unless it had way more effects. I have no friends but its ok.

As you can read from below, this amp has 2 inputs, one for instrument, the other for your microphone. Got String Dynamics to cut down harshness of strumming, Chorus and Reverb. It's actually pretty heavy for what it offers, but a smaller version of the Acoustasonic Jr. I wish the second channel had both an instrumental and microphone input. And yes, the kickback feature makes it a pretty difficult carry. 30Watts in total, 35 lbs.

There's one thing about this amp, it's volume. I have a Peavey KB/A 30 watter and that drives about 4 times more volume than this thing. I have a Norman B20 active pickup and I had to put the volume at 6 in order to have some sort of pleasable sound. I remember the Acoustasonic Jr sounding tons better, but this guy didn't seem to have much volume at all. Even my KB/A 15 watter seemed to give more volume. Other than that, it is pretty clear, it sounds good but again, distortion and fuzzy at playable volumes.

I bought this amp, used it for about 3 days. I turned it on the next day and the lights would be on but no output. I couldn't believe my eyes! I almost cried, I spent enough on this baby and it didn't even last me 4 days.

I returned this amp immediately to the store I bought it from and well it's gonna take 3 weeks for my new one to come in. However, I've been given a temporary amp on loan, and I love it! It's only about 60 bucks more than the Acoustasonic, it's the Yorkville AM100, with tons of features, 16 effects, 100 watts and most importantly, it weights only 25 lbs! I think I'm gonna stick with the Yorkville.

I did a lot of research into acoustic amps and I found that they are pretty expensive, they're heavy and well, I thought the Acoustasonic 30 was perfect for me. It wasn't loud enough, and I don't suggest buying a 400 "practice" amp. It does sound good, clear, crisp, but man... if it had never died on me maybe I'd grow to love it. I guess I was one in those thousand that have a manufactured defect. OH wells.

Straight forward features for the analog player.

I play a Seagull with the LR Baggs and an Ovation 1860 Balladeer. The Ovation soundz good but I really like the way the Seagull sounds. I use the line out into a distorted amp to get two signals (acoustic and tubey) and this set up actually sounds great for my style. You wouldn't believe the nice feedback I get out of the distorted amp "even better than my other canadian guitar, a godin electric". Driven hard though I do get the "bad distortion" similar to the complaints you see for distortion coming from the vocal channel. Overall I would go for the next in line Junior because of the need for volume without distortion. But if you need limited volume, this thing sounds superb. I even don't mind the vocal channel personally. It sounds good but as mentioned, it will distort in a bad way if you push it. Fender told me that it was designed for cheap mics (sounds funny though) but anyway, to put a 60db pad in the front of the vocal mic (like a 1/4" female to male XLR adapter). That did seem to help some. And, the chorus on channel one, as you will read from some, sounds great.

If you have an idea how to upgrade to a better speaker, please e-mail me.

Have you ever tried to call Fender's 800 number? They make some great amps but if you can get through to this number without getting a "Try back later" you're doing good.

I've been at it for about 15 years. If lost or stolen I may go for a Junior or an SWR Blonde (which is more pricey however). Yes, the tilt back feature is cool and the amp reproduces well at low volumes. The line out feature works well into other amps or into a p.a. Not bad at all for the money!

Again, if you know a good speaker to upgrade to, pleeeease let me know.

Be cool! <>

Recent model year and date of manufacture 2000 (I guess). Features: Effects include chorus, string dynamics and reverb. Two channels one for an Instrument and the other specifically for a microphone. Also included is an input jack for an effects foot switch (which is a $40.00 option) and a line out jack.

I play an Ovation Balladeer S771. This amp and the other Acoustasonics models are a good match for the Ovation pickup. I listend to both Crate CA30 which I found to be a poor match (way too much pre-amp boost). The Acoustasonic has a very clean and natural sound through the Instrument channel and very loud. I have not tried the microphone channel, but from reading the other reviews it does not sound like it is worth using.

Reliability has been great so far. I have only owned the amp for 3 months, so my usage is limited.

Have not dealt with Fender. I bought the amp used and it did not come with a manual. Unfortunately Fender has not yet released a PDF version of the 30 manual on their website, as they have done with the other models in the Acoustasonic series. This is something I need to email them about (again).

My combined experience is about 3 years. I played acoustic and electric guitar during the sixties as a kid and just picked it up again (influenced initially by my kids who are now into it). It is funny how some thing have not changed all that much. The retro equipment is really "in", and as one would expect the electronics have just become increasingly better values through the years.
The Acoustasonic has been a good choice for my purpose which is jamming at home as a hobby, and occasionally with friends. I own an Ovation and a newly acquired Epi Les Paul Standard, which actually sounded pretty good through this little amp. If the amp were lost or stolen in the near future, I would probably replace it with a amp that would be better suited for both my Les Paul and Balladeer.

I purchased this amp in mid January, 2001 and I use it with my Martin DM (Fishman Acoustic Matrix Active Pickup). The amp's list price is $399.00, however you can find them new all over the internet for $279.00-$299.00, but no one seems to have any in stock. I wheeled and dealed with a local music store and I was able to get them to drop $100.00 off the list price and I was satisfied with the deal. The chorus and string dynamics are excellent and that eliminates having to use a separate chorus pedal which I like. I've used other amps with built in chorus, but I've always had to go back to the chorus pedal due to the poor sounding quality of built-in chorus effects, but this amp's chorus is the best that I've heard . . . actually better sounding than a separate chorus pedal. With the amp's chorus on, there's really no need to use the reverb on the guitar channel which allows me to use a bit of reverb on the mic channel and I like that feature. This amp is excellent for home use or for small gatherings, but due to the lack of volume from a 30 watt system, you really need to run the line out into a larger amp or mixer if playing for any size crowd. I mostly use this amp as a monitor and I love the kickback feature. The only real problem I have with the amp besides the low volume is the location of the reverb, chorus and phase switches. They're located right between the adjustment knobs and it's difficult to get to the switches without accidently moving one of the adjustment knobs. It would've been so simple to have had them located a half inch lower on the console panel (there's definitely room enough there).

I use my Martin DM with the added Fishman Active Natural I pickup. Overall, I'm very impressed and pleased with the amp. Over the years, it's been a pain to try to reproduce an acoustic sound through any of amps that I've used, but this one beats them all as far as I'm concerned. Personal Note: I'm a diehard Dylan fan and I was surprised to see that with the chorus and reverb off, I could reproduce the exact acoustic sound that Dylan used on his totally acoustic "Good As I Been To You" CD. Very impressive!

So far so good!

I haven't had to deal with that yet.

I've been playing acoustically for about 30 years now and so far this has been the best amp I've ever used. I'd replace it in a heartbeat, but if I were to replace it, I think I'd probably go with one of the larger Acoustasonics, maybe the Junior or the SFX. I chose this amp because of Fender's reputation and because of the reviews that I read. At the point of my purchase, I was debating between a Trace and a Crate. I feel like I made the right choice.

Check out other reviews for list of features.

The string dynamics control doesn't seem to do much for me. The instrument channel on this 30 watt amp is not very loud and I doubt it would hold up in a noisy coffeehouse if used without a PA. When jamming with friends, I had it turned up to its maximum and could barely hear the guitar. For this reason, I have returned the amp in exchange for something more powerful. The volume for the mic channel was adequate and I used it for vocals.

I play a Seagull acoustic with piezo pickup onboard equalizer controls. I play popular rock and classic rock songs, mainly strumming with occasional fingerpicking. The sound was particularly bright and trebly which I don't like but with a bit of tweaking I was able to get a good reproduction of my guitar's sound.

It appears well made and I would gig without a backup. I didn't have it for long so can't comment too much here.

Never dealt with Fender.

I've been playing 7 years. Other gear includes some strat copies and a Marshall Valvestate amp. Like I said earlier, I've returned this amp for something more powerful. Its not a bad sounding amp but I wouldn't buy it unless you only want a practice amp or if you want to use it as a foldback monitor going into a PA.

2000 model. I have purchased it a year ago. It has two channels one for vocals and one instrument. In my opinion they could have left the vocal off. It is pretty much a joke. The chorus and string dynamics I really like. I also like the kickback feature. I basicaly use it as a monitor. I run from the line out to the board, so I get a preamp and monitor all in one.

I play a Norman guitar with a Fishman pickup. The two seem to work very well together. I have used it to lead worship in churches and I have played with full bands. With it run through the board I can stand three feet from the drums having a great time. No problem. It handles high volume pretty well (remember it's only 30 watts). I have spent the last 8 years trying to find an accoustic sound I like and this is the happiest I've been while I still had enough money left to buy a set of new strings for my guitar.

I can't really give valid feedback. I've had it a year and no problems yet.

I haven't interacted with them at all.

I have been playing for 13 years and the sound,price and mobility of this amp really make me happy. If this amp were to get stolen I would probably upgrade to the 50 watt accoustisonic just for the extra umph!! but I would definitely buy another accoustisonic.

2000 Model. Two independent channels. Acoustic instrument channel has three band eq, "string dynamics" control, verb, and chorus. "Vocal" channel has two band eq. Reverb is assignable to either or both channels. Phase inversion switch changes amp phase 180 degrees. Front panel has 1/4 line out and footswitch for chorus.Power rating is 30 watts, and it is adequate for coffeehouse gigs, or may be uplugged into house p.a. and used as a monitor. The amp has a reasonable number of features for the price. I would have rather seen a balanced low-z direct out.

The amp does get a good acoustic sound out of both piezo and soundhole pickups (using Ovation and Gibsons respectively). My partner plays cello thru the instrument channel and her sound is better yet (mic'd). We have had the mic channel to "4" and obtain satisfactory volume. When singing for a short period of time, it was adequate, have not tested this aspect extensively.Reverb is typical Fender, and the chorus offers a decent range of control, lacking an intensity knob, but to me this is no big deal. This amp is certainly better than using a regular guitar amp or a p.a., and the features seem to be better thought out than those of the under $300.00 competion.

N/A Have only had the amp a short time, though it has been gigged with no problems. The fit and finish on the amp are superb, typical of Fender (no ragged tolex or saggy grill cloth as I have seen on other brands). Appears well built. At 34 lbs, the weight is managable, though the tiltback shape makes for a somewhat awkward carry.

Warranty is five years and transferrable. Some contact with Fender many years ago and they were helpful. Web site is a great source of information.

Been playing for many years and trying to get a good acoustic amplified sound, and feel that for the price I could not have done better.This sounds much warmer and vibrant than through a board. The sound is very good (it might be better with a fourth band of mid-eq or a five band equalizer. Great "warm look" that is in keeping with using an acoustic. I would definately buy it again. I wish fender had some "recommended settings" information like they do in their tube amp manuals. The manual, while adequate could be a little more descriptive and point out the potential uses of the product, such as settings with violin, or other transducers.

Nice features. String dynamics seemed to help my fiddle sound more "acousticy" The amp could use a 4 band instead of 3 band eq. Not quite enough power for me. I tried it in a cajun band (5 piece with drums, bass, guitar, accordion etc. and it just couldn't cut the mustard volume wise.

The amp sounds great with my fiddle and fishman pickup, however the vocal sounds suck severely. I tried an SM 57, SM 58, and AKG C1000S as vocal mics and I've got to give it a thumbs down. Every time I really sing loud, it would distort to hell and back. I don't think it's a problem with the amp itself, but the input. I could get it to distort with the volume set on 1!!

Didn't keep it long enough to tell you.

I called Fender to ask about the vocal mic problem. The help guy was nice, but the answer was basically "That's just the way it is." Bummer.

I've been trying out acoustic amps for about 1 year now and I've decided that I've just got to spend some more dough. This amp is good for very small gigs (coffee houses etc.) Don't expect to get any clean volume out of it. I do like the kick back design.