Genz Benz Shenendoah Acoustic 85 112 Combo

The features are great on this little guy. Read the first review below, he covers them nicely.

The second speaker output allows you to add an extention cabinet or monitor. I've added an Electrovoice EVID 302s speaker stand monitor which has a volume control. It works great driven by the second speaker output. VERY COOL...simple solution to monitoring.

My only issue is the Piezo tweeter gets rough when I get the volume up to 5 or so. SWR builds in a tweeter attenuator to deal with this very thing. I've added a 5 Watt 10 Ohm resistor in front of the positive lead on the piezo and it's tamed it down a bit.

Now I'm getting a nice smooth tone at all levels. My maple guitar with fishman blender is a bit on the bright side, so this may be unique to my guitar. Try your guitar on it in the store before making any adjustments.

No issue

They've answered all my questions via email promptly

This is a well made product and a very good value. A tweeter attenuator would be a nice second generation feature...but is only needed when you get it up to 5 or more. IT's plenty loud.

Most people would probably never get it past 3 practicing, at church or doing quiet coffeehouse gigs.

This amp is a well thought out product. Both channels have solid EQ allowing flexible tone shaping. Alesis effects sound really good, not TC Electronic or Lexicon great, but really good. The outputs are really sweet. Main output with effects or clean feeds of each channel. I play small clubs with house systems...it's great to plug in and go. There is also a ground lift switch to eliminate loops. (I've heard plenty of guys playing the same bars with a nasty hum under their performance....this is a must have feature.)

Very clean, neutral tone. Plenty of bottom but not boomy. I owned a Fender Acoustisonic Jr. and could never get rid of the brittle tone. I played the SWR California Blonde and it was a bit too mellow and soft sounding for my taste. The Genz seems to have a nice balance and the EQshaping makes it easy (with some experimentation) to dial in a wide range of tone.

The first thing I did when I brought it home is turn up all the levels (with no inputs connected) and see how quiet the amplifier section is. It's great. Turn it up...no hiss or noise. Try that with a Crate or Peavey....you will hear bacon on the griddle.

I'm really pleased with the price/performance.

The only very minor concern I have are the black plastic corner pieces. I live in the frozen north and once it gets cold, plastic cracks when you bang it. I'll be looking for metal corners to replace the plastic. They don't worry about the cold effecting plastic in Arizona. Not a big deal though....

No Opinion Yet.

This amp was made in 2002. I'vd had the amp for about 4 months now. The amp is versatile enough to work with both fingerstyle instrumentals and either finger roll or strumming as a back up to vocals. There are 4 inputs - 1 guitar/1 voice for each of 2 channels. Separate preamp, effects, and equalization controls for each of the two channels. Mics have built in pre-amps so you can use either condensor or dynamic mics. Amp has a built in Alesis DSP engine with 15 programmed digital effects - simply rotate a switch and get a new effect. I wish it had a headphone jack that would cut out the speakers. Some type of foot control to switch the special effects would be useful as well. 85 amps of power with ability to hook up second speaker. In addition to speaker outlets, you have direct outputs for effects, each channel separately or both channels combined.

I've used the amp with both a Larrivee LV10 Rosewood and a James Goodall cutaway - both with a Fishman rare earth pickup. Currently using a Shure Beta 87A condensor mic. The amp is very quite - no hiss, rumbling, or other extraneous noise. It produces an extremely clean and warm sound. At a moderately low volume level, you can hardly tell it's on it sounds so natural. At higher volume levels there is no distortion - haven't had it cranked up all the way. When playing the instrumental fingerstyle songs, it picks up all the sounds. The sound you get by playing with the mic at about the 12th fret and using the Fishman pickup/soundhole mic is even better. Strumming and singing or using a finger roll and singing works well because you can run both pickups through one channel, adjust the volumes on each mic, and then apply one master volume and one effects volume to that channel.

I've had the amp about 4 months now and have not had a chance to perfrom with it - other than to entertain the neighbors. Really hard to tell about the reliability at this point. The cabinet construction is very solid and heavy. It comes with a built in adapter that flips up to tilt the cabinet up slightly off the floor. It also comes with a built in speaker stand adapter - heavy metal construction. Have had no problems. Don't really know yet how it survives life on the road. Suspect it will hold up well.

In the process of getting setup, I went ahead and had pretty much decided on a Shure Beta 87A condensor mic. I emailed Tube Works and inquired about how this mic would perform with the Shenandoah 85. They responded both to my initial inquiry and to a follow-up within 24 hours each time. They provided complete answers and were very helpful and friendly. The amp comes with a 3 year warranty and it's transferrable...don't see that very often. I recently purchased some electronic recording gear to use with the computer - customer service for those companies hasn't been nearly as good as Tube Works.

Been playing for about 20 years. Been playing fingerstyle fairly intensively for about 3 years. I own a top end Larrivee guitar and a top end James Goodall guitar, a gig bag, the Shenandoah 85 amp, mic, mic stand, monster cables, CPort soundcard and DAC 2000 audio/digital interface. If I lost the Shenandoah 85 amp, I would defintely replace it. The thing I like about it the best is the true, warm sound it produces...that's what sold me.

This is a 1x12 combo amp especially designed for acoustic instruments. It has a bullet tweeter and has two rear ports for more bottom end. The Shenendoah has 85 watts--plenty of power--also has an extra 1/4" output for an extension enclosure that is identical to this combo. This combo is a two channel, 4 input--each channel is equipped with both a 1/4" unbalanced line input and an XLR balanced microphone input with phantom power. The 2 inputs on each channel are summed together at a 1:1 ratio. Each channel then passes through independent 3 band equalizers with sweep midrange frequency. Each channel also contains individual send controls to the on-board Alesis 15 program digital effects circuit. The back panel contains 3 direct balanced outputs with ground lift switch, 3 unbalanced line outputs, an effects loop, effects cancel jack, and two 1/4" speaker jacks. Effects are not switchable between channels which is sort of a minus, but I bought this amp for acoustic tone not for it's effects. I use this amp as a coffee-house, small bar type live rig, running my Takamine EN20C and a Shure 58 for vocal--throw in a little reverb or delay and I get a great sound with plenty of power. The amp as a pull down handle on the bottom so you can tilt it up. Doesn't weigh a ton either, around 50 lbs.--very solidly built by hand with a very cool retro blonde Tolex covering with a metal mesh front cover. Genz-Benz is known for their quality bass enclosures and they hit a home-run with this unit.

The sound from the Shenendoah is simply breath-taking. I shot it out with the whole gamit of acoustic amps from Fender, Trace Elliot, Crate, SWR Blondes and the Genz-Benz was simply the best--especially on the price too. I've been playing it around four months now and have received numerous compliments on the realistic tone it generates from my Tak. There are times I wish I could have my axe playing through the chorus while vocals were on one of the 8 different reverbs, but there's always stomp-boxes and I was mainly buying tone, not effects. The amp simply makes the beautiful tones of the Tak loud. It really mellows out the piezo under-saddle pick-up and reproduces the guitar's natural sound beautifully. The amp has more than enough power--even in club situations pushing my guitar and mic, I've never had the master volume past five.

The amp is very, very well-made. I've done some custom cabinet making in the past and the quality and pride in the construction of this unit is very evident I was impressed they used an Alesis DSP engine for effects. Even the little things like the hard rubber feet and corner protectors are first rate. Quality in every aspect of this unit is what sold me. Like I said earlier I shot it out with all the competition I could come up with and the Shenendoah called my name.

Haven't had to deal with the company--has a three year warranty so I'm not worried about a thing. The amp is made in the USA in Scottsdale, AZ. I read other reviews of other Genz Benz gear and it read like customer support was excellent.

I've been playing over 35 years and right now only have the Takamine and the Shenendoah amp. My situation is solo playing in small clubs and fun jamming with friends. Last night I had my guitar, two mics and a bass running through the amp and everything sounded wonderful. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it immediately. I am considering the extension cabinet for more room coverage as well as some Boss pedals so I could go with different effects on vocals and axe. But all in all I couldn't be happier with this very quality piece of equipment. Check out their website for more information.