Yorkville AM100 Acoustic Amp

Bought this used from Long & McQuade. I love it. Any of my music friends can't believe the quality of sound even from a mediocre guitar. Once I plugged my Takamine E349 into it it was even better.
I agree with everyone here that it would be hard to find something equivant to this in this price range.
Now the big thing. Almost eveyone here wishes that it was able to send the post fx out. The amp was not built that way but being in electronics I HAVE CREATED A CIRCUIT MODIFICATION WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO SWITCH PRE OR POST EFFECTS OUT! WRITE TO ME FOR DETAILS.
mmurphy at uottawa dot ca (to avoid spammers!)

I HAVE CREATED A CIRCUIT MODIFICATION WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO SWITCH PRE OR POST EFFECTS OUT! WRITE TO ME FOR DETAILS.
mmurphy at uottawa dot ca (to avoid spammers!)

So far so good. I even blasted the inputs from a guitar pedal and once used it as a monitor from the mixer!

Yorkville has nothing to hide. They give you the circuit diagrams, service manuals and everything right on their website. I've dealt with them on other issues and they are terrific to deal with.

The features have been covered in earlier reviews so I won't elaborate, except to say that it has maore than enough to keep any acoustic guitarist happy. The built-in effects are lush and USABLE! Couldn't Trace drop the purist attitude and at least include a chorus on their amps? This Yorkville AM100 is at least the equal of any Trace-Armstrong. Add the on-board effects, and it's a no brainer. I'll take the Yorkville any day. And it's Made in America too!

I use several different guitars and set-ups. I play out a lot, and bang around my stuff, so Taylors, Martins, and big-buck Gibsons are out. I play Ibanez (AE-30TB) and Epiphone (EJ-200). The Ibanez has the standard piezo / eq set-up (though higher-end). Now the Epiphone jumbo is a different story. I bought is strictly acoustic and installed a Dean Markley Sweet-Spot pick-up under the bridge (it's passive). I popped a silencer in the sound hole and plugged it into the AM-100. Holy Crap! What a freaking sound! I bought a Fishman Pro EQ II to control the signal from the passive pick-up, but with this amp, there is no need. The twin 6.5" speakers put out some bass. The guitar itself it pretty bright, being all maple, but the AM-100 has all the bells and whistles necessary to tweak and awesome sound out of it. The combination has a bright, yet percussive quality that just knocks me out. I've never had a combination that puts out such a quality sound. It's almost CD quality. Clear, enunciated, and full. I can't say enough about the amp. I'm very happy with it. If there is one thing I'd change, it's having the line-out with effects, instead of dry, or at least have the option.

I haven't had it long enough to tell. Usually it takes a year or two to feel out the reliability factor. I have no plans to use it as a car ramp, nor take it scuba diving with me, so it should last.

Also, no opinion, since I've never had to deal with them. They're in Batavia, NY, so they're my "Homies," therefore I expect they'd treat a fellow NYer right.

I've been plucking for about 35 years. I have rooms full of stuff, mostly working level instruments. I'm not a collector. I play Ibanez, Epiphone, Peavey, Fender, Gibson, and a few weirdo items. My amps are Tech 21 (and Oh man, do they scream), Yorkville, Peavey, and Yamaha. I don't play crap, but I also don't buy over-priced crap. I judge an instrument by the way it plays, sounds, and lasts. No brand-name snob I. I love evrything about this amp, especially its light weight. I carry my ax in one hand and my amp in the other. The amp weighs about as much as my guitar and case. If it were stolen, I'd browbeat myself for being an idiot, then buy another one. These amps are cheap and wonderful. What a freaking buy!

This amp is really full of features: 16 effects with 2 channels per, 2 input channels (one with an XLR in), XLR out, effect loop on channel 2. 2 very obvious speakers and there may be a third as well, nice black cover, and an angled bass - which allows you to lie it on the ground angled up. Unfortunately, there is no headphone jack or a normal 1/4" out - just the XLR, which bypasses the effects (loop? it wasn't clear in the manual). There is an input for an effect footswitch but I had to buy one separately (20$ or so for a generic one). The effects on channel two can be turned on or off but cannot be on on channel 2 but off on channel 1 - meaning if you want to use fx with your mic you need to not eq your guitar.

acoustic: montana somethingorother with a nice humbucker pickup by Dean Markley.
electric: stratlike clone
digital piano: yamaha p120
mic: don't know.

The acoustic guitar sounds amazing on this amp. That's what it exists for. As a bonus, it sounds great with my electric (esp. with no bass, full mid, and about halfway treb eqs). My piano doesn't sound at its best, but it is still a really good sound. (try out the church organ piano setting through the amp - it's worth it)

The best sound, though, comes when my father mics his flute and plays Debussy's "Syrinx" with delay on full.

overall, it does its job admirably, also acts as an amp for anything else you can think of.

This amp has not broken down yet (I've only had it for just over a month) and it's only seen one gig as of yet - as a piano and flute amp.

It does have a 10-year warranty which seems to include most service things - I'm not expecting it to go anytime soon

If this thing were to disappear on me, I would definately consider getting another one (but $$ might be a concern). Like I said, it would be nice if you can switch off the fx on channel 1 but leave them on on channel 2, but that's not required. The XLR only out is a bit annoying - I don't have an XLR cable spare, and I tended to patch my amp (practice amp - pre getting this thing) into the soundboard - and the channel that I use does not have a working XLR in... that complaint is only circumstance, however

This amp was probably made in 2000. I bought it second hand, in like new condition. (previous owner loved it, but needed to free up capital). The amp comes with 2 channels, one for guitar and the other for voice or other source. The guitar channel has 3 eq. knobs providing +- 15 db. I am very impressed with the frequency control afforded by this equalizer, as it was obviously carefully designed around the acoustic guitar sound. It has a selectable, tuneable notch filter which very effectivly cuts feedback, to the point where it is no problem to use this amp as a stage moniter, even at close range, and cranked. It has 100w rms output, delivered to twin 8" woofers, and a single mylar tweeter. This amp has built in effects with 32 selectable presets, all combinations of reverb, delay, chorus, flanging, and pitch shift (12 string emulation,etc). The effects can not be edited, but are clean sounding, and can be mixed with the dry signal from no effect up to full effect. There is no headphone jack. Channel 2 (voice/other) has 1/4 " jack effects loop in/out, and effects loop on/off footswitch 1/4 jack. When using as a stage monitor, you can do away with your DI box, because this amp has XLR clean signal direct out to the PA system. I play guitar for a 5 peice band that plays very hip contemporary christian music both at our church as well as at other churches and functions. We tend to play music with a lot of drive and energy, but do a few lighter style acoustic peices. This amp is perfect for the stage monitor I use it for, and it has enough punch to cut through the 200 W marshall head amp that I play it next to. The cabinet has a 45 beveled back like a stage monitor, and I got it with a very sturdy stand that Yorkville also makes. It is relativly lightweight, with a solid enclosure covered in a heavy felt with steel corners and rubber feet. It comes with an unconditional 10 year warrenty, transferable to anyone, with a proof of date of purchase. I wish the amp could send it's effects out the XlR, and I wish they had a jack for footswichable control over the effects, but this is a relatively minor complaint.

I Play a Larrive smallbody custom guitar (handmade) with rosewood body and solid spruce top, through an preamplified EMG piezo saddle pickup. This amp produces some hiss, when it is maxxed out, but I think that overall it is exceptionally quiet. On stage, I'm usually running it at about 80%, and it is clean and crisp with zero distortion right up to 100% power. As I stated befor, the eq ing is very good, and I find that at least 50% of the effects are ones that I will use at one point or another. The effects are tastefull, with a few gimmicky ones.

This amp has worked reliably for the previous owner, who played it constantly for a year, and it has never glitched on me. I expect that with a 10 year unconditional warrenty, the company is very sure of their product. That impresses me. I havent used it long enough to give a rating.

Customer support is excellant. I've contacted them to ask about the possibility of modifying the amp to allow effects to the XLR out, and they sent a schematic with photos showing how to do it. I'm impressed that they know their stuff, and arent too snooty to talk. 10 years of warrenty is great.

I've played guitar for about 12 years now. I would buy another of these if it was stolen. I think it compares favorably with the swr strawberry blonde, considering the price difference.

This amp kicked! I put this up against the crate ca60d and the fender acoustasonic jr. It beat them out fair and square on a basic base/mid line test! No comparison! Not to mention the warranty is better on the Yorkville!

Used with an ovation electric acoustic guitar.
Great output and smooth-at high and low levels.

This is a 2 channel 100-watt acoustic amp with two 6.5" woofers and a Motorola tweeter. Unfortunately the tweeter cannot be turned off. Channel 1 is equipped with a three band equalizer and has a notch filter to eliminate feedback, channnel 2 is only equipped with a level adjust, it does however have two inputs (high and low). The amp is also equipped with a line out jack, a footswitch jack, and an effects loop. It is a nice compact package that weighs only 25 lbs.

In my opinion the sound from the amp is somewhat harsh. I believe this is due to the speakers - in my opinion you cannot get a natural acoustic sound from 6.5" speakers. I tested this amp with two guitars a solid body equipped with piezo pickups and an acoustic electric equipped with piezo pickups. The amp is fairly quiet and has plenty of power, the digital effects are ... well they sound like digital effects, however for built in effects there is a good selection and you should be able to find one that works for you.

For a light wieght compact amp that cranks out 100W for $500(cdn) its hard to beat. I compared this amp to the Trace Elliot amps (simular size) and I would rate the Trace Elliot amps higher however the Trace Elliot amps also cost twice as much. In terms of sound quality for $650(cdn) the Fender Acoustasonic sounds better, if you are really serious about sound quality then for $1300(cdn) the SWR California Blonde is the best sounding 2 channel acoustic amp on the market. I wish this amp had bigger speakers, equalizer controls for the 2nd channel and a better finish - that fuzzy covering is ugly.

100 watt acoustic guitar amp, on-board digital effects, two channel, balanced outs, notch filter, effects loop, fairly small and lightweight. I play roots type music, folk, rock, blues and worship music. It's a solid state unit, but for acoustic work it's clean and uncolored. The physical shape of the amp lends itself to use as a personal monitor for on stage work. There are both XLR and 1/4-in balanced line outs for connecting to the house.

I am using a Seagull S6+ Cedar guitar with a K&K Pure Western pickup. I have a SansAmp Acoustic DI but it's not really necessary with this rig. It's a tad boomy on some fequencies but the Sansamp and notch filters can tame this out of existence if need be. Since my guitar has no on board e.q., it is good to use the amp and perhaps a DI of some kind to shape the sound. I was hesitant at first about the digital effects but whn used moderately, they sound very natural and add a lot of variety to the mix. Very true to my guitar's sound yet with a lot of tonal variety available.

Don't know yet. Haven't had it long. Seems well built and sturdy. No cabinet rattles or noises of any kind.

I haven't dealt with Yorkville but they do have a good warranty. I bought it from Murch Music in Canada over the internet. Glenn and his company provided excellent service and a great product. Search them out, it's worth it!

I have been playing for 25 years and also play electrics. I have a number of other guitars and amps. This is an amp I would buy again if lost. I have had other acoustic amps including Fender Acoustasonic Jr, AR Acoustic Proverb, Roland and Peavey (keyboard amps) and have played through Marshall acoustics, SWR Blondes, Crates, and PA systems. I really like this amp. The light weight and excellent sound add up to a great amp.

This is Yorkville's newest incarnation of the 100 watt acoustic amp, so I assume it was made for the 2001 model year. The amp is certainly versatile enough considering the 32 pre-set effects and with bass-mid-trebel-notch filter control on channel 1 only. The second channel only has gain, so one would need expensive electronics to get a good sound out of a guitar here, but it does have a three-prong conection for a microphone which is nice. There is also a effects defeat switch on channel 2, which i wish they also had on channel 1. However you can turn the effects to "dry" to eliminate them or attach a foot-switch at the back to defeat them on channel 1(which i often do).
This is a solid state amp rated at 100 watts (which is more power than i need). As one of the other reviewers stated the line out is
pre-effects, so if you wanted effects you would have to mike the amp.
I don't use the effects when playing in Church anyway, so the pre-effects line out is not a problem. I bought this amp from The Arts in Newmarket. I compared it to the Fender Acoustic 30 and Jr editions. Neither of these amps had the power of the Yorkville, although they did sound nice. This amp was the best deal for the money that I could spend.

Sound is in the ear of the be-holder. The amp does not sound all that
great with a piezzo pickup, but what does? My Ovation Applause comes out very harsh, but improved (tone wise with a Fishman pre-amp).The Seagull 12 string with a Dean Markley pro mag sound hold pick-up sounds very acceptable (also used with the Fishman pre-amp). It would
be nice if the motorola tweeter could be eliminated from the sound mix
(a feature that SWR offers), this could vary the sounds and eliminate some of the brassy harshness. But over-all with a good guitar and pick-up combination you can get acceptable acoustic sounds from this amp. This amp sounds great with my Tele (the second bank of 16 effects which i find too extreme for acoustic, work well with the electic).

This amp seems be well crafted and solid as a rock. It also weighs only 25 pounds. I always use it without back-up, my back-up would be to plug directly into the board at the church. It's a 10 for now as i have only owned it for 4 months.

There's been no need to contact them yet, as the amp is only 4 months old. Their website with downloadable manuals tells me everything I need to know about the amp and the company (long known for it's Traynor line of tube amps). This amp does come with "replace it if you break it warranty"

I have been playing for 26 years and I as stated I own the two
guitars- nothing expensive.I would probably consider a SWR (Strawberry
or California Blonde)if I needed to replace this amp but I would be talking $1400- to $2000 Cdn for those amps and I can't justify that at this time. This amp is well made and priced right for the features
it comes with. The sound rating of 7 is only because it is very difficult the get acoustic expression amplified to sound exactly like
an acoustic guitar, without spending a fortune on either an expensive guitar, expensive electonics or both. I can only go by what I have. The Dean Markley sound hole pick up with the Fishman pre-amp brings a credible acoustic sound out of this amp. I also tried this pick-up with my Ovation (instead of the piezzo) and even this plastic guitar sounded much better. If you can avoid piezzo's or can afford an expensive guitar and pick up sound system you could probaly bring the sound close to a ten. Over-all an excellent well made Amp.

I'm using a studio quality guitar (Lowden 023: handmade and a jumbo) on church stage with this unit mic'd and as a monitor. The effects are decent but hard to adjust while performing-easy to over rotate into wrong sound. WISH it had a line out with effects, so you wouldn't have to mic it!! 100w is way more power then necesary but nice to have

Garbage in garbage out---did I mention my sweet guitar? This amp definitly does justice to my $3,500 guitar investment!!

I've dropped it , hulled it around , and USED it ...very reliable

I understand it has an unlimited warranty

If I could do it over again....man, I wish it had effects on its line out! But hey, for the money....I'd do it all over!!

This amp was manufactured somewhere in Ontario, in 2000 or so. I love this amp for the features it offers. 100 watts. That's huge. 25 lbs. That's light. I haven't come across such a light acoustic amp before. There are 2 channels, the first with L M H controls and notch control for feedback adjustment. The second one has both a high/low input for another instrument or microphone. There are 16 presets for effects, such as flanger, reverb, delay, double, pitch, slap, chorus, and basically a combination of these. I love this feature because I don't have to shell lots of money to get an effects pedal. Only problem is that it's kinda hard to adjust... it's this tiny knob that switches turns, and there's another bank of sounds... there's an effect knob that adjusts wet/dry... but no way to change the degree of the effect .... like delay is set at a specific speed.

This amp has a fuzzy cover, doesn't look too waterproof... but it's damn light. There is one thing I wish this amp had, and that would be a straight out line out for headphone or to a system... there is a line out but it is a mic line out (3 prong... don't know what it's called). I'll give this amp a 9 for being light, powerful and versatile. Oh yeah... did I mention that this baby tilts back like a monitor?I got this amp for a really low low price. I think this amp retails at 459 american, I bought it for 459 canadian. that's like a huge deal. Same goes with my Norman... a Canadian guitar and since I'm from Canada I got some major deals with it.

I play a heavy rhythm for church music, on a Norman B20 active pickup. I actually plug into the 2nd channel and leave the 1st channel to the microphone, because I like to shape the sound of my voice, where the 2nd channel only has gain but my guitar is capable of handling the EQ. I found that I was disatisfed with the sound at first. I initially bought an acoustasonic 30 thinking that it would be the amp of my dreams but it basically fried in 2 days. I returned it to the store and for 3 weeks I took this baby out on loan. I feel in love with the sound, but after some major adjusting and stuff. The tweeter (a motorolla one) I find is a bit harsh, and the effects are digital, so I guess the reverb doesn't sound quite as warm. But then again, this amp has the capability of filling a large room no problem.

The effects are okay. The reverb is a bit twangy and artifical as i said before, but overall it's pretty good.

This amp has been very realible so far (not like my messed up acoustasonic... maybe that was the needle in the haystack or something). Nothing bad has happened at all. Check this out: Yorkville has a 2 year warranty... even if you break it! Wow. That's sweet. So I can drop it down some stairs and they'll fix it. I think that's a realible deal. Of course that would never happen. I am afraid in that it's a bit light and perhaps prone to damage if dropped or jumped on. But tis my baby. I wouldn't do that.

Never dealt with them. But they're like a 20 minute ride from where I am!

I got this amp for a really low low price. I think this amp retails at 459 american, I bought it for 459 canadian. that's like a huge deal. Same goes with my Norman... a Canadian guitar and since I'm from Canada I got some major deals with it.
Overall I'm extremely satisfied with it. It's powerful, it's tilt back, it's got preset effects, 2 channels, and most of all it's only 25 pounds! It was inexpensive... wow... I guess I really like this amp.

This is a 100-watt acoustic amp with two 6.5" woofers and a Motorola tweeter. It has built-in digital multi-effects by A.R.T. and weighs only 25 lbs! It's got two channels, a line out jack, a footswitch jack, and an effects loop. It also has a notch filter on channel one to eliminate feedback. It tilts back for easy access, but can be used upright, too. I wish it had a built-in tuner.

I'm using a Takamine EG3340 acoustic/electric guitar with this amp and I like to play all different types of music. The digital effects include reverb, delay, pitch shifting, chorus, and flanger (hope I didn't miss any). There are two preset banks of 16, with some multi-effect banks with patches including chorus, reverb and delay all in one patch and so on....The effects are very good and add very little if no hiss at all to the signal. This little amp makes my acoustic sound so incredibly full, it's amazing. I'm actually having FUN playing my acoustic again! I'm also able to boost the gain on channel one to get a nice overdrive sound. Of course, it makes my acoustic feed back, but it was worth a try.....

I would definitely gig without a backup. Yorkville has built this amp to last. Since I've had this amp, I've really put it throught every kind of test I could think of. Even at full volume, this little gem ran cool and sounded great. The metal corners and grill with dark blue carpet make it nice to look at and ensure it will last for a long time.

Yorkville includes a two year "Even if you break it" warranty with this product. I don't think I could break it if I tried! My amp (and several others at the store) had this strange glitch where the silkscreened effects selections on the front panel didn't match up with the actual effects that were being added to the signal. I dealt with Tom Keefer at Yorkville (customer service/tech support)and he was very prompt with his e-mail replies. Tom knew what he was talking about and offered to send a free ROM replacement chip to me to correct the problem. This glitch had no effect on the amp's dependability, though.

This is the best acoustic amp I've ever heard, heard of, or owned. IT's the best buit amp I've ever seen or owned. There's nothing to hate about this amp. Believe me, I've searched. Yes, I wish it had a built-in tuner. Even more, I wish Yorkville would make a regular guitar version of this amp with a 12" speaker and distortion. I'd buy it in a second! If this amp were lost or stolen, I'd cry. Then I'd buy another one!