you really can't beat a Roland ac60. I had one for years. it is incredibly versatile. I put a vocal mic through it, played music at a braai and so on. really good. my only regret is not taking the ac90 instead for that extra bit of bottom end. the other amps do not sound good to me, unless you get an AER or one of those expensive things... now I just play through a JC120 and it sounds awesome, so also look at clean electric guitar amps, or perhaps get a small PA or monitor and a DI box, that works too...

I never really got on with the Roland ACs, IMO you really need the extension speaker (which isn't being imported apparently) to get a decent frequency range and they are not very natural sounding. They are also relatively expensive for what they are. However, they do what Roland does well, decent,well thought-out working kit that is bomb-proof. Nice reverb and chorus too.

The AER is everything I look for in an acoustic amp - a natural acoustic tone, tons of headroom but way too expensive.

The SWR Blondes are also overly expensive and have a bit of a hyped sound that means they work really well in a band setting, but aren't very natural sounding. Spring reverb too, which I'm really not a fan of for acoustic sounds.

I quite liked the Ibanez Troubadour amps - inexpensive, eminently portable and fairly natural sounding.

The Laneys surprised me with how natural they sounded for the money - even the smallest one sounded great, but I didn't like the reverb on any of them (spring again).

I was also thinking of the Ibanez as I have heard a few good reports on them. I shall try and get to demo one soon. I thought of a decent quality, used powered monitor like a JBL EON10 as well but unfortunately they are not cheap aven now.

I noticed a used ZT Acoustic Amp on Musicians Friend a while ago as well but have not heard one either and they are also a little more expenisve, even used.

RoyC wrote: I was also thinking of the Ibanez as I have heard a few good reports on them. I shall try and get to demo one soon. I thought of a decent quality, used powered monitor like a JBL EON10 as well but unfortunately they are not cheap aven now.

I noticed a used ZT Acoustic Amp on Musicians Friend a while ago as well but have not heard one either and they are also a little more expenisve, even used.

Keira tried the ZT amps and owns the electric one, I think. They sound ok, but really need an extension cab IMO. The stock speaker takes a beating with all that power behind it.

aja wrote:

RoyC wrote: I was also thinking of the Ibanez as I have heard a few good reports on them. I shall try and get to demo one soon. I thought of a decent quality, used powered monitor like a JBL EON10 as well but unfortunately they are not cheap aven now.

I noticed a used ZT Acoustic Amp on Musicians Friend a while ago as well but have not heard one either and they are also a little more expenisve, even used.

Keira tried the ZT amps and owns the electric one, I think. They sound ok, but really need an extension cab IMO. The stock speaker takes a beating with all that power behind it.

Keira uses the acoustic lunchbox with no cab.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/amps-speakers-and-valves/zt-amplifiers-i%27m-suitably-impressed-no-impressed-in-fact-blown-away/

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/youtube-guitar-videos/keira-witherkay-%27-live-%27zt-amplifier-soundvideo-clips/

I have been GASsing for one of these for a while but I figure I need to get a better acoustic first

I have an ibanez troubadour 15 watt from a few years ago (not the current generation one) and it is very nice for the price.
I used to jam extensively with a guy who had an AER compact 60, and while the Ibanez was clearly not in the same league, it
was not as far behind as the R10000+ price difference ?

If I were buying again I would have no reservations as at all in buying another of these amps, however, if I had the money to throw around, I would have an AER in a heartbeat.

I used and gigged with a Troubadour during Aardklop, they took the amps direct out to the mixer.

The sound guys was very impressed by it, so I would recommend it as well, sure there are better acoustic amps, but for the price you can't beat it.

Just one thing about the Troubadours - It's not mentioned in the documentation, but they have built-in, preset limiting/compression that comes in to play when you push them hard and start running out of headroom. While it's pretty transparent - although not so transparent that I couldn't tell it was there - you can't bypass it or make any setting changes. So if you're not a fan of compression or limiting, make sure you get a big enough one that you have plenty of headroom for what you are doing with it.