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Fender Acoustasonic 30 Acoustic Guitar Amp

by Larry

Purchased an Acoustasonic a few weeks back because my old Peavy BackStage practice amp finally died and I must say I haven’t been disappointed. A nice little package with enough effects and drive to please most guitarists.

First thoughts:

Fender Acoustasonic 30 DSP Combo Amp with Effects

I was happy to see that the Acoustasonic had the ability to sit on the floor at an angle.  Makes it so much easier to adjust my settings without having to hunch over to see the controls.  I plugged my Seagull S6 in and was impressed with the nice clean sound.  It did feel a bit punchy at times , I’m thinking it was because the LR Baggs system on my Seagull was driving the sound too much.  After working on both the amp and guitar, I found a tone that I liked.  Since I don’t currently play live, I can’t really give an opinion on how it would perform out in the field but it does have a line out so you can plug right in to sound reinforcement.  This makes me think that the possibilities are only limited to the mixer you plug into.  I was also skeptical with the claim that this was specifically designed for acoustic players.  I see that a lot and used to think that was just a gimmick.  To test, I plugged in my Stratocastor and it sounded like crap. I could never get a tone that I liked and eventually gave up after about 15 minutes or so.

The effects are solid and fun to play with.  You get a Vibratone (slow and fast), Chorus, Reverb/Chorus combo, Chorus Delay combo, Delay, Reverb/Delay(combo) and Reverb (hall, room and plate).  The only problem with this is that these are preset channels and if you want to customize your effect or try different combinations, you are out of luck.

Summary:

I love this amp.  It’s small enough to where I can keep it in my living room without getting in trouble and but it’s not wimpy sounding like a lot of practice amps.  If you are in the market for an affordable acoustic guitar amp, the Fender Acoustasonic 30 is worth taking a look at.

Pros:

  • Clean sound and easy to dial in
  • Nice array of effects to play with and can switch between effects quickly
  • Line out for recording and playing live
  • Ability to tilt amp to view controls (helpful on the old back)

Cons:

  • Can’t tweak the effects at all.  This can be a deal breaker for many.
  • My Stratocastor sounds like crap on it. (not really a con, maybe)

Links:

Fenders information regarding the Acoustasonic 30:
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2213300010

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