Pics and review of my Fender Acoustasonic SFX

[DarkHorseJ27]

This is the Acoustasonic that I won off of eBay. I have some time to play around with it, and now I finally have pictures as I got a new USB cord for the digital camera.

 

Features:

Its got two channels. The first channel has Gain, Treble, Middle, Bass, String Dynamics, Feedback Notch, and DSP Send controls. It also has an Insert jack and an Instrument jack. The second channel is the same except it has no String Dynamics Control and it has a phase swtich and an XLR jack for a microphone. For master controls its got SFX level, DSP Return, Master Volume, Output Phase switch and DSP Effects. There are also Signal and Clip lights.

 

The String Dynamics control, according to Fender, controls a dynamic tone shaping filter. Turing it up more is supposed to decrease the harshness at higher volumes and keeps the "crispness" at lower volumes.

 

The SFX feature stands for Stereo Field Expansion. The amp has a sideways mounted speaker in the bottom. The idea is instead of just having sounds shooting out in one direction, you can get up 300 degree area to direct the sound. The SFX knob controls how much of this effect is present.

 

For built-in effects it has several room, hall, and plate reverbs, a few choruses, flangers, and delays. and some reverbed chorus and reverbed delay.

 

Sound:

Overall, it is a rather nice sounding amp once you learn to dial in the tone you want. It accurately reproduces the signal, but is a little bit warmer (but still clear) than other acoustic amps I've tried which I like. The controls are all responsive. The microphone sounds good through it too.

 

The String Dynamics control does what it claims. There isn't a huge difference between 1 and 10 on it, but there is a noticeable difference. I have to say I do like the string dynamic control and would miss it a little if it were gone.

 

I rather like the SFX feature. The more you turn it up the more the sound surrounds you. Position the amp in the right spot in the room and turn the SFX all the way up and it'll sound simply wonderul. The effect becomes a lot more noticeable when you turn up one of the amps built-in effects. However, I don't the SFX feature would be all that useful in a band situation, where being heard in the mix is a higher priority.

 

The built-in effects are better than most built-in effects I've encountered, but they aren't as good as independent pedals. I find myself always having them off, because they overall detract from the tone. Also if using the effects while having the SFX on, the louder you play the more noticeable a high frequency "shimmer" sound becomes. However, if you only use a little of a particular effect (reverb in my case) and your pedal or what have you fails, the on-board effects are good enough to use in an emergency situation.

 

General Observations:

The amp is rated at 80 watts. While it can get fairly loud, its not as loud as you'd expect 80 watts to be. Its probably not going to cut it in a rock band. However, for a guitarist-singer duo or an acoustic or chamber group, it'll have all the volume you'll need and sound great.

 

The amp weighs 65 pounds. While the handle on the side as well as the top helps, it may not be the best amp for those who can't lift much (like my wife, lol) or those with bad backs (my old guitar teacher).

[Michael Martin]

I've used the 30w version, and like it very much, at least in places where it's powerful enough. Sometimes our mando player (it's his) plays through it at small-venue gigs rather than the PA, so can can tweak effects more readily. Nice bright, clean, punchy sound.

[guitarist21]

I've heard that it's not as loud as people expect an amp of that size to be. But I've seen my fair share of coffeehouse-type gigs where the Acoustasonic was the main amplification and it sounded pretty darn good.