Decent Acoustic Amp for CBGs?

I'm looking for a very clean sounding acoustic amp to use with the CBGs I build (all piezo-pickups so far), as well as my violin (also piezo- L.R. Baggs pickup/bridge combo), and other acoustic instruments.

I have a number of amps that give me all the distorted sounds I could ever want, so I'm not looking for anything to get that bluesy, distorted, "Trashmo" sound that most folks seem to shoot for with CBGs - got that covered with other equipment. Right now, I'm looking for something relatively lightweight, not too big, very clean sounding (plus no hiss). I'd also like built-in reverb, good EQ, feedback control. A mic input would be a plus, as would chorus, but not required. It would be great if it worked well with piezos without an external pre-amp.

In other words, an self-contained amp that works really well to give a clean sound, even an "enhanced" clean sound, with piezos. Is this an impossible dream?

This would mostly be for playing at home, but also for jamming and playing some smallish venues. I was looking at 12-15W acoustic practice amps, but then realized that a lot of times I'm the only melody instrument playing with anywhere from 2 - 10 drummers. (hand drums, but still ...). So I've upped my power requirements to about 30W.

I've been looking at the Crate CA30 or CA35 online, and also the Kustom Sienna 30. Does anyone have any experience with these? Or other recommendations?

Thanks!

- Mike

Yes, you're right about not wanting to spend much. This started off as wanting basically a small practice amp that would sound better with my CBGs and my violin than the ones I have, then evolved to wanting something smaller and lighter than my keyboard amp (which is clean and has plenty of power - 100W RMS, but heavy - and needs the pre-amp when I use it with piezos, so it means carrying extra stuff around), that I could also take to smaller sorts of things.

I looked at the Crate and Kustom 15 Watt acoustic practice amps, just to use in my living room, and was going to get one of those, but then I realized that I could get a 30 Watt amp for just a little more, and that it would give me more headroom, and that might be ok to take out to jam sometimes. As a data point, nowadays I usually play with a couple of drummers - usually two doumbeks or a doumbek and a riq (which is a kind of middle-eastern tambourine), usually in a relatively small space. Sometimes there's somebody playing guitar or oud or clarinet in addition to the percussion. When I play larger venues (not much nowadays, I'm sorry to say), I have a lot of other amplification options. I really just wanted something in between unplugged and one of my bigger amps or a PA.

I want to thank everyone who replied to my question - I pulled the trigger on the Kustom Sienna 30 last night from Guitar Center. They have a 30-day return policy with no questions asked, as long as the item isn't damaged. I should have it in a few days, and I'll try it out. I'll post a review here, in case anyone's interested.

Replies

Damon April 23, 2014 at 1:26am

The acoustic series by crate has a built in circuit that helps with the impedance of piezo amplifiers, I got a vintage crate ca30 from goodwill for 30 bucks, works great!

My backup to that would be my fender mustang amp with a setup that I fiddled about with for a few months.

A preamp as noted by else all will help, but a pedal might work too.

Bananas!
John Sawyer April 23, 2014 at 1:17am

Go check out your local Pawn shops... they normally have lots of amps, and most will haggle...
Slowpaw Steve T April 12, 2014 at 12:05pm

You should look at a Marshall ASD50D - it is plenty loud for live and has a built in feedback reducer control for piezos, they aren't cheap but second hand ones often come up on eBay (-:
Muddy Creek Guitars April 12, 2014 at 10:52am

I love my Roland Micro Cube amp!
Is battery powered or plug in, great for playing outside. Sounds great with my piezo disc pickups. Has on board effects. Got mine on eBay for $65.00 including shipping. I have seen them new for about $140.00
good luck!
BrianQ. March 31, 2013 at 1:13pm

I have this same deluxe reverb michael & I have to turn the volume on my guitar down quite a bit to get it clean,so I know where yer comin' from. Search Fender Acoustasonic Amps. they come from 15W-200Watts w/ built in FX & dual channels. You'll be able to find a nice one for under $300 used. I've got this Acoustasonic 30: 30W per channel-80W RMS-spring reverb plus FX, great for coffee shops n small clubs & it's shaped like a slant back monitor so it has great sound projection.XLR inputs to boot.I've seen em' go for about$199 used. hope this helps! Happy Strummin'
bemuzic March 31, 2013 at 9:08am

I recently got one of these and I think it's great value for money. It's 60 watt, light and has chorus and reverb and an XLR mic input. I'm really pleased with it http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Fishman_Loudbox_Mini_Acoustic_Guita...
Scott aka Farmer Ted March 31, 2013 at 9:04am

The Ibanez Troubadour T35 or T80 has a great setup. @ channel, mic inputs (2) w/ phantom power, chorus, reverb, phase inverter (for feedback control), aux-in for MP3, and under $300.
ChickenboneJohn March 31, 2013 at 8:42am

If you are looking at Crate and Kustom, then presumably you are looking to not spend much? Unfortunately, this isn't a good scenario with acoustic amps - with only 30W you've got very little 'headroom' before the amp and speaker will start distorting. I've not used many acoustic amps..I have used the Marshall 50W acoustic combo..they are relatively cheap (around $400 I think) but I'm not really sold on them...compared to something something decent like a Trace Elliot ($1000 plus). Instead of a cheap acoustic amp you'd probably be better with a cheap PA.

I bought a couple of Behringer B210B active speakers and use a 2nd hand $30 4-channel Behringer minidesk..plenty of punch and a decent clean sound. You can actually buy just one speaker ($200) and plug direct into the unit with no desk..it's got built in volume, treble and bass..and 200 watts. PA amps and speakers are designed to give much flatter cleaner response than guitar amps.
- Michael Recchione > ChickenboneJohn March 31, 2013 at 12:43pm
  
  Yes, you're right about not wanting to spend much. This started off as wanting basically a small practice amp that would sound better with my CBGs and my violin than the ones I have, then evolved to wanting something smaller and lighter than my keyboard amp (which is clean and has plenty of power - 100W RMS, but heavy - and needs the pre-amp when I use it with piezos, so it means carrying extra stuff around), that I could also take to smaller sorts of things.
  
  I looked at the Crate and Kustom 15 Watt acoustic practice amps, just to use in my living room, and was going to get one of those, but then I realized that I could get a 30 Watt amp for just a little more, and that it would give me more headroom, and that might be ok to take out to jam sometimes. As a data point, nowadays I usually play with a couple of drummers - usually two doumbeks or a doumbek and a riq (which is a kind of middle-eastern tambourine), usually in a relatively small space. Sometimes there's somebody playing guitar or oud or clarinet in addition to the percussion. When I play larger venues (not much nowadays, I'm sorry to say), I have a lot of other amplification options. I really just wanted something in between unplugged and one of my bigger amps or a PA.
  
  I want to thank everyone who replied to my question - I pulled the trigger on the Kustom Sienna 30 last night from Guitar Center. They have a 30-day return policy with no questions asked, as long as the item isn't damaged. I should have it in a few days, and I'll try it out. I'll post a review here, in case anyone's interested.
Ron "Oily" Sprague March 30, 2013 at 2:29pm

Roland Stereo Mobile Cube. Separate mic and git channels, 6 AA batts or wall wart, strap knobs for busking, tone and vol controls, reverb / delay, clean / crunch / overdrive, aux in for MP3 player. I have personally used mine without sound reinforcement ( no PA!) in front of 1000 people. $178 at GC. My piezo CBGs work fine through it wbith no pre amp, although a pre will give you a better signal. This is my main practice amp. The clean is clean, no hiss on batts.

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