• it is what it says it is

  
  As reviewed by Dillon on 12/3/2010

  this is an amp for acoustic basses and preamped uprights. In that role this amp performs masterfully. I use it with my 4 horn combo, and it clearly cuts through and catches all of the subtle nuances of my upright bass. Can be used for a smaller venue with a few other musicians and a drum set. We have two saxes a trumpet a trombone and a drummer, and I never have problems being heard or being overly loud. Overall, great value, but know what you're buying. This is not an amp for multiple FX and any kind of distortion. It's not marketed that way either. Read the label guys.

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• Easy to use, sounds good, great value

  
  As reviewed by Roy on 7/25/2011

  I bought this AB50 to use with my Boos RC-50 loopstation. It really brings out the bass while still protecting the highs with its 2 inch tweeter. Much better freq response range than regular acoustic guitar amp. I took my RC-50 into Guitar Center and tried it with several amps (some other acoustics and one Fishman near this price range). The AB50 sounded better by far. The Fishman micro was good even on bass, until you turned it up to performance volumes. It's 6 inch speaker could not keep up with the real bass woofer and amp in the AB50. After my purchase, the blue pilot light went out on my AB50 - I think this may have been due to a powersurge in a thunderstorm, but not positive. Guitar Center replaced the AB50 with a new one because my purchase was so recent. I have had no problems with the replacement and I did put it on a surge protector which I had not with the first one. I dedudcted a point from my rating becasue I suspect the AB50 power supply is not protected as well as other equipment. I guess they have to save money somewhere to hit this price point. I also love the angle amp so you can use it as a monitor onstage. It's a great value and I love it overall.

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• Great practice combo!

  
  As reviewed by Jack Clark on 12/22/2010

  Unlike some of the other reviewers, I actually use my Acoustic AB50 as it was meant to be used: as a practice combo with an acoustic bass. In my case, it's a highly-modified upright guitarr?n tuned E1-A1-D2-G2-C3-F3, which is redesigned to play double bass blues and jazz lines. This small combo is everything I need for practice, and I have no doubt that it would work well as a small-venue amp, too. (Although I never play rock music so I'd never have to compete with a slam-bam drummer.) It has features that I like very much, including: transparent sound, two dual-purpose combination high/lo impedance input jacks with separate volume controls (great for use with teacher/student or with a separate mic), an 1/8" input that allows you to play and accompany mp3 play-alongs (which you easily can make from play-along CDs), an 1/8" headphone jack, a comfortable strap-handle, rock-sturdy construction, and very simple operation. It also has several features that are not available on its sister combo, the Acoustic B20: a tight 10" speaker combined with a 2" tweeter (which make the soloist, chord player, and ride cymbal in play-alongs sound very good), a 1/4" output, tilt-back design, removable power cord, and a bit more power. It has a 3-band EQ (compared to a 4-band EQ for the B20), which I find to be perfectly adequate. (I use a 3-band EQ pre-amp with it anyway.) I originally thought that my AB50 buzzed when I played a G, Ab, or A, but that turned out to be because I had placed it badly in the room--much too close to some furniture. Changing its position eliminated any such problem. I was able to try out the AB50 at my local Guitar Center (San Bernardino) before I purchased. I was concerned that a bass combo might not reproduce the ride cymbal, soloist, and chord player very well in play-alongs, but I played an mp3 play-along through it in the store and it sounded great--as did an acoustic bass I plugged into it. I purchased from that store. For what it is and for what it's for--the Acoustic AB50 unquestionably rates 5 stars.

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