I love it! :-)
I bought this amplifier about two years ago, and have used it on countless gigs, jam sessions, and rehearsals, since. The sound is clean and pristine. It’s extremely quiet! It comes with a padded nylon case! The chorus is amazing – but Roland has always been famous for this, so I wasn’t too surprised by this. I’m playing an Alvarez AD-CK60 dreadnaught with a recently-installed Baggs ibeam Active pickup. People are always giving me compliments on my plugged-in sound. I only have two gripes about the unit:
1) The AC-60 (While it does have very beautiful-sounding chorus and digital reverb effects built-in) does not have an effects loop. I’ve resorted to using a BOSS GT-3 processor and coming straight into the external stereo ¼-inch inputs in the back of the amp (I use a lot of effects, and this setup gives me the most control of the overall sound, although I lose the anti-feedback feature, wiring it up this way, since it essentially turns the amp into a powered stereo speaker system – which is not a bad thing. You can still use the two inputs on the front end, to play other instruments – or an instrument and a microphone through it as well – a very nice touch. Kudos to Roland for this added flexibility). I also use an Aphex 1401 Exciter, and a Baggs Para Acoustic D.I. and the combination of these units is fantastic. I can pretty much dial in anything, now. I finally have the tone I’ve been looking for, for years. It’s unbelievable; the amount of beautiful, big clean sound that comes out of this tiny amp.
2) It would be nice to have individual control of the reverb/delay mix over each of the two channels, rather than a master effect knob. The chorus effect is defeatable on each of the two channels; but If you dial in a bunch of reverb to use on the guitar channel, for instance, you’re pretty much stuck with that same reverb mix for the microphone channel as well.
I use this same setup, with the addition of a microphone, and/or or a secondary instrument plugged into the open front-end channel inputs, when I go to my monthly songwriting group meetings (At which time, that little amp serves as a portable p.a. system), and it works beautifully. Love the built-in phantom power! There are many different ways (other than the non-existent effects loop) to patch stuff into or out of this amp (for external footswitches, dedicated tuner out, subwoofer out, RCA plugs for a little CD player, or whatever - etc.). I love the flexibility it has, this way. I would wholeheartedly recommend the AC-60 to anyone who plays out regularly and is considering a nice, reasonably priced acoustic amp that won’t make you feel like you’re going to get a hernia every time you go to move it.
One would not expect earth-shattering volumes to come out of this amp; but it does put out plenty of volume, for its size – and you can always the use the built-in D.I.s, to plug into a p.a. system, or even record directly into a board, if you want. If you use the EQ wisely, you can dial in a pretty respectable sound out of it. If you play a plugged-in acoustic instrument, definitely get a dedicated acoustic amp. You won’t be sorry.
Reviewed by David on 1/18/2008 who plays A little bit of eveything..
23 people found this review helpful.
1 person found this review unhelpful.
