Posted past Adam Perlmutter

Fender had long been a revered name in electrical guitar amplification when the company introduced its Acoustasonic line of acoustic guitar amplifiers in the mid-1990s. These first-class-sounding, smartly priced models finally granted audio-visual guitarists admission to what electric players enjoyed about Fender amps: consistently bully sound in roadworthy packages. Building on the success of this line, Fender recently unveiled two new Acoustasonic combos, the 100 and the 150, both of which cram an impressive smorgasbord of features into pocket-sized packages. We auditioned the higher-powered of the pair, the 150.

Compact, Lightweight Power

Fender-Acoustasonic-150For an amp of its power, 150 watts (ii x 75), the Acoustasonic 150 is super lightweight, a mere 22.5 pounds. It's also adequately compact at virtually 16 inches high by 10 inches deep past 22 inches wide. At a glance, the handsome amplifier—with its tan tolex covering and brown control panel housing dark-brown knobs with white pointers—could be mistaken for an early 1960s Fender philharmonic. Another vintage-inspired bear on is a pair of metal tilt-dorsum legs, which tin can exist used to increase project.

The layout of the control panel is nicely straightforward. At left, at that place'south a 1/4-inch instrument input, followed by a book control; a feedback-elimination push button; treble, middle, and bass controls; and a quartet of knobs that control the amp's Voicing, String Dynamics, and effects types and level. The configuration is similar on the right side of the panel, just it excludes the Voicing and String Dynamics controls and swaps a combined 1/4-inch/XLR jack with phantom power (+15 VDC) for the one/4-inch input. In addition, the right side has a mute button that bypasses the sound of the amp—perfect for tuning or changing guitars without having to fuss with the volume level.

On the rear panel is the amp'south ability switch; a balanced XLR output with adaptable level, for connecting to sound-reinforcement equipment, a must for playing in larger venues; a stereo furnishings loop; and a USB port for computer connectivity, handy for straight recording applications and for when Fender introduces firmware updates for the amp.

Although all of these controls brand the 150 more flexible than well-nigh of its predecessors, the new amp does away with a pretty handy feature: an auxiliary input RCA jack, which on earlier versions could be used for attaching a CD or MP3 role player. Just that's a pretty small complaint about an amp that is and so rich in other features.

Clarity and Command

To assess the Acoustasonic 150'southward sonic abilities, I plugged in a Martin DC-28E with Fishman Aura electronics and set the tone controls apartment and the Voicing knob to Pure Amp, thereby coloring the sound as petty as possible. At depression volume, I was immediately struck past the 150's presence and its realistic, rich sound. Information technology had plenty of depth and clarity and the amp was naturally resistant to feedback. Cranking the volume up revealed an impressive corporeality of headroom, more than enough to fill up a medium-size club. Predictably, the Martin did issue a chip of howling at college volume levels, but the Feedback Emptying button attenuated the irksome sound every bit promised, and the String Dynamics knob tamed a hint of harshness on the high cease.

Not only does the 150 have a splendid basic sound, information technology provides plenty of soundshaping possibilities. The Voicing control, which is new to the Acoustasonic serial, allows you to choose betwixt several different modeling-based acoustic sounds—the Pure Amp that I tried first, forth with Parlor, Dreadnought, and Jumbo. The latter two settings have four discrete notches each for further tonal variations. The Parlor and Jumbo settings did a fairly decent task of transforming the audio of the Martin, a dreadnought, into the sound one expects from those unlike body types. In an unaccompanied context these voicings probably wouldn't fool a discriminating listener, merely they would be perfect for a performing acoustic guitarist who wants to avoid bringing a battery of instruments to a band gig.

The Voicing knob can likewise transform the 150 into a modeling electric amplifier with Blackface, Tweed, and British settings, patterned after vintage Fender and Marshall amp sounds. To try out these selections, I plugged in a Gibson ES-335. While the 150 wouldn't replace a prized sometime valve amp, the sounds were very good. The Blackface offers a sweet, clean sound reminiscent of a mid-1960s Fender combo, while at the other stop of the spectrum, the British delivers a warm singing distortion typical of a cranked Marshall stack—tones perfect for an acoustic guitarist who doubles on electric but doesn't desire to accept to schlep 2 divide rigs to a gig. Equally a bonus, the acoustic voicings gave the ES-335 a more than subdued and woodier audio. A minor drawback: these settings are not footswitchable, so if you've got audio-visual and electric guitars at the gig, you'll need to alter amp settings manually.

The 150'due south loftier-quality digital effects include vibrato, chorus, reverb, and delay, alone and paired in various combinations. All sound pleasingly lush for both acoustic and electric guitar. The Reverb + Chorus 1 lent a dainty shimmer to some fingerpicked arpeggios I played on the Martin while the Vibratone 1 (tedious) setting added a gentle warble to some chordal riffing on the Gibson. The only potential drawback to the effects is that y'all can merely adjust the level. A role player could, for instance, modify the intensity of the delay merely can't set the effect to arrange to a song'southward tempo. This shouldn't be a problem for players looking to subtly shape their sounds with effects; for guitarists requiring greater adjustability, the effects loop makes it easy to add dedicated external devices.

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Sophisticated Tone-Shaper

The Acoustasonic 150 takes Fender's acoustic amp serial to exciting new places with its comprehensive selection of sonic tools. Players who but wish to make their guitars louder will appreciate the amp's robust basic sound, while those with more than sophisticated amplification needs will delight in the new features, peculiarly the Voicing event, which makes information technology possible to both simulate the sounds of the most common acoustic body types and double on electrical guitar using decent sonic replications of archetype tube-powered amplifiers. In other words, the Acoustasonic 150 recommends itself to acoustic-electric players of all stripes.

SPECS:150 watts (2 10 75). Separate instrument (i/4-inch input) and mic (i/4-inch/XLR combined input) channels with contained treble, mid, and bass controls and effects sections, including reverb, filibuster, chorus, and vibrato. Two viii-inch woofers with cloth environment. One high-frequency tweeter. Feedback elimination control; Cord Dynamics control for calming strident treble notes; Voicing control for simulating parlor, dreadnought, or colossal steel-string; Greasepaint, Tweed, and British amp models for electric guitarists (all on instrument channel). XLR line out with level control and ground lift. xv volts phantom ability on mic channel. Stereo effects loop. USB connector. Five-ply hardwood cabinet with vinyl covering and tilt-dorsum legs. Optional two-button effects control footswitch. 22.five pounds. Made in Indonesia.

PRICE:$649.99 list/$499.99 street.

MAKER:Fender: (480) 596-7195 fender.com.