Post by ocarolan on Aug 25, 2021 22:59:44 GMT
Bought one of these a couple of weeks ago -
www.andertons.co.uk/acoustic-dept/acoustic-guitar-amps/laney-a-fresco-a-series-li-ion-battery-powered-acoustic-combo-amp-60w-8-inch-speaker
Not from Andertons though, as they were advertised at the time on Amazon for only £226, which turned out to be something of a bargain as a day after I bought one the price was similar to Andertons and the day after that they were unavailable. Unusual for me to get so lucky on price! The Anderton ad has better pictures though!
I'd been looking at several amps with battery power, most of which were rather too expensive. I wanted something simple for acoustic guitar and voice to use outside - at some of our church services we sing a few songs at the start outside, and in others we do the last one outside. Masked singing is the order of the day inside, and whilst quite doable, it's more fun to sing maskless outside. Rather than running a mains lead out of the buildings (a long way in the church though a short cable run when using the church hall) I reckoned something easily portable and battery powered would be simpler, as well as quick and easy to carry back in or cover up if there should be rain.
The link to the ad tells you pretty much everything you need to know, though doesn't mention or show the pole mount capability.
The unit arrived with only a little charge left in the battery (there is an indicator) but an hour or so plugged in saw it fully charged. I've used it for a couple of hours so far and the indicator is still on the max battery light.
The "mute" button is excellent outside as when the unit is not in use it cuts out wind noise, tuning, instrument changing etc, whilst still allowing the aux input to function eg for interval music.
There are two identical channels and I obviously use one for guitar and the other for microphone. With the shape control engaged and a fair bit of mid-cut, a little bass cut and flat treble my Lowden O25 with K&K minis sounds just fine - a nice acoustic sound. Haven't yet tried other guitars but am hoping it may allow some of the character of different instruments to be apparent in the way that my AER does. The other preset eqs aren't worth messing with for my purposes. The reverb is OK in very small doses and the chorus is dire - that's OK as I'd never use it, and adjusting it is a pain, requiring a button press and the teaking of the reverb control. Weird! I didn't use any effects on this occasion and probably won't, other than maybe a little reverb on voice when i get more used to the unit. The other channel with SM58 plugged in needed little tweaking at all , and it was easy to get a good guitar/vocal balance and then tweak the master volume as necessary. It was possible to use the amp within arm's length to one side without any feedback problems - there is an anti feedback button which can sort out problem frequencies without any intervention - or so it says! Seemed to work though.
It was plenty loud enough be able to lead singing outside for thirty or so distanced people, hence would probably cover more folk if they were closer together. I was well pleased with the ease of set up and the sound. Glyn, some 40 feet away reckoned it was a very natural sound on guitar and voice. The carrying handle is not v comfortable and the amp hangs at an angle from it which can be awkward - my only real gripe - I'd have preferred a "proper" handle placed more sensibly.
I'll be using it again on Sunday - I wonder if the battery level will still be good, or if the charge leaks away over time.
I suppose as I saved £100 on the price of the amp I could use that to fund a battery powered mixer (with XLR inputs) and then Glyn and I could both go through the amp. Hmmmm.....
Keith
www.andertons.co.uk/acoustic-dept/acoustic-guitar-amps/laney-a-fresco-a-series-li-ion-battery-powered-acoustic-combo-amp-60w-8-inch-speaker
Not from Andertons though, as they were advertised at the time on Amazon for only £226, which turned out to be something of a bargain as a day after I bought one the price was similar to Andertons and the day after that they were unavailable. Unusual for me to get so lucky on price! The Anderton ad has better pictures though!
I'd been looking at several amps with battery power, most of which were rather too expensive. I wanted something simple for acoustic guitar and voice to use outside - at some of our church services we sing a few songs at the start outside, and in others we do the last one outside. Masked singing is the order of the day inside, and whilst quite doable, it's more fun to sing maskless outside. Rather than running a mains lead out of the buildings (a long way in the church though a short cable run when using the church hall) I reckoned something easily portable and battery powered would be simpler, as well as quick and easy to carry back in or cover up if there should be rain.
The link to the ad tells you pretty much everything you need to know, though doesn't mention or show the pole mount capability.
The unit arrived with only a little charge left in the battery (there is an indicator) but an hour or so plugged in saw it fully charged. I've used it for a couple of hours so far and the indicator is still on the max battery light.
The "mute" button is excellent outside as when the unit is not in use it cuts out wind noise, tuning, instrument changing etc, whilst still allowing the aux input to function eg for interval music.
There are two identical channels and I obviously use one for guitar and the other for microphone. With the shape control engaged and a fair bit of mid-cut, a little bass cut and flat treble my Lowden O25 with K&K minis sounds just fine - a nice acoustic sound. Haven't yet tried other guitars but am hoping it may allow some of the character of different instruments to be apparent in the way that my AER does. The other preset eqs aren't worth messing with for my purposes. The reverb is OK in very small doses and the chorus is dire - that's OK as I'd never use it, and adjusting it is a pain, requiring a button press and the teaking of the reverb control. Weird! I didn't use any effects on this occasion and probably won't, other than maybe a little reverb on voice when i get more used to the unit. The other channel with SM58 plugged in needed little tweaking at all , and it was easy to get a good guitar/vocal balance and then tweak the master volume as necessary. It was possible to use the amp within arm's length to one side without any feedback problems - there is an anti feedback button which can sort out problem frequencies without any intervention - or so it says! Seemed to work though.
It was plenty loud enough be able to lead singing outside for thirty or so distanced people, hence would probably cover more folk if they were closer together. I was well pleased with the ease of set up and the sound. Glyn, some 40 feet away reckoned it was a very natural sound on guitar and voice. The carrying handle is not v comfortable and the amp hangs at an angle from it which can be awkward - my only real gripe - I'd have preferred a "proper" handle placed more sensibly.
I'll be using it again on Sunday - I wonder if the battery level will still be good, or if the charge leaks away over time.
I suppose as I saved £100 on the price of the amp I could use that to fund a battery powered mixer (with XLR inputs) and then Glyn and I could both go through the amp. Hmmmm.....
Keith
but they also have volumes and probably use cheaper components. 
