Post by Cams on Jun 8, 2016 9:02:39 GMT
I took my beloved Heiner Dreizehnter into Ayr Guitar last week to have them install an Anthem for me. I was expecting simply to drop off the guitar and pick it up a few days later, but they took it behind the curtains, offered me a coffee and started talking guitars. It was great! Owner Simon and I had a lot to talk about and he kept bringing me some of his favourite guitars to try, including a really nice one by Steve Agnew.
Once the pickup was installed and working properly, they gave me a chance to test it out going through an Acus One 5, a neat little amp that sounded great with the new pickup. So I went into pure impulse buy mode and bought the darn thing. It was quite expensive at £399 plus an extra £30 for the gig bag, but they charged me for one hour of labour instead of two (which included a fret polish to mellow out some of the divots) and didn't charge at all for the upright bass I'd brought in for some bridge adjustments and, being an independent retailer myself, I always try to support these kinds of businesses if my budget allows it.
The amp itself has a few shortcomings - no headphone jack being the big one for me, and there's no XLR direct out but there is a balanced 1/4" so it would still work as a monitor to the PA. Not sure whether it's pre or post effects - I'm guessing post.
I haven't put the the anthem through its paces properly yet, but in the short trial I had playing with the Acus amp, I can already see that being able to go all the way to Element pickup with no mic is going to be useful. The Element actually sounds pretty decent on its own. First proper gig is Friday night and another on Saturday. I'm excited to try it out. I think for Saturday we'll be using Acus as our main speaker. New gear is exciting!
Oh, and the reverb on the Acus is really, really nice. If I find myself needing more features, I could see me upgrading to a more fully featured Acus somewhere down the road.
Once the pickup was installed and working properly, they gave me a chance to test it out going through an Acus One 5, a neat little amp that sounded great with the new pickup. So I went into pure impulse buy mode and bought the darn thing. It was quite expensive at £399 plus an extra £30 for the gig bag, but they charged me for one hour of labour instead of two (which included a fret polish to mellow out some of the divots) and didn't charge at all for the upright bass I'd brought in for some bridge adjustments and, being an independent retailer myself, I always try to support these kinds of businesses if my budget allows it.
The amp itself has a few shortcomings - no headphone jack being the big one for me, and there's no XLR direct out but there is a balanced 1/4" so it would still work as a monitor to the PA. Not sure whether it's pre or post effects - I'm guessing post.
I haven't put the the anthem through its paces properly yet, but in the short trial I had playing with the Acus amp, I can already see that being able to go all the way to Element pickup with no mic is going to be useful. The Element actually sounds pretty decent on its own. First proper gig is Friday night and another on Saturday. I'm excited to try it out. I think for Saturday we'll be using Acus as our main speaker. New gear is exciting!
Oh, and the reverb on the Acus is really, really nice. If I find myself needing more features, I could see me upgrading to a more fully featured Acus somewhere down the road.
Jo whoever he is.
