If this was to be a one word review, that word would simply be ‘superb’! However…… on their website AER describe this excellent entry level amp from the Acoustic series as “Cubello for beginners”, which is disingenuous, to say the least! A beginner probably wouldn’t cop on to the sheer quality of this item. This may be simple and straightforward and basic, but the engineering, design and sound reproduction are at AER’s legendary level. On the instrument channel, using an acoustic steel string guitar with a piezo pickup/undersaddle microphone system, gives a sound as close to the ‘unplugged’ as I’ve ever heard. No DI box needed, straight in, with a touch of the built in reverb and the result was outstanding. Then, using a hollow bodied semi-acoustic with single coil pickups, the sound was equally good; a bit of experimentation with a couple of pedals on the front end (chorus, phaser, flanger, compressor) produced some lovely dreamy soundscapes, still all very clean, exactly what I’m looking for. After playing around with lots of combinations a condenser mic on the 48v channel gave an almost flattering tone to my singing voice! The reverb and echo effects both work well, from short to a medium long. This may be a very no nonsense piece of equipment, but I shall be using this for gigging, without a doubt.
