Roland AC 60 
by Paul Oswald from Kalamazoo Michigan USA, May 2008
Music Background:  Hobbyist .. And, Student

This is One Great Acoustic Amp, I kid you Not. It is well worth the price because the Value is uncomparable.
I would Buy it again and it would be from Sweetwater

  Natural Amplification! 
by PJ from Evans City, PA, October 2007
Music Background:  35 years vocal and guitar (still trying to get it right!)

I bought my AC/60 about 2 years ago, and I'm amazed at the natural sound it produces. I own a Taylor with the Expression System and a Breedlove 12 with an LR Baggs Dual Element system, and both sound equally refreshing through the AC/60; it's like a natural extension of the guitar's true sound only amplified! By itself it won't fill up a concert hall or auditorium, but don't let its size fool you. It's adaptable and can handle any medium to small venue that you might throw at it. Before you spend more or less of your hard earned cash, take a good long hard look at this little gem.

  Try it with an archtop 
by Dave Clark from San Francisco, CA, November 2006
Music Background:  Hobbyist

I bought this amp because I was getting tired hauling larger units to small gigs. Its portability is everything I'd hoped for, and the case is quite good. What really surprised me, though, is that my archtop sounds much better with this amp than with any other I've tried (acoustic or otherwise). I've had lots of compliments on the sound from guitarists and non-guitarists alike. It has ample power for (amplified) jazz jam sessions and small venues. A truly excellent product!

  Roland AC60 
by Keith from Connecticut, October 2006
Music Background:  Gigging musician

Our band has used this amp as a PA in small venues for 2 years. Rarely does one of us just plug directly into it. When we do, we keep the settings flat and use the onboard preamps on our acoustic-electrics to adjust levels. Rarely do we use the (great sounding) chorus feature or the reverb settings. Most of the time, via an 8 channel submixer, we have 2 guitars, a miked violin, a miked mandolin and up to 3 vocals coming through this amp. The vocals are clean and all the instruments are discretly recognizable. This was not the intended purpose of this amp - but it shows that it's not limited to the role of a coffee house amp for a single guitar and vocal. We've used a Fender Rumble 60 as a subwoofer which takes it to another level. Its acoustic sound equals or betters any other acoustic amp I've heard or used. The bonus is the way it doubles as a PA, and audience members and sitting-in musicians have commented on how well it fills that role. One hint - elevating it off the stage is critical for the PA role, so the built in pole mount is a big plus - and the small size is a big convenience. If we had two of these, our regular PA might not see much work!

  Light on the Wallet, Sweet on the Ears... 
by MacSong from New Hampshire, August 2006
Music Background:  40 years of playing professionally

For years, I plugged electrified acoustics into my Roland Jazz 77 with mixed results. Finally, with the deluge of new acoustic guitar-specific amps hitting the area retailers, I decided seek out a worthy replacement. After comparing several amps, I selected the AC-60, and it was an easy choice. The amp and drivers are very well matched for the application. And for small, intimate venues you can probably get away with this amp alone, and a mic.
I even had a chance to compare the AC-60 with the AER Compact 60, and while I'd give a slight edge to the AER in sound quality, at twice the price of the AC-60, I'd be hard-put to justify the additional expense. Numerically, It'd be like comparing a "95" out of 100, to a "98" out of 100 -- almost too little to quibble about. The Roland is a bargain -- one of the few out there.

  Full, Rich Sound 
by Nathan C. from Martinez, CA, July 2006
Music Background:  Semi-pro musician (guitar, mandolin, bass, oud, percussion)

I bought this amp to use at a restaurant gig, where I was playing a variety of acoustic instruments. Although the sound was good, I did have some problems getting enough power to reach across the room on very noisy nights. Otherwise, though, as a rehearsal amp or a stage amp with a direct out to a PA system, this amp is dynamite! I'm currently using it to play electric oud with a Middle-Eastern band. The high end tends to be a bit crunchy, but it does cut through. The bass sounds really smooth and deep for such little speakers. The reverb and chorus are nice, but I'd like a bit more control in the settings; I'd especially like a longer delay. I like having all of the input and output options. The carrying case is nice but it needs a handle in addition to the shoulder strap - the amp is just a bit too heavy for my shoulders to take for long. Compared to its competition, this is a great little amp, with a small footprint, lots of nice features, and great sound.

Huge Sound, Tiny Package 
by L. MacLearn from New Hampshire, USA, January 2005

I just purchased the AC-60 two days ago, after a long bit of reflection regarding my Jazz Chorus 77 -- a workhorse I've used since '87. While I play both acoustic and electric, I felt I needed a cleaner, more natural amp when playing my Taylor and Guild acoustics. The JC77 has been a great little amp, both for small club gigs and recording, but it wasn't designed for acoustic guitar. And because I already own a Fender Blues Junior, and a Vox AC-30 for electric guitar work, I went to my local music gear dealer, looking for a dedicated acoustic guitar am and ended up comparing two amps. My criteria was: a) It had to be small and reasonably light, and b) It had to be a dedicated acoustic guitar amp, that sounded great in as many applications as possible (i.e., studio, practice, live venue). So, I A/B'd it against the Behringer ACX-1000, for purposes of comparison.

The behringer was a little cheaper, a good piece larger, and a little heftier in amp specs, but the disparity in sound quality was immediately apparent and striking. Where the Behringer sounded flat, and lacking across the entire dynamic range, the Roland sounded rich and authentically 'acoustic'. I tend to use chorus quite a bit, and Roland produces one of the best you're likely to hear, and has for many years.

What I didn't expect was to hear so broad and rich a sound coming from two 6.5" drivers. Totally amazing. The feature set includes a second mic channel, complete with phantom power, so that you actually use the unit as a small solo sound system in smaller venues that might fit, say 50-75 people.

There are several patch jacks as well, so you can patch to a sub-woofer, or line out to a larger PA board.

Shortcomings: The onboard reverb is sub-standard, in my opinion, and is adjustable for depth (amount) only. To my ear, it's a 'room' sized reverb, where I tend to prefer large hall reverbs, mixed wayyyyyy back against the direct signal. Also, given the cheesy, ill-defined reverb, they should've provided an effects loop so that you could add your own effects -- but didn't. After a few minutes fruitlessly trying to dial in a decent reverb sound, I chose, instead, to go from guitar to a Microverb, and from Microverb out, to the input on the AC-60 guitar channel.

Bottom Line: Roland has many times over proven their ability to innovate and subsequently create quality products for bedroom players and world-wide tour-de-forces, alike. The AC-60, while targeted at the coffee house performer, is a true sleeper. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Jimmy Page in front of 20,000 fans using an AC-60 for the 12-string prologue to 'Stairway'. It sounds that good.

Write Your Own Review!
We all love gear, and we all love talking about gear with our friends and bandmates. Why not share your thoughts with the hundreds of thousands of customers who regularly visit Sweetwater.com? Write your own customer review on this product! To begin, just Click Here!