Fishman SoloAmp

Contrary to what intuition may suggest (tall, thin speakers must produce a tall, thin sound?), line array speakers actually have a very limited vertical dispersion combined with wide horizontal dispersion, so you get more sound into your audience and less wasted on the ceiling or floor, in this case all from a single unit. Also counter to first impressions is the depth of bass that can be reproduced, because in a small cabinet you actually get a more extended low end from a small driver than a large one. Small drivers move less air than large ones, so there's obviously less volume, but as this system teams up six cone drivers, a reasonable sound level can be projected with a good impression of bass — certainly enough to sound convincing with the most resonant of Dreadnought guitars or to do justice to your iPod during breaks. That, in turn, means you don't need a separate sub, making the system truly portable.

Mechanically, the column has a perforated metal grille front with the tweeter mounted halfway up the driver array, vinyl-covered sides and an extruded aluminium rear panel with a central carrying handle. The end caps are plastic mouldings, though the socket into which the mounting pole fits is metal and considerably deeper than on most box-shaped speakers, so it is very secure. The amp and its controls are built into the bottom end of the column and recessed to keep them safe in transit.

Amp and stand pack up into the supplied padded bag equipped with roller wheels at one end, where the stand fits into its own piggyback compartment. Fishman have powered the system from a universal-voltage, switch-mode power supply, so it can be used anywhere in the world by simply finding the right mains plug adaptor for the country you're in.

All the controls are on the front, as are the mic and line input connectors, so the designers obviously envisage you using the SoloAmp behind you off to one side, rather than in front. This is certainly practical when amplifying guitar and even vocals at a modest level, as the wide dispersion helps improve the feedback situation when compared with a 'normal' speaker setup. But even so, you can still get a higher level before feedback with the speaker forward of the mic, so this is the safest option in situations where you need a lot of vocal level. The rear panel is also pretty busy with monitor inputs and outputs on XLRs, separate effects loop send and returns on jacks for each of the two main channels, and a balanced DI Out for each channel as well as a further Mix DI output, which may be used to feed a further powered speaker or FOH mixer. Fishman have also included a jack for linking a tuner to channel 1 and a footswitch Mute socket, but oddly no reverb kill footswitch facility. A preset pot with a 6dB range can be used to adjust the tweeter level to taste, while power comes in on an IEC socket with an adjacent rocker power switch.

Being critical, the system can sound just slightly boxy in the lower mid-range when used to play pre-recorded music with bass and drums, but there's no trace of this when amplifying vocals and acoustic guitar. The simple three-band EQ works well for general tone shaping, and the Anti-feedback control can help you squeeze a few more decibels out of the system before feedback occurs, but at the expense of its notch filter changing the tone slightly. This can be useful, though, if you have an acoustic guitar that wants to feed back at the body's resonant frequency, and because each channel has its own feedback control, fixing the guitar won't compromise the vocals.

One issue I did encounter when testing the unit at home was a low, but still noticeable level of background hum, even with nothing connected and all the level controls including the master turned down. Turning up the Master Volume knob actually caused the hum to reduce to a minimum at a point around one quarter of the way round, then it increased again, suggesting that there may be an internal grounding issue. You wouldn't hear this at a typical pub venue with an audience, as our subsequent practical 'pub gig duo' test confirmed, but any audible hum is irritating on a product of this quality and it is the only thing that marred an otherwise flawless performance.

For the duo or solo artist playing pubs, the Fishman SoloAmp has a lot to offer and can be used in different ways at different venues. We used it to carry the vocals and to augment the acoustic guitar already amplified via a Fishman Loudbox, while the aux input took a mono feed from my Roland VG-99 for 12-string guitar and pad-like effects. It handled this without any apparent effort.

When packed, the bag fits easily across the inside of most hatchbacks, taking up barely more space than just the stands for a regular PA. A duo using two of them could handle larger gigs and also make use of the monitor-linking facility so that both performers come out of both speakers to the desired extent. This also applies if the other system is a Fishman Loudbox. Of course, this facility may be less useful in a monitoring context if you have to set up the speakers well in front of you to avoid feedback, but where the amps are being used as backline, it can really help.

Driving a second powered PA speaker from the mixer DI output also provides a practical means of increasing the power and coverage of the SoloAmp if you don't want to use a separate PA system, so although the SoloAmp itself isn't exactly cheap with an RRP little short of £1100, it can be expanded quite economically. As a concept, the line-array amplifier is extremely effective and I'm sure we'll soon see the springs on the bandwagon start to sag as more people jump aboard.  0