Best amp/small PA for Acoustic Guit + Vocal Mic

[des0free]

What amp or small PA would be good for playing acoustic guitar and singing around a living room with friends or small house party with a group of friends listening, sometimes to be accompanied by drum set (assuming drummer is not a super-loud maniac). Desired features would be:

- Ability to plug in two mics, for guitar and vocal, or one mic + acoustic/electric pickup, while also playing backing tracks on an ipod
- Separate volume, tone, and reverb controls for vocal and guitar channels
- Feedback resistant, hopefully without needing extra carefully placed "monitors" (can I place speakers behind me?)
- Decent volume for playing with drummer, without being insanely heavy (reasonably portable, <40 lbs??)
- Would also sound passable when plugging in electric guitar via modeling pedal
- Cost <$1000, or better yet <$600

Small PA's? Bose L1 compact system, Fishman Solo amp or loudbox, Yamaha stagepas, Fender passport, Carvin S400 Stagemate, Roland BA 330, . . .??

Acoustic guitar amps? Fender, Marshall, Crate, Roland, Carvin, Ultrasound, . . .??

[tonyblue]

Hi Des,
I use a Marshall amp, but I play electric guitar, I think your main problem will be the drumer in the living room,  He will be far to loud for you to match him, but if you get over this as all things musical, it is only what you want that matters, use the internet to look at what may suit you, and then go to your local shop and try them with your own guitar.

Also if you do have a drumer in the living room, I would concider moving house every few week to avoid them next door killing you.

TonyBlue

[Torren61]

Any of the portable PAs would be fine. 

[Dmann]

I bought this PA package from musicians friend just over a year ago for $399.00 USD + Shipping and taxes after spend a good couple weeks shopping around, it's the best dam PA package deal your going to find anywhere.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Phonic-Powerpod-740-Plus-S715-PA-Package?sku=630489

I use this PA in my garage to Jam every week.  I use it for my Jasmine Acoustic in which I run through a TC-Helicon Harmony-G pedal, 4 mics for Vocals, Keyboards, MP3 Backing Tracks (in which I have drumless versions of songs and it allows me practice drums at live full volume), and I recently started micing the kick drum which really helped it cut through the mix of my Marshall 1/2 Stack, my son's 2x12 Crate and my bass players Traynor.

 For acoustic tunes we play "Brother Down," "Rooster," "Mama I'm Comin' Home," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Nothing Else Matters," to name a few, and Vocals and Acoustic mix are clear as day.

 Overall I'm more than satisfied for the price. If you need to crank it so loud your getting feedback then your mics are either cheap POS or you placed your speakers in a bad spot. The biggest thing is you need to convince your drummer that just because you can hit them hard(the drums), you don't have to hit them hard, 1st thing you get him to do is take out the earplugs if he's wearing them. I own a Tama drum set which is acoustically very very loud if your a hard hitter. The guy I jam with thinks he has to totally pound the drums into the floor and then complains that I am killing him when I insist he takes out his earplugs. I told him if he has to wear earplugs he is playing too loud(hitting too hard)..... It's taken some time but the end result... he's learned to play with some dynamics allowing for us all to turn down, making for a better clearer mix, and I think it's made him a way better drummer.

 Anyways, there are a lot of cheap alternatives these days. Just because it isn't a big name brand doesn't mean it can't get the job done for 1/3 of the price. It definately pays to shop around.

[Glenn Mitchell]

I don't know how much the Bose tower costs but it's pretty amazing.

[Saijinn Maas]

I don't know how much the Bose tower costs but it's pretty amazing.

They sound great! But like most BOSE products, it's rather pricey.