Question:
Well, by a few events here and there, my friends and I have received enough money to make a decent investment in some equipment and we need some advice on individual amps vs. sound system.
Our situation involves an acoustic/electric guitar, bass (to be purchased), and drums (to be purchased).
We don't have a ton of musical talent just yet, and expect to be tucked away in practice for at least a year, maybe two, maybe more (lol). All of our gear will be housed in our basement most of the time.
We have around $1100 to spend on amps or a sound system and are debating:
Fender Acoustasonic SFX II Amp - $700
and
Fender 100 Rumble Bass Combo - $300
OR
Sound System - $1195
I think we should go with the two amps and a SM58 mic (the acoustasonic has a mic-in). Either way we're getting a SM58, so the mics in the package system aren't really a big deal.
Anyways, any advice on which one might make more sense? Also, if anyone has any advice on other amps in the listed price range, we'd be grateful. We just kinda shopped around a bit and liked those two. I liked the idea of having an amp specifically made for an acoustic guitar and it has a mic-in too which seemed handy.
Thanks!
P.S. If anyone has any advice they might give us on instrument selection, that'd be sweet too. Something along the same price range, but highly thought of for tone and quality.
Right now we're looking at:
Washburn Force 4 Bass - $570
and
Pearl Export Select - $870
Answer:
Well... one option for the acoustic would be to bypass the amp, go straight into the system, and color it with come decent pedals... I'm not sure though, as I have no experience with the Fender Amp. What's special about the amp? Do you particularly like the tone that you get? Is it worth $700 for just a mic out type of deal?
Case
Answer:
i agree with Indazone, are you going to need more than one hook-up for guitar and mic. i run two peavy ecoustic 112, 100watt amps and link them together. Having only one hook-p for instrument and vocals for solo performance.

i am looking to start a band of my own away from church and i would go with a 8 channel-400 watt minimum PA system-so they'll be plenty of room. ofcourse, i'll still have the acoustic and electric amps to run through to get a sound of our own.
if you do not have any amps then i would buy the amps first then a PA.
Answer:
I'm not too sure about that sound system package. I think it would work for practice but nothing more than that. i know that an accoustic guitar will sound best through a good pa system, even better than an amp. so i'd suggest getting a bass amp and then saving up a little money to get the sound system. I have a behringer system, 2 b1520 speakers and an ep1500 power amp and a mackie 1604 which totals about 1650 in musicians friend, and i find it works surprisingly well. My band uses it for gigs sometimes and it is plenty loud enough, though we did use a bigger peavey amp for one gig to get a little more power. and from your post i'm guessing your band is a lighter acoustic type band, so this would be a great system. if you did want a little more power you can pick up a used peavey 8.5 amp like the one we used for a decent price.
Answer:
Sweet, thanks for the advice guys.
I like the idea of that Behringer PA system, so I'll keep that in memory.
My bass player has a lot going on right now, so I think we're relegating him to a starter pack to learn and see if he's got the time to merit better equipment.
In the meantime, we're using the bass funds to get volume, tuner and fx pedals, so I think I've decided on getting an amp to help me find a "defining" tone. And then once we've gotten some time underneath us to see if we're worth taking our band outside the basement, we'll revisit that Behringer system