I recently used the Fishman SA220 compact portable sound system for the first time. I sat in with my friend Kevin for a little acoustic duo gig and it worked like a dream. We used 2 guitars & 2 vocals in a small mixer, input to the Fishman’s XLR inputs. The gig was at a local winery and we set up in a corner with the Fishman speaker system behind us and our 2 mics and acoustic guitars.

With a conventional sound system, such speaker placement is usually doomed to ringing feedback but Kevin & I had no feedback whatsoever at performance volume and both we and the tasting room crowd of about 50 heard every note (w/no monitor). We had volume & tone to spare! Our nice acoustic guitars sounded, well, nice but bigger.

Suffice to say, I’m a big fan of the Fishman SA220. If you should need more than the 2 inputs, a compact mixer can be easily added to accommodate additional instruments. The included case holds the speaker and tripod and is very easy to move. With 2 well-equipped channels, reverb, EQ and 220watts of power in a slender, lightweight column, what’s not to like?

-JR