Sedona 55 ES - 55-watt 1x12" Acoustic Tube Combo with Balanced ES input option Review

Growl to Glisten

I love this amp; it is really crunchy with the Gain up... i remote to a second (Mesa) 12" across the room and it sounds absolutely rich! The ES circuit "works" as advertised which is why i bought it in the first place but after using it for my electric axes like it better than anything else i have! great amp... but since Taylor abandoned ship on ES (for ES2) this may not be a… read more great reason to get it unless your Taylor is pre-ES2.

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Sedona 55 ES

Ok, I just bought the Sedona 55 ES from Sweetwater and it arrived yesterday (8/13/18). As soon as the box arrived, I thought something was amiss. The shipping box was exceptionally large for what I thought it should be. The bottom (box tape) had come undone and the bottom flaps were barely held together with box staples. And as the UPS guy helped me carry it to the door, it felt… read more like a big bowling ball was trying to break out. As soon as I opened the box, I thought, "ok, there's going to be some damage - broken knobs, dings, dents, scrapes, whatever". The foam 'pillows' (for lack of a better word) protecting the amp were displaced, torn, damaged, in pieces, and the amp was, well, just laying there in the middle of the mess. There was no dedicated protection for the front screen or knobs, no internal sheets of cardboard. In one word, "YIKES". So I took some photos before taking it out of the box and sent them to Justin at Sweetwater. After inspecting the unit and not SEEING any damage, I hooked up and "gave it a whirl". Lucky me - no damage, visual or operational. BUT I ATTRIBUTE THIS TO JUST PURE DUMB LUCK!! Later I asked Justin where Rivera's original shipping box was? That's because the as-received condition of this unit made it appear that the amp had been restocked / reshipped. Justin said he would look into it, and called me back later to say that the box the amp was shipped in, was the ORIGINAL Rivera box (OMG!!) and the amp was new. Ok, so I looked closer and confirmed this to be true (based on the shipping labels from Rivera to Sweetwater). So, long story short, the amp was NOT damaged and it sounds great thru my Taylor K66ce and K26ce guitars. BUT, I have to give this amp a 2 star rating so other customers are aware of what to expect, and HOPEFULLY RIVERA DOES SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. My assessment is Rivera is putting a $... amp in a... box with some flimsy foam pillows and relying on luck. For what it's worth, Sweetwater has ALWAYS received a 5.0 star rating from me - especially Justin. Other items I've purchased from Justin include a Roland electric drum set, Taylor K66ce guitar (NICE), 10,000 watt QSC system; Midas m32 mixer, QSC Touchmix 16 mixer, TC Helicon Voicelive 3 Extreme sound effects box, several wireless pro grade mics, belt packs, lapel mic, and much more. And nearly all based solely on his recommendations. Justin continues to get a 5+ star rating from me due to his prompt and courteous feedback (like for the above issue), great problem resolution with the few items I've had problems with (FEW - not many), accurate tech support (hey - how do I plug this power cable into the power outlet?) but most importantly, his excellent suggestions on what to get when I really don't know what I want. Yeah, it happens. I'd post the photos I took if I could, but I think you get the idea. GOOD LUCK FRIENDS. Get with the program Rivera!

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