Best portable/battery amp?

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somanytoys
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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Fri May 31, 2019 8:08 am

Yeah, and you use it a lot because it's pretty damn great, isn't it?!?

I'm going to end up with one, I know it. Maybe not really soon, but I'll most likely end up with one. Hopefully the prices come down at some point, it seems to happen with almost everything else. It's not that I don't think that it's necessarily worth the price, it's just expensive for what it is.

I've almost stopped trying to sell things because the prices for used things are so ridiculously low, and sometimes becomes a price war competition. Things are worth more to me as a door stop until I use them again or give away to some young musician, than selling them for 1/3 of what I paid for them.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by lhwarp » Fri May 31, 2019 12:30 pm

Best portable/battery amp?

For me, it would certainly be the Roland MicroCube - I have a red one and I wouldn't part with it... Exactly like this one below :

Image

-lhwarp

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by Dollywitch » Fri May 31, 2019 2:27 pm

somanytoys wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 6:37 am
I can't seem to get the Yamaha THR10C out of my head. I just think that the price is kind of high.

Right now I'm using 2 Vox Amplugs (VC30 and Bass models) with the little 2 watt speaker cabs they sell for them, for when I travel or sit outside and play. They're cool and sound pretty good for what they are, especially for hotel room settings where you have to stay pretty low, but I have a whole backpack full of stuff for it - the 2 little amps, the pedals I use (Barber Direct Drive, VFE Mermaid and a Zoom CDR), the patch cables and the power cables and some headphones...it's pretty cool, but it's a a bit of a task to set up and break down. But this is still the setup that I would travel with, because if this stuff ever got stolen, I wouldn't be quite as pissed off and upset as I would about other things I have being stolen. I haven't ever had anything stolen at a hotel, but I hear about it happening.

Recently though, for playing outside, I've stared using my Bugera T5 and a very small speaker cab, with a modded TS9 stacked into a modded BD-2 and a Keeley 30MS. It's sounds really good and it's a little easier to set up and break down .

The Yamaha doesn't seem to accept pedals at all, it's got its own onboard effects and it emulates different amps, so it doesn't seem to need them. That just seems so neat and easy, plop it down, plug it in (unless you're using batteries) and start playing. That's pretty appealing.

It's just a lot of money for a desktop amp. I may have to go see if I can try one out somewhere, and that will either put the fire out or pour more gas on it.
Tbh rather than use their cabs, it might be better to use a Creative Muvo 2C which has more bass and is probably louder. That's what I've been using as a mini rig right now. I still might do that sometimes, but the Katana weighs almost nothing.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by Bert Camenbert » Fri May 31, 2019 3:59 pm

somanytoys wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 8:08 am
Yeah, and you use it a lot because it's pretty damn great, isn't it?!?
For what it is, it's pretty good. It gives you a decent sounding approximation of a tube amp. Its touch sensitivity and response to volume changes is in the ball park of a tube amp. The included effects are good, and you can tweak them, and the amp, to make them sound even better. However, I don't think it sounds as good as a decent tube amp. But if you just want to practice for a few minutes here and there, without having to fire up one of the big boys, it's great!

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by OV7 » Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:31 am

I love my mini Marshall!

https://youtu.be/3jczLwRi9L4

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by FEXII » Fri Aug 09, 2019 7:42 am

jthomas wrote:
Mon May 20, 2019 2:56 pm
Don't forget the Pignose.
Maggieo wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 7:04 am
Like the Highlander, there can be only one:

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:59 pm

Bert Camenbert wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 3:59 pm
somanytoys wrote:
Fri May 31, 2019 8:08 am
Yeah, and you use it a lot because it's pretty damn great, isn't it?!?
For what it is, it's pretty good. It gives you a decent sounding approximation of a tube amp. Its touch sensitivity and response to volume changes is in the ball park of a tube amp. The included effects are good, and you can tweak them, and the amp, to make them sound even better. However, I don't think it sounds as good as a decent tube amp. But if you just want to practice for a few minutes here and there, without having to fire up one of the big boys, it's great!
Well, it would be nice to have something between the little Voxes and the smaller amps (5 watt) that I use, especially for just grabbing to go and quick & easy plug & play. I like that the THR is self contained, with its own effects. It makes it standalone portable, but kind of sucks in another way because I love pedals.

Those little Voxes are cool for playing in a hotel room, but even those can get too loud for that. And they sound good up to a point, and I don't really know if it's the little heads or the speakers that start to get nasty at higher volumes, but I suspect it's the speakers. They're just little 2 watt speaker cabs with - what, 3 inch speakers? I don't even know, honestly. The whole cabinet might be 4" across... I also have headphones, but there's no fun in that...
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Fri Aug 23, 2019 11:33 am

I bought a THR 10C, like I knew I would, it just came in today.

This thing is amazing. I’ve never been a big fan of modeling tech, but this thing does a great job at all of the 5 amps. I’m going to plug it up and tweak the settings with the software, but it sounds really great right out of the box.

The size, the potability and ability to go ac/battery is really cool. The thing gets pretty loud, has a nice stereo field and has surprisingly good bass response. It’s not cheap, but I’m really glad I bought it.

I want to try it with a few pedals in front of it with the amps, and try out the other settings with my bass and classical, to see how those sound. So far I’m really impressed.

It’s probably not going to compete with a nice 10w tube amp, like an AC10, but it’s got so many amp types and so much good stuff available that sounds really great, that I’m not going to miss dragging out a small tube amp and speaker cab when all I need is this.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by Beltone » Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:00 pm

somanytoys wrote:
Fri Aug 23, 2019 11:33 am
I bought a THR 10C, like I knew I would, it just came in today.

This thing is amazing. I’ve never been a big fan of modeling tech, but this thing does a great job at all of the 5 amps. I’m going to plug it up and tweak the settings with the software, but it sounds really great right out of the box.

The size, the potability and ability to go ac/battery is really cool. The thing gets pretty loud, has a nice stereo field and has surprisingly good bass response. It’s not cheap, but I’m really glad I bought it.

I want to try it with a few pedals in front of it with the amps, and try out the other settings with my bass and classical, to see how those sound. So far I’m really impressed.

It’s probably not going to compete with a nice 10w tube amp, like an AC10, but it’s got so many amp types and so much good stuff available that sounds really great, that I’m not going to miss dragging out a small tube amp and speaker cab when all I need is this.
I'm really intrigued by this amp. I have such a hard time deciding on which tube amp to focus on I thought something like this might be good to experiment with 5 different tones built in to try hone in on the type of tube amp I eventually buy. How do you find it after a month's use? IIRC it is more blues-oriented. How does it handle jazz and rock tones etc.?

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:16 pm

I got to try a ZT Lunchbox Jr. a little bit ago and I loved it. Pedals would be needed for drive sounds, but as a baseline clean sound it was fantastic. I actually liked it better than its larger sibling.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:39 am

Beltone wrote:
Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:00 pm

I'm really intrigued by this amp. I have such a hard time deciding on which tube amp to focus on I thought something like this might be good to experiment with 5 different tones built in to try hone in on the type of tube amp I eventually buy. How do you find it after a month's use? IIRC it is more blues-oriented. How does it handle jazz and rock tones etc.?
I still love it, I play it constantly when I play around outside. I smoke, so I’m outside a lot, even in this ridiculous heat.

I like the C a lot, the amp models are pretty versatile. More with a dirt pedal, but they can get kind of raunchy on their own. All in all it is a little more blues leaning (with 2 specific blues type models), but then there’s the straight up Deluxe and the AC based models, and a little screamer combo model (like the Silvertones, I guess). Each model has a lot of capability, and the controls vary based on the the controls/reactions of amps they’re loosely modeling. You can use the Deluxe as a nice clean, use it as a clean palette for pedals, or juice up the AC more with a dirt pedal. Haven’t spent a lot of time with the small combo model yet.

I would like to try the X, but I don’t really need more than 1 or maybe 2 heavy stack models, that’s plenty for me. I think that the regular THR tries to be more “everything to everyone”, kind of across the board with its models. Didn’t read up on it too much.

But with the range of control over the gain, amp model’s output volume (as opposed to the actual master volume of the THR), the eq stack, effects, you can dial in all kinds of nice sounds with the C. It’s not just blooze.

Also, since the amp models in the C are more “boutique”, the effects are more analog flavored than on the others. I find it handles a few pedals really well, so far I’ve tried a JT treble booster and a VFE klone with it, and both sound really good. Haven’t really bothered with other effects, the ones in it are good, and I’m trying to be a minimalist as I can with it, mostly just guitar & amp.

I know that’s a lot to read, but I think it’s a very cool little amp. If you get a chance to play on one, I think you’d like it.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:09 am

marqueemoon wrote:
Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:16 pm
I got to try a ZT Lunchbox Jr. a little bit ago and I loved it. Pedals would be needed for drive sounds, but as a baseline clean sound it was fantastic. I actually liked it better than its larger sibling.
I had one of those lunchboxes for a few years, and a little more recently had also bought a Quilter Block 45 amp-in-a-pedal to play with it. I ended up selling them both.

Firstly, I’m not the biggest fan of solid state amps for guitar, especially the preamp stage, so that’s an influence. The only ss guitar amps that I still have are an old Traynor TS-10 (for nostalgia reasons, it’s not a great amp) and my first guitar amp, a little Marshall MG-10 or something that I just haven’t sold or given away yet.

The ZT is cool, it’s loud for its size, and even handles bass well with its little speaker. And it goes to what, like 200 watts if you use an external speaker? Too bad you can’t bypass the preamp, or I might have kept it just to use the power amp stage for a bass preamp.

I didn’t like the base sounds of it, tho, it had a very squashed, pinched sound to me, even with other speakers. Like it was in a tunnel or something. And I found that it colored my pedals’ sounds more than they colored its sounds.

I bought the QL MB45, and tried to use both of those for a while as small but powerful and tough little amps, but I just couldn’t stand the sounds I got from either of them, no matter what pedals I used (and I tried a lot). And the sounds bothered me more over time, the longer I used them.

I loved the concept, wish they would have worked out.

Sold them both around the same time, and started buying Vox AC4TVs and Bugera T5s instead for that purpose. No regrets.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by Beltone » Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:24 am

somanytoys wrote:
Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:39 am
Beltone wrote:
Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:00 pm

I'm really intrigued by this amp. I have such a hard time deciding on which tube amp to focus on I thought something like this might be good to experiment with 5 different tones built in to try hone in on the type of tube amp I eventually buy. How do you find it after a month's use? IIRC it is more blues-oriented. How does it handle jazz and rock tones etc.?
I know that’s a lot to read, but I think it’s a very cool little amp. If you get a chance to play on one, I think you’d like it.
Thanks for the detail. I appreciate the longer response. Now there's the THR-II that's been recently released. Lot to think about. Time to head to the music store and try them.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by somanytoys » Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:41 am

You’re welcome, I hope it helps. I haven’t read anything on the TRH II’s yet, but I doubt that it will make much difference, this amp works well for me.

At the store, you may want to be sure to try out the regular THR, for the purpose of trying to gauge what to look for in a larger amp. Just because it seems like it has a wider variety of amp types to compare, then you can focus in on the types you like most. Maybe the kind of stuff in the C, maybe not.

The only thing that I would also like on the C is a heavy stack, or even a heavy Marshall combo model. But I think that with the right pedal, I could easily get there with one of the existing models. I’ll have to try a few out for kicks, maybe a Barber Direct Drive, a Blackstone or a Catalinbread RAH (more of a HiWatt, but in the ballpark).

Edit: I also recommend making sure you get the power cord with it (should come with it), and if possible, the carrying case with it.

I think I bought the case for about $30, from GC or one of the other online music stores, but I saw where a lot of new ones came with the case included. Definitely worth getting, even if you have to buy it separately.
-David

It's a boost booster, to boost your boost - it makes your tone much muchier.

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Re: Best portable/battery amp?

Post by Beltone » Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:14 pm

somanytoys wrote:
Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:41 am
You’re welcome, I hope it helps. I haven’t read anything on the TRH II’s yet, but I doubt that it will make much difference, this amp works well for me.

At the store, you may want to be sure to try out the regular THR, for the purpose of trying to gauge what to look for in a larger amp. Just because it seems like it has a wider variety of amp types to compare, then you can focus in on the types you like most. Maybe the kind of stuff in the C, maybe not.

The only thing that I would also like on the C is a heavy stack, or even a heavy Marshall combo model. But I think that with the right pedal, I could easily get there with one of the existing models. I’ll have to try a few out for kicks, maybe a Barber Direct Drive, a Blackstone or a Catalinbread RAH (more of a HiWatt, but in the ballpark).

Edit: I also recommend making sure you get the power cord with it (should come with it), and if possible, the carrying case with it.

I think I bought the case for about $30, from GC or one of the other online music stores, but I saw where a lot of new ones came with the case included. Definitely worth getting, even if you have to buy it separately.
Thanks again. Appreciate the advice.

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