G****r Mini-amps

Kink Rimson · #1 10-01-2009, 06:48 AM

I am about to buy a Danelectro 12 string guitar - purely to muck about with at home, and to satisfy my Beatle obsession. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned the bass!

Anyway, I need to order an amp at the same time and am drawn to these mini-amps - basically, they are about £30, 0.5w of raw power.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Most reviews I have read say they distort really easily, I'm looking for one that can give me a good clean sound too for maximum jangle.

Any suggestions?

()smoke() · #2 10-01-2009, 06:55 AM

.5W isn't going to get much of a clean sound even at bedroom volume

i have a 1.25W combo that is perfect for Billy Gibbons early albums sound at home volume, but it's far from clean--it will do it, but not at any appreciable volume

megadan · #3 10-01-2009, 07:41 AM

For clean at home you probably want at least 10W of guitar amp. If you like a little dirt on top, the Tiny Terror could do the trick, and it's cheap. There's also the Epiphone one, I don't recall the model # atm...

()smoke() · #4 10-01-2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megadan

For clean at home you probably want at least 10W of guitar amp. If you like a little dirt on top, the Tiny Terror could do the trick, and it's cheap. There's also the Epiphone one, I don't recall the model # atm...

the little epiphone sounds pretty decent, i believe it's 5W, but i might be mistaken...definitely enough to get semi-clean sound at home volume, and even a bit too loud to crank into most speakers at home, at least for me anyway...although when we lived in a neighborhood where our neighbors didn't mind blasting us with music at 1 am, i occasionally played my 2203 at full volume through 2 412s well into the morning (when in Rome...)

LaklandBass · #5 10-01-2009, 12:12 PM

fender and peavey both make good amps for about $99

lunarpollen · #6 10-01-2009, 12:26 PM

There's a tiny Vox, very similar to the bigger chrome-grilled Valvetronix amps. I tried it out at GC and loved it. I think it's like 5 watts and it had built-in effects.

There's actually a certain 0.5-1W microamp that I am desperately seeking. I used to own one, but it disappeared about 5 years ago. I'm not sure who manufactured it, maybe Ibanez, or Washburn, or ??? ... It was similar to those 9-v battery microamps you see from Vox, Fender, Marshall, Orange, etc. Except this one took two 9-v batteries (it also accepted an AC adapter). It was brighter and crisper sounding than those amps offered by competitors. It was brown plastic. And it was shaped like an old-fashioned radio, kinda like this:

It could totally get a 1966-1967 Beatles tone (think George's tone on "Fixing a Hole", I could perfectly nail that one). If anyone knows who made this amp, what the model number was, where I can find another one, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

Kink Rimson · #7 10-01-2009, 02:13 PM

Well, based on reviews, and youtube clips, I went for the 10w Orange Crush. Can't wait to get it! It's been a Hard Day's Night!