What small amp to use on vacation?

Steve Humes · Post by **Steve Humes** » 28 May 2012 2:48 am

I 'm late to the party, but I really enjoy my VoxAC4TV. I replaced the stock Sovtek pre-amp tube with a NOS Mullard and it smoothed the tone out considerably.

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 28 May 2012 4:32 pm

b0b wrote:I really like my new Yamaha THR10.

I've been reading about that and it sounds very interesting. Are you recommending it for pedal steel as well as lap steel? With the small speakers I don't think that it would have the low end that most PSG players seem to like. Of course John was asking about a small amp to take along on a vacation to play in hotel rooms so I don't think he was planning on bringing along a Fessenden D-10...

The THR has a lot of cool features like being able to edit the FX patches on your computer. When you add up everything that you getting from it I think it is definitely worth the ~$250 price.

Steve Ahola

Alex Cattaneo · Post by **Alex Cattaneo** » 29 May 2012 7:07 pm

What about the ZT amps? The Club seems small and light enough, and has a headphone out, and with the 12" speaker you could still do small gigs. I think it even has a input for external source like an iPod or something. Or even the lunchbox if you want something even smaller.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 1 Jun 2012 2:14 am

whats a vacation ?

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 25 Jul 2012 11:58 am

Tony Prior wrote:whats a vacation ?

It seems like the only vacations I ever took were between jobs and then you had to watch your expenses...

I know that we are supposed to avoid politics on this forum but I am supporting a new candidate

... for a small amp that would meet the OP's requirements.

I recently acquired a used Line 6 Spider IV 15 amp from GC for $60. I liked the way the controls and presets worked and figured that I could dial in some good settings for steel guitar when I got home. Nope. No matter how I set the tone controls there was still a hollowness, in the low mids I suspect. At this point I would usually try swapping out the 8" speaker with my "go to" replacement: the Eminence Beta 8A PA speaker with a 30 oz magnet and rated for 225 watts. I had one around so I didn't have to spend another $60 for the speaker.

Hot darn- it was like a match made in heaven! (Oops- I just brought religion into this post. My bad. All I need to do now is mention sex for a trifecta.)

The Beta 8A has a very limited high frequency response and with the other amps I have tried it with they could not boost the treble enough for a decent bright sound. And if they did and you inadvertently switched over to the gain channel you would be peeling your ears off the wall.

The Spider IV 15 has a great interface for a digital preamp with 4 buttons for 4 different styles. To store a preset after you have dialed in the sound you want you press and hold the button for 5 seconds- at which time all 4 lights will blink. (I figured that out in the store without a manual.)

Each preset will store your settings for 7 of the 8 controls: Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Ch Vol, and the 2 FX knobs, each of which controls one of 3 different effects (more on that later.) I normally use the Clean channel but I ocassionally use the Crunch channel (don't even ask me about the Metal and Insane channels!

) So I can dial in a nice bright Clean sound for that preset and then cut the trebles and boost the mids for the Crunch channel. The best thing about the interface is that you have knobs to fine-tune your sound, always starting off with the stored settings. So if it is a little too bright for a particular steel I can back off the treble a bit. For bedroom playing after curfew I can turn down the Ch Vol knob which I usually leave at 10 for the Clean channel. BTW with either speaker this amp puts out a lot of volume on the Clean channel- loud enough for playing at a small bar. You can set the Master volume to match the venue.

As for the FX I usually use Reverb on the second FX control which can also be set to Tape Echo (ok) or Sweep Echo (don't ask.) It is a very nice sounding reverb for an amp that usually sells for $100 (it is supposed to be the biggest selling 15 watt amp in the country.) So I don't need to drag out one of my expensive reverb pedals to get a good reverb sound. The other FX control gives you tremelo (ok) chorus/flange (not bad) and phaser (ditto.)

Of all the digital amps mentioned in this thread (which all have good sounds) the Line 6 is the only one that will put out enough clean watts to play a small gig. Although you probably won't be crazy about the sound unless you replace the 4 ohm stock speaker with the 8 ohm Beta 8A (it is safe to replace the 4 ohm speaker in a solid state amp with an 8 ohm speaker. I checked with some amp techs who said you can do it although you won't get the full wattage of a 4 ohm speaker, like maybe 10 watts with this amp.)

To clarify matters I am not playing pedal steel at this time but I wouldn't call it lap steel either. I call it "steel guitar like they played in Western Swing" with 8 string necks that get low notes. And this amp and speaker combination works great with my regular guitar, too, with a top-notch clean sound. The Crunch channel is passable in a pinch but I think that you would probably want to use some sort of overdrive pedal if you wanted some nice dirt.

Sorry for the lengthy post... when I start typing I have a hard time stopping- especially when I am excited about a new amp!

Steve Ahola

Bob Kagy · Post by **Bob Kagy** » 25 Jul 2012 2:35 pm

The Peavey Solo amp is not bad; has earphone jack. Around $80 at MF. 3 passive bass, mid, treble, no reverb though; sounds better with RV5 or equivalent. Light enough to carry under one arm.

Carl Mesrobian · Post by **Carl Mesrobian** » 30 Jul 2012 3:09 pm

Jon A. Ross wrote:My all-time favorite hotel room amp, the Smokey:

http://www.smokeyamps.com/

That is cool, Jon! And cheap!

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 30 Jul 2012 11:17 pm

I use the Peavey Solo and Blazer amps. The Solo doesnt have reverb, but it can run at 10 watts on 8 D cell batteries. The Blazer has reverb but only runs on AC power. Both are real small, light and affordable.

Clete

Karl Fehrenbach · Post by **Karl Fehrenbach** » 31 Jul 2012 10:04 am

As mentioned above, the ZT Amplifiers line of guitar amps are quite versatile. I use a Lunchbox Amp for quiet practice with a headset, and then gig out with it with the band. At 200 watts, it will hold its own on the bandstand and yet is very compact and easy to pack on those overnight trips. I have used mine for a year and love it. There is also a Speaker Out line if you want to run an external cabinet with it it for the gigs. ZT Amplifiers have redefined the small powerful amplifier.

Matthew Jackson · Post by **Matthew Jackson** » 31 Jul 2012 2:30 pm

I have a fishman loudbox mini an I love it. It works on darn near everything, small, loud,clean and just works.
don't let the small size fool you--they seem to sell on fleabay for 230 and change, well worth a look

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 31 Jul 2012 2:40 pm

Karl Fehrenbach wrote:As mentioned above, the ZT Amplifiers line of guitar amps are quite versatile. I use a Lunchbox Amp for quiet practice with a headset, and then gig out with it with the band. At 200 watts, it will hold its own on the bandstand and yet is very compact and easy to pack on those overnight trips.

There are two different generations of the Lunchbox. The visual difference is in the control panel- the far left control on the first version was labeled "reverb" while with the later version it was labeled "ambience" (a more appropriate name for the same effect.)

The other difference is in the EPROM chip which is what tells the digital "brain" what to do- like the tone and gain settings as well as reverb and response. I thought that the original version had too much midrange and not enough bass to get a good clean sound so I met with the designer Ken Kantor several times in June 2009 and he came up a custom EPROM chip for me which was pretty much what he used for the second generation Lunchboxes.

I had him do a second mod- removing the two diodes used for distortion when the Gain control was turned up which were not part of his original design. The original beta testers wanted the amp to distort if they cranked up the gain so he added the clipping diodes. If anyone is interested in the details on removing them send me a PM.

As for the output power, there are a lot of ways to computer the wattage- peak, RMS and something like audio power. So while the amp had a peak output of 200W, the RMS power was around 140W and the actual audio power was around 65 watts. The most accurate measurement factoring in the efficiency of the speaker and cabinet is the SPL measurement which is 125dB at 1 meter, which tells you how loud the amp is.

All of that power would not be worth squat if the amp did not sound good but I was very impressed with the sound- more so after he upgraded the EPROM chip to what was used in the second generation Lunchboxes. To me it sounds like really good amps I have played over the years- not necessarily tube amps- but the amps I always enjoyed playing.

Ken Kantor had studied quite a few classic amps and came up with a really nice sound from a digital chip. BTW the input and output circuitry is analog but everything else is digital. Other companies use the same digital chip but it is how he programs that chip (with the EPROM) that determines the character of the sound. In that regard I think that he is a real genius- not just modeling existing amps (as other companies do- often very poorly) but in programming the digital chip to capture the sound he heard in his head.

Sorry for the lengthy post!

Steve Ahola

P.S. Some people wonder why the amp doesn't have reverb. There are only so many bits available in the EPROM chip and he used up most of them developing the sound he wanted, with not enough left to produce an effective reverb effect so he settled for an ambience control which will make the Lunchbox sound more like it has an open back cabinet. (His later amps like the Club do have a real reverb effect.)

Karl Fehrenbach · Post by **Karl Fehrenbach** » 1 Aug 2012 3:53 am

Steve, thank you for this input regarding the Lunchbox line of amps. Mine is of the later configuration. I appreciate your explanation of this amps's development. I really love mine and if I run it with its matching extension cabinet, which only weighs a few pounds, I get a rather amazing sound field due to the speaker seperation. I use a 6 foot high quality speaker cord. No intention of hijacking this thread, but I am continually amazed and impressed by the information exchanged on this forum. My thanks to all.

Rich Hlaves · Post by **Rich Hlaves** » 1 Aug 2012 10:11 am

Steve,

I recently bought a ZT Club. It was a scratch and dent at MF and cost $200. It was reported to be dead, won't power up. The power switch was bad. I subbed in another and the little Club is amazing. The programing of the chip is convincingly tube like.

I've used the amp at a few jams with pleasing result and I'm a tube guy. I also use the Club to power a Leslie 45 cabinet I added a 2 speed kit to. The Leslie with the Club driving it absolutely KILLS replacing my Dual Showman that served the purpose previously.

I'd like to be able to clean up the Club just a bit until pushed harder. Currently it has just a bit of simulated output tube distortion at all volumes. Have you done any experimentation with this version?

Have you had any talks with ZT about the amps ability to opperate at 4 ohms? I'd like to run the Club's internal speaker and an 8 ohm EV SRO-12L at the same time. The manual says no and the external speaker jack/headphone switch prevents this. This ability would be a great improvement to an inovative little amp. An easy rewire for me if the power section can handle it.

I never thought I would be praising a solid state amplifier for anything other than sound reinforcement.

My Roland Micro-Cube is still my travel amp.

Susan Alcorn · Post by **Susan Alcorn** » 4 Aug 2012 2:41 pm

Just curious . . . has anyone tried using a FoxL, perhaps with a preamp? I'm curious as to how that might sound as a practice amp - for something you can easily pack in your suitcase or carry-on bag.

Bob Vantine · Post by **Bob Vantine** » 4 Aug 2012 7:57 pm

I keep a PEAVEY EFX 208 around just for that . An 8" spkr plus it has all the effects built in .
Took it with me to Nashville last year .... or when I go up to our summer camp .
It has a headphone jack also .

Glenn Taylor · Post by **Glenn Taylor** » 7 Aug 2012 6:59 pm

ZT lunchbox