Tiny Amp

[JD01]

Just had a txt off Andertons to say that my amp will be getting delivered (by Steffan) between 1130 and 1230 today.

[CrowsofFritz]

Damn you lucky brits and your small land mass!

[JD01]

Damn you lucky brits and your small land mass!

Yeah, Anderton's is about 2.5hrs from my house. Which is a pain in the arse and it would be very unusual for me to make a special trip there to go shopping. I know you guys who have much bigger distances to cover might think that's really trivial, but I can't even be arsed to drive 30 mins to Cardiff to go to a music shop.

The only time I've made a special trip to Anderton's was when I got my Hughes & Kettner. I'd arranged my visit in advance, took my guitar, cab and board. Then I got a couple of hours in one of their demo rooms with a pile of amp heads.

[CrowsofFritz]

Damn you lucky brits and your small land mass!

Yeah, Anderton's is about 2.5hrs from my house. Which is a pain in the arse and it would be very unusual for me to make a special trip there to go shopping. I know you guys who have much bigger distances to cover might think that's really trivial, but I can't even be arsed to drive 30 mins to Cardiff to go to a music shop.

The only time I've made a special trip to Anderton's was when I got my Hughes & Kettner. I'd arranged my visit in advance, took my guitar, cab and board. Then I got a couple of hours in one of their demo rooms with a pile of amp heads.

2.5 hours is a lot for me, too. I’d drive an hour to get something as significant as an amp, though.

[JD01]

This really is smaller than I thought it would be. Coffee cup for scale
[attachment=0]20210723_121810.jpg[/attachment]

[WhiskeyJack]

This really is smaller than I thought it would be. Coffee cup for scale
20210723_121810.jpg

Very Cool.

WTF else was in the box with that thing though? You could fit four of those pedals in there.


Just for curiosity sake, i have to drive my wife 4.5 hours south of here for eye appointments. That is trechnically the "next town over" with a specialist she needs.

[JD01]

This really is smaller than I thought it would be. Coffee cup for scale
20210723_121810.jpg

Very Cool.

WTF else was in the box with that thing though? You could fit four of those pedals in there.


Just for curiosity sake, i have to drive my wife 4.5 hours south of here for eye appointments. That is trechnically the "next town over" with a specialist she needs.

Power supply, plug and chunks of sponge.

[JD01]

Headphone out "cab sim" is a bit disappointing actually. Its OK when clean, quite bright, but sounds pretty rough with any gain... it pretty much doesn't sound like a cab sim is there.

Actually playing a bit more. It really is quite nice clean. Listening through my AKG reference cans. It's got the crunchy crackle on top as soon as you turn the gain up though.

Will try it through my HK in the morning

[Armistice]

And I really don't want a Bluetooth aerial.

Come on... you can send your favourite tunes from your phone and then dial up the gain to fuzz them out a bit.

Except I'm guessing the receiver is probably post the preamp.

[JD01]

And Andertons are coming to collect it on Monday morning.

The cab sim just isn't good enough. I told the guy on the phone thst I was sending it back cos the cab sim was crap and he wasn't surprised at all.

[CrowsofFritz]

That’s a bummer. If I ever get a low watt amp, it’ll be the Fender Super Champ head and cab. Love the tones I’ve heard from it.

[JD01]

That’s a bummer. If I ever get a low watt amp, it’ll be the Fender Super Champ head and cab. Love the tones I’ve heard from it.

I'm gonna record some proper tones with this today through my cab using both the amp's solid state power amp and sticking it through the power amp of my H&K. It'll probably sound good and if I like it I'll keep an eye out for a proper Tiny Terror head in future.

It's just that the main reason I got it was for the cab-sim/headphone out... and it sounds shite with even a hint of overdrive.

[Greg_L]

And Andertons are coming to collect it on Monday morning.

The cab sim just isn't good enough. I told the guy on the phone thst I was sending it back cos the cab sim was crap and he wasn't surprised at all.

wait....so they recommended it to you, but theyre also not surprised that it sounds bad and you want to send it back? lol. that's some stellar customer service.

[JD01]

And Andertons are coming to collect it on Monday morning.

The cab sim just isn't good enough. I told the guy on the phone thst I was sending it back cos the cab sim was crap and he wasn't surprised at all.

wait....so they recommended it to you, but theyre also not surprised that it sounds bad and you want to send it back? lol. that's some stellar customer service.

Haha. Yeah.

[Greg_L]

Haha. Yeah.

sounds like they use the same employee training system as guitar center.

[JD01]

Haha. Yeah.

sounds like they use the same employee training system as guitar center.

Obviously depends who you speak to. The guy I spoke to when I wanted to return it was much more helpful and also gave me a few other recommendations to think about.
Theres a mini Blackstar and a Boss Katana

[Greg_L]

Obviously depends who you speak to. The guy I spoke to when I wanted to return it was much more helpful and also gave me a few other recommendations to think about.
Theres a mini Blackstar and a Boss Katana

the katana might be worth a look. the blackstar.....you've already been down that dead end road full of potholes and crackheads.

[JD01]

Obviously depends who you speak to. The guy I spoke to when I wanted to return it was much more helpful and also gave me a few other recommendations to think about.
Theres a mini Blackstar and a Boss Katana

the katana might be worth a look. the blackstar.....you've already been down that dead end road full of potholes and crackheads.

True. I'm not expecting wonders though. Just something that sounds ok through headphones that I can stick a pedal into without it sounding like a swarm of bees on fire.

[JD01]

OK, my choice is down to these two right now:
Blackstar ID Core V3:
https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/blac ... ar-skull-2
and:
Boss Katana Mini:
https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/boss ... -amplifier

They both have the shitty headphone jack - its almost like these things are aimed at kids that only listen on ear-buds!
The Katana is actually slightly more expensive 'cos you need to buy a separate PSU with it.

The Blackstar has more built in effects, the Boss appears to have a better tone stack.
They both have a cab simulation... it really can't be worse than the shite one on the Orange.

I never got beyond just seeing what my old Blackstar sounded like on Emulated-Out - I'd never have recorded it, but it was perfectly acceptable for what I need right now. If this headphone sound like that it would meet my needs. While I didn't get on with my first Blackstar (although I learned a lot) I was tempted by the V2 replacement 'cos they had made a lot of improvements to the sound.

I've only heard good things about the Katana though and I can't imagine that Boss would release a practice amp with a shitty unusable cab sim.

Ideally, I'd rather not have a toy amp that isn't useful for anything else that silent practice. But what I'm after (basically, the Orange but with a really decent digital cab sim) doesn't appear to exist: i.e. a "real" low wattage amp with an FX Loop and and decent cab-sim.

[Greg_L]

At this point, with what I know about Blackstar the company in addition to how shitty they sound, I'd buy literally any amp over a Blackstar.