About
Reviews (1)
Oct 24, 2018
Knocks it out of the park, with just a few nitpicks.
1 of 1 found this helpful I'd give it 4.5 if it could, because it's just barely not a 5 star item.
Things it does well:
1. Volume: holy heck, this thing gets loud. Giggable for sure, loud enough to keep up with a drummer. I'm my practice space, even having the volume at about 10 o'clock is too loud. At noon, it shakes the whole room. I haven't made it past that yet, even with ear protection.
2. Sound: The Warm/Bright switch is very subtle, but helps dial in the presence of the power amp to match whatever speaker or room you're using. If that switch doesn't quite get you where you want to be, turn up the trebel on whatever you're using as a preamp (for me it's a mooer micro preamp Day Tripper), as that's what it's there for. It also stays very clean, not adding any additional breakup to the sound. Supposedly it's got some built in saturation towards the higher end of the volume spectrum, but I haven't cranked it that loud yet. Its clean sound is actually quite nice. It's airy, sparkly, and dynamic. A good bit better than the power section of the Joyo BlueJay I was running my preamp through previously, and that's another solid state class D power section, though only 20W compared to this one's 30W.
3. Portability: The real reason you want to get this. My pedal board now IS my amp, and all I have to carry are my board and my speaker cabinet. Talk about an easy life.
4. Durability: This thing is solid. I think I'd have to run over it with a car to get it to break.
Now, three things it has going against it. Keep in mind that all of the pros above are the big things you want this pedal to be able to do. It nails the bread and butter power amp stuff. All of these cons are minor flaws within the operation that are in no way deal breakers.
1. Noise: It's not a lot of noise, and it isn't an unpleasant noise, but the noise floor on this power amp is present. It's a mellow, warm, and low noise floor, much like the warm fuzz in the sound of an old vinyl record, just a bit louder, and it gorws louder as you turn the amp up. I have a theory that this low noise adds to the airy, sparkly sound that the amp gives me which I love, but the noise being present is still a con. TO BE FAIR, a lot of amps have a noise floor like this, and at ~$100, with how portable, powerful, and pleasant this power amp is, I don't think that's anywhere near a deal breaker.
2. Taper: As I said previously, this amp gets LOUD. On the volume knob, 0 is at about 7 o'clock, but the sound doesn't really pop in until 9 o'clock. That dead zone between 7 and 9 would be very nice to have. You'd likely be able to hear your string sound just as well as the amp sound in that range, but it can be nice for late night practice.
3. Sound on/off: There isn't a standby switch on this little guy, so if you have a speaker plugged into it when it's powered on or off, you get a bit of a pop as the pedal engages or disengages. This has a REALLY EASY SOLUTION. Because it's a solid state power amp, you don't have to worry about it being on without a load attached. If you keep the speaker cable unplugged from the pedal while it turns on, and then plug it in after the light has come on, no pop at all. If you unplug the speaker cable from the pedal before you turn the pedal off, no pop at all. Easy peasy.