Your favorite small battery-powered amp?

Rose Sinclair · From: Austin, TX, USA

Hi Formites-
What is your favorite small battery-powered amp?
Thanks in advance!
Very Happy

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Vox DA5, great little amp. I've used it as a preamp too:

http://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/da5.html

They have been discontinued but I got one off eBay a couple of years ago for $50
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Dave Grafe · From: Hudson River Valley NY

I like the Roland Street Cube, rarely use the battery power but it is a superb recording preamp/effects unit. I have two, one at home for headphone practice with tracks, another lives at my friend Jon Lindahl's Fresh Tracks recording studio.

It has several modeling options but I put the steel through the "MIC" sans modeling input. The excellent onboard Roland stereo reverb is all I need for my purposes, so I use it to do most of my recording work now.

Sample tracks from last year's Sons of Hudson EP release. The guitar is our late brother Stu Schulman's Desert Rose Vintage Pro with a Telonics 206 pickup, run directly from the VP to the Roland to the audio interface.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5yz4m_IiZy_eOtQ5U0fpoCavfGsi_bwd&si=PdM_4x3wM2XoPEmB

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

Yamaha THR-10X I've been using it for all my gain needs on electric guitar nearly since it came out.
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Bob Shilling · From: Berkeley, CA, USA

I only have one, so it's my favorite. Smile

Blackstar, Fly, 3W, runs on six AA batteries, or on AC. It has a headphone jack, and a line-in jack (they make a Bluetooth version, but mine isn't.) It has overdrive and delay, and a single knob EQ.

The sound is impressive for such a small amp.
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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10, "Classic"

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Roland Mobile Cube

Tom Wolverton · From: Carpinteria, CA

I use a Bose S1 Pro. It works very well. Especially when I put a Combo Deluxe ‘65 pedal in front of it. The pedal I run off of a Joyo pedal battery pack.
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Rose Sinclair · From: Austin, TX, USA

Thanks for all the fantastic input!! Very Happy

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

The Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge 60-watt sounds surprisingly good with no effects pedals at all.
The reverb knob and chorus can thicken it up nicely.
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Samuel Phillippe · From: Douglas Michigan, USA

Tom Jordan · From: Wichita, KS

Me too, Roland Street Cube EX. 50-60 watts of stero power with two 8" speakers, mic input, instrument input and aux input. The battery will last for a full 4-5 sets a "normal" power selected.

Great for the outside farmers market type gigs.

Tom
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Fender Tube Amps, Evans FET 500, and stuff...

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I went a different way...I have a 100 watt ZT Lunchbox, so it is a real amp, with real power, but in a small form factor, and power it with a Jackery 150 power supply, very light, the whole combined rig fits in a small backpack...and the Jackery runs all day and can be used to power lots of other stuff for the beach or emergencies or whatever...
https://www.jackery.com/products/explorer-240-portable-power-station
This also would work with any other amp you have and like...no compromise just to have the battery power...
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Bruce Derr · From: Lee, New Hampshire, USA

I'm another Cube Street fan. I have 3 of them, all bought used for pretty cheap. I have them mainly for a duo/trio gig on a boat that I play occasionally. It's the one gig I play where I am the guy who "brings the PA." The amps sound good, they are just loud enough, and the separate microphone channel is a big plus. I can fit all of them in a large rolling duffle bag. I run them on rechargeable AA batteries.

I haven't tried the newer "EX" version but if I saw a good deal on a used one I'd probably grab it. They are a little pricey new. I have also considered getting one of those battery power sources like the Jackary Steve mentioned. Then I could bring a "regular" amp, as long as it was lightweight and efficient, like my Quilter Cub. But I already have the Cube Streets and they do the job.

I had the little Vox DA5 that Lee mentioned and I liked that quite a bit as well. The Cube Street has more features but it's bigger than the Vox.

Don Couchie · From: Ontario, Canada

Yamaha THR30II. Nice and loud and it sounds good with my PSG and guitars.
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Allan Revich · From: Victoria, BC

The Spark Mini is a game changer. Only the “clean” setting is useful for steel guitar without connecting to the phone/iPad app, but using it in conjunction with the app is mind blowing.
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6 String | G – D G D G B D
7 String | G9 – D G B D F A D
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database

Stephen Cowell · From: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I'm with Jack... +1 on the Mobile Cube. Rose, you've heard mine before... not loud, but nice, with stereo reverb, runs on 8AA's or a OneSpot. Didn't Bobby Ingano use one for a while? Here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-d5Qh5yXYw

Kevin Brown is another user. It has a mic/camera tripod adapter on the bottom, real handy. Rose, if you want to borrow mine just let me know.
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Cartwright Thompson · Posted 14 Apr 2024 4:35 am

You might take a look at a Behringer MPA40 BT portable PA speaker
It may not fit the definition of portable but it really sounds great for a battery powered unit. Not light but definitely manageable. Enough power to be heard over a moderately loud drummer. No reverb but there anre plenty of good battery powered pedals for that. I also use it for a Bluetooth music blaster.
I don’t usually recommend Behringer stuff as most of it is junk but I like this a lot. They’re about $220 new.

Bob Shilling · From: Berkeley, CA, USA

D Schubert · From: Columbia, MO, USA

I'm still using an old Roland Cube amp. Not fixing what's not broke.
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