Sonicake Pocket Master

[Larry Dering]

I bought this little pedal on a whim following all the guitar players hype. Pocket Master by Sonicake is a multi effects plus amp and cabinet simulator for around $50.00. Today I connected it to my PA head driving a TT-12 speaker, dialed in a Twin reverb setting and was rewarded with a marvelous tone. I have the Tonex pedal and tried the same combination and to my surprise the pocket master had the better tone. The pedal has an App you use on your phone or tablet and it says NAM files can be downloaded. Rechargeable internal battery good for around 4 hours play time. Most of these devices are less satisfactory when you run into your amp return loop. I didn't try it with regular PA speakers and I used the power amp input with no additional EQ.

[Larry Dering]

Nobody else has tried the Pocket Master?

[David Becker]

I just ordered one, Larry, based on your first post. I'm going to try it with lap steel. I'll report back when it comes and I've had a chance to work with it.

[Larry Dering]

Thanks David. I will be watching for your post.

[Grayson Flynt]

I ordered one and ive had it for three days now. Ive got the best tone ive heard out of my amp using the super reverb patch off of tone 3000

[Larry Dering]

Grayson was that a Nam capture or something else? Ok I see it on the tone capture page. Thanks.

[David Becker]

Well, Larry, the Sonicake doesn't meet my rather specific application: I have a battery-powered Vox DA-5 amp that I use for playing outdoors, and as my ears have "matured" along my musical journey, I have started really struggling to get a tone I like out of that amp. I play 8-string C6 tuning with high G, so the pitch range is fairly wide. I've tried EQ pedals, with best yet, but not really satisfactory success, and I was hoping the Sonicake would be my holy grail. Not to be. I spent a fair amount of time tweaking, especially amps, IR and EQ, but to no avail. I suspected that the limitation was speaker size (even though I had replaced the stock Vox 6.5" speaker with an 8" Jensen) and probably power. The Sonicake didn't do as well as the best of the EQ pedals (Source Audio programmable).

BUT, when I plugged the Sonicake into my Furlong powered 12" speaker, magic happened! That little device is amazing, and I didn't even modify any of the stock presets. So, it's a keeper for me, but I need to upgrade my battery-powered speaker.

Thanks for putting this little guy on the table, Larry.

[Larry Dering]

Good to hear. I too am surprised by this little jewel. I have a boatload of multi effects pedals and way too many expensive amps and this low cost gadget just sounds great. I hope more players take advantage of it before the price jumps up.
My battery powered amp collection is the Roland Micro Cube and 2 of the Crate Taxi 30s. The cube is cute and sounds decent but not enough power for a jam. The Taxi has enough power and a multiple inputs with a fair tone so it gets lots of use. Too bad they folded years ago.

[David Becker]

I had a microcube before I switched to the Vox - the Vox has a mic input with separate volume control (not that I sing!). I did like the tones I could get out of the Vox a little more than the microcube, too. Power was about the same. I'll check into possibly finding a Crate Taxi 30. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Larry Dering]

David, there's a company called Cool Music that makes a similar product and gets good reviews. I have no experience with them so can't say. And of course Roland makes the street cube that buskers like. If you search there's several companies making a Busker amplifier. Peavey, Mackie, EV, Alto and so on.

[Grayson Flynt]

Grayson was that a Nam capture or something else? Ok I see it on the tone capture page. Thanks.

Im pretty sure it was, Glad you found it

-Grayson

[David Becker]

Larry, I have been looking into busking amps for a while. The Cool Music ones are intriguing, but digging deeper there seem to be some reliability issues; perhaps an example of you get what you pay for? I've looked at all the ones you mentioned, and I just ordered the Peavey Solo from Sweetwater to try out. What appealed to me about the Peavey are 1) when you plug in a guitar, you can choose to turn on a guitar preamp, 2) has wide sound dispersion, 3) built for use outdoors, 4) well, it's a Peavey. The EQ controls don't appear to be very extensive, although with the guitar preamp, they change the EQ profile to one they claim is better for guitar. That doesn't concern me much, though, because the Sonicake EQ control is good, not to mention all of its other features. I'll report back on the Peavey/Sonicake combo when I've had a chance to work with it. BTW, I did find a couple of Crate TX30 amps for sale, but for just a hundred bucks more, I get current technology (e.g., bluetooth, etc.) and a company still in operation.

[Larry Dering]

David, you likely made a wise choice. Peavey has made some great products over the years. Hope it does what you need. Bluetooth is a necessity if you plan on playing tracks with your instrument without extra cables. I've seen a few of the parking lot fiddlers using some interesting amps lately. Battery powered and 100 watts, sounding great across a wide area. Give us a review of the Peavey once you get comfortable with it.

[Jon Jaffe]

Larry, I also took the plunge. For the price, it is worth it. The editing software via Bluetooth is slick and less of a chore than the TONEX. This video helped greatly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeuMnW_6Cc
I haven't gigged with it yet, but I plan to, as I have it clipped to the leg of my steel, just like my TONEX.

IMG_1241.jpeg

You were also right about the tone of Twin emulation. It's just fine, and I don't have any volume problems to overcome, as I did with the TONEX.
I used about four presets live with TONEX. I have not found a MatchBro preset on PM, so I will use reverb, delay, and rotary effects.
Additionally, I prefer the cab models on PM over the TONEX. I have played it through two different powered speakers, the FR-12 and a Huff/Straight Ahead with the TT 15in.

[Jeff Highland]

Sounds like it might fill a niche for me, ordered today

[Tim Toberer]

Is there anything else on the market like this? The closest comparable things I can find are the Valeton GP-5 https://shop.valeton.net/products/gp-5 and the Tonex pedal. I am sure others will soon follow.

I have decided to get rid of my Valeton Gp-200LT because they don't offer iOS support. It is a great pedal, but this is a deal breaker. This little device might be the ticket. I am also looking at some headphone amps, which have come a long way!

This thing looks like a toy, but I like the simplicity of it. And it is cheap!

[Larry Dering]

Jon and Jeff. It's a cool little device for chump change. We won't know how long it will last but at the price point it covers a lot of ground. I have the larger Tonex pedal, the Boss Pocket GT, and the Nux Amp Academy. All are usable at various price points but the Sonicake Pocket Master is a winner on several counts. One is that Bluetooth App for control. Boss Pocket GT has that too and I like that feature. I used a phone holder clamp that fits the steel legs. It will handle phones and tablets, or the pocket master making it easy to see.

[Bob Sykes]

I got one. The price, size, and battery power were irresistable features. I've been playing around with it for about a day and it sounds (to me) as good as my Boss COSM or Line 6 modeling kit. I'm fairly lazy so a multi-effects unit that fits in my pocket will come in handy. I think it will work well for practice and jam sessions, possibly gigs. As with all "patch based" devices, programming on the fly (like at a gig) is not practical, especially with this small screen.

Front panel rogramming is little cumbersome with only 3 buttons and a scroll wheel. I prefer to use the (android) app which works well but it will not function unless high accuracy GPS position permission is enabled. I normally turn that off on my devices unless I need it. If GPS is not enabled. the Pocket Master app will report a bogus bluetooth connection error.

Battery life of 4-5 hours is not much. The screen is always on. I wonder if a "screen saver" (i.e. battery saver) would have been a good idea.

Amazon has them on sale for $57. A lot of bang for the buck.

[Jeff Highland]

Wow, Had it for a day some great sounds there. Had to update the firmware which was annoying but now it's playing and connected to my iphone just fine..
Great bang for the buck and I got it for the equivalent of US55 in Australia in 2 days

[Fred Treece]

BUT, when I plugged the Sonicake into my Furlong powered 12" speaker, magic happened!

Amp modeling devices are meant to be used either with powered speakers or plugged into the power amp input of a guitar amplifier (power amp in/fx return). When run directly to the amp input, the device’s amp model sound will be altered by the the combo’s preamp. Sometimes this actually works okay, but generally speaking, it will sound like crap.

[David Becker]

Good to know, Fred. Thanks. My little Vox DA-5 amp doesn't have an FX/return, so the Sonicake wasn't going to work with it, regardless. I'm running it into a Peavey Solo battery powered PA speaker that I just got, and so far, so good. Looks like it's going to work well. My main objective was to have increased tone control in a battery-powered system, and it looks like I may have met that objective, albeit with having to purchase the Peavey. No free lunch for me!

[Bob Sykes]

You can turn off both the amp models and the speaker IRs (individually) so the PM could be used with a combo amp without FX loop. It also works well as a stereo headphone amp.

[Edward Dixon]

Thanks for this thread, I had dismissed the pocket master months ago but this thread convinced me to give it a look. Turns out to be just what I wanted. I run my Mullen into a Quilter TB202 most of the time and the only effect available has been reverb without running cables across the room. This unit sits where my korg tuner used to sit, and eliminates the need to run a cable from my volume pedal out to the tuner. It sits in-line between the guitar and amp, provides a tuner and all the effects I could want. The models are quite good and the NAM captures provide even more options. I run the TB202 in FRFR mode but it also sounds good in the other two modes. The iPad app is very handy for making changes even with the finger picks on if I use my ring finger.


Here's a pic...

[David Becker]

Fred - My little Vox does have an AUX IN line, and according to my musical buddy who also knows electronics, it bypasses the instrument pre-amp. I tried it with the Sonicake, and it worked great!

Bob - Because the AUX IN line works well, I haven't yet tried turning off the Amp and IR modules in the Sonicake, but thanks for the suggestion; I'll get around to trying that, too, at some point.

[Marty Nemanick]

If the PM is bypassing the combo amp preamp controls using the return jack, are the tone controls on the PM easily accessible to adjust on the fly? I can't seem to find a pdf to download and print, I'm interested in trying this out but don't want anything too complicated.......Thanks Marty