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Battery powered acoustic amp?


Emory

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We play at a beach venue, little gigs for charity here in Thailand. Must have battery powered amps. Currently I use a cube street and cube RX. The cube street is okay for acoustic electric, but it is designed for electrics I think. Got me thinking about why it seems no one has a cheap battery powered for acoustic?

Then got idea (danger Will Robinson):

Looks like Yamaha make a decent sounding Ipod sound box (with aux in). 4" speaker with tweeter. I thought maybe get one of those and put some sort of acoustic pedal ahead of it, be it a Zoom A2 or a Fishman Aura 16. Of course if you had an old boom box that would maybe work too, but I'm looking for ease of portabilty.

Anyone have input or tried something like this?

Oh, I don't know how to post direct link on new thread, so pic will be below...

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I have a Crate Taxi. No effects, two channels. Acoustic guitar sounds OK through it, as does vocal. Not much power but enough for a sidewalk show on a noisy street. Pretty portable. Not tiny but not too tough to lug around.

 

I think TAH has the Crate Limo--more power, maybe a little bigger.

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I have a Crate Taxi. No effects, two channels. Acoustic guitar sounds OK through it, as does vocal. Not much power but enough for a sidewalk show on a noisy street. Pretty portable. Not tiny but not too tough to lug around.


I think TAH has the Crate Limo--more power, maybe a little bigger.

 

Absolute agreement...a Limo is perfect for what you're wanting to do, Emory...the Taxi, nearly so (due to lack of FX and slightly less volume). And the rechargable battery is good for an easy 5-6 hours of use between chargings. My own experience has been that the battery amps that other companies offer have poorer sound and the batteries don't last nearly as long before you'll have to replace 'em.

 

And the Limo 50's good for bass or keyboards, two! :thu:

 

No longer made by Crate, but findable on Ebay, often (4, right now, can be had). Worth the search.

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This may be much more than what you're looking for....

The Carvin StageMate™ S400D is an excellent choice for that type of situation. It's a 100 Watt 4 channel portable PA system. You'll get about 3 hours of use at high volume. The complete package is $580.00 plus shippiing and includes the unit, a stand, extra battery, a 12 volt auto adapter and a mic & cable.

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Those crate are pretty cool. I should have been clearer in my original post. What I wanted was something I could put in the pockets of gig bag. I don't have a car or motorcycle, so usually walk down to the beach (sob sob.... not!) in the morning to play with a friend or two (not the afternoon gigs for charity, more of a "drink coffee and look at the tourists being hustled by the whores" kind of thing). I'm getting older and lazier. Sometimes I throw this Carabao mini 9 volt in, which has actually very good sound considering.... much better than any other 9 volt.

MINI9-Small.jpg

Taxis and limos get heavy after a few hundred yards. I hit the Carvin site, even used their search, but nothing came up for the stagemate..... do you have a direct link?

In the afternoon friend picks me up with his truck, so take my usual rig of Roland cube street and cube RX, along with assorted toys. Those AC-33's look quite nice. Spendy here, around $650. Was going to try to talk partner into buying their battery powered PA/amp system. But that would entail a trip to Bangkok....

I've even gone to Amazon and paged thru all of their MP3 player add on amps. I guess I would like the "what the heck is that" response as much as portability, truth be told.

Thanks for the input

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Pleased to find out that the Limo 50 has been re-introduced/undropped (you say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to...
;)
)...think I'll buy another injection-molded bodied one and sell my original heavy (wood) one...


Excellent little mini-PA.
:)

 

I keep meaning to ask you. I have a Fishman Mini (60 watts), which is a great little guitar amp, but my voice overdrives the hell out of it..Have you tried one? How would you compare the two because I`m seriously wanting a Limo for street gigs.. Unfortunately amplified busking is illegal here in Eureka Springs, but NOT in Fayetteville. There is an old ongoing farmers market there that can be very lucrative for busking..

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I keep meaning to ask you. I have a Fishman Mini (60 watts), which is a great little guitar amp, but my voice overdrives the hell out of it..Have you tried one? How would you compare the two because I`m seriously wanting a Limo for street gigs.. Unfortunately amplified busking is illegal here in Eureka Springs, but NOT in Fayetteville. There is an old ongoing farmers market there that can be very lucrative for busking..

 

Never tried the Fishman Mini, but IMABO, the Limo 50 is perfect...loud enough for the immediate area (particularily if you use a speaker stand), but not so loud that it annoys the venders...the limitation is the microphone (too loud and you get feedback).

 

And the fact that I can get about 5 to 6 hours of use before recharging makes it ideal for busking.

 

That's why I own two (and my bassist can plug into my spare, thus my trio can busk together on battery-power) - Limo 1 is my voice and guitar, Limo 2 is Kat's voice and Johnny's bass...the congas and sundy percussion really need no amplification at this low volume level.

 

Highly recommended...I think after you try one, you'll agree. :)

 

Edit: Looked up the specs on the Fishman Mini and see that the woofer is 6.5", so that may be why your voice overdrives it...the Limo 50 has a heavy duty 10", which is why, at reasonable volumes, bass sounds great through one.

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Never tried the Fishman Mini, but IMABO, the Limo 50 is perfect...loud enough for the immediate area (particularily if you use a speaker stand), but not so loud that it annoys the venders...the limitation is the microphone (too loud and you get feedback).


And the fact that I can get about 5 to 6 hours of use before recharging makes it ideal for busking.


That's why I own two (and my bassist can plug into my spare, thus my trio can busk together on battery-power) - Limo 1 is my voice and guitar, Limo 2 is Kat's voice and Johnny's bass...the congas and sundy percussion really need no amplification at this low volume level.


Highly recommended...I think after you try one, you'll agree.
:)

Edit: Looked up the specs on the Fishman Mini and see that the woofer is 6.5", so that may be why your voice overdrives it...the Limo 50 has a heavy duty 10", which is why, at reasonable volumes, bass sounds great through one.

 

Thanks! My trigger finger is getting mighty itchy..;)

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"Emory - what is it about the Street that doesn't work for you ?"

The street is great, as is the Cube RX (which I use for electric side, much much better than micro cube). I have 2 hybrids: Ovation VXT and Parker P-36 (or is it 8?). Electric to RX, acoustic (thru Zoom A2) to street. Very tasty.

But.. when I just want to do my morning walk, pluck and gab fest, want something I can walk a mile or so with down to Soi 6 in Jomtien that won't wreck my shoulder or mood. Hence the need for ultra portable.

BTW one thing you may wish to do Mr. Natural (or any other cube owner) is get some marine epoxy and reinforce those nuts on the input jack. They have to be the thinnest plastic possible, and odd ball size so hard to replace (I tried on a visit to USA). Nothing quite like having the hardware part of the input drop down inside of the amp due to nut breakage while trying to do a gig!

Thanks for all the input. You guys are great.

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