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Best battery-powered amp for busking


SrMeowMeow

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Roland Micro Cube.

 

 

Oh dear god I hope that's not the best of a bad bunch. I actually paid good money for a brand new one a few years back. It wallowed in such utterly miserable suckage that I *gave* it away to a church group to use as a portable PA - and it kinda even sucked at that. Did I mention it sucked?

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Old guy rambling....

....it was 1973 and I would cruise around the Appalachian mountains of central PA in a big black 58 Coupe de Ville. In the back seat was my Mike Mathews Freedom Amp armed with 40 brand new size D batteries. The loudest 55 solid state watts you ever heard. I was ready to lay down the jamz anywhere, anytime and let me tell you I did to.......

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A few years ago I tried a Roland Microcube with my Steinberger Spirit, with the idea of using it as a travel amp. I was extremely impressed with the sound, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend one. I'd also look into the Vox DA5 if they still do it. (Didn't buy one as shortly after that airlines all changed their carry-on rules, and nothing bigger than a violin or a uke is allowed now - could probably get away with it most of the time, but won't risk it. Not the most valuable guitar, but bloody hard to get hold of over here left handed: Music Yo refused to send me one from the US because they have UK distributors, and the UK distributor wouldn't carry lefties..... eventually found one on eBay...).

 

The best sounding busking amp I've ever heard was being used by a guy at St Paul's underground station one day about ten years ago.... He was plying an acoustic, fingerpicking silent night (December, obviously), outstanding tone. It was a Vox Escort, which they did back in the early Seventies if memory serves. Outstanding sounding amp. Not sure how easy they are to find now / where you are / at what price, though.

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FYI I have a (now rather ancient) Crate TX-30 taxi, and it does a pretty creditable job for acoustic + mike, and electric + mike with the addition of a pedal or two. I like the fact that it's AC/DC AND operates via a cigarette lighter plug directly from an auto. Also like the fact that it has a rechargeable battery that has never failed me over the eight years I've had it (and it was used when I bought it...)

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Oh dear god I hope that's not the best of a bad bunch. I actually paid good money for a brand new one a few years back. It wallowed in such utterly miserable suckage that I *gave* it away to a church group to use as a portable PA - and it kinda even sucked at that. Did I mention it sucked?

 

 

Sometimes its the singer, not the song.

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"Could you just not replace the nut with something more substantial right at the get-go?"

I thought you were referring to me at first!

last time I was in the states went round with techno geek friend looking for replacement. Went to Fry's and some huge old school hardware store. It is a between size (figures).

The epoxy seems to be doing the trick just fine. Even used it to repair a busted nut, a very busted nut.

Oh, and another forum about mini mustangs had link to some new Yamaha amps that look quite nice....

Here's a link to a decent video and print review of the buggers:


the thr 5 goes for $200 and the thr 10 for $300.

 

 

Never would I think that!

 

I'll remember the fix you've done, though, if I ever get one.

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I do enjoy my micro cube, but I must say that if you have the $ and don't mind the greater weight, the Cube Rx is much better sound quality wise. 4 speakers, stereo which is tasty, Same basic layout, but I do think the black face is better executed. Has a so so built in drummer, which could be useful. Depends on what you want to play. You could run a mic thru the back input if you used some pedal you have lying about, say a reverb (my vocals need all the help they can get!) but mainly to control the volume.

better sound also goes for the cube street (2 speakers) and in US costs same as Rx (here it is $100 more for some unknown reason), and does have that dedicated mic input. It may be lighter than Cube Rx...

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  • 11 months later...
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crashclc wrote:

 

Roland Micro Cube.

 

 

 

 

Oh dear god I hope that's not the best of a bad bunch. I actually paid good money for a brand new one a few years back. It wallowed in such utterly miserable suckage that I *gave* it away to a church group to use as a portable PA - and it kinda even sucked at that. Did I mention it sucked?

 

 

Dont hate the playa hate the game.

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I've been doing some acoustic gigs with a friend, but always have been in a situation where we had power. This is something that has always been in the back of my mind though and always fall back to looking at the Crate Limo or Taxi. I used to have a couple different models of the Pignose. While they sounded good, they were inconsistent with battery life.

I own a Bose Compact and wil try running it with my Cobra Power Station and see how many hours I can get out of it. My other preferred option is a 12v auto type battery and inverter. I'm sure this will run great, but not something I would want to use on camping trips and such. So, dont laugh. I am gonna check out the Ion Tailgater or Ion Blockrocker. They are reasonably priced and have descent reviews. If something happened to it, I would not cry.

I will post back soon to let you know how it goes with both.

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For something a bit alternative you should check out the JukeCase portable guitar amp by Son Valise. A portable suitcase guitar amp with up to 40 hours playtime at 50W (rechargeable battery) and awesome sound, all the way up the range. My friend got one and you can play your backing track via Bluetooth whilst playing guitar/singing over the top – up to 4 inputs in total. They look awesome are pretty lightweight (5-10kg)

 

Read about it here: JukeCase portable guitar amp

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