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Portable Amps

Hey, New to CBG. I have made a couple so far. I have a question regarding amps. I currently make my own pickups (simple piezo).The amp that I use is a cheap, small, FIRST ACT amp that runs off of 9 v batteries. The setup works very well for the gritty 3 stringer that I made, but im looking for a little less "edge" and "grittiness" when playing my CGB Tenor and cookie tin mando. Could anyone recommend a different cheap, hopefully portable, amp that would play a little cleaner?

I haven't tried out the instruments on a different, nicer, amp, so I do not know if more clarity is possible with the cheap piezo pickups that im using/building.

Essentially, I am playing with a cheap pickup, a cheap amp, and a cheap guitar. What is the best way to clean up the sound a little?

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on August 17, 2013 at 5:38pm

Mark,

Perhaps you need a pre-amp. This will allow you to boost the signal and do a little EQ before pushing that signal into the admittedly-cheap First Act amp. Also, embedding the piezo disc in silicone or hot glue will take some of the edge off.

Lot of people here swear by the little $20-40 Danelectro Honeytone 9V amps (me, I personally don't like their tone). You can get a similar Fender Mini Twin Tweed for about $40, runs off a wall wart or 9V batt; I have one, and like both the clean and crunch tones, plus it has vol and tone controls. Vox, Marshall and others make similar things in the same price range. None of the little amps based on the LM386 chip are gonna sound like a Marshall stack. You can get some amazing tone out of Bruce Zinky's Li'l Smokey 9V belt clip amps ($35-38), but there's no tone or volume control, just straight in.

Why not take your gits in to Hansen's, and ask to try em out on a few of their amps, from tiny to full scale, solid state versus tube? Let your ears decide.

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Permalink Reply by Reeds Taylor on August 18, 2013 at 12:27am

Hey Mark, here's mine...I love it....need charged about every month

http://traynoramps.com/guitar/tvm/product/tvm10/

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on August 19, 2013 at 12:41am

A friend of mine has the 40 watt version. Wonderful sound plus mike input. It also has low and high impedance settings for the instrument input. I use the high setting when using a piezo.