One of them Power Amp in a pedal thingamajigs...suggestions please

welshboyo

OK,

Getting fed up of carting a 2nd amp to gigs as a backup and just want to get something in pedalform.

thinking EHX Magnum type of thing, but are there any other options out there?

Its purely a backup - amp goes pop, plug this in to the speaker, GO....provided, the speaker hasn't blown...so not looking for endless tone-shaping possibilities..

not_the_dj

I used to use a Magmum 44 for just that, but it failed on me in rehearsal once (went pop, burning smell from the PSU, anyway got it replaced under warranty from Andertons but still I didn't trust it from then on).

I currently use an Orange Micro Terror head as a back-up and at rehearsals. I have a head/cab set-up so that works well. Came into it's own at a gig earlier this year where my main amp (Egnater Tweaker) died during soundcheck. The Orange was fantastic and the gig went great. That was a pub  gig using two 2x12 cabs and without being miked up,

welshboyo

hmm, ok, I'm using a combo (Shiva) so whilst the Terror option is a good suggestion, it will be mostly redundant at other times.

Something at the back of mind was telling me about reliability with the EHX stuff, glad you have brought that up.

steamabacus

AMT do the Tube Cake pedals, the TC-1 and TC-3.

not_the_dj

How about:

Pocket Pod that you can run into the PA?

Digitech Pedal (like a Bad Monkey) that has an emulated out to run into the PA?

Tech 21 Sans Amp Pedal to run into the PA?

Personally I don't get on with that as we're often playign shitty pubs and don't always use monitors so it totally changes where I'm hearing my sound from. I still want it coming from my cab, and as I use two 2x12s and always take the Orange Mirco I'm doubled up for the whole lot should a failure occur.

welshboyo

yeah, got the pocket pod, but same as you, like to be able to hear things in those non-monitor shithole environments..

not_the_dj

I'm keen to try the Diago Little Smasher. Only 5w so that worries me, but looks pretty neat.

Of course there's the old Crate Powerblock. I had one for a while but never used it in anger.

ThePrettyDamned

Rack mount valve state power amp?

Isp do a power amp that's small, not sure about reliability. Thomann have it, it's much more expensive than an ehx though (about 200 quid iirc).

ICBM

The Traynor Quarterhorse looks interesting for an amp-in-a-pedal. I haven't head much about them though.

Avoid the Crate Powerblock. They had a lot of reliability problems, I've seen several dead ones (unrepairable, or at least economically) and the one I tried that was actually working is still the worst-sounding guitar amp I think I've ever come across - horribly harsh and fatiguing, and just completely toneless.

Narrowly beating the Micro Terror, which is the second worst - although helped a little by putting a deliberately muddy-sounding valve into. Bear in mind that you get very much reduced power out of these into anything other than a 4-ohm load too - although with the Orange, that seemed to make it sound a bit less horrible.

I still prefer an ancient 50 or 100W PA head as a backup - not that small or light, but dirt cheap and usually very reliable. Most have spring reverb too. And can be used for other emergency functions, eg as a bass amp, monitor amp or even - ! - a vocal PA, if you make sure you have a couple of XLR-to-jack adapters. Peavey, Carlsbro, Laney etc all made decent ones you can get for pennies now.

not_the_dj

For the gig I used the Orange Micro Terror at I had a Catalinbread DLS (or a Formula 5F6) upfront, and it was running at 8 ohms.

People danced, we got booked for a party gig from someone who was there, and a repeat booking for the pub. Job done.

ThePrettyDamned

not_the_dj;211929" said:

For the gig I used the Orange Micro Terror at I had a Catalinbread DLS (or a Formula 5F6) upfront, and it was running at 8 ohms.

People danced, we got booked for a party gig from someone who was there, and a repeat booking for the pub. Job done.

I didn't like the micro terror, but that really goes to show that 'tone' can be a bit less important than we think.

The catalinbread helped a bit I imagine, they're supposed to be fab pedals.

ThePrettyDamned

Randall do one, the rg13. I'm a bit tempted by one myself.

ICBM

Well, any functioning amp is better than silence in those cases .

I just thought the Micro Terror was an awful-sounding thing. A friend of mine bought one and I really couldn't believe how painful it was to listen to. I far preferred the little Orange Crush I had once.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

Well, any functioning amp is better than silence in those cases .

I just thought the Micro Terror was an awful-sounding thing. A friend of mine bought one and I really couldn't believe how painful it was to listen to. I far preferred the little Orange Crush I had once.

Off topic, but have you tried the Crush Pro yet?  I quite liked the one I tried

mart

ICBM said:

The Traynor Quarterhorse looks interesting for an amp-in-a-pedal. I haven't head much about them though.
....

I've got one, and it's given me no problems at all. Two channel and a nice elementary selection of effects too - reverb, trem and tape echo. Not huge clean headroom at volume, and very little EQ control. That's been a niggle for me, because the voicing is pretty dark.

Richardj

How about one of these:

http://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/products/toneblock-amplifiers/tone-block-200

A friend of mine has a Quilter Aviator amp and loves it.