New Living Room Amp Day

thermionic

My niece bought a Squier Bullet Mustang recently and is well into playing guitar - she didn’t have anything to plug it into so I packed up my trusty Vox DA5 and posted it off to her. Which meant I had to find a new living room amp. I considered a VT20 (I really rate the Valvetronix Tonelab sounds), a Fender Mustang, Marshall Code, Blackstar id:core… Anyway, I liked the size and relative simplicity of the DA5 so finally found a Mini 3 on ebay for 60% of what they were new rather than the 95% most people wanted for them. My first impression was that it sounded slightly boxier than the DA5 (it’s about 3/4 of the size) but the modelled sounds were slightly better. I did this with the DA5, but it bears repeating - if you have an unused fireplace, if you put a small amp in there it will sound much louder and so much fuller. Remarkable difference.

https://i.imgur.com/TtZpVJy.jpg

I’ve heard that these sound better with the rear battery panel removed for an open-backed combo effect. I’m going to experiment tomorrow, I think reflections off the rear brick wall will make a difference.

Rocker

The lighted candles are known to give a brighter sound........

tone1

I might try the old ‘light some candles so the Mrs doesn’t notice I’ve bought some new gear’ trick.....

BillDL

They do sound better with the back panel off when played in a room with lots of acoustic padding.  They are boxy sounding with the back closed and carpets, sofas, etc soaking up the sound makes them sound even more boxy.  I got one cheaply as part of a Gumtree sale with a Vintage brand LP copy a year or two ago to give to an older work colleague for his 65th birthday.  I was quite disappointed with the wee amp in my livingroom and considered giving him one of my amps until I put it up on a coffee table and opened the back.  It made it sound much more alive and I would have kept it for that purpose if I had needed another small practice amp and had bought it for myself.

Sassafras

Nice shrine!

Nikc

I've had one of these for years, it doesn't get used much, but I'm always surprised how well it sounds when I do play through it. I've found having it up or pointing up helps, after all it is a small amp with a small speaker sitting it on the floor isn't going to help it shine

jca74

The other advantage of the amp in the fireplace is to get revenge on the pigeons shouting down the chimney whille your trying to listen to music...

Whistler

jca74 said:

... pigeons shouting down the chimney ...

Oh, you said shouting; I read that as something that sounds similar which would be the pigeons' revenge on you, putting a deposit on your Mini3!

It is a great idea as a pseudo-larger cabinet. I have a DA-5 and I replaced the 6.5" speaker with an 8" and it sounds so much better. Two friends have the Mini5, as does Brian May, so it seems to be a popular little combo.

proggy

Sassafras said:

Nice shrine!

I thought that too.

LastMantra

Cool. I'd probably try raising it a bit or tilting it back. 

TheMarlin

For the DA5, I loved the high gain sounds, on full volume, but gain set to zero.  As you add small amount of gain, it gives fab ‘edge of breakup’ clean tones (or 70’s rock tones) at nighttime volumes, 

I miss my little DA5. 

thermionic

I did think a little shelf to raise it off the floor would be an even bigger improvement…

And I used to do that with my DA5 @TheMarlin, often better than the Blues 1 or Blues 2 settings with the gain high. Difficult to get a bad sound out of that amp, which encouraged plugging in, playing, and getting better at it. 

uncledick

I've used my DA5 for a few small gigs and open mic nights.  Sounds loads better than it should for the money.  Sadly, it died recently so if anyone has a schematic I'd be grateful.

thermionic

It’s all SMT and DSP so I wouldn’t hold much hope for repair, unless it’s something simple like the power supply.

ICBM

I haven’t tried the 3, but I’ve got a Mini5 Rhythm too… although I haven’t seen it for a while since it lives at my singer’s house and we haven’t done anything for some time… but it’s an excellent little amp and very useful with the separate mic/line channel. We don’t use the drum machine normally but it’s an option if we want to. It sounds surprisingly good outdoors for something that small which runs on AA batteries too.

bertie

Rocker said:

The lighted candles are known to give a brighter sound........

its what they used before LEDs