Recommendations for portable practice amps please

Majorscale

My son wants a small portable practice amp to take to Uni. Tone is more important than a million features but a few fx would be nice! What would you recommend? He plays mostly pop & rock…

munckee

I bought boss waza air headphones for my daughter for uni, which incidentally (cough) I'm just about to list in the classifieds as she has just finished.

For quiet practice not through headphones I would thoroughly recommend a yamaha THR5 or 10.

andyman

There are a million options especially if he hasn't narrowed down the amp sound (or budget), but personally I think Vox's stuff is absolutely killer, especially the solid state stuff. You can't go wrong with one of those pathfinder combos and they're cheap.

flying_pie

I use a Nux Mighty Air as my tiny portable practice amp

The most useful thing for me is it has a rechargeable wireless transmitter so you don't need to carry a lead around

Stratavarious

Yamaha THR is good shout for a small room

A boss katana, vox, Laney linebacker or a Fender Mustang all have lots of good tones and fx and potentially giggable

ecc83

Gotta say! Blackstar have a new Beam out innit? 

Dave.

Winny_Pooh

Vox AD30 or VXII pretty much all of those small Voxs' I have tried have a good core tone.

wibble

I like the Positive Grid stuff. I have a Go, a Mini (Vai edition) and also the Neo wireless headphones (which I may be selling soon)

https://uk.positivegrid.com/products/spark-go?variant=45967797092585

https://uk.positivegrid.com/products/spark-mini?variant=43730245058793

https://uk.positivegrid.com/pages/spark-neo-series

I use a Lekato wireless with the 2 amps

CaseOfAce

Blackstar Fly 3 - cheap as chips at £70, built in distortion, delay, headphone socket, portable, can be used with batteries and good enough for the pros for practice in hotel rooms, on the bus, backstage.
Found out the other day it's the choice of Phil Collen of Def Leppard on tour. 

It's not boutique tone of the gods and doesn't need to be - it's a practice amp which gives a useable tone. 
Plus if it gets nicked or "borrowed" it doesn't matter - just buy another (a distinct possibility if on or off campus).

Barquentine

I've just got an Orange Crush 12. Lovely range of tones and does well at 'edgy' sounds. No effects or reverb though.

Ddigger

CaseOfAce said:

Blackstar Fly 3 - cheap as chips at £70, built in distortion, delay, headphone socket, portable, can be used with batteries and good enough for the pros for practice in hotel rooms, on the bus, backstage.
Found out the other day it's the choice of Phil Collen of Def Leppard on tour. 

It's not boutique tone of the gods and doesn't need to be - it's a practice amp which gives a useable tone. 
Plus if it gets nicked or "borrowed" it doesn't matter - just buy another (a distinct possibility if on or off campus).

My missus made the mistake of thinking "small equals quiet" a few years ago when the 8yo started guitar and she bought one for him.

It sits under a table at the end of the sofa.  I often have ago at 6am before I go to work and it sounds surprisingly decent.  Never end up with a tone that won't do or is unusable.

We recorded all his guitar grade videos using it and the backing track playing on the TV sound bar.  Recently, we went to a friend's house (his 8yo daughter has just started playing) and used the Blue Tooth capability to stream a backing track - sounded decent.

LionAquaLooper

You want cheap, no frills, battery powered, compact, sounds good with a built in delay? 

Boss Katana Mini. 

These can be had used for about £50.  No bluetooth connectivity because it doesn't need a dedicated mobile app to tweak it.  What you see is what you get.  And it sounds awesome.

GazAus

Yamaha THR10!

Yorkie

A s/h Vox Mini5 Rhythm would be my choice. Been using one since my son pinched my Microcube and it sounds fantastic. Battery life is similar to the Roland. 

barrettisgold

I bought my son a Yamaha THR-5 and we’ve been really pleased with it. He is because it’s his first guitar amp and I am because I really enjoy playing on it too. Simple and no frills is my be of it’s pros. I think it looks inoffensive as an object too. At least my wife hasn’t complained about it being left around the house.

Alterlifeson

Another vote for the THR10 or THR5 - the originals or the revamped versions are great. Nice and simple, 5 presets and a few decent effects.

FX_Munkee

I sent my eldest off to uni with my original THR10 it works perfectly for practising in his halls. We've also got a Blackstar fly and a Katana Mini in the house, neither are a patch on the THR.

He's gigging now, so I'm at the point of working out how to get the old Valvestate 8080 to where he is. Which will be fun.

nero1701

Spark2...


Ive one in the classifieds
..just saying.. 

monquixote

flying_pie said:

I use a Nux Mighty Air as my tiny portable practice amp

The most useful thing for me is it has a rechargeable wireless transmitter so you don't need to carry a lead around

I was just going to say that. 

It's a great little thing.

Fiddlesticks_

Another vote for the little Yamahas.

At the back end of last year I went to G4M to try a few small amps for a present for someone. We tried two of the Yamahas, the lunchbox sized Boss Katana, one of the small Orange Crushes, a couple of small Fenders and a Vox Pathfinder, and the Yamahas stood head and shoulders above imo. It wasn’t just good compared to them - it was just a good little amp in its own right.

Majorscale

Thanks guys, one THR10II duly ordered!