Hotone British Invasion Amp - review, issues and now perfect!

impmann

OK so my tiny, ickle Hotone arrived yesterday and so last night I had my first play through this amp.

Plugged into a fairly crap 1x12 cab (a cut down Line6 Spider 30 combo cab fitted with a Celestion Vintage 30, the sound is *really* good. Excellent break up, great chime, superb cleans (that can be slightly gritty or growly if you want them to be) and an inspiring tone. Does it sound like an AC30? Well, there are elements of the Vox sound and with the 12in speaker, it does sound airy and relatively 'big' but nothing is quite like the sound of an AC30... but if you were recording, and in a mix, there is enough of the 'elements' to be useful as a sound if that was the sort of sound you needed/wanted. I did lose myself for a good hour and a half playing various guitars through it, and totally lost track of time.

Downsides - hum. Very disappointed with the background noise. As a recording amp its too noisy. I will be speaking to GAK today about it, as its not really acceptable for something that is sold as a recording amp - I did want to give you (and GAK) an example recording but I ran out time before my son needed to go to bed. I'm almost certain the noise is coming from the wall-wart power supply (its an 18v supply) and I think that noise isn't being damped out sufficiently. Again, I meant to drag that into work today to stick it on a scope to test the theory but tbh... it was early in the morning and I forgot. 

Perhaps an uprated supply will cure the problem but it could be that the design itself is letting the side down... I've read a few comments from other owners saying the hum is an issue. So I'd imagine that the manufacturers should be aware.

I'll let you all know where this goes - I don't want to return it, as it has the best tone I've heard so far from a 'baby' AC30 but currently, its not fulfilling the promise of being a recording amp... :-(

Shark_Eyes

Sad to hear about the hum issue, but thanks for the write-up! Might still take a punt on the Bass amp, on the off-chance it's amazing.

Jalapeno

Hum is a common complaint with all the models - some have said new PSU improves matters greatly.  If anyone gets a good PSU please let us all know.

impmann

I've spoken to GAK - they suggested speaking to the distributor, as they say they haven't heard any complaints...

Well... I've decided not to yet. I'm going to drag it and the power supply into work tomorrow. One of the techs has suggested running it up on one of our Bench power supplies - if it still hums, its the amp and there's not a lot that can be done ( then its probably a lack of smoothing in the circuit - and due to its sheer size, its likely that there isn't a big enough reservoir cap on the power rails). If its quiet, a better power supply will solve it.

Listening to other demos on Youtube, I think the hum I'm hearing is "normal" but to me its not great... for example (listen to the background noise - not the playing):

Danny1969

I imagine it's a crap smpu unit like a laptop charger. If it's that bad I would build my own simple tranny \ bridge rect \ smoothing supply. I still fancy one of these

impmann

Looking at the walwart, and feeling the (lack of) weight to it - yes, it will be a SMPU, with minimal smoothing. Its also a bought-in part by the looks of it and bearing in mind the cheap price of the whole package, its unlikely to have been chosen on quality grounds! ;-)

Richardj

What power consumption does it have?  Could you run it from your effects supply?

Jalapeno

Burgs' demo has some hum after the gain goes past 2pm (Tele)

impmann

Its 18v - I don't know what the consumption of the amp is (I'm at work, its at home) but I remember the max output of the supplied PSU was 1.5a. The bench power supplies in the service centre here can do that - and I know they are quiet! :-)

I *believe* you can link the outputs on a Voodoo Labs PP2 but, I've never tried - if the solution is a better quality PSU, then I'd rather find something stand alone.

hobbio

Richardj said:

What power consumption does it have?  Could you run it from your effects supply?

impmann said:

 I'm almost certain the noise is coming from the wall-wart power supply (its an 18v supply)

Some FX power supplies will do 18v, won't they?

impmann

Do they? I'm not sure on my Voodoo Labs one...

hobbio

Mine doesn't, but it's a cheap one. I'm sure I was looking into a good-quality one that would do 18v on a couple of the outputs. Lemme see if I can find it.

hobbio

Here you go.

http://www.andertons.co.uk/power-supplies/pid27905/cid591/mxr-dc-brick-guitar-pedal-power-supply.asp

impmann

Found it myself!! :-)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Official-Voodoo-Lab-PPY-2-1mm-Voltage-Doubling-Cable-18V-or-24V-Brand-New-/191272564737?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c88bbb801

hobbio

Your option is a little more cost-effective than mine

impmann

:-)

£99 does seem a little steep...

RaymondLin

hobbio said:

Richardj said:

What power consumption does it have?  Could you run it from your effects supply?

impmann said:

 I'm almost certain the noise is coming from the wall-wart power supply (its an 18v supply)

Some FX power supplies will do 18v, won't they?

Some do, some don't. The Cioks DC-10 don't, the Ciokolate does.

You can however get voltage doubler for them. You halve the mA though. How many mA does this amp draws?

digitalkettle

impmann said:

Found it myself!! :-)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Official-Voodoo-Lab-PPY-2-1mm-Voltage-Doubling-Cable-18V-or-24V-Brand-New-/191272564737?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c88bbb801

I run a SlideRIG pedal at 18v using one of these cables...no probs.

hobbio

impmann said:

:-)

£99 does seem a little steep...

Hehe, I would say that I saw it when I was looking for a whole new power supply though

cbilly22

impmann said:

I've spoken to GAK - they suggested speaking to the distributor, as they say they haven't heard any complaints...

Well... I've decided not to yet. I'm going to drag it and the power supply into work tomorrow. One of the techs has suggested running it up on one of our Bench power supplies - if it still hums, its the amp and there's not a lot that can be done ( then its probably a lack of smoothing in the circuit - and due to its sheer size, its likely that there isn't a big enough reservoir cap on the power rails). If its quiet, a better power supply will solve it.

Listening to other demos on Youtube, I think the hum I'm hearing is "normal" but to me its not great... for example (listen to the background noise - not the playing):

The first line of this bothers me. I hope by 'they suggested speaking to the distributor' that they meant they would be contacting the distributor on your behalf.

impmann

Ok we've now tested it with a proper regulated power supply. The result - no background hum at all. Using the same guitar and the supplied PSU, the him is back.

So now to find a stand alone power supply for it that is silent, commercially available etc.