One thing a lot of people donāt know is that there exist a type of guitar amplifier (well I mean you could theoretically plug in just about any electric instrument to them, but theyāre designed to work with electric guitars) called mini-amps.
This is because most of them, if not all of them, are at most, about half the size of a shoebox (and some are even smaller than my hand). They virtually all run off of 9-volt batteries (and have surprisingly long battery life), and most have some way of attaching them to your person.
They also all have your basic headphone jack compatible with even your iPhone/iWhatever earbuds. Most are absurdly affordable as well.
These traits make them ideal not just for practice amps, but for travel, and even busking. (A word on this: check your local laws and whatnot to see what the rule is on amplified live music in public spaces. Most places allow it so long as it doesnāt exceed a certain decibel level which you likely wonāt have to worry about as very few mini-amps can even come close to being too loud.)
Now Iām a bit of a collector of these things, but thereās a lot more out there than what I currently own, but Iām going to limit myself to talking about just the models I have experience with. Iāll be working my way from worst to best, but youād be surprised how good they all are. Anyways, letās get started.
So thereās actually some disagreement on whether or not this one even counts as a mini-amp as itās... not exactly super mini. Itās closer to a combo amp size than what Iād call mini-amp size.
Thatās because, well, it is a combo amp. What that means is itās got a lot of controls on it giving you a lot of versatility.
Itās a 3-watt amp which, trust me, may not sound like a lot, but is plenty for practice purposes and I wouldnāt even advise cranking it all the way up if you live in an apartment for instance.
One nice feature is it has a built in chromatic tuner.
So why is this only #5? Well frankly, it comes down to what youāre getting for your money. These guys typically retail for around $150, for which I know of several proper combo amps of relatively decent quality with much more punch and versatility than one of these.
If youāre just starting out as an electric guitar player, however, this might be a good investment as it can, for the time being, serve as your only amp. But if you already own any other amps, Iād honestly pass this one by.
Okay, now weāre in proper mini-amp territory. This baby even has a belt clip so you can wear it on your person. Also itās cute. I honestly like how they made this thing that is round about 4 inches tall look like a proper Marshall stack.
Unfortunately I canāt confirm this, but Iām fairly certain this is a 1-watt amp, which despite being literally the bare minimum, can be surprisingly loud. At least loud enough for practice purposes.
Now the image pretty much demonstrates your amount of sound control. Volume, tone, off (no sound), on (clean channel), and OD (overdrive). Pretty simplistic, but for practice purposes, thatās more than enough.
Retailing for usually around $50, this one is way more affordable. However, my biggest complaint with this is it feels pretty cheap, even for $50. In fact I know a lot of people who have broken these accidentally doing fairly benign things.
The sound is also not the best, to be honest. However, if by chance you own, for example, an Ibanez Mini Tube Screamer pedal, throwing that in front of this will give you a greatĀ sound.
3. Orange Micro Crush CR3
This baby is the latest addition to my collection and Iāve been playing with it a lot lately. Itās kind of a step between the Roland and the Marshall. Itās very small, but still a 3-watt, and as you can see it has a bit of a combo amp thing going on, including its own chromatic tuner.
Other than that, the controls are pretty basic. Tone, Volume, and an Overdrive on/off switch, and general on/off switch.
Another reason to love it, for me personally, is not only does it sound great, but look at it! Itās a proper Orange! For me, thatās a selling point. Might not be for you, however. Speaking of selling, these retail for around $60.
Now there are two downsides to this one. They are minor, but still worth mentioning. First, despite its fairly compact size, thatās a wooden housing, so itās damned heavy (but does come with strap locks so you can attach a guitar strap and wear it). Also despite having a general on/off switch, you canāt leave anything plugged into it. For whatever reason, if something, even just a cable is plugged into it, that will slowly but constantly drain the battery.
2. Danelectro Honeytone N-10
Okay now weāre really getting mini. Even with a 9volt battery loaded into it, this thing is so small and lightweight youāll forget itās clipped to your belt.
This was my first mini-amp, and what sparked my love for them. Itās 1-watt, and the controls of volume, tone, and overdrive are pretty basic, but this thing rocks, especially if you want something that sounds a little 80ā²s-90ā²s.
It sounds amazing but really the best reason to buy one is the price.
One of these, which youāll notice is nearly the same as that Marshall in terms of specs, is only $20. What more can I say?
This amp is very similar to its Honeytone brother. Cheap ($30), lightweight, compact as hell, 1-watt, and producing an unbelievably stellar sound. But thereās even more to it than that, and some good reasons this is coming it at #1.
I have often found myself playing through this amp and wondering why I even own six other amps or why anyone would need or want anything other than this. Eventually I come to my senses, but still.
This wonderful little beauty gives you one of the best vintage 60ā²s-70ā²s sounds ever. My $150 modeling amp canāt even compete with this.
Again, the controls are fairly basic. Volume, Tone, and Gain knobs. But wait, what are those two buttons? Those, my friend, are basically free effects pedals built into this tiny machine. Youāve got a button to turn on a light echo effect, and one to turn on a tremolo effect.
Now in that third picture, you see that little white screw on the back? Use a coin, or hell, even your guitar pick, and use that to adjust the rate of the tremolo.
Honestly, the only downside at all is there is no way to attach this to your person. Other than that, I really canāt recommend one of these enough.
Now just to wrap things up, I want to share one last piece of advice with you, a wonderful little thing I discovered. All of these, every last one, has a basic jack for headphones.
But letās say you really want to jam on one of these amps, but the 1 or 3 watts just isnāt cutting it. Got some speakers? Or a stereo system with an aux cable? Both will plug right into that jack.
Weāve got a surround sound system in our living room that I often plug my mini-amps into, crank up the volume to just below the point of annoying the neighbors, and jam. Thatās when you truly wonder why you bothered buying that 4x12 cabinet and 50-watt amp head when you could have just dropped $30 on a Hodad and plugged it into the surround sound.
Got any questions or comments? Let me know! I hope this was helpful and informative.