Hi Everyone,
I'm interested in getting a small battery operated amp for my CBG. I want something that gives me a really good clean sound as I will be playing English folk - strumming on my diatonically fretted instrument. I've looked at a lot of amps on line but nothing seems to fit the bill. I want something fairly discrete - maybe be able to wear it on my belt? I did have a cigar box amplifier that I bought on eBay but that was really terrible and sounded awful. Any suggestions?
Les
Replies
Currently I'm ripping the insides out of a little cheap battery powered amp and putting them into the insides of a nice little speaker I had laying around. It used to be a speaker from a decent computer monitors system. I will gain a bit of clarity from it as I know it has the frequency response I'm after. Later I will add some type of longevity by getting it running on a larger capacity rechargeable battery built into the box.
I already know it works on theory by wiring it up 'on the fly'. Perhaps you can do something similar with the amp you already have.
Thanks for all the advice folks. I have bought a Roland Cube Street EX. Having listened to a lot of smaller amps I realised that I needed something more substantial to get the clean sound I was after. That being said, at 16.5 lbs it's a comfortable lift even for an old chap like me!
It's absolutely wonderful! The acoustic guitar COSM patch is perfect for the CBG - clean as a whistle. It being a Roland, as you would expect, the effects (reverb,chorus and delay) are great with just enough tweakability. Of course, if I want them, the proper electric patches - clean, crunch, lead - work really well with my Strat. Playback of tracks through the speakers is more than adequate - maybe a little lacking in bass but that's a minor quibble. This thing really packs a punch volume-wise. A Shure SM58 mic works nicely and would be fine for low-level busking/announcements as long as you keep your distance from the speakers. The angled wedge-monitor design is a nice touch too. Everything else is fine - EQ, tuner, battery checker etc.
It's the usual Roland story - feels like it will last a long time without breaking provided I look after it. Yes, there are cheaper options but I'm really happy and got a very good deal on a display model so it's all good!
Good choice. I've used the Roland Cube for ages, and wanted to upgrade to something more substantial for festivals and shows where I couldn't be guaranteed of mains power. I asked at a local music shop, but they only had the Street Cube, but said they'd get an EX in, and if I wanted to take the StreetCube immediately I could swap it for the EX. As I needed something straight away, I bought the StreetCube, used it for a weekend, alongside my ordinary Cube and found it was quite lot better, but decided to spend the extra money and swap it for the EX. At first I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, as it was fairly pricey, and didn't have all the amp modelling that the ordinary Cube and Street Cube have. Now I'm totally sold on it, and love the convenience of running it on batteries (I recommend getting some good rechargeable ones, but got for the highest specification you can get..not all rechargeables are the same)..and I've done gigs using it as a small PA unit...plenty good enough to entertain 100 people in a pub courtyard, and I also use it as a PA monitor.
Hi John,
What rechargeables do you recommend?
Les
I'm using Maplin 2400mAh rechargeables, and Panasonic also do a 2500mAh. Make sure you get a decent charger - I got a Panasonic (which came with 4 smaller capacity batteries). Online reviews for the Maplin batteries seem pretty damning, but I've had no problems with them over the past 8 months.
Roland makes great amps and those Cube amps are really nice.
Most of these small amps have speakers that are made for guitar. Most small guitar speakers sound bad. Some people like it that way.
I came across a small guitar amp like this and changed out the speaker with a small subwoofer from a home surround sound system. It was the same ohm and wattage rating and close to the same size. Subwoofers can handle guitar and bass without damage and offer a great clean sound.
Another thing to change if your good with a soldering iron, the amps input goes to a capacitor that is usually a .047uf on small battery powered amps, change that cap to a .1uf for less treble.
I have had a couple of the Honeytones like Jim mentions. They put out a lot of sound for what they are and what they cost.
I've got the Danelectro Honeytone that will clip on your belt. Plenty of volume but it does tend to go into a dirty tone at fairly low volume. It's around $25-30 on ebay. The other one I like a lot is made by Joyo and plugs straight into the guitar jack. It has a clean/distortion switch and is less than $20. The next one up that I like a lot is Roland Micro Cube. It won't clip on your belt but is about the size of a lunch box. It has wonderful clean tones and built in amp models and effects. It's about $90. For discreetness I'd go with the little Joyo but for real good sound the Micro Cube. Oh, the Micro Cube runs either on batteries or plug in power. You can see the Joyo on my guitar in this vid's beginning. It's on the distorted setting here.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/satan-your-kingdom-must-come-do...
For a clean sound from a cbg amp, there are a few things to consider. While the type of pickup and the method of string attack (how firmly or lightly the player picks/strums the strings) has an affect on the amp's sound, it is the pre-set gain stage of the IC chip that creates the distortion.
Unfortunately, the factory made circuits are near impossible to alter or modify. But there are alternatives.
If you're adept at soldering small components, building your own circuit can be a fun and rewarding challenge. The parts are easily found online, along with schematics. If you look at the schematics section of runoffgroove.com, you will find the Little Gem and the Ruby amp schematics which use a LM386 IC chip. This 8-pin chip is common in many cbg amp circuits, with an output of around 325mA, or about 1/3 amp, and plenty loud enough.
The gain is controlled between pins 1 and 8. If left alone, the gain setting is relatively "clean". By adding a capacitor and/or a 1K potentiometer between those pins, you can change the gain stage to add a bit of crunch/overdrive.
However, you mention that you want something discreet, to be worn on your belt. Sounds like you're looking for something like a little Honey Tone or Smokey amplifier. Those are nice choices for wearing on yourself, but they have that distorted over driven sound.