# Recommend me a portable guitar amp **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565 "2010-04-09T18:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565/21 "2010-04-16T05:40:54Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Of course, if you want to spend some money, the _best_ microamp, I’m hearing, is the Roland Micro Cube. > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qSf0mYO3R4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qSf0mYO3R4) > That said, I’m sure glad the Honeytone is working for you. Want fun? Bring down the volume fairly low, and play feedback games with it. neeeeaaar… faaaaarr… I bought one of these for my son. It’s… not very good. Clean is far too quiet to be useful, the distortion sounds are… unfortunate. I notice the video review is using a guitar with single coils, that may sound better than our tests with my son’s humbuckers. But really, to get any volume you have to go distorted, and my boy wanted a good clean tone, and the amp didn’t deliver that at a usable volume. It’s currently collecting dust in the corner next to my boy’s GDEC. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565/22 "2010-04-16T10:29:27Z")
Rrreally. Hm. That is odd. Everyone, and from multiple sources, raves about it. I was going to investigate it in a year or so. Eh. Good thing you said something. ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565/23 "2010-04-16T19:56:55Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I bought one of these for my son. It’s… not very good. Clean is far too quiet to be useful, the distortion sounds are… unfortunate. I notice the video review is using a guitar with single coils, that may sound better than our tests with my son’s humbuckers. But really, to get any volume you have to go distorted, and my boy wanted a good clean tone, and the amp didn’t deliver that at a usable volume. It’s currently collecting dust in the corner next to my boy’s GDEC. That’s fair. But for me, I’m not interested in a lot of volume. I just want to sit on my patio and mess around with my guitar. It’s perfect for me. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565/24 "2010-04-17T03:05:51Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Rrreally. Hm. That is odd. Everyone, and from multiple sources, raves about it. I was going to investigate it in a year or so. Eh. Good thing you said something. Well, amp choice is really personal, like what underwear you find comfortable, or what bristles you prefer on toothbrush. Just because I didn’t like the amp doesn’t mean everyone else is wrong and I’m right. Go check it out for yourself, it may be great for you. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565/25 "2010-04-17T03:36:49Z")
> [@kevlaw](#): > > That’s fair. But for me, I’m not interested in a lot of volume. I just want to sit on my patio and mess around with my guitar. It’s perfect for me. It’s probably fine for that. I just meant that if you want to run the amp totally clean, and turn the volume up to 10, it was not even loud enough for me and my son to play together in a small office (me on the POD+HTR, turned way down). I’ll also note that that guy in the YouTube video had the amp miked, so we don’t know if the amp is too loud/soft/just right from that video alone. So, out of curiosity I just now hauled the Cube out of the dusty corner it was in, and gave it a workout using my Tele. There are 3 ‘clean’-ish settings, “Acoustic”, “JC Clean” and “Black Panel” (though that last setting has some drive when pushed). All three of these were quiet enough, with gain @ 5 and volume @ 11 that someone in the same small room as you could easily hold a conversation without raising their voices. The tone was not bad at all, just too soft. I did try the gain channels, “Brit Combo”, “Stack Classic” and “Stack R-Fier”, and these were louder, more than adequate volume. The distorted tone, backed off a little from full, didn’t sound half bad to my ears and plenty loud, so I’ll back off on my description above of the gain tones being “unfortunate” – it really wasn’t half bad. The sound using my Tele was good; I plugged in my Schecter, and it was definitely muddier, so I think using single-coils with this amp helps a lot. I think if you want a hard rock to metal tone, the cube probably works well. If you want good clean tone at reasonable volume, look elsewhere or wear headphones using this amp. Anyway, I’ll repeat that you (general you) should hie yourself over to Guitar Center or wherever and just try out the amp. I’m just some guy on the internet, so follow your nose and decide for yourself, and if you like it, that’s great! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-portable-guitar-amp/535565.md?page=1)