Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: BloodMountain on February 04, 2007, 02:45:57 PM
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hey everyone
im looking for a micro amp (1-5 Watts, battery powered, VERY small) at the moment for practice at school, on holiday, in bed (yeah im that lazy), etc. etc.
BUT..... i haven't yet found one with enough (metal level) gain (DAMNIT)!
if anyone can find one with enough gain or has any experience, please let me know!
i've looked at the Marshalls, but they both don't have enough for me.
thanks all, BM
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Put a distortion pedal in front of it :D
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hmmmm its a possibility, but it just requires more batteries and a bit less portability...... im really looking for plug and play style, nothing in between.
that is an idea though, but i need a standalone amp
anyone else got information?
BM
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SMOKEY!!!
God they rock
And have a decent amount of gain compared to the alternatives - Infact, they even work as a pretty decent fuzzbox. :D
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roland micro cube?
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wow, those smokeys look almost perfect! thanks for the tip, dude!
erm... the micro cube is way too expensive to just buy for those purposes i mentioned.
BM
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just one question though for the smokey...... how do you switch between distortion and clean if it has no knobs? :?
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Guitar volume.
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but doesn't that only do the volume of the amp, or is it the gain?
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The amp only has one volume iirc, and you use the volume on your guitar to change gain.
I don't own one myself, but used quite a few, and I love them :D
Know a guitar teacher who takes one to everyone of his lessons quite happily.
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ok.... thanks for the tip! i will probably get one then, unless anyone else has an idea (i doubt it though)
anything is welcome
BM
EDIT: i could just get a Marshall MS-2 and a mini distortion pedal i suppose..... any ideas anyone has of a really small, cheap distortion pedal? the only thing that i have in mind is the Nano Pocket Metal Muff.... anything else?
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how about a dean stack in the box.look them up
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how about a dean stack in the box.look them up
yeah, thats actually an option now.... the only problem is, it has no speaker
HOWEVER i bet you could use it straight into my surround system, but i don't take that with me..... is there a solution to the lack of speaker?
BM
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just use headphones but yer you can connect it up to a sound system on any speaker the gain on them is ment to be pretty harsh for your liking,as it has 3 channels me thinks,not bad for a micro amp.
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true, dude.... but what about on the move? could i just plug it into a pair of those plug and play mini speakers? (like what Sony etc. make)
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you shure can,you can plug it into anything,well if it has a speaker
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hmmmm yeah thats cool..... haha could yo plug it into the car radio???
that would be awesome
BM
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hmmmm yeah thats cool..... haha could yo plug it into the car radio???
that would be awesome
BM
if ur car radio has an aux.in. or if yu have an iTrip
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oh yeah i just rememberd that you can buy these little mini amps that connect striaght to your guitar.no cables wooo.look them up on ebay,i cant rember the make.my friend had one there pretty kool.
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Pignose amps are also meant to be good.
Look them up.
Apparently the Smokey Amp is the biggest selling amp of all time xD
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Pignose amps are also meant to be good.
Look them up.
Apparently the Smokey Amp is the biggest selling amp of all time xD
the pignose are preety hot but there more vintage or classic style,he wants a modern style but still there great litlle amps.
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oh yeah i just rememberd that you can buy these little mini amps that connect striaght to your guitar.no cables wooo.look them up on ebay,i cant rember the make.my friend had one there pretty kool.
theyre called Plug N Play or something like that, but unfortunately have no gain at all.
so i'll either get the Dean Stack in a box or a Smokey.
thanks for all the info dudes
BM
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i have some questions about the Smokey:
i watched the video and it has enough gain for me :D
here are the 4 uses:
1. guitar > Smokey (noise comes out of built in speaker.)
2. guitar> Smokey> Cab (noise comes out of cab.)
3. guitar> Smokey> headphones (guess!)
4. use Smokey as a preamplifier (guitar> Smokey> Amp)
can someone explain number 4 for me please? i don't understand what it means....
Thanks, BM
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Guessing it means using it as a fuzz box and then using the fuzzed sound as the input to the amp.
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so would that bypass any part of the amp or would you use it in front of the amp's clean channel?
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I'd assume you could run it like any other fuzz pedal straight into the clean channel, or you could use the amps Effects Return (if it has one) and bypass it's preamp stage, just using it's poweramp and cab.
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do you mean the effects loop or just the effects return???
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so would that bypass any part of the amp or would you use it in front of the amp's clean channel?
You'd just use it in front of the other channel like any other pedal.
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I have a smokey- fine pice of kit-fits in the case.Well worth the money. I haven't used it in front of an amp(kind of defeats the purpose methinks) but perhaps will just to let you know-not tonight though as I am in Mrs 38ths bad books at the mo :cry: ) Similarly, I have not used head phone with it either but I can have a bash and see what happens.
Control the tone by the good old fashioned way-use the volume control-it cleans up nicely.
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wow thanks for the info 38th! :D
if you could try putting it in front of the amp, that would be great!!
BM
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Oops, just noticedd my poor spelling- was very tired-t'is my excuse.I really do know how to spell piece....anyhow:
Yes you can plug into the smokey and then into an amp-it provides a massive signal boost- didn't sound too bad but I'd be wary about running a signal intended for a speaker into the front end of an amp-I have no technical idea on this-just seems a bit risky running that level into an amp.
Also works in headphones though for some reason only one side-that may be my headphones- besides, even when at full tilt, the smokey is not loud and I can't see it bothering anyone else unless in the room with you.
The thing about the smokey is that it does give a good rendering of the guitars tone- a Strat sounds like a Strat, a Tele like a Tele and you cannot say that about some of the micro amps I have played over the years. If you do get one, keep it in a protective box and unplug when you are done-the batteries seem to last well too-mine has been going strong for over a year and I have used it quite a lot. Fits inside guitar case too.
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Great news! glad it shows through your guitar's tone, i will be using a 70s Les Paul lawsuit copy with an awesome sounding humbucker in it..... metal!! :twisted:
thanks, i'll probably buy it soon then!
BM
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roland micro cube?
It's astonishing how many Roland has sold of these - considering how awful they sound.
I hate mine. I hate it. I stare at it and hope it dies or goes away, but it doesn't. :twisted: I will move in March and then I will hopefully be able to use one of my bigger amps. Or I'll get a POD XT.
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roland micro cube?
It's astonishing how many Roland has sold of these - considering how awful they sound.
I hate mine. I hate it. I stare at it and hope it dies or goes away, but it doesn't. :twisted: I will move in March and then I will hopefully be able to use one of my bigger amps. Or I'll get a POD XT.
hahahhaahhhaa! sounds like a load of cr@p, my friend has one, and when we did a music piece together ages ago (we both used Zoom 505IIs lol!) everyone said how they couldn't hear his guitar cause the tone was so rubbish! it was partly because he is a noob and doesn't know how to get good tone from a guitar, but also his amp hahahahaa
hahaha and my Marshall MG10 sounded better!!!!
BM
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thats odd - a lot of people in this thread seemed to love the cubes http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6715&highlight=roland+micro+cube
never tried one myself though...
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Well I think it's my right to hate my own gear. :lol:
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Well I think it's my right to hate my own gear. :lol:
i wasn't insinuating that it wasn't - go ahead and hate it; won't bother anyone :roll:
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i wasn't insinuating that it wasn't
I know. :D
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which Smokey should i get? i have found a higher gain model, but has the standard smokey got enough gain as it is for metal? (im not looking for insane amounts of gain though)
the higher gain model is called the Supro:
http://store.smokeyamps.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=43
i have a feeling that it will sound too trebly with such a small speaker at uber high gain.... is this true?
thanks, BM
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which Smokey should i get? i have found a higher gain model, but has the standard smokey got enough gain as it is for metal? (im not looking for insane amounts of gain though)
the higher gain model is called the Supro:
http://store.smokeyamps.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=43
i have a feeling that it will sound too trebly with such a small speaker at uber high gain.... is this true?
thanks, BM
It's the one I like more, sounds a bit tinny, but it's alot funner :D
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which one's the one you like more?
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The hi-gain one.
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ok... i don't like tinny really, it annoys me a LOT. i like thick and chunky. can it be thick and chunky?
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ok... i don't like tinny really, it annoys me a LOT. i like thick and chunky. can it be thick and chunky?
Can't remember :P
It's just alot funner to play, nice amount of gain :P
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sounds cool! probably if i turned the tone knob it would loose a bit of harshness. could you run it in the effects loop of a big amp as a fuzz box?
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sounds cool! probably if i turned the tone knob it would loose a bit of harshness. could you run it in the effects loop of a big amp as a fuzz box?
Same as a normal smokey.
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i know, but can you use it specifically in the effects loop (not in between guitar and amp)?