What's a good - belt box - practice gear

[BCrowell]

All,
We've all traveled allot, and Many times I wish I had a good little headphone based pre-amp to rock out on. Some little electronic box that goes on the belt, and has a good distortion, & reverb!

I know ROCKTRON mad a few, but wanted some opinions on the board. Also if anyone has one to part with, let me know!

 

[Drew]

Does it have to be belt-mountable? Cause my J-station rocks for headphone practice...

 

[keithb]

I like the sound of my Pignose. Not exactly a 'belt box' but definately small enough for travel.

 

[Metal Ken]

Roland MicroCube = Best travel amp ever

 

[No Soul]

http://zvexamps.com/

 

[BCrowell]

I just need something small enough to clip on to the strap/belt etc.. As I can't take my digitech around with me....Even a V-AMP or small Line6 POD may be to big for what I'm wanting. Something that I can throw in the guitar case. I'm only gonna need a headphone level output.

Some good ideas here...That ZVEX mini-tube amp looks kick A$$! I'll have to check out the microcube as well! Who makes the J-station Drew?

 

[No Soul]

the Zvex rocks colon for sure, the only problem is the price tag on em. Circa 400 dollars I believe (I could be wrong).

I do like the microcube A LOT. But if you think a POD is too big, you may find the cube too big as well.

There are those tiny things, which plug directly into you guitar and then you run with headphones... I cant remember what they are called, but it sounds like the perfect product for you.

 

[Drew]

Johnson. They're now out of business, but you can still find them used. However, it's the size of a Pod, more or less, and needs to be plugged in, so something to walk around with it ain't.

-D

 

[butch]

If you are looking for something super portable with decent, versatile tone, you may also want to check out the Korg Pandora. Decent guitar tones and some basic rhythm tracks to jam over. Also, if you go to a local open mic, you can plug it into the house amp.

Or you can go with one of those amps built from a cigarette box.

Cheers,
Butch

 

[Metal Ken]

Or you can go with one of those amps built from a cigarette box.

The tone on these things are WEAK though. Seriously weak. They're only 30$, but god... i forgot about the Pandora. thats probably the best idea in the whole thread lol. Those things are killer.

 

[No Soul]

Johnson. They're now out of business, but you can still find them used. However, it's the size of a Pod, more or less, and needs to be plugged in, so something to walk around with it ain't.

-D

no thats not the thing Im thinking of then.
I used to have one of em when I was like 15. Its about the size of a beeper. Needless to say, it didnt sound great, but for portability it couldnt be beat.

Its even smaller than the cig amps. No built in speaker though, just headphones.

 

[No Soul]

Pandoras tones still kinda suck, but definitely better than most things mentioned here so far (save the zvex )

 

[Drew]

You know, for sheer badassness, nothing tops the mini Marshall half stack.

-D

 

[BCrowell]

So the Korg Pandora & VAMP-2 seem to be the front runners. The size of the Line 6 wasn't bad at all, just too expensive for what I want. The Vamp-2 sounds good enough to plug into the house board too, but doesn't take batteries! I'm not really worried about "awesome" sound quality, just good enough to jam & play with while visiting friends/family/hotel rooms etc... Doesn't need a speaker, just be battery operated, and fairly portable....

HA HA a marchall half-stack! That would rock... I've heard they sound pretty decent!

Anyone have any of the above for sale? I can't find any of them locally (Greenville sucks..gotta head to Raleigh for the closest decent store).

 

[Drew]

Yeah, and they don't sound too terribly either, although driving a 2" speaker from a low B isn't exactly a recipe for definition...

 

[nabeelm]

i was looking for something similar myself,something which would run on batteries and i could carry around.Oh and most importantly it had to be cheap,so i came across this korg ampworks processor,its simple with 11 amp models,a few cab models and a few effects.Im still not sure how this thing will sound though.ill probably get one in about two weeks and ill let you know.

 

[127.0.0.1]

If you want 6 strings :

Steinberger Headless + MicroCube

OR

Fernandes Nomad Deluxe (They eat 9V batteries though)

 

[AR-15]

I spend 99% of my time playing through a Korg Pandora PX-3.
Not because I am in love with it, but because I can sit on the couch, plug my MP3 player into it and jam for hours. For that reason alone it is worth the money.
I play "extreme metal" almost exclusively, and for that it does a pretty decent job. There is plenty of gain available, for those that are concerned about that. It also has all of the major effects one would need and a (rather lame) drum machine.
I would not use it as my primary source of tone/effects, however.
Just remember: sounds good on couch/bad everywhere else and you will be ok. lol