Guitar Amp Turns On But No Sound For Sale (Jan 2023 Update)

Unbelievable. This is NOT my Vox AC30, and nor is it my 100W Katana. However, for a package that is powered by batteries and can, quite literally, fit into the palm of your hand, the Katana Mini is simply fantastic. The amp models are brilliant and the delay (reverb) function is an excellent feature. On "clean" settings the volume of the amp is perfectly adequate and will fill a room with no issues, and on the "crunch" and "brown" settings, the amp was more than loud enough to fill a large room at 2/3 volume. Whilst I personally think that this is not quite enough for an advanced/intermediate players sole amplifier, I would completely agree that for a beginner, they would need no more than this. Having tried options from Yamaha and other brands, this is firmly my favourite battery powered micro amplifier for any level of guitarist and equipment, the tone is simply that good! The best way I can describe it is this – when I first plugged my PRS McCarty 594 into it, I was vaguely aware that I wasn't playing through my Vox. However, after five minutes or so, I had completely forgotten this wasn't a "real" amp, and had to keep looking down at the tiny box on the floor to believe it! Well done, Boss!Mr I. F.

I use it primarily as a practice amp at lower levels, but I'd feel confident doing coffee house gigs with it, and maybe smaller clubs too. It sounds warm and rich at low volumes, and the EQ is effective. All three voices are useful and I'm not left wanting. I have to make special mention of the delay. I adore reverb (including and especially spring reverb and gritty, trashy reverb of all kinds) but a simple delay circuit is way more useful in this amp. Doubling, slapback, echoes. The treble roll-off and fixed feedback are well-tuned. If you're using this for busking or other guerilla performance, you will suddenly realize that a single delay is worth more than a thousand reflections, because those reflections sound godawful* against naturally-occurring surfaces. *maybe awesome in a sound design way thoughChesterfleet

It sounds just like its a very expensive big brother but in a little battery powered or wall wart powered package. Two speakers and quite loud for size definitely well worth the purchase. Ive been a musician for nearly 4 decades on the recording studio and I can definitely recommend this little amp.filelicker

My sheep are finally getting used to being serenaded and I play allot more. All my efx work well through it and distortion and sustain riprioma-30

The newer China made ones are absolute garbage in every way. I had an older Korean made one and it was fantastic!! Do yourself a favor if youre planning to get one look for an older one that was made in Korea! Not just this model but all mini Fender amps!wizrdz68

I have never offered a product review for any product but I had to make an exception for this one. I am 69 years old, have been playing music for over 50 years, and I have just begun learning the harmonica. This amp is perfect for me for a number of reasons. First of all, it's portable. I can take it anywhere – from my living room – to that picnic table at the park – to my guitar player's front porch. I've had it for a while and I'm still on the batteries that came with it. (You can get an optional power supply for it if you want.) Second – it sounds great and has plenty of volume for personal practice and for use in small settings. With the GAIN and VOLUME controls, you can easily get the response you want. The EQ control only makes a subtle difference in frequency response but nothing dramatic. The DELAY function, however, is very effective and fun to use. Next – a variety of additional input and output jacks make it very flexible. I can plug in my MP3 player and play along with a backing track, for example. It also has a headphone jack, an extension speaker jack, and a DC power jack. Finally – and most importantly – It's fun to use and, because of that, I find myself practicing longer and enjoying it more. I'm new at holding a mic and at first it felt awkward. Now, because the FLY 3W is so much fun to use, holding the mic has become second nature. OK – now you're waiting for the downside. Well, other than the EQ control comments I made earlier, I don't have any. At first, I thought it could benefit from a handle but, upon closer inspection, I discovered the recessed finger grip on the top of the case. (Very clever Blackstar.) This is a well designed portable practice amp. (It even looks aesthetically pleasing.)Bill

First things first; this combo pack DOES include the power supply but batteries are NOT included in the combo pack. Despite the great reviews, don't expect this to sound like a full-size amp; the small speaker mean this amp lacks low end. The pair does sound OK playing in stereo music through the aux input; good detail and sound quality except for the missing bass. As a practice amp, especially through headphones, this thing rocks; with the ISF control you can make it sound like a Fender or a Marshall Amp. Cleans are good but the high gain channel can sound a bit messy if you crank it to 11. The amplifier is more than loud enough for home practice even without doubling the power to 6 watts by adding the second speaker. I don't own a full-size electric amp but I've found out that running the cab-simulated headphone output into my acoustic amp's aux input gives an excellent equivalent so I probably won't bother with a 'real' electric guitar amp; this setup sounds sooo good.Dave W

I was very pleasantly surprised and the range of EQ and the control of compression the Fly 3Bass gives me, not only a great practice amp but mic it up through a PA and it sounds amazing. Great running on batteries (last about 12 hours) or mains. I did a back garden set with couple of friends on acoustic guitars me on electric bass via Fly 3 and it sounded really good so i am very pleased with my purchase. Only thing i had to do was back off tone and bass enhancer on my active bass as it slightly overpowered the amp but i get that on my stage rig as well so expected that.Barry J.

So far so good. A little hot with active pickups, def functionally. Appreciate the aux in to feed music or backing track while practicing and very portable. Worth the price.matta2z76

Had my reservations about buying this, a cheap headphone amp, as I have had others in the past and the o/d or distortion always sound awful. Don't get me wrong it isn't replacing my Marshall amp, but for a really portable and handy headphone amp it is great. I can use this, and move, whilst the kids are in bed, no more having to be 2 mtrs from my big amp….. As a practice and experimenting tool I love this!gastall1978

It's better than expected, though the design might not compatible with some guitar models. It requires an AAA battery. Works pretty well with any headphone. It also has an AUX port so that you can plug and play any songs you like and jam along. Thumbs up from me!wamin0

As others have written, I too chuckled when opening the box. It’s smaller than I thought it’d be. However, it can crank. Teamed it up with an Orange PPC12 and scared the neighbors dog. I appreciate not having 15 dials to create tone. For the price, you can’t pass it up. AMS, amazing as usual, speed, easy pay, secure!Mike

I play a Rockerverb onstage and figured hey I'll grab a micro Terror for the studio when I'm working on demoes and practicing. Everyone raves about how it does the Rockerverb thing so hey why not? Don't bother. At best it's a little practice amp but I honestly like my Hotone Heart Attack better. This terror is kind of scratchy and just a little league sound. I love Orange amps but this one pales in comparison to the classics. I guess you get what you pay for but I expected more than this.jq127

I bought this with a ppc108 cabinet – as my review for that cab says, I was very surprised how good and powerful they are together. I thought I would eventually get a larger cabinet for it, but i would only need to if using it for a live performance with a full band. (might be able to get away with ppc108 with a quiet drummer…) For just playing by myself or jamming with other guitar/bass players it is more than enough. This amp can get you great classic rock tone – but I play all styles of music and generally more jazz and hard rock sometimes into the metal range – and this sounds great for that as well. For full on metal you might want to add your favorite distortion pedal but the tube overdrive of the amp itself sounds fantastic! I haven't tried myself but this thing can drive a 4X12 cabinet pretty well according to videos that I've seen. It really sounds like a slightly scaled back version of a full amp head. for the price you will not be disappointed. You could definitely use this for amateur recording – probably professional recording as well but by then you've probably got a bigger amp. Any one who wants a tube amp to mess around with but doesn't have a lot of money to throw around should check this out – or if you just want something very portable. Note that this is a hybrid, it has solid state power and one tube for the preamp, but don't be afraid, it sounds great! It's louder than you might expect and although with the ppc108 it dosen't have extreme low end, it still has good low tones when used with six string guitars in standard as well as C tuning and I have used it with an 8 string guitar, which flops a little on the low string but with a larger cabinet would probably be fine. I highly recommend this amazing tiny amp. Watch some youtube videos if you aren't convinced. For portability the ppc108 cabinet works very well with this and still sounds very nice, but again you can power larger cabinets including 4X12.valvetuber42

I bought this amp to use in a limited space and at a low volume for very low cost. It obviously doesn't compare to a normal size amp in quality but for being a practice amp it is perfect. Many reviews across the web say it loses power or sounds bad after a short time, but its literally as simple as changing the battery in my case. The manual even says to change the battery if there is an issue with sound, and the battery that comes with it isn't really the best and doesn't last long. It has great sound at a low and mid range volume for the little power it actually has but when you ramp it up it does sound a little distorted but not bad at all for $23-$29. Hopefully my review helps someone get a decent product!Lucas

While you certainly could use it in the studio for certain alt/auxiliary tones and/or layers and achieve fantastic results (producer/artist discretion advised), It's not meant for that. It's meant purely for being able to enjoy playing electric, untethered, while wandering about randomly and/or practicing. …Whether outdoors or indoors. …At home, in the park, around the neighborhood, at a camp site or a BBQ, wherever. Perhaps even during your breaks at work. It's not meant for playing in a full band situation (especially with drums), nor is it meant for getting a half-stack sound (or even normal combo-amp sound), for a fraction of the price, during a high-end studio session or full-on concert. It's a fantastic tool, meant to serve a single purpose. Choose and use your tools accordingly.Cristyn, E

mini-amp works great as a travel amp, or playing early in the am when ppl are sleeping lol it fits perfectly inside my hardcase, along with my electric guitar, headphones, tuner, cables, etc. performs as expected.. dont look to be amazed at its performance lol but for practice/travel its the perfect amp. has a heavy grind for chunky metal riffs. doesnt pick up the p[inch harmonics that great, but they do come through. the clean setting is great, too, and for a tiny little fkr it really kicks pretty good! had my finacee yelling at me to "turn that fkn thing down!" so, lol, it hits pretty hard for a small little guy.. but like i said, dont expect it to put out the tones of a line 6 spider IV or a Marsall half-stack cuz it aint capable for that. it isnt designed for gigs lol so dont expect that kinda sound. but, i love this mini-amp; its my new best friend!da.davc.mcoumykeiu

I was impressed from the moment I hooked this small tabletop amp up. It’s got big sound for such a small package. The app is decent too, but could use some more songs to jam with. I think that overall this is a fun way to work on your music late at night or when the mood and inspiration hits. It’s loud, but not so much as it would bug any neighbors or house guests. I use it just as a Bluetooth speaker as well to jam out to my favorite tunes. I would highly recommend this little beast of an amp for its tight bass response and it’s amazing functionality. Cool AF!DJ Lewis

Good for busking and practice with nice tones. The wireless and drums are nice features . Good size for traveling and no need for outlet with rechargeable battery. The jam tracks and artist's songs are limited but you can stream any songs you want via Bluetooth. The price was reasonable as well.Doug

If you buy this amp start by running the update in the app while connected to your amp. we had trouble getting anything to work, until that was done. The amp itself is fun to mess around on, but I don't see it as anything that you could use for a gig. I find that when I'm using the amp I spend most of my time messing around with weird sounds, rather than playing anything productive (but it's fun). The community of amp settings is huge, but with varying quality. Perhaps the most fun and useful feature of the amp is the ability to play along with music from your phone/device and level out the volumes of the guitar and music so you can actually hear both. This could be a real benefit for a starting musician who doesn't have the opportunity to play with other musicians. Another plus is that the amp can be used as a Bluetooth speak, and it sounds really good. However, one of the negatives that I noticed immediately is that the output volume is very inconsistent from setting to setting (like a lot), one will be quiet and the next loud. I'm also skeptical what will happen when Line6 decides not to support the app anymore because without the app, the amp is next to useless. It can still be used but it won't have much versatility in tones. Another thing that I noticed is that here's no way this amp outputs 75 watts of volume, I don't even know that it's as loud as my old little 15 watt practice amp. All in all, its a fun amp and I would recommend it as a fun accessory to your arsenal, but is it's your sole amp you might want to consider play one at a music store before buying to be sure that it'll work for your application.Music_matt

What sets this item apart, assuming you have an IOS device with some good music on it, is the Amplifi 75's ability to find tones that match what song you are playing. It does this automatically. Whether you play along with the song or not, you can save that tone under "my tones" and have it at your disposal for future use. I found some incredible acoustic guitar tones as well as a very nice "sounds like the Beatles" tone. This feat alone is remarkable. Throw in the sound editor that allows you to create your own or tweak someone else's tones and you begin to realize what Line 6 has accomplished. Ground breaking isn't too strong a phrase here. Sound quality when playing my IPAD music is excellent. Having read multiple mixed reviews I was a bit torn as to whether to purchase or not. I can say my expectations have been exceeded. One word of caution when using. Make sure that you reboot, cold start your IPAD OR IPHONE to clear out software running in the background. And check to make sure on the AMPLIFI menu that you are "connected" as opposed to "synching". If you are not connected, the sounds on your IPAD or IPHONE will not be heard, only the default sounds that are on the amp itself….btw….these default sounds can be set to your favorites very easily as pointed out in the instructions. In summary, if you were thinking about purchasing one of the new Amplifi amps (75 or 150) you needn't worry. You'll likely be blown away by this clever amplification system. Hats off to Line 6 for taking it to another level.MartinG123

Great product. Does just what I ordered it for. It mostly sits in my family room where I can jam quietly while watching TV waiting for that Eureka moment. Great that it doubles as a bluetooth speaker (wish there was separate EQ for the bluetooth), and you can use it that way at the same time through the app as you are playing your guitar sounds. Sometimes when I leave to jam with friends and don't feel like grabbing a tube amp and big pedal board, I just take this. Works fine in a practice situation.Might even work in a small club if you spend enough time tweaking sounds. What works well at really low volumes in the family room is often too echoey or processed once the volume goes up. Not the Amplifi's fault. Just basic acoustic physics. My gripes are few and minor. Saving your edits to back to the amp is really convoluted. Why isn't there a save button on the edit screen that just saves the patch to the current slot on the amp? The save dialog should ask you 'save to amp or save to cloud?' (there's a cloud icon for saving now, but it won't save directly to the amp). Also, I wish there was polyphonic tuning built in to the amp. The tuner function requires a phone/tablet and seems a bit slow and not as accurate as some of my standalone tuners. A row of leds across the front of the amp would be great. Also, separate sliders for the aux, bluetooth and guitar volumes would be nice. Anyway, I would buy it again.El-Kabong

I have played through the almost decade old THR10c, which is a fantastic little amp. Through a SM57 in front of it and out to the PA and you can sound great. But I thought that by now, with Yamaha buying Line 6 about 5 years ago, the newest version of this little amp would have some state of the art effects. Wrong! The effects, and the apps that control it are seriously out of date. I mean, the reverb, tremolo and chorus are fine. But they remain exactly as they did ten years ago. No upgrades and nothing fancy. The app is poorly designed and not that easy to use. and there is no way that I have found access the THR10C classic blues models all in one place. So its actually hard to get the classic blues and country sounds that I need all in one place. I went back to my THR10c and sold the new one.Bruce

dial in your sound in seconds not minutes, I look at it and then I want to play my best, those amp lights man, wow, dim the lights you will see. No instructions needed. if you need to move some Air for clubs shows or band practice this is not the one for you. What it does is creates a killer vibe for personal guitar growth, very organic and the tones? Man, you have got to play through it to believe it. It will cover any genre and crash most all the competition in the personal practice amp catagory. its about quality tones at lower DBI, it's not a marshal and it doesn't want to be. You can boot this sting up 3 at night and sound like your at an arena in your bedroom without waking up the neighbors and your flat-mates. No getting up or leaning over the amp to adjust setting like a marshal. No LCD's to mess with with or crummy menu diving. Traditional Bluetooth audio is pretty decent for using the amp speaker for guitar youtube vids and playing along instrumental tracks. Someone else said terrible sound, what??? you have got to be kidding me, id call that person an amateur guitarist. the biggest stars have these in the studio, tour buss and green room, hotel room. amazing for writing sounds, its the sound you have always wanted without going deaf sounds good anywhere. saves your hearing from the ringing. if you want to expand this sound on stage get the 30 which has proper outs for studio and stage, and re-amp it. leave it on a partially cleanish tone for your genre, then output to normal amp setup, the smiles will come. Of course many are still going to need their volume pedals but in a lot of situations, if you know how to gain control and then crank it for a lead/ chorus, (id drive it out to the mains / monitors for ramp) but it sounds amazing as you turn it up, the character truly changes, for the better. it's pretty wild. its pretty good about feedback. iv heard people hook these up on tour or use them in the greenroom preshow, it's that good. stick with the new models that are lighter and sound better. these are industry standard personal practice amps. again, if you are gigging you will need some sound reinforcement, but I would find a way myself, it's just not that hard to figure out. it's never fed back at me once and I'm jamming right infant of the cab on me desk. no surprise loud feedback sounds like other amps. small, light goes anywhere. probably need that case if you travel a lot. metal, country, hard rock, pop, blues jazz, hip hop, it nails it. the 30 could drive your current big amp. whatever magic is going on with the sound, full gain w guitar at full gain, is something that has to be heard not seen.J

Upgraded from the original cream colored THR10 after finding out that all three of the original THR10 amps (boutique, classic, and high gain) were consolidated in one amp and that the speakers underwent an upgrade (10W->20W). Sonically, the tones in this amp are superior to those of the original THR10, which makes practicing and playing very satisfying and inspiring. Note: Boutique and high gain amps can only be accessed through the desktop or mobile THR remote app. This isn't the case with the larger THR30 amp. All amp models can be access through the unit. The remote app also allows the user to change cabinets to further tweak tone. Here is why I rated this product 4 stars. * Mobile THR remote app crashes all the time. I've been using the remote app on my laptop exclusively. Yamaha rep informed me that this tends to be the case with iPhone users. Doesn't seem like they plan on fixing this anytime soon. * Setting the unit up as an audio interface was not clear at all. The original THR amps required downloading the yamaha steinberg usb driver and selecting this as your driver in your DAW. After configuring your MIDI and audio source in the DAW, you would then get sound. Well, that's not how it works on this amp. I reached out to yamaha after repeatedly getting errors from my DAW about the yamaha steinberg usb driver. Long story short, tech service couldn't figure out the issue and told me to request an exchange for a new unit at GC. After hooking up the new replacement, I got the same error. Turns out you have to download the ASIO THR10ii/30 driver on yamaha's site, not the most current yamaha steinberg usb driver. Select this driver in your DAW. Then you have to go into the app's settings and check the box for "record dry." Now you can configure your MIDI and audio source. I'm baffled about how yamaha's own techs did not know that the steinberg usb driver is not compatible with the THR10ii/30 amp.Ben G.

If you're expecting an amazing Marshall sound, you might want to invest in some of the bigger amps Marshall has to offer. If you think you can get a concert level sound out of this little guy, you will not be the happiest person. However, that level of "high" expectation would not be very reasonable or even realistic for such a little amp. This is a very cute, small amp that will help you plug your guitar so you can practice quietly in any room in your house without annoying your wife. It will distort if you crank the volume all the way out, and if you're used to the full sound of a bigger Marshall (like I do) it might make you feel like you're hearing your guitar over an old telephone (just my opinion). However, if you calibrate your instrument volume & tone you can find a happy medium. With that said, for the price it is a very nice solution to practice and if the sound seems too weak for you, you have the choice of putting headphones. I personally use it just for practice on the fly, it serves it purpose, but then again I was not expecting the best sound output. So I am happy with the purchase.BeeZee

It's basically a toy amp. I can see it being used as a portable amp for non-serious performance. Personally, I like it for a quick jam and for (relatively) quiet practice in my apartment setting. Won't disturb my neighbors but it does get noticeable at the highest volume. That and the overdrive knob are the two main controls. By default it just does a clean sound but overdrive lets you toggle in some gain for that distortion. It has a good look that definitely models after its bigger brothers.Rick

I don't know what some of you guys expect from this thing, but be realistic: it's an inexpensive 5 inch tall, 1 watt amp. It's not designed for anything but sitting in a chair and entertaining yourself or a couple of people. Within that context, I enjoy this thing and sometimes get it off the shelf and play around with it for awhile. Also, when I owed somebody a 1 minute long riff for his podcast and my main amp was getting some regular tech service, I plugged my American Standard Strat into this thing, mic'd the amp, used the OD channel with the volume and tone both on 10, played the part, then added tons of bass, reverb, and chorus to it in post, and it sounded great and nobody ever knew that I recorded the part using a 5 inch tall amp. It is what it is as long as you don't expect the world.Steve

The good: small, portable, can run off batteries. The wireless connectivity is really nice. Sounds decent for what it is. The bad: The interface on the unit itself and the app are confusing to say the least, and you are pretty limited in the use of effects. The ugly: all those free Katana patches being posted on the Boss site? Incompatible. All the patches for regular Boss Katana amps WILL NOT WORK on this unit. Thanks for that Boss.Alexander

Overall: I may be mis-reading the manual but I've yet to figure out how to keep the wireless transmitter charged. I'm not new at this having gotten Line 6's wireless transmitters when they first arrived on the scene. They were easy to use and worked as advertised. While I am a huge Roland/Boss fan, I'm thinking they may have missed the mark in the "ease of use" category on the Katana Air. From a sound perspective, the amp, when plugged into a wall socket sounds great; just what you'd expect from a Katana amp. And when the transmitter is fully charged, the same can be expected. The problem arises when trying to figure out how to keep it charged. When running the amp on batteries only, this seems this seems to be problematic in that the amp stops charging the transmitter when the batteries are low. The problem is you don't know the transmitter is dead until you try and use it.My most predictable approach is to plug in the amp with the provided DC cable and do my charging while the amp is "hard-wired" to the juice coming from a wall socket.Once the transmitter is fully charged, in this manner, I can disconnect the amp and run it on a fresh set of batteries. This will afford you a "temporary" wireless operation. The transmitter that I received didn't have any where's near the claimed lifespan. I'd be curious to see how other's experience with the Katana Air played out. I will keep fiddling with the KA and if I discover what it takes to make it truly wireless, I'll get back to you in a follow up review. Strangely I did keep this item, hoping for a downloadable software cure.There is a nice free ap that accompanies the KA…..It allows you to change all of the amp's audio settings and to download free patch sets. This works well with my iPhone 7+.Martin

I've been seeking a modern, portable, reliable practice amp that can satisfy BOTH Acoustic and Electric guitars since Line 6 introduced their Amplifi series. I loved the Amplifi's techie saturated concept but no matter how bad I wanted it to work… it was always a low-fidelity 'noise' amp first without the ability to produce clear, hi-fidelity sound for either my acoustic or classical guitars. Designing an amp that can accurately reproduce hi-fidelity, low distortion sound begins with a good designed, quality build and above average components. As the old proverb states, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", you can build a noisy amp but don't ever expect it to reproduce quality sound. Amplifi is the sow's ear. I thought about testing their newer Amplifi 30 but after many bad experiences testing a 75 and reading that I was not alone … I lost all confidence that they could do HiFi right. The Katana Air checks many of my must-have boxes and it worked without a hitch. It was designed as a small practice amp and not a single solution for all your gigging needs. Adding in the convenience features like smart-on and multiple wireless features that include power/updating/tuning/modeling/backing tracks/guitar, makes this the practice amp I have been waiting a long timefor. Finally, I can take an amp sailing without worry of 'butt cleats' or adding more hazardous lines to my boat.pete1tod

This is a great little amp. The sound is clear, and it fits in my son's backpack for when he needs to take it to school.ktw1050

It arrived earlier than expected. Just what we needed to have our son practice His Bass playing for school . At home . Thanksjistilwel-5

My son loves it, I watch the Hughes & kettner on Andertons tv first and then showed him and he found the spirit of rook more to his taste he plays it though a marshal code 2×12 cab.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This little amp is plugged into a Marshall 2X12 and has more than enough volume to annoy the neighbours. But I got it for low volume practice and use it as a clean pedal platform – sounds great with a Marshall Drive Master and some verb, delay and vibe in the front.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I bought this amp on a wim and I'm glad I did. I wanted a light weight little tube amp to lug around to play small gigs with. I'm old and I don't like to bring out amps that are just too loud and bulky. After swapping out the tubes a couple of times to find what my ears liked, it just perfect. I'm not going to tell anything about how it sounds because that would not mean anything. We all search for a individual sound that is on YOUR head. I will day this. The amp is a great platform to mold into that sound we all are looking. I purchased 2 of the single 12" cabs. O opted to do this instead of the 2 x 12" because I wanted to keep the weight down for moving it around. The 18 watts is plenty loud enough to cut through and be heard. I like the amp so much that I use it for every show. I can play small to large gigs with no worries. When we play bigger events I just run into the board but still use the cabs for monitors. So I can hear my rig. The days of having to lug a full 100 watt stack are not needed anymore. So all in all this a great little amp and it will satisfy most everyone with a little adjusting. I also love that tube replacement is just plug and play. It will tell you if your tubes need replacing and it's self biasing.worldtrdex

Classic Hughes and Kettner tones in a little monster of an amp! Plugged it into a 12 x 2 cabinet and DAMN! this thing is beautiful to listen to. Clean or over driven, this amp is a pleasure to play guitar on. However when overdriven the nuanced variances between different guitars are not well appreciated. The overdrive is more muddy and less nuanced in my opinion. Comparing different strat styles here with different pick-up combinations. Tele sounds different. Chambered SG style sounded the same as other strat style guitars with humbuckers. Parker and Ibanez S series with infiniti 2 pickups sounded distinctly different. Have not played neodymium pickups on it yet but I'm hoping that will clear up some of the mud.arcticwynd

Compact size Versatile Great for Home music room. Studio Clean Channel pristine quiet Lead Channel with boost very nice Takes pedals well Built in attenuation 1-5-18W FX Loop nice! Sounds great with 8 or 16 ohm speaker Great valuechhl

I bought this amp to have a small, cheap portable amp to play harmonica through. For that, it is decent enough. I use a Shure bullet mic and the amp produces good enough tone and is plenty loud for practice or small gigs. When I plug my tele into it the clean channel is decent and clear, but the overdrive channel is junk and hurts my ears. I would rather run the clean channel and use a fuzz or distortion pedal. So that being said it is decent enough to practice licks on and it is tiny so it tucks away easy. If you look around you can find a bigger amp with more features used for the same price but if you want a new amp, this one is probably worth what they charge for it. I would only buy it if you have a specific purpose for it though.Roy

It's small, and pretty portable. However, the sound quality is trash, given the speaker is tiny, but the overdrive is just horrible. If you buy this, try returning it. If you can't return it, just get a fuzz pedal and leave it on clean. Imo, just buy the mustang lt25-50Hotdog Games

Bought this as an Open Box item in Mint Condition, and all though the boxes were torn and tattered, the Amp Head was in perfect shape. Not sure why someone had to return the head, but the foot pedal was crushed a little, so there may have been some damage at one point. Anyway, the Thrasher 120W is working just fine, and I'm very pleased with the sounds I'm getting with different pedal configurations. Someone said it was hard to dial in the sound they wanted, but it took me very little time to dial in some great tones. It is a versatile amp that can range from a rich clean tone, to an ear blowing distorted Monster. I've been playing a long time, and I'm kicking my self for never getting a Stack like this! My Fender Blues Deville 212 is going to be cold and lonely for a while, because I can dial in the tones I've always been looking for with this Thrasher and a few pedals.Hubie

As a guy that’s owned almost every high gain head and still owns a Fortin Cali, a KSR Gemini, Diezel Herbert MK3, a Monomyth Skeleton Key, a Omega Granophyre and a Ultra Lead it holds its own. Does it sound better than those? No I wouldn’t say that but it really isn’t a bad sounding amp and is real close to the satan in terms of tone. My biggest complaint would be it’s made in China and you can definitely tell the quality difference when it’s cracked open. Not a bad amp for the money thoughJason Quick

Overall: Bias your amp as soon as you get it otherwise the amp is underwhelming out of the box. Set the bias correctly even and the amp sounds the best. The stock ruby tubes are actually pretty good out of the box, I did swap the stock tubes for Tung-sols and it definitely gave alot more sound to the amp that i perfered. (You can mix and match the power tubes to different types than just the stock 6l6, i find the 6l6 the best for this amp, but el34 are good as well depending on what flavor you want)I use this amp primarily for studio use and it kills 5150 type of amps in versatility. You can get a plethora of different sounds. This amp does not need a overdrive but it can handle boosts and or overdrives very well. My favorite feature is the gain shaping options to really dial in the distortion character and the boost function is great for adding in a little more saturation focused on the higher mids.The clean channel is not over looked and delivers the goods.This amp isn't for everyone some perfer 5150 sounds, this gives you a hot rodded Marshall sounds met with Mesa type sounds and it's own 5150 type of sounds (but not exactly close but in the ballpark of 5150 style amps).After putting in the work with a tube swap and a bias, this amp is a monster and has plenty of gain necessary especially when it's biased even.This amp is assembled in China, but don't let that steer you away from it.. (Although my footswitch that came with the amp however came defective with a short in the cable where it meets the houseing and would not function without disconnecting the signal from the amp. I didn't want to return the whole amp after falling for its sounds compared to other amps i have had in my studio. I contacted zZounds customer service and they were able to reimburse me with a gift certificate to replace the defective footswitch, that's awesome customer service.)I will say this amp isn't made for everyone, especially if you perfer straight forward classic 5150 sounds (you may perfer the Randall Diavlo that costs less than this) If you want a Fortin Natas this amp is the closest you'll get to it with a little over 1/4th of the cost. I may contact Mike Fortin in the future in the interests of modding it personally to get it closer to the Natas in terms of transformers/chokes etc., till then this monster of an amp delivers the goods in terms of heavy music live or in the studio. Definitely made for someone who wants go have the options to tweak their sound and tone. I have yet to have a problem with the amp, my band mates are very impressed with quality of the sound when used at rehearsals compared to their 6505 and mesa rectifier they are used to hearing, and both my guitarists want one for themselves for live applications. Couldn't be happier with an amplifier.Casey

I bought this amp to have a small, cheap portable amp to play harmonica through. For that, it is decent enough. I use a Shure bullet mic and the amp produces good enough tone and is plenty loud for practice or small gigs. When I plug my tele into it the clean channel is decent and clear, but the overdrive channel is junk and hurts my ears. I would rather run the clean channel and use a fuzz or distortion pedal. So that being said it is decent enough to practice licks on and it is tiny so it tucks away easy. If you look around you can find a bigger amp with more features used for the same price but if you want a new amp, this one is probably worth what they charge for it. I would only buy it if you have a specific purpose for it though.Roy

It's small, and pretty portable. However, the sound quality is trash, given the speaker is tiny, but the overdrive is just horrible. If you buy this, try returning it. If you can't return it, just get a fuzz pedal and leave it on clean. Imo, just buy the mustang lt25-50Hotdog Games

I'm a Fender fan to the core. I love their electric guitars and amps but their Amps aren't even affordable anymore. They've completely out priced themselves and either you are going to pay for a severely overpriced bare bones amp or a severely overpriced amp with far more electronics than a lot of us care to deal with. This is a great sized combo amp that's easy to use and has a great sound and plenty of power and all at a great price!!! There is no reason Fender couldn't do more of this…combo's that aren't easy to use with plenty of effects and a fair price for blue collar musicians. I used a Fender Princeton Chorus combo this same size mic'd through a sound system for over two decades and it started having issues. This was the closest amp I could get (and afford). The 100 has everything you need in a combo amp and at a fraction of the price of everything else Fender makes. Buy it! You won't be disappointed!Josh

I bought this amp because my gig amp died a cyber twin 2-12s 100 watts that was about 16 years old. I have had many Fender amps they were great. I do country and 50s and 60s rock and roll. I figured 100 watts would put it out there and it does. At performing volume, the distortion is a pure heavy metal on the clean channel. Mine is not much good for high volume for my type of music. I have an old champion 110 75 watt that I will be using It has worked for me when the others were down. Not sure what to do.stev_majo

Sound: With the second channel .First it had the twin reverb and super sonic voicing with a chain loop for pedals I was set on that alone. When it got to the house and realized I didn't need my pedal chain and it sounds amazing even though ill still use my pedals here and there. The bassman, tweeds , Princeton all clean or dirty are amazing to play . again to get those sounds with out the tubes and speakers is amazing.. You get volumes that punch against you that are clear without any nasty whitenoise or unwanted sounds. the dirty settings added with the compression build in make all that possible. Outta all my guitars I enjoy to plug into this amp .My 63 firebird , g400 s.g. and my jaguar Ease of Use: Its real easy for me to get the sounds I need .I'm well aware of all the amps they used for the voicing.For new players it might take a little to understand but with no time you'll understand how to dial it in and add the right effects to the amp models to get those amazing fender amps . Quality: Only had it for a week but as for holding it up and down 3 flights of stairs at the studio in Philadelphia id say the strap is well build . Speakers have not blown but I have not had to dial all the way up amps loud as it is half way . Value: yes it is im surprised its not another $100 more.Wish more companies would do this. Manufacturer Support: No problems yet . But in the past fender has always been amazing to me. Overall: (DON'T LET THE $399 TRICK YOU)When dialed up there are so many different fender amps you have here. First off the blackface style clean channel is just amazing. id say that its a twin or deluxe especially when you dial in the spring reverb only thing missing to call it that are the speakers/tubes but fender has made it very clear they can accumulate that sound with out the tubes . I know the tubes will make a difference but not much to this amp unless you have the trained ear for tubes you can't tell.The 2nd channel with all the voice modeling Id say every setting is 99.7 spot on with the models . I love this amp .After watching a few videos online of the 100 I decided to go with it .My friend has the champion 50 so I have already played through this style of amp. When I saw the 2×12 combo version with a double channel pedal it was set in stone . I love combos more than any kind of amp . I came on zZounds looking for an amp to hit the road to the higher states of the new England area of the states in November and December and a long ride from New Jersey to Chicago and Milwaukee in January . the amazing price for a well build and sounding amp there was no way i wasn't gonna leave the website with out another toy.So after adding to the card I headed over to guitars and ordered the squier 70s classic vibe jaguar .One of my favorite things about this amp is I don't have to change out the speakers to get that sound I want. its easy for me to use because I know how to dial in the right sounds to get the sound of the amps in amp unit.Mike

I was searching for an amplifier for my Veena. Veena is an Indian traditional stringed instrument. I shortlisted some amplifiers as my Veena has a built-in pick up. I decided to buy Joyo M'A 10E. It suits my veena very well. Output is excellentJEYASREE

Recently bought this thing after saving up for months. I pretty much ripped it out of the box, plugged it in, powered it on, went through the very quick and simple setup process, and in minutes it was ready for use. I’ve now had it for a few days and already it has made my life a ton easier. Being a musician that goes on the road a lot, carrying around an amp can be a huge hassle. The Kemper eliminates that hassle, while also maintaining an amazing tone. A few things to keep in mind, though:

1. It doesn’t create an EXACT carbon copy of your amp, but it comes EXTREMELY close, so close in fact that I, having played guitar for around 7 years, can barely tell the difference, and the very microscopic differences there are, are nothing that can’t be ironed out with small tweaking to the EQ, specifically the high end

2. The volume may vary depending on how the venue has their sound system set up, so that’s something to be mindful of. You may switch on and blow eardrums at some places, or you may switch on and barely hear anything in other places, so be mindful of that.

3. You will have an amazing tone, so just be mindful of that as well. Even the stock profiles sound great, but the Kemper is taken to a whole new level once you start using your own profiles, as well as commercially sold profiles, such as the ones from Tone Junkie.

The built in Performance mode also allows for a seamless switch between up to five different rigs at the click of a button, which would be impossible to do using only analog gear.

The Kemper can be a pretty big learning curve, though, especially for people like me, who have used analog gear for years, and were even leery of making the switch to digital at first. But after the initial learning curve and getting familiar with it, I promise you will be glad you made the switch.Brandon Johnson

I bought the 600w version after a ton of research and inner debate. I had solid state rack stuff in the early 90's and hated it. It always had something missing from the tone, it seemed shallow and fake. I turned into a die hard tube guy after that. I pledged never to buy any computer amp ever again. I dismissed the Kemper at first. But once I saw some videos and heard some profiles, I was a little interested. I couldn't get past buying a computer and having 1000's of tones at the turn of a knob. Once I heard it live, thru a cabinet in a rehearsal space, I was floored and very surprised. My friend went from a 68 Marshall to a 6505 to a Fender Twin Reverb with a turn of a knob in seconds. I've owned very expensive tube amps with very distinct tone signatures I thought could not be replicated. I was 100% wrong. I profiled my Engl head and did a blind test to see if I could tell the difference in tone once I shaped it up. I honestly couIdn't tell the difference. When I guessed, I picked the Kemper 4 out of 5 times. I went to the rig exchange and found a profile that was reasonably close to a 59 plexi. I tweaked it for 10 minutes. Within that 10 minutes, I saved thousands on a new tube amp. The Kemper is a perfect fit for the skeptic. There's a million forums and tutorials out there so you'll never feel lost. Once you learn the menus and how to dial in a tone or profile an amp, you're hooked. This is the most versitle amp I've ever owned. I am completely satisified.Rob

Like the title says, you can find 1000's of these for sale used and there's good reason for that. It doesn't sound like tube at all. I think it's good for the studio where I've used one. But live? If you're fine with a solid state head, then fine. The modeling really isn't any better than higher end Line 6 modeling. This past labor day, Great White was playing a festival near by. They had a total of 8 Marshall 4×12's on stage with 4 DSL 100 heads. Not one of them was powered on. So I looked around for what they were going to use, I saw 2 Kemper Profiler heads. 1 for each guitarist. The sound was absolutely terrible. Neither amp sounded anything close to a Marshall or like tube for that matter. You could hear the cab emulation a mile away. At this price point go another direction. Unless your application is purely studio.guylemieux