Matrix Element Guitar Amp For Sale (2024 Update)

The first unit I received was broken.Ther transformer into the unit was loose destroyed all the internals… Anyway afret 7! weeks waiting (2 for response from matrix audio ) I sent it back to China and now I listen to it for about 300 hrs. Sadly I cannot agree it is something special my denafrips Pontus dac is woking way more stable and with better resolution. The bass notes are the thinnest.and the highs are a bit on the bright side .. There is still no apple application . I dont know maybe I should break in more but how much more from 300 hrs .. Anyway maybe I will stick with my denafrips dac without the streaming capabilities.Kalin F.

The sound is amazing. Tidal streaming of full MQA will blow you away but when I began going through my old red book cds my jaw dropped. I heard richness and depth I didn’t know existed on these discs.. The Element X is all you need for digital music since it’s is a superb streamer preamp and headphone amp in one unit. Myrating is actually 4.5 stars only because the MA Remote app is alphabetizing my Tidal playlists and I haven’t figured out how to make it stop. Unbelievably the MA team always answers my emails so I’ll send them this question today.Steve O.

The first unit I received was broken.Ther transformer into the unit was loose destroyed all the internals… Anyway afret 7! weeks waiting (2 for response from matrix audio ) I sent it back to China and now I listen to it for about 300 hrs. Sadly I cannot agree it is something special my denafrips Pontus dac is woking way more stable and with better resolution. The bass notes are the thinnest.and the highs are a bit on the bright side .. There is still no apple application . I dont know maybe I should break in more but how much more from 300 hrs .. Anyway maybe I will stick with my denafrips dac without the streaming capabilities.Kalin F.

The sound is amazing. Tidal streaming of full MQA will blow you away but when I began going through my old red book cds my jaw dropped. I heard richness and depth I didn’t know existed on these discs.. The Element X is all you need for digital music since it’s is a superb streamer preamp and headphone amp in one unit. Myrating is actually 4.5 stars only because the MA Remote app is alphabetizing my Tidal playlists and I haven’t figured out how to make it stop. Unbelievably the MA team always answers my emails so I’ll send them this question today.Steve O.

Having been messing around with an acoustic for far too many years I decided to treat myself to an electric, and started the search for an amp. I had a few options but went with the Crush 20RT and haven't regretted it. For its size the sound quality is great, and the eq controls allow you to get a nice range of distinct tones. Having the dirty volume away from the gain dial takes some getting used to, but isn't a deal-breaker, and if you find the rather small switch to swap between clean and dirty channels a bit fiddly, you can pick up a foot switch which connects nicely on the back of the amp. Built in reverb is nice, but if you are big on using reverb I'd imagine you'd want to get a dedicated pedal. Tuner seems hit and miss, and again more accurate results will be obtained via a stand alone product. Both good features to have, especially as a starter amp. Overall, highly recommended!Kevin E.

This is definitely the best sounding practice amp I've ever used. The gain channel has several different levels of gain, all sound great. Anywhere from a slightly crunchy overdrive sound to sizzling distortion. I've never had an amp this size handle metal tones so well. The clean channel handles distortion pedals well and maintains the tone of the amp, and if you wanna add a little something extra, putting an overdrive in front of the dirty channel really pushes the mids through. All very impressive for an 8 inch speaker.
The big downside to this amp… is that its deceptively loud. At bedroom volume, it sounds kinda like a shoebox. but bump the volume knob even just a little bit and the full, rich tone punches you in the face, far too loud for playing in an apartment at 10pm. Kinda defeats the point of buying a small practice amp. The clean channel is even louder than the dirty channel.
I'm not knocking off any stars from my review for this however, because it has a headphone jack that actually imitates the speaker response quite well. So if you wanna play this amp late at night, plug in some headphones or you'll wake up the neighbors.
The only practice amp I've ever liked more was the old marshall valvestate, and those are hard to find these days, so this little amp fills that void well.Noah Nicotine

Now let me first state that Guitar Center is the only place I'd buy this from, to try it out and return it to the store. Guitar Center is the BEST. This little amplifier is the WORST. I bought this specifically for it's cabinet output and the fact that it can run on a 9 volt battery. I own four other mini amplifiers, two of them are pedals and the other two are Blackstar Fly 3 (with the extension cabinet.) Here's the crux of my review: The Blackstar Fly 3 is louder and sounds far better than the Orange Crush Mini, even if that Crush Mini is powering a larger speaker cabinet (a 2×10, in this case.) So yes, two 3" speakers in the Blackstar are louder, and the sound quality is far superior to the Orange Crush Mini driving a 2×10" cabinet. The Crush Mini's 3" speaker is unusable, sounds very tinny and is very low volume. Now, I also have two pedal amps that run on 9 volts, an Electro Harmonix 5mm and a VHT Redline 6. The 5mm is amazing, and the VHT is very good also. So if you want to drive a cabinet with a pedal size amp you can put in your pocket, try the Electro Harmonix 5mm. The VHT Redline is also very good and has the added features of an aux in jack and headphone out jack. An adapter cable to use a battery can be had (I have a few of them.) Avoid the Orange Crush Mini, the Blackstar Fly 3 is far superior.John

First off if you have or are considering adding an external DAC/AMP to your PC audio system do it! It is worth the money for this upgrade. Add a Silver Dragon USB cable place the DAC at least 3 ft. away from your PC. Sound is so much "cleaner" everything is refined high's low's. I'm a Gamer Battlefield Division I depend on sound to stay "alive" in-game. I had been using my Taichi Ultimate on-board sound. It worked excellent with AKG 712 headphones but when I upgraded to Fostex TH900 MkII I could hear my Video Card buzzing in the background. Going with the before mentioned reconfig cured the buzz sound quality though the roof! Example: Division I hear this metallic sound to my 5 o'clock I turn and look it's a hostile re-loading a magazine and racking the bolt with onboard sound I never would have heard that audio cue.MARC B.

Even with my hearing losses, I could tell the difference between using the computer USB and the Matrix Audio Element's USB. The added details and clarity are apparent. Perhaps, it may be because of the DAC from Chord Qutest that allows me to hear the improvement as clear as day. In other words, I think the Matrix Audio Elements H USB 3.0 interface is a synergy match to the Qutest or any high-resolution DAC players. In summary, the Matrix Audio Elements H USB 3.0 is a "must-have" interface card in the signal chain if you are an audiophile using a Windows PC as a music streamer.Dennis W.

The short take: This is an outstanding unit. The build quality easy of use and sonic performance are all outstanding. From a sound quality point of view it will wipe the floor with your Mac mini in a modest setup. Although I will admit the the case aesthetics of the Mac mini are much better than most mini ITX case options. The sordid details: Engineering and build quality: The engineering and build quality are nothing short of top shelf. Excellent engineering solid capacitors effective filtering on motherboard power Femtoclock and serious shielding all contribute to the excellent sound quality of the this unit. Ease of use:I can confirm that the unit performs flawlessly using a Jetway Celeron fanless motherboard.and a custom Debian Linux distro.No additional drivers are needed. The unit is entirely plug-and-play in my application. Audio performance: Audio performance is also top shelf. Unit has added detail improved shading/texture improved instrument placement improved decay of instrument sounds and increased soundstage depth. In my current setup I am playing FLAC files from a USB attached SSD via a Nordost Blue Heaven USB cable into the onboard DAC of an Anthem STR Integrated Amplifier using lower mid level Transparent speaker cables (Super) into Focal Electra 1028 BEE speakers. A solid rig however nothing exotic or priced in the 5 figure range. Forget to mention that my power source for my test setup is an off the shelf Seasonic switching power supply sourced from commercial supplier of embedded computing motherboards. So I am using a very generic switching power supply which means that the power filter implemented on this USB card is also very effective in cleaning up power from the motherboard.I would expect even better sonics from a low noise linear power supply for the motherboard and an external low noise linear power supply for this USB card. Bottom line: I am very pleased with this purchase. If you are debating purchasing the unit just do it. You will not be disappointed!Steven S.

Seems as well built as the other options I've seen. Better tonal range than Vox and better than having to buy 2 or three devices. First impressions were not that good but as I've used it a bit more I can see me getting more used to it. I probably expected to much and was basing my hopes on the FLY amps. I think the effects are too limited to be worthwhile and would prefer Blackstar to focus on better amp tone. Still, I'm happy with it and for the type of device this is I know of nothing that sounds better. If I lost it I would probably look at the latest options but as it stands this is still the one I would buy. I think all of this type of device are over priced when you consider what a small amp costs but for portable practice in a small space it can't be beaten. This Blackstar amplug is in my opinion the best VFM option available.Paul S.

Amazing bit of kit for the price! Clean, over drive and distortion channels in a small box the amps to headphones perfectly! Can’t really comment on the effects as not really tried them out! But if you need a tiny portable amp that connects to your headphone for practice i would throughly recommend! Just noticed it even has aux in so I can listen to my Fender tutors without having to have 2 different sets of headphones on the go!!! Total novice managed to get it working in 3 minutes without reading the instructions!Mike

The first unit I received was broken.Ther transformer into the unit was loose destroyed all the internals… Anyway afret 7! weeks waiting (2 for response from matrix audio ) I sent it back to China and now I listen to it for about 300 hrs. Sadly I cannot agree it is something special my denafrips Pontus dac is woking way more stable and with better resolution. The bass notes are the thinnest.and the highs are a bit on the bright side .. There is still no apple application . I dont know maybe I should break in more but how much more from 300 hrs .. Anyway maybe I will stick with my denafrips dac without the streaming capabilities.Kalin F.

The sound is amazing. Tidal streaming of full MQA will blow you away but when I began going through my old red book cds my jaw dropped. I heard richness and depth I didn’t know existed on these discs.. The Element X is all you need for digital music since it’s is a superb streamer preamp and headphone amp in one unit. Myrating is actually 4.5 stars only because the MA Remote app is alphabetizing my Tidal playlists and I haven’t figured out how to make it stop. Unbelievably the MA team always answers my emails so I’ll send them this question today.Steve O.

The first unit I received was broken.Ther transformer into the unit was loose destroyed all the internals… Anyway afret 7! weeks waiting (2 for response from matrix audio ) I sent it back to China and now I listen to it for about 300 hrs. Sadly I cannot agree it is something special my denafrips Pontus dac is woking way more stable and with better resolution. The bass notes are the thinnest.and the highs are a bit on the bright side .. There is still no apple application . I dont know maybe I should break in more but how much more from 300 hrs .. Anyway maybe I will stick with my denafrips dac without the streaming capabilities.Kalin F.

The sound is amazing. Tidal streaming of full MQA will blow you away but when I began going through my old red book cds my jaw dropped. I heard richness and depth I didn’t know existed on these discs.. The Element X is all you need for digital music since it’s is a superb streamer preamp and headphone amp in one unit. Myrating is actually 4.5 stars only because the MA Remote app is alphabetizing my Tidal playlists and I haven’t figured out how to make it stop. Unbelievably the MA team always answers my emails so I’ll send them this question today.Steve O.

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.

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.

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

What an awesome little amp! And plug the line outs into something bigger and you can well and truly deafen yourself with sonic pleasure. Pretty straight forward to use but you do need to watch your levels when changing amp models – they can vary a lot. Longer battery life would be a bonus and I'll def need a little bag for it. Fast service and good price from Better Music. Thumbs up from me.John H.

When I buy something that does so much but I don't need to read any manuals to operate it I know I've made the right choice. Sounds are fantastic, my favourite amp so far is the boutique, it feels very natural, not boomy like my previous desktop type amp. The effects are great, particularly the reverbs. I find myself taking it out of our little 'work from home office' while my wife or the kids are in there and noodling in the living room or the kitchen with it because I haven't had to faff around with power cables 🙂 It has a flat setting so I use that when I'm playing around with modeller settings for gigs rather than dragging out my powercab at home. The app is really easy to use and opens up a nice compressor plus cab options etc. The clincher for me over the smaller units is the 1/4 inch line outs, I can chuck it in the car and it's there as a back up incase my gigging amp packs up. I'm no bass player but I play a bit at home and this sounds way better than going into a guitar amp or using a bass amp on amplitube on my pc. This is easily the best music purchase I've made in recent years and I'm playing more music because of it 🙂Archie W.

I have a Marshall 1974x that I have not touched since I bought this THR30II. There is no real comparison but this Yamaha is so addictive. Clean tones are superb the crunch channel in classic mode is a my fave. The onboard effects are really good. I just shelled out e few Bob on a thorny flanger and this has a perfectly good flanger built in. The hall reverb is beyond good. In summary rock tones are good but cleans/crunch are fantastic. I trusted other reviews of this amp against things like positive grid/katana etc but this just hits the spot. I love playing the slow Peter Green blues stuff it’s perfect. It’s not a one trick pony it has loads of nice tones perfect for home use at friendly volumes than the Marshall 18 watt. Highly recommend.HappyYammyTHR p.

This is a remarkable little amplifier. The positive reviews are all justified. Very diminutive, even senior management, who tends to frown when black boxes arrive, approves. And it produces a variety of great tones in remarkable amounts bearing in mind its small size. Perhaps not for the O2, but great in our lounge and enough muscle for a small venue before it gets a bit chesty. Very happy.biga268

I use it for practice. Although it has a bass setting you can program via the phone kit, the speaker is not as good as a basic bass amp like a fender rumble. The default presets sound the best, and if you need a different sound, it's probably best to use pedals on the clean setting. The effects aren't as good as I hoped for. The chorus effect is nice; but delay, reverb, and spring could be loads better. It gets the job done and I wasn't needing the other effects to be there at all so a good purchase for me, but if you need all the features to be awesome, look elsewhere.Waukegan

Purchased this along with the Squire Bullet Tele. Worked beautifully. All effects. Everything. Then nothing. No power. Nada. Probably why it's discounted $40 when you buy the Tele. Avoid.Joe

Purchased the Orange Crush RT35 through Musicians Friend. The amp on its own is a joy. However, the send and return used with a pedal board loaded w/o overdrive properly transports this amp on the Clean channel to an extreme I've experienced on a tube amp level. I used a Walrus EB 10 parametric pedal then a reverb, delay and slight echo at the end of the chain. The amp incredibly warmed, thickened and boosted the tone to one that competes with any of the high end tube amps I have ever used. Totally shocked! I will experiment with the overdrive on the dirty channel and an OD on the front end very soon. I expect good results. For the money and it's being a solid state, it is super impressive and a great value. I did do a lot of research and comparison, took the plunge, and the payoff was more than I could expect. I just A/B'd it with a 40 watt Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (with this set-up) in a studio and it definitely held its own and, I feel, it sounded better. That's what I know.My customer service rep, Conner at ext 3119, chewed over Bugera V5, Boss Katana MK2, and the Orange RT 35. I leaned toward the RT35 because the German engineering was advanced, the build build quality superior, its weight at 25 lbs and its great reviews.TonyC

It's a budget amp so you can't expect it to do the same as an expensive one. With that said it just doesn't punch above it's weight, it's punching well above it's weight. I have a pre tube amp that has some tubes in it's pre amp, that isn't quite a full tube amp and this isn't quite a full tube amp either or on the face of i an any tube amp, being it's solid state, but it does sound as warm as the pre tube I have, so that's a bonus for me, I prefer warmer tones. So that means not only heavy rock/metal but some very nice bluesy soft rock tones as well. Bult in reverb sounds really nice. The tuner is perfect, no faffing around trying to dial in the tuning. Best tuner on a lower end amp yet and better than my clip on one I have. It has 4 stages of gain, if you will. So pretty versitile. The amp is loud. I never run it in the house over 3 on the volume. It has one volume for clean but the dirty dial is for the gain volume. And it's adjusting this and the gain knob that gets you all your tones for the not clean sounds Two seperate channels with a simple EQ to use for both. Amp is sturdy as you like, well built. And the clincher is the return and send loop on the back., which works very well, a lovely clean loop. The most surprising thing was you associate orange with rockier sounds but this is a nice clean amp too. I might even prefer the clean channel actually. My advice is see reviews for it. There is one thats 20 or so mins long and shows you all the settings and the tones you can find. No brainer for the price and probably worth 100 quid more if you ask me but don't say I told you so or they will put up the price.R O.

I admit I've cycled through several practice amps – a couple of Fender Champions, Marshall MG, Orange Crush Mini, Strymon Iridium, a bunch of headphone amps, etc. This one is a winner. I've always heard good things about Orange quality and longevity. I like the Orange clean sound but I admit it's not for everyone. I play ambient guitar, mostly clean, with some overdrive from pedals. You'd think Fender would be my thing, right? Nope, the Champions just don't sound good compared to the Orange Crush amps. Plus, this combo amp is built like a tank. At the moment I'm running a stereo rig with the Orange Crush 35 and a Marshall MG15 (modded with speaker out pushing a Marshall 1×12), both on clean channels only, and it sounds really good. I have a Super Crush 100 head on order and can't wait for that!Rob

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

Great wee amp for the money as advised by Kenny's Music. Packed with features/fx. Perfect for home practice and the odd jam session.Reviewed by Kenny's Music custom

I use this in my basement studio for playing and recording. It has a wide range of very cool sounds and what seems like countless options to combine them (from wild reverb/delay effects to overdrive/fuzz). It's kind of daunting to get a setting you like and remember how to get it again, because of all the combinations of setting options. This would be a great value in a small amp except for two things: 1. Lots of extra noise and hiss (I checked and it wasn't the guitar or cables – I tried several) 2. The "on-off" button doesn't always work when trying to turn it off. I usually have to unplug the 9V adapter that comes with the amp in order to turn it off.Russell

Very cool amp and a bargain at twice the price! Amp models are all very good just as is, and the added surprise is that – other than the most high gain settings – you can roll back your guitar volume and the sound cleans up nicely. This is a keeper!Mike

I just completed my Mod 102 kit. An excellent experience! I was delighted with the quality of components, clarity of instructions, and, perhaps most importantly, the sound of the amp. It is very loud – currently running into my Fender Twin Reverb cab (2×12) and very sweet! I will be running it into a new 1×12 cab with a new Celestion G12 M Heritage 'Greenback' when I get a case for the speaker (on order). My only criticism (and something to look out for) is that the chassis is very nicely painted in gray gunmetal paint. Even following the directions to file all the holes, it is very hard to get a good ground connection at every point a terminal strip connects. I worried about this, and about 1/3rd of the way through the build, took an ohm meter to check all the connections, and as I had suspected, some of the connections were not great (9-10 ohms or so!) So I removed the terminal strips (with the components I had already soldered still attached) and scraped away the paint under the tabs of the strips to ensure a good connection. Re-testing showed virtually zero resistance. I'd strongly recommend scraping the paint away at all holes under the chassis before getting started on the build. Even better, suggest that Amplified Parts leave the inside chassis unpainted (at least around the important holes). Aside that one criticism, I am delighted with the kit and with Amplified Parts. Everything was delivered promptly and they are a class outift. I'll probably try some of their other kits soon.vpmerlyn

I spent three evenings building the MOD102. The instructions are very easy to understand and the amp has a great Fender sound. I had one grounding issue that was easily fixed with a little help from tech support, which was excellent. If you're good at following step by step instructions and can solder well this is a fun little amp to build. Only small issue is the labels. They could stand an improvement.Brandon

I just finished this amp build and it sounds fantastic! I also just finished a Marshall 18 Watt clone and I have to say that the Mod102+ holds its own very nicely alongside the Marshall. In fact, I will probably use the Mod102+ for recording because it sounds amazing at lower volumes (the Marshall is loud AF). Honestly, if I were only going to build one of them today, it would be the Mod. I'm blown away by the tone! Great kit with excellent instructions. Great bang for the buck. The parts all seem to be top quality. I love the old style cloth solid core wire, too. I find it much easier to work with than modern stranded wire. The labels are a bit lame but I covered them with packing tape as suggested before cutting them out and they look fine. If you're thinking about building an amp, build this one.danjbeckett

Fantastic quality and love having all the settings to play with physically. Sounds phenomenal through headphones, monitors and straight into the DAW.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

An amazing 2 channel or dual amp zero watt amplifier pedal. Used it at a rehearsal and could dial in great tones very quickly – from Marshal type distortion to clean reverby Fendery tones. Great through headphones for practice and DI'd into PA for live use. Only disappointment was that there was no power supply supplied, but it does come with a very useful channel/reverb foot switch.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Amazing for recording, the pedal sounds the way your amp would before adding the mic. So easy to dial in any sound, I added a nobble Od1 into the chain and it blew my mind. I gave a good on looks because its hard to read what the knobs and switches do in a studio environment.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I use this primarily as an attenuator. I’ve tried most of the products on this market which all have various shortcomings. The TAE allows you to actually use your tube amp without blowing out your ear drums. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to going straight into an amp. Very transparent. I had another reamper that was tube based and about half the cost that was very dark and colored the sound. Also significantly impacted the reverb/vibrato in my HW deluxe reverb. No issues like that with the TAE and also does well with pedals. Highly recommend. Very pricey, but gives you lots of flexibility. The onboard effects are very “digital” sounding to my ear, so I just turn them off.Joel Gilmore

I've had this device for two weeks now and am selling my PS2 in favor of it (although the PS2's attenutation is just as good). I've used many attenuators over the years and this one is probably among the best. The variable loads help with the feel and reactance of your amp – there's nothing else with this option on the market. The attenuator works great, as well and has a smooth taper for volume. Unlike the OX or other attenuators, doesn't effect your sound as you reduce volume other than removing some speaker drive characteristics. The onboard effects have Boss standard serviceability in their sound and having a boost EQ is very useful. For live use they would do the trick but in the studio I'd opt for some plugins. I expected the IRs to be lackluster, but actually compare very favorably to other 3rd party IRs on the market and are pleasantly satisfying through headphones. If you're looking for a good tube amplifier silent recording solution with effects, routing options, and attenuation for live use… this is the best one on the market IMO. In fact, if you've got an older lower wattage amp, this can bring it up to band volume through a higher power speaker cab. Pricey, but with all those options – worth it!Temple12

Unit itself: After watching all the YouTube videos and reading forum sites I was convinced for a bit that I was just doing something wrong. It seem to add some gain to every amp I had. The only way it sounded close to was to turn the volume of the amp itself down. The reactive load section didn't help at all and it wasn't real clear on exactly I was changing when switching them. The "suggested" settings in the manual did nothing for me. The only way I was able to get a sound even close to what I had without it was to crank the unit which defeated the purpose… For low volume playing at home I could have just turned the amp itself down and used an OD to get the drive… Other guitar player in my band mentioned the Bugera PS1 sounded better! This unit basically made my amps digital. If you're a fan of digital products you will be fine. If not, I'd look elsewhere. Effects/Rigs/Software: I like the effects that was in the unit and giving some tweaking I could see using them. If I could have gotten the tone worked out I could have easily set up rigs with just those effects and done away with half of my board…. Rigs work just fine, you save presets that are switchable with the unit for the controller. Some people complain but that lack of "on the fly" edits and that they can only be made within the software, it never bothered me. The software itself worked fine for me but I could see where someone with more experience using software to control music equipment might have an issue with it. At the time of this writing it can't be used with a updated iMac. Loading IR's takes forever so I used software instead. If there was no other option on the market it would be great, there's tons though, and Youtube isn't the best way to judge a product. Glad I tried it so at least I know but I'm very grateful for Guitar Center's 45 day return policy!Chris K